The autobiographical story that Mia shares with the young foxes is meant to inspire them to think about the myriad dangers that might present themselves as they grow into adult foxes and begin to live independently. Mia’s story features horrors of all kinds, from the accidental to the pragmatic to the flagrantly cruel. Whether Heidicker is describing human desires to kill foxes for selfish reasons or outlining the ravages of diseases, infections, and injuries, the unpredictable terrors of the storyteller’s tale outline a wide range of misfortunes that might befall a young fox kit—and, by extension, a young human child. Perhaps the most controversial and the most essential element of the story, however, is Heidicker’s unflinching resolve to educate young children about the ever-present dangers of active malevolence: the realization that others of one’s own species do sometimes revel in cruelty and violence for their own sake. Accordingly, the kits’ mother sends them to the storyteller’s den to hear the most terrifying story of all; she cannot tell it because she did not live it, but she knows that the storyteller’s experience contains important lessons that her children will need to know in order to survive.

When it is revealed that Mia’s story is autobiographical, and therefore true, Heidicker implies that true events are more horrifying to contemplate than any fiction that might be conjured up for the purposes of deliberately scaring others.