1One full moon night in the forest, a little fox was born. Mother Fox held her in her arms and whispered in her large, red ears.
"Take your first look at the world, Little Fox. In the den the rocks protect you. They are strong and safe. In the forest, the trees will shade you when you play, the flowers will smile with you, and the stream will make music just for you. The silk worms will give us silk to make nets. Your father uses the nets to catch fish for us to eat so you can grow tall and strong. Everything in the forest is my friend, and they are your friends, too."
The moon shone bright, white and big in the clear sky. His rays touched the fur on Little Fox's nose. Her eyes grew wide with wonder. "Is he my friend?" Little fox asked, pointing to the moon with her black nose. Her whiskers twitched with excitement.
"That is the Moon. He is very kind to shine so brightly on your birthday." Mother Fox smiled. "I hope he likes you, but he is so far away, we never know what he is thinking." Mother Fox carried the new fox kit into the den to sleep.
Little Fox grew in the den, where she slept safe and warm every night. While Mother Fox wove silk cords on her loom, she played in the forest with her friends, picking flowers and gathering food for Mother Fox. Father Fox taught her how to knot the silk cord into fishing nets to catch the silver fish that swam in the stream. The way they darted back and forth under the shining water reminded her of the Moon. He was so beautiful, she watched him through the soft gray clouds. The fish jumped out of the net just like the Moon's rays slipped through her fingers.
Father fox laughed and showed her how to make a net the fish could not jump out of. After their bellies were full of fish and rice, Little Fox thought about catching the moon. If she stopped him long enough, maybe he would talk to her. The Moon would have to be her friend then. She frowned at the thought of the beautiful moon trapped like a fish out of water. No, Little Fox thought. The Moon should be free.
The next day, Little Fox told the moths how much she wanted to be friends with the Moon. One blue moth landed on the end of her furry red ear and whispered, "I can be your wings tonight. When you go to sleep, dream of me, and I will fly you to the moon." Little Fox thought about flying to the Moon in her dreams. It sounded nice, but she wanted more.
"Thank you," she said, "But I want more."
The next day, Little Fox was weaving silk cords for her mother. She pulled the long strands of silk one at a time. One, Two. Three, Four...She placed them in her hand loom and twisted them together. The right strand goes down, left strand goes up, turn the loom, up, down, turn the loom again. Up, Down, Right, Left, Turn, Up, Down, Right, Left, Turn. The strands make cord, the cords make nets, fish fill the nets, again and again.
A happy red bird landed on a branch nearby. "Hello, Little Fox."
"Hello, Red Bird," She nodded.
"The blue moth told me about your problem with the Moon." The red bird winked his bright black eye. "I have an answer." Little Fox listened to the little red bird. "Sing to him. I can teach you a song so wonderful, the Moon will stop in his tracks to hear your voice. You must promise to practice for many days before you sing it at night. I know you can do it."
Little Fox liked that idea very much. She learned the song, and practiced every day while weaving silk cords. She practiced while fishing, and playing, and picking flowers, until the whole forest loved the sound of her voice. She practiced until every note was perfect. Trees bent toward her when she sang.
Fish swam into her net when she sang. Clouds stopped to listen when she sang.
The Moon, sadly, was too far away to hear her singing. No matter how loudly or how long she sang, the Moon continued on, silently moving through the wide sky.
Little Fox waved her hand at the beautiful Moon. His silver rays touched the tip of her black nose. Her whiskers twitched, and her eyes went wide with wonder. She was going to make friends with the Moon, no matter what.
Every animal in the forest wanted to help help her, but they were out of ideas.
Soon it was time for Little Fox to go to the silk worms to gather more silk. She was an expert at weaving cord for fish nets now, almost as good as Mother Fox. All the other foxes wanted nets made from her cords. She picked up her basket and walked through the forest to the village of the silk worms.
There, the littlest silk worm crawled into her basket, one inch at a time. "Excuse me," said the tiniest voice she had ever heard. "Excuse me," it said again. Little Fox looked into her basket, filled to the top with the finest silk, and one small green worm. The silk worm cleared her tiny throat and spoke her mind. "If you want to make friends with the Moon, you need to be yourself."
"What do you mean?" Little Fox asked.
"You can't cast a net like a fisherman, fly like a moth, or sing like a bird to get attention. You are a weaver. Take my silk and weave a cord for the Moon, a friendship cord made with eight lucky strands. The blue moth can fly it up to him. The red bird can sing a song to tell him who it is from."
Little Fox clapped her hands and swished her fluffy tail. She smiled so wide, all the worms smiled with her.
"That is the best idea ever!" She couldn't wait to get started. The Little Fox sat in the middle of the silk worm village and began to weave.
One, Two. Three, Four, five, six, seven, eight...She placed them in her hand loom and twisted them carefully together. The right strand goes down, left strand goes up, turn the loom, up, down, turn the loom again. Up, Down, Right, Left, Turn, Up, Down, Right, Left, Turn. The strands slowly made the most difficult cord she had ever worked.
She wove for hours, until the cord was long enough to circle the moon in the sky like a bracelet. The soft silk glowed in the setting sun as the Moon rose over the tall trees.
Little Fox finished the bracelet and held it up to the Blue Moth. One grabbed it, then another, and another, until all the moths in the forest were flying her gift into the sky. The red bird sang about the fox who loved the Moon, and the moon stopped in his tracks to look down at the forest.
"We are friends, Little Fox," said the Moon. Her bracelet made a glowing circle around the bright face of her new friend.
The End