30 JUNE 2024 -

Mum was desperate because I was becoming more vain and conceited every day. But I didn't listen to her. One day Messer Volpone appeared. He was very handsome and elegant and told me about the forest that I was to visit with him. I yielded to his flattery and followed him. He took me to his den, very well furnished, and began to pay me many compliments, telling me I was pretty, delightful, charming, and I, enraptured, turned my head and saw.... dozens of geese locked in a cage! Panic-stricken, I fled and the fox, much less gentle than before, chased me until he managed to hold me in his jaws. I screamed, even though I knew it was all useless. then I fainted. When I opened my eyes again, I saw a dozen heads watching me apprehensively. "What...has... happened?" I stammered, and mum, wiping away a tear, explained: a little bird had seen everything and had run to warn the farm animals who, armed with bars and sticks, had chased the fox and beaten him to a pulp! With me, they had also freed all the other jolly geese. I finally realised how stupid I had been and from then on my behaviour changed radically.