A fox was once caught in a trap. It was only after a tough struggle that she could get free. But, to her sorrow, her beautiful tail had been cut off and left in the trap.

"How ugly I shall look!" moaned the fox, " won't the other foxes laugh at me ?"

Thinking hard, the fox hit upon a plan to save herself from being laughed at. She called a meeting of his friends and said, "Brothers! have you ever wondered why after all, we carry these long tails?" Let us cut them off and be free from their nuisance."

But the other foxes had noticed her cut-off tail. They laughed aloud and replied, "You used to say that tails looked very fine when your own was all right. Now that you have lost yours, you want us to lose ours too."

MORAL : Dirty tricks seldom work.