It's a fabulous story of the night of the Nativity, when Jesus has been born and he, Joseph and Mary are fast asleep.
Suddenly, a fox sneaks through the stable door. The animals clustered about the manger begin berating him for his thieving ways and propensity for stealing eggs and chickens. They demand to know what his gift will be for the Christ Child, as he has little to offer, they say, compared with them.
He tells them he is giving Jesus the gift of cunning. The animals are aghast, but the Christ Child sits up and thanks the fox.
"It is good," the Child says, "because it is not half a thing. It is whole. Who else among you has given me as much?"
Such a gift that will surely end in the animal's death, he explains, for no wild creature can live long without its cunning. Cows, donkeys and other animals, He said, had given worthy but replaceable gifts: a manger, wool, a dove's lullaby and a donkey's back.
But, "The fox has given me all he had," the Child continues. "Without his cunning, how will he find food or escape the snare? How will he live now, alone in the woods? His cunning is his strength; his cunning is his life. It is the only thing he has, and he has given it away."
What follows is an amazing dialogue between the Child and the fox as to how this gift of cunning will buy Jesus the precious time He will need to present His message to the world. The barnyard animals cluster about the fox, welcoming him at last.
At the end, a swan is seen heading toward the manger. A legend has it that before she dies, a swan sings once - her first song and her last. Christ, she feels, was worthy of her swan song.
さて、解釈です。エドワードは、ロザリーのことを、Quite the fox in the manger scenarioと言っています。これは、ロザリーが持っているもの(beauty)が、キツネにとってのcunning(ずるがしこさ)と同じである、というアナロジーだと思われます。つまり、ロザリーには美しさがあるが、それがロザリーの唯一の財産である、と。そして、キツネが自分の唯一の財産であるcunningという性質のゆえに、他の動物から忌み嫌われていることを、ロザリーに重ねているのでしょう。ロザリーは皮肉にも、美しいがゆえに、その美しさにおぼれ、うぬぼれ、自分の美しさの虜になってしまっている、とエドワードは冷めた目でロザリーのことをみていますよね。そして、エドワードは I wonder how...と、beautyであるがゆえにロザリーは性格がひねくれてしまったのだから、もしも彼女が美しくなかったら、もっと謙虚だったのだろうか・・・と、彼女の皮肉な運命をぼんやりと考えつつも、「こんなこと考えたって、仕方ないが」と思います。
"You think I cannot see as far ahead as a swan. You know that when swans feel the approach of death they sing, and they sing sweeter and louder on the last days of their lives because they are going back to that God whom they serve."