Alexander and a fox cub check each other out.

Foxes feature in some of the children’s books we read to the kids.  Alexander had a fear of them for  a while, liking them with tough and nasty wolves.  There are a couple of fox families here on Smögen, and we saw one fleetingly one night crossing the road.  Last night, while out for a swim, we met up with a cub on the rocks, and the fox and Alexander were equally interested in each other.

This nice friendly fox and its family are somewhat accustomed to human interaction, which, we later learned, has become bad news for local pets.

The kids, then, are calmer meeting animals in the flesh than they are conjuring them up after reading books or seeing their animated counterparts on the screen.  Below, Alexander and Aylin watching the movie “Over the Hedge,” where a growly bear threatens to do in the poor raccoon for having stolen his junk food stash.

“Are you guys scared?” we asked Alexander and Aylin.  “Noooooo,” they claimed.

“Maybe just a a little bit?” we persisted, seeing the looks on their faces.

“Yesssssss,” the conceded.

Real live foxes pique their interest.  Animated cartoon bears scare the bejeepers out of them.