Das schlaue Füchslein

Act One

The animals of the forest give life to peaceful nature, while the forester seeks to rest there. He falls asleep while the animals cavort around him. A fox cub tries to capture a frog. The forester, awaked by this, spots the little vixen and captures her. She is intended as a playmate for his children at home.
The forester’s wife complains about the vixen. The vixen, in turn, has been living in the house for a while now, but suffers from the lack of freedom. With the dachshund, the vixen talks about love, which neither of them has ever known. The two boys Pepik and Frantik torture the vixen, but she defends itself and bites. As punishment, the forester tethers her to a stake. She dreams that she has been transformed into a beautiful young woman. When she wakes up, she sees herself in her life as a captured vixen. 
The dachshund advises her to accept her fate, like he does. The rooster mocks the tethered vixen, while at the same time admonishing the hens to do their work. The vixen encourages the hens to rebel against their situation. Disappointed that they refuse to do so, she plays dead. When the rooster comes near her, she kills him along with each of the hens, one after another. Now the forester’s wife wants to get rid of the vixen once and for all and badgers the forester to shoot the animal. But the vixen frees herself and flees into the forest.

Act Two

The vixen drives the badger from his home, which, according to her, is much too big for him. Other forest animals help her do this.
At the tavern, the forester, the vicar, and the schoolmaster sit together. The forester reminisces about an earlier love and makes fun of the schoolmaster’s bad luck when it comes to matters of the heart. In turn, the schoolmaster asks about the little vixen who has brought misfortune on the forester. Noticeably tipsy, the three men make their way home.
That night in the forest, the schoolmaster has a hard time keeping to the path. Full of longing, he thinks of his great love for Terynka, whom he has adored for years. The vicar is also overwhelmed by memories of a girl he loved long ago. When the vixen appears, she amplifies this vision. But the forester also spots the vixen and tries to shoot her.
The vixen makes the acquaintance of a handsome fox. They feel a mutual attraction. The vixen tells of her unhappy days with the forester, but also proudly reports that she is now free and even has her own home. The fox woos the vixen, and she declares her love for him, which is returned by the fox with all his heart. The woodpecker officiates the couple’s wedding. Accompanied by the forest animals, the vixen and the fox celebrate their marriage.

Act Three

The poultry dealer Harašta meets the forester and tells him that he’s getting married to Terynka, the young woman loved by all the men in the village. The forester warns Harašta against poaching again. To capture the vixen, whom he blames for killing a hare, he sets up a trap. But the fox and the vixen see through this trick. Together, they are enjoying their offspring and are looking forward to more to come. The vixen teases Harašta to get at his chickens. But he, full of rage, shoots the vixen dead.
At the tavern, the schoolmaster is mourning, because Terynka is getting married, not to him, but to Harašta. The forester consoles him, they both think of the vicar, who has moved away. Both feel their advanced age.
In the forest, in the midst of the beauty of nature, the forester remembers his wedding many years ago and the years of happiness. Asleep and awake, the animals of the forest, including a fox cub and a frog – a grand child of the frog that woke him at the beginning of the piece – encounter him once again. It is as a grand cycle has come to a close.