Once upon a time, there was a farmer named 'Farmer Green' who ran a huge commercial farm that raised potatoes and carrots. His products were so good they were in great demand. His crops were completely organic and had a wonderful flavor and texture. Buyers from all over the world came to him for his crops and his secret to growing them.

His house was in a distant corner of his fields, surrounded by a simple white rail fence on two sides, a small stream and a wood bordered with bramble bushes and a briar patch made the other two sides. Between the stream and the woods was a small vegetable garden, where he grew experimental crops and food for his table. The garden looked tended and cared for, but in reality nature flourished unencumbered.

An old hound, named 'Dusky' who retired from hunting, guarded the area against intruders and thieves. Dusky watched the garden carefully day and night. The only intruders that got in and out of the garden were a wily sly fox and a curious hungry rabbit.

One day Dusky caught the fox raiding the garden. He asked the fox, "Why do you keep coming here every day?"

The fox answered, "There is a rabbit that steals food from here and takes it back to his hutch in the wood. I want to catch him."

Dusky said, "If I help you catch him, what is in it for me?"

The fox replied, "I will assume your guard duty here for a year."

"OK, you have a deal." Dusky agreed.

The next night, Dusky staked out the wood and saw the rabbit emerge from his hutch under a huge bramble bush. The bush was such a tangled mess that Dusky and the fox were unable to follow the rabbit. The bramble patch was in the middle of a grove of tightly spaced trees with branches entwined over the patch.

Dusky let the rabbit come and go for a few more nights, as he watched the path taken. He hatched a plan to easily approach the hutch and get the rabbit. Two nights after he hatched his plan, he talked to the fox, "I have a plan but I need your help."

The fox said, "Anything I can do, I will to get that rabbit."

The next day, the rabbit came out his hutch, hopped to the garden and started picking out vegetables for his larder. While the rabbit was in the garden, Dusky and the fox went to the bramble patch. Dusky had the fox climb in the trees to shake all the branches. The shaking made almost all the leaves flutter to the ground covering the bramble patch. The fox looked down and saw what he thought was a pile of leaves. The fox thought it was safe to jump down into the leaves, instead of climbing back down the tree. When he jumped down, he fell through the leaves and the brambles captured and held him fast.

Dusky and the rabbit stood looking at the fox. Dusky turned to the rabbit and said, "Thank you, I have been trying to catch the fox and keep him from raiding the hen house for a long time."

From that day on, the fox stayed out of the hen house and the rabbit got his fill of vegetables. Dusky's job became easier after that and he rested every night.