Hello, and welcome to the February 2021 Folklore & Fiction dispatch. In this edition, I'll be exploring ATU 60 "Fox and Crane Invite Each Other." I'll also be providing an exercise designed to help you adapt the tale type's plot and motif for your own creative purposes. Let's start with an example of the type from Russian folklore, a tale entitled "The Fox and the Crane."
"The Fox and the Crane"
The fox and the crane used to be good friends, they even stood godparents for the same child. The fox wanted to treat the crane to dinner and invited him to her house: “Come to see me, gossip! Come, my dear, you’ll see how nicely I’ll entertain you!” So the crane came to her house. Meantime the fox had cooked gruel and spread it over a dish. She served it and urged her guest: “Eat, my darling, I cooked it myself.” The crane pecked with his bill, knocked and knocked at the dish, but nothing got into his mouth, while the fox lapped and lapped the gruel until she had eaten it all. After the gruel was gone, the fox said: “I’m sorry, dear friend, but that’s all I have to offer you.” “Thank you, my friend, for what you have given me. You must come to visit me soon.”
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