Everyone in Laos knows the clever stories of Clever Fox, a smart and mischievous trickster who always outsmarts the local lords. His cleverness and quick thinking made it almost impossible for anyone, even powerful landlords, to trick him.
One day, a local lord wanted to challenge Clever Fox. He grabbed a small bird tightly in his hand and called for Clever Fox. “Tell me, should I let this bird live, or should I crush it?” he demanded. Clever Fox was standing near a tall post. Instead of answering directly, he climbed halfway up the post and asked a tricky question of his own: “So, Your Lordship, do you want me to climb higher or come back down now?” The lord realized that he could not win this clever game. Frustrated, he had no choice but to let Clever Fox go. Once again, Clever Fox walked away with the victory.
The next day, the lord tried a second challenge. He approached Clever Fox while the trickster was bathing in a pond and said, “I bet you cannot make me go into the water.” Clever Fox scratched his head and replied, “It would be very hard for me to make you undress and jump in the pond. But if you were already in the water and I had to make you get out, that would be very easy. I could do it right away.”
The lord, eager to prove Clever Fox wrong, stripped off his clothes and jumped into the pond, thinking he could make Clever Fox come to him. But before he could do anything, Clever Fox laughed loudly and said, “Look! You are in the water. That means you have already lost the challenge.” Calmly, Clever Fox took the lord’s clothes and made them into his own outfit.
The lord thought Clever Fox was trying to steal his clothes, so he ran to the shore. Clever Fox, holding the clothes, walked backward while teasing him: “Now I have made Your Lordship go from the water to the shore. That is the second time you have lost. Are you ready to admit defeat?”
Clever Fox then ran ahead, teasing the lord to chase him. Villagers gathered to watch. When they saw the lord running completely naked after Clever Fox, everyone laughed so hard that they fell to the ground. Once again, Clever Fox had proven that cleverness and wit can defeat power and arrogance.