There was a big meadow on the outskirts of a village close to Varanasi. Every day, shepherds and cowherds, mostly boys, came there to let their goats, sheep and cattle graze. As their animals grazed the boys would play and talk under a buniyan tree. They all carried their meals and would keep them in a hollow in the tree. The hollow had a narrow opening but was quite wide inside. Every afternoon the boys would sit together under the tree and take their lunch.

 One day in the morning, whilst the boys were playing a little away from the tree, a hungry fox came to the meadow. As he was crossing the tree the smell of the food kept there by the boys led him to the hollow. The fox stealthily entered the hollow and started eating the food kept there by the herders.  Without thought he went on gorging himself on the abundant food that was there. As he ate and ate, his stomach grew and grew.

As the fox heard the boys coming for their meals, he wanted to run away. He put his head out of the hollow but his bloated stomach got caught in the opening of the hollow. The fox pushed and pulled and struggled and struggled but he was firmly stuck and unable to get out or run away.
 The sheep and cow herders reached the tree one by one but when they went to take out their lunch packets, they saw a fox half out and stuck in the hollow of the tree. It was obvious to them that the fox had devoured their lunch. Hungry and furious they beat up the fox with their long sticks and when the fox went limp, they caught hold of his neck and pulled him out of the hollow.
 The fox bow severely hurt fell down at the base of the tree and was left there by the boys, who did not want to kill the fox.

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