The Cunning Little Vixen
Janáček made some changes to the story in the cartoon.  This made it more suitable for an opera.  He did not have all the characters that are in the cartoon, and he changed the order of the story to make it more dramatic.  He compares the human beings with the animals.  For example: we see vixen Sharp-ears falling in love and having a family.  But the forester’s friends: the school master and the priest, have not been so lucky with their love-life.  The priest looks like the badger, the woodpecker is like the priest.  When the opera is performed the same singer sometimes sings both parts.  The end of the opera is like the beginning.  This shows that life carries on and one generation follows another.