A long time ago, when the gods were still young and foolish, there lived a fox named Willow.

He was name for his bark colored fur, and his bravery.

At this time, the young gods like to often visit the earth, and even to communicate with the animals- people had not yet been born.

One god, a beautiful girl named Amber, would alwys visit whenever she could. She would come in the form of trees, for she was the goddess who made them.

One day, Willow stole a fish from two river otters, but on the run home he ran into a tree.

It was Amber- and she was the most beautiful tree he had ever seen, with flowers of every color, and shape, and size, instead of leafs.

“Hello”, said the tree to the fox, “why did you take that fish?”

The fox frowned, “I need to eat, and a fox eats best by stealing.” he said matter-of-factly.

“You must never steal or trick again. To repay the deeds you have already done, you must always hunt two meals, one for yourself, and one for me.”

The fox agreed, eager to see the beautiful tree again.

So every day, Willow hunted twice as hard, always giving Amber the bigger portion, and eating less and less.

Soon, Willow became to weak to hunt anymore, so he came to the tree to ask for her help; she agreed.

“I will make you a tree”, she said, “and I will be the fox. I'll let you get your food from the sun, and from the ground, and you'll never have to hunt again.

This sounded wonderful to Willow, he would very much like to be a beautiful tree as well.

Yet Amber was a trickster and a thief.

She turned Willow into a tree; not a beautiful one, but one with nothing but leafs and branches. Then, she turned into a fox, and darted off into the woods, leaving Willow sad and alone.

That is why all foxes are tricksters; that is why the Willow weeps.