The Fox and the Box
Project Description
A creation story with fantasy and sci-fi elements. Runner-up in Page Turner’s Spring 2024 Fantasy Flash Fiction Contest.
Role/Associated Title: Writer.
Organization: Page Turner Magazine.
Skills: writing, publishing.
Credit: Page Turner Magazine
ONE
In the beginning, back before our lands grew apart and the seas rose and fell, back before the age of ice and even before the great rain of fire, an old man named Wisdom stood in a summer field with his dog and learned the smell of flowers. Wisdom wore a small box around his neck, which he never removed. The box, which was also Wisdom’s mother, was called Ignorance. It contained the only secret in the whole world, because at the beginning of things, everyone knew everything. Every plant, animal, and person knew every skill they could ever need to practice, and could recall all the mistakes of their forebears. Though many terrible things were known, such as pain, loneliness, and hunger, many beautiful things were known too, like family, joy, and the value of fleeting things. On the whole, most living things were quite happy.
TWO
Fox, like everyone else, knew all things except for what was in the box. As is the nature of foxes, he was curious. One day when he was hunting for his dinner he met Wisdom in a summer field, struggling to make a fire. Fox asked Wisdom why he could not start a fire. Wisdom replied that he had put all his knowledge of fire in his box. This caused him to forget his knowledge of making fire, allowing him to learn the skill again and thus gain wisdom. Fox asked why Wisdom did not simply open the box and reclaim his knowledge of fire all at once, this being a much more efficient way to gain wisdom. The old man replied that wisdom is not like knowledge. It cannot be given or taken. Wisdom can only be earned, through struggle. Fox did not understand Wisdom’s box, or his peculiar habits, and he wished to learn so that he could once again know the answers to all things. Fox asked if Wisdom would open the box, so he could know ignorance. Wisdom replied that it is impossible to know ignorance and hid the box under his shirt.
THREE
Fox was infuriated by Wisdom’s refusal to give him answers, and his curiosity was like an itch he could not scratch. He decided he would steal the box. Though he followed Wisdom for many days and nights, Wisdom never took his necklace off, and he clutched the box tightly while he slept. Each day Wisdom placed a piece of his knowledge in the box and relearned it, traveling the land with Hound, his best friend. Hound could smell Fox, and chased Fox away whenever he drew too near.
FOUR
After a long time stalking Wisdom with no luck, Fox approached Wisdom. Fox told Wisdom that he had accepted that Ignorance was unknowable. He asked Wisdom if instead of learning Ignorance, he could put pieces of his knowledge in the box, so that he might become wise. Though Wisdom knew Fox was lying, he allowed Fox to join him so long as he actually placed a piece of his knowledge in the box, hoping to win the trickster over with his lessons. That day, Wisdom placed his knowledge of war in the box. Because all knowledge is connected to other knowledge in an infinitely intricate web, attached to war in a thousand trailing strands were greed, spite, rage, hunger, and dozens of other things. Wisdom wadded these all up and stuffed them in his box, forgetting them for the day so he could learn them again. Fox placed his knowledge of what color his fur was in the box, not deeming it very important and loath to give up any of his cleverness.
FIVE
One thing attached to war that Wisdom should not have placed out of reach within the box was distrust. Knowing that Wisdom would not have knowledge of lies, Fox lied that Wisdom had promised to give Fox the box a few days ago. Although his suspicion was gone, Wisdom still had his memory. The old man replied that he had not promised Fox the box. To avoid teaching Wisdom distrust, Fox lied again. He said that he had placed his knowledge of past conversations in the box, and Wisdom believed him. Hound watched Fox warily.
SIX
After a long hike up a mountain searching for war that Wisdom might relearn it, they came to a clearing. Fox suggested that they rest in the soft moss. Wisdom agreed and went to sleep. Hound lay awake to watch Fox, but eventually exhaustion from the climb overtook him and he succumbed to dreams as well. Because Wisdom had forgotten distrust, the old man did not clutch the box tightly as he slept. Fox stole it easily and ran into the woods. Wisdom woke up, Fox’s actions having re-taught him distrust, anger, possessiveness, and the desire for revenge. Wisdom bid Hound to chase Fox and reclaim the box.
SEVEN
Hound chased Fox through the woods. As Fox fled, the lid of the box bounced up and down, leaving pieces of Ignorance all along his path. One piece of Ignorance eliminated knowledge of climbing, and this piece hit Hound squarely in the face. Fox did not see this. He climbed a tree, expecting Hound to follow. He was surprised when Hound just stood at the bottom and barked, but Fox was not about to question his luck. Taking advantage of his position, he eagerly opened the box so that he could know Ignorance and become completely omniscient.
EIGHT
Ignorance flew out of the box as a great black web, along with war and all of its trailing parts. Shocked, Fox snapped the box shut as quickly as he could, but it was too late. The wind took the web of Ignorance and war like a sail and spread it out quite by chance in a great blanket. Ignorance of everything but war and its directly connected pieces of knowledge, such as hunger, rage, and the others, drifted down to settle over the world. The heaviest strands of the web, such as ignorance of speech, fire, and building, settled fully on almost all of the animals, who like to live outside. Humans, at least the ones who happened to be indoors, were sheltered from these heavy strands and were only affected by the smaller, light webs which blew in their windows. These erased knowledge of less fundamental things like unlimited energy, flight, the universal language, and the paths to worlds other than our own. Eventually the wind blew the web into tiny pieces which disappeared, but the damage had been done.
NINE
Wisdom followed the sound of Hound’s barking, which no longer held any meaning for him because he was now ignorant of animal speech. He saw that Fox was trapped in the tree because he no longer had knowledge of how to climb. Fox was not trying to climb down because he had never learned anything before, and did not know how. Wisdom had experience with learning, so he learned how to climb up and rescued Fox from the tree. Fox tried to thank him and apologize for his terrible betrayal, but he no longer had knowledge of speech. Wisdom, seeing that Fox’s mistake was punishment enough by itself, forgave Fox. Wisdom explained to Fox and Hound that it would take them all a very long time to re-learn all the knowledge that had been lost, but that it was possible and necessary. Fox returned the box to Wisdom. The only thing still inside it was Fox’s knowledge of his fur color, which Wisdom kept as a way of reminding Fox to trust his elders. That is why foxes’ pelts shift colors according to the season, sometimes red, sometimes white, unsure of their true nature.
