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Literature and Poetry/
Shavuot

The Legend of the Fox and the Bread

There was once a farmer who reaped with a scythe every morning, until he got tired and sat down to rest. The fox came out of the nearby woods,
went over to the farmer and told him:
what are you eating?
Bread, said the farmer.

Give me a slice, I have never tasted bread.

So he gave him a slice.

Excellent, said the fox. I too shall make myself bread like this. How is it made?

First, take a plough and plough the soil.

And then there will be bread?
Not yet. After that we loosen the soil...

And then there is bread.

Wait a minute, you haven’t planted yet!
And then I’ll have bread?
No. Then it will rain and the seeds will sprout and grow over the winter, and ripen at around the Shavuot holiday.

No. Then you harvest and bring the grains to threshing floor...

And eat bread!
Not yet. You still need to thresh, collect the seeds, and grind them into flour.

And then finally eat bread?
Soon; from the flour you make dough, knead it, make a loaf of bread, and bake it in the oven.

And then I’ll have bread? Yes, then you can cut a slice and eat.

The fox thought for a moment and said: it’s too hard and too long, one could go mad.

Better I go look for a chicken. And he moved on.

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