One of the most touching and unsentimental love scenes in opera history takes place not between people, but between two young, erotically inexperienced foxes. Leoš Janáček imbues their encounter with the unrepeatable magic of the first time. His libretto, based on a picture story, tells the story of the young vixen who is caught by the forester, incites the chickens to revolution on his farm before she bites their throats, takes to her heels, drives the badger out of his den, marries the fox, gives birth to an incalculable number of offspring and is finally shot by the poacher.