Smiles in Meetings: Knives in Backchannels

A Fox, having been hunted hard and chased a long way, saw a Countryman working in a woods and begged for his help to find a hiding place. The man told him to go into his nearby cottage.

No sooner had the Fox gone inside than the hunters arrived.

"Have you seen a Fox pass this way?" they asked.

The Countryman said, "No," but at the same time, he pointed toward where the Fox lay. The hunters, however, did not take the hint, and the Fox escaped at full speed.

The Fox, who had seen everything through a chink in the wall, came out and began to walk away without a word.

"Why, how now!" said the Countryman. "Haven’t you the manners to thank your host before you go?"

"Nay, nay," said the Fox. "If you had been as honest with your finger as you were with your tongue, I wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye."