A/N: Me trying to write a fairy tale since I can’t seem to write regular stories. -___-;; When I let my sis read over it she said it was “cute.” I expect more cuteness to come along, so beware! I blame writing style on Narnia books, and I got the idea from rereading Sandman: The Dream Hunters. My story is almost nothing like Dream Hunters, but I recommend going out and reading it since it’s like a freaking CLASSIC (for comic books at lest) and WAY better than my story! The art is awesome too! Also, the song “Plain Gold Ring” is sung by Nina Simone, but I like the White Magic version better ^__~ Anyways, the song actually may influence the story more then I first intended, it was originally only background music, but now... well, I won’t tell what I'm not sure about. ^.^
WARNING!: not betaed or read over in any way!! You have been warned!
Once upon a time, their lived a coyote and a fox. Both were tricksters and thieves, but mostly tricksters. Because of this, they got along well and played together and called each other brother.
But there was one thing that both Coyote and Fox could never agree on. They both were smart, witty, and quick. No one in the forest, save the crow, could out smart Coyote or Fox (but even Crow fell prey to a few of their tricks). So, when the question of who was the better of the two came up, both thought himself better than the other.
To settle the question, they would bring up past pranks and victories of theft and compared them to the other’s. When this happened, many animals of the forest would come out and listen to the tales that Coyote and Fox would tell, for they both were good at telling stories; both were superb at exaggerating and stringing others along, skills needed for good story telling.
By the time they were done it would be night and the moon would be high in the sky. Coyote and Fox would ask the animals whose stories were the best, but the animals could never decide. Both had great adventures to tell of and the animals could never decide which was more exciting.
And so it went on, Coyote and Fox roaming the forest together, playing pranks, telling jokes, stealing from others, and getting into that arguant.
One day, while Coyote and Fox were laying about after fooling the sparrow into giving them her cheese (they already knew that sparrow would tell badger and he would find them and yell and punish them for this, but they had fun doing it and had bellies full of cheese, so it was well worth the punishment from Badger), Coyote turned to Fox and said, “Dear brother, for as long as I can remember we have been quarreling over which of us two is superior. I know we both are the smartest, quickest, most clever of any creature, save for perhaps the crow, but when I say I am the better of the two best (which is in all rights the truth) you have to disagree and say you are. And when you say you are the best of us two, I set you strait and say you are wrong.”
At this Fox laughed in amusement. “What is the point of your speech brother? A half-false speech, but a speech none the less.”
“What I’m getting to, brother, is that I propose we settle our argument at last!” Fox pricked up his ears at this and waited for coyote to continue. “I say we have a contest. Whoever the winner is will be seen as the better half of us two and be titled the cleverest creature, the King of Tricksters!”
Fox jumped up in excitement. “Good idea my beloved brother! And I know what the contest shall be! We shall go into the human town and find a man with a heart made of ice and stone. A man who is not easily scarred or fooled and we shall play tricks on him till his heart cracks and leaves his home!”
“Yes! That shall be the test! Not only will we decide who is the best of us but we will also gain a home that is more comfortable than a coyote or fox den! I will even let you go first, since I know I will win and I am a kind coyote to his little brother, I will let you partake of some fun before you are beaten.”
The fox laughed at this, but did not disagree, he was never one to look the gift horse in the mouth (be the gift given to him or taken by him). “Then we shall go find our ‘contestant’ right now!”
But before Coyote and Fox could leave, Badger showed up. “Neither of you fools shall go anywhere!” Only Badger could call Coyote and Fox fools. Badger had sharp teeth and a strong jaw; neither Coyote nor Fox were foolish enough to disagree with him to his face. Badger continued “I will not allow either of you two to go to the human village. It is bad luck and will only bring trouble to us if you include a human in your silly contest.”
“But Badger, if we do not include a human in our contest then we will have to include an animal and you would not approve of that.” Fox stated.
Coyote, understanding where Fox was going, continued “For wasn’t it because of Sparrow that lead you to us? And were you not about to yell and punish us with your sharp teeth and claws to never play tricks on other animals of the forest?”
“We are only trying to follow the rules you have clawed into us and leave the forest out of this contest, as we would think you would have wished.” Coyote and Fox smirked at each other, they talked too quickly and jumped from one to the other that Badger could not speak and became confused. “So we shall get a worthless human and shall leave the forest occupants unscathed by our competition.”
Bowing towards Badger, Fox continued, “So Badger, you shall be our witness to this agreement between my brother, Coyote, and I, Fox. And you shall be judge and jury of this contest of kings, for we both know you for your fair judgment and keen logical mind. And so with that, friend Badger, we shall be off to the human village to choose our quarry. Good day to you.” As fast as the wind, Coyote and Fox ran off, leaving a bombarded-confused badger in their wake.
When badger collected himself and figured out the two had tricked him to be a part of their useless competition, the whole forest could hear him as he huffed his anger and muttering about tricky foxes and lying coyotes as he walked back to his den.
Coyote and Fox, on the other hand, laughed the whole way to the village. Proud of themselves for not only getting badger to let them continue their contest (and have him judge it to boot!) but for also getting out of a painful punishment for taking Sparrow's cheese.
Another AN: I need to write more!! I know it’s short, but I wanted to get it out! I need something (or someone) to whip me into finishing this, so I figured I could guilt myself to keep writing (if not then I never will finish it!). Please tell me what you think!! I crave it!! And if anyone wants to beta (mostly for grammar/spelling errors, and occasionally me bouncing plot off of their head) and who also doesn’t mind like five thousand e-mails a day, then *points finger* I NEED YOU! Thanks! ^__^ Also, who can guess who Coyote, Fox, and Badger are suppose to be??