I was going back and forth on whether I wanted to post this, but my English professor said it was "excellent", and college professors typically don't give compliments for effort like high school teachers do. I just thought it would be fun to post something that wasn't fan fiction.

Before continuing, Fox 8 by Saunders is a contemporary fable/short story following a fox named Fox 8. Fox 8 is fascinated with humans and thinks they're great, and he even learns how to speak their language. His love for humans is chipped away throughout the story as the humans precede to destroy his forest, bulldozing the hills, chopping the trees, filling in the river, all to build a huge mall. This essentially starves him and his group. His friend Fox 7 and him go to the food court to get food to bring back to the group, but when they return, the group has disappeared. Then Fox 8 watched as two construction workers mangle and kill Fox 7. At the end of the story it's revealed that what we're reading is actually a letter from Fox 8 asking humans why they're so great and so terrible at the same time. It's actually not a terrible read if you want to check it out yourself.

Now, without further a-do, my rewriting of Fox 8 as a fable.

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Every day a fox would sit outside human houses, listening to the humans read to their young. The fox thought that humans were great, as they lived easy lives and built many wonderful things. He learned their pretty language and told his fellow foxes all about how amazing the humans were.

One day, a human arrived in the forest, and the fox greeted him. "Hello, human," he said in Human, "I learned your nice words because I think you are so great."

The human smiled. "That's nice. I think your forest is great, but we can make it better. My friends and I are visiting today to make your home as great as ours."

"That is great!" The fox barked. "I admire how humans live! What can I do to help?"

"Don't worry, we'll take care it. Why don't you go to the city and see how great it is to live like a human?"

The fox travelled to the city and experienced how great human life was. The humans he passed tossed him food scraps, which he thought his friends would enjoy. He could see his fellow foxes getting along with the humans- they would learn to speak their pretty words, fill up on their food, and relax in their big dens. Their lives would be so great!

The fox returned, ready to tell his friends about how great the humans are. But when the fox returned, he saw that the forest was missing. The human, carrying a black bag, was walking by the fox.

"Where are my friends?" The fox asked. "What have you done to my home?"

The human dropped the bag. When it hit the ground, a bloody fox paw and tail poked out. When the fox looked at the human sadly, the human only smiled. "What, I thought you wanted to live like a human?"

"APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING"