Once Upon a Time, all the Animals were people, too.  They did not always walk on two legs or four, or six, or none at all, for in those days no one paid much heed to such things.  The Animals (who were people) chose their shape, and went about according to the seasons with little regard for the passage of years.  Their lives went thus: spring, summer, fall, winter, governed by the good things they could eat and when and the times when there was nothing to eat.

Among the Animals (who were people, remember), there were some who came First:  The First Wolf, the First Cat, the First Crane, and so on and so forth.  They held court among their people, and were generally regarded as wise in the ways of the World.

Some regarded themselves wiser than others.

In the Beginning, the First Fox was alone, and learned to get along all by his lonesome.  To this day he walks by himself, and will have none beside him.