The crane is a large bird. It has a long slim neck and long legs. Its body is not very big, but it is as tall as a seven-year-old boy. It lives near ponds, and eats frogs and small fish. Its legs are so long that it can easily wade in a pond. It goes into the pond and stands still for a long time. It stands and waits till a fish comes near it. When the crane sees a fish or a frog, it picks it up with its long bill.
One day a fox met a crane. “It will be fun to play a joke on the crane,” thought the fox. So he asked the crane to come to his house for supper. The bird thanked the fox and they went together. Now the fox had only thin soup to eat, and he put the soup in a plate. The crane was a tall bird. She had a long neck and a long bill, so she could not eat from a soup plate. She tried again and again to eat the soup, but she could not get any. The tricky fox watched the crane and laughed. It was easy for the fox to lick up the thin soup from the plate. He ate all the soup and the crane went home hungry.
A few days later the crane met the fox. This time she asked him to come to her house for supper. So the fox went to the crane’s house. The crane had soup for supper too, but the soup was in a tall jar with a long neck. It was easy for the crane to put her bill into the jar, but the fox could not get at the soup. So the crane ate all her soup while the fox did not get a drop of it, and the crane ate the fox’s soup, too.
The fox learned a good lesson and he ran home to find something to eat.
