The Mythology & Folklore Database
A fox meeting a hedgehog asked him, "How many wits have you?"
And he replied, "Only three. But how many have you?"
"I," boasted the fox," have seventy-seven."
As they were talking and walking along, not noticing where they were going, they fell into a deep hole which the peasants had dug.
The fox asked the hedgehog to save him.
The hedgehog said, "I have only three wits. Perhaps you will save me first, then I will see about you afterwards," and he asked the fox to pitch him out of the hole.
The fox did so, and then asked the hedgehog whether he could help him.
The hedgehog said, "I cannot help you with three, if you cannot help yourself with seventy-seven."
And so the fox was caught in the morning by the peasants and killed.