Act 1 :

How Bystrouška was caught*
A sunny afternoon in the forest

The forester, whose arrival upsets the life of the forest animals, decides to take a rest, lies down and dozes off. During his sleep, the cricket and the grasshopper perform a little concert. Enticed by a mosquito, a frog lands on the gamekeeper’s nose and wakes him up. Bystrouška, a little vixen, is fascinated by the frog. The forester captures the fox and takes her home with him. The blue dragonfly cries over Bystrouška’s disappearance.

Bystrouška in the forester’s yard near the pond
Bystrouška the politician. Bystrouška escapes*
The courtyard of the farm. A sunny late afternoon in autumn

Now living at the forester’s, Bystrouška converses with the basset hound. She has to protect herself both from his advances and mistreatment by the children. Since she has bitten them, the gamekeeper ties her up. Night falls and she goes to sleep. She dreams that she is a young girl. When day breaks she is a vixen once again. In order to get the hens to come closer to her, Bystrouška incites them to revolt. As they do not respond she declares that she is disgusted by their attitude and prefers to bury herself alive. The cock, seeking to find out what is going on, is gobbled up by Bystrouška, as are the hens one after the other. Under threat of the punishment demanded by the forester’s wife, Bystrouška snaps her leash and flees into the forest.

Act 2:

Bystrouška expropriates*
The forest at the end of the afternoon

At liberty in the forest, Bystrouška ruthlessly evicts the badger from his set and moves in herself.

The inn

The forester, the schoolmaster and the parson drink and play cards. The forester teases the schoolmaster about his timid loves. The latter repays him by asking for news of the escaped vixen.

The forest by moonlight

The schoolmaster, very tipsy, is having difficulty finding his way. He mistakes a sunflower for Terynka, his far-off lovedone. Bystrouška is hiding behind the sunflower. The parson is also making his way home. He thinks back to an episode from his youth when he was wrongfully accused of seducing a young girl. Both men are surprised by the arrival of the forester in hot pursuit of the vixen. The forester takes two shots at her without success.

Bystrouška is courted. Bystrouška is wed and loves*
The forest in summer, by moonlight

The vixen meets a magnificent fox. In her own manner she recounts her upbringing at the forester’s house and her escape. They fall in love with each other, thus provoking a great deal of gossip among the birds. Bystrouška is soon obliged to marry. The forest animals rejoice.

Act 3:

Bystrouška outwits Harašta from Lišeň
How Bystrouška is killed*
The forest in autumn, midday

Harašta, a fowl-monger, approaches. He meets the forester who suspects him of poaching. Harašta informs him that he is soon to marry Terynka. The forester sets a trap for the vixen. Bystrouška, her husband and their little family have great fun. Bystrouška and her companion consider enlarging the family. Harašta returns. Bystrouška, pretending to limp, lures him into the forest. He trips and falls. As he mournfully drags himself to his feet, Bystrouška and her family make off with the chickens. A furious Harašta seizes his rifle and kills the vixen.

The inn

The schoolmaster sheds a tear when he learns of Terynka’s wedding. He and the forester regret the parson’s absence. The forester, feeling his age, decides not to tarry and to return home through the forest.

Little Bystrouška, a spitting image of her mother*
The forest, as earlier

The forester, moved by the beauty around him, remembers his wedding day many years previously. At peace with nature and with himself, he dozes off. The animals return around him. He even sees a tiny vixen. But when he tries to catch her, his hand closes around a little frog. His rifle slips to the ground.

^{* subtitles by Janáček}