Page:Europa's Fairy Book.djvu/67

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Reynard and Bruin
45

them up quick enough. Why do you not do the same? "So Bruin put his tail down and waited and waited but no fish came. "Have patience, man," said Reynard; "as soon as one fish comes the rest will follow." "Ah, I feel a bite," said Bruin, as the water commenced to freeze round his tail and caught it in the ice.


Bruin Gets a Beating


"Better wait till two or three have been caught and then you can catch three at a time. I'll go back and finish my lunch."

And with that Master Reynard trotted up to the man's wife and said to her, "Ma'am, there's a big black bear caught by the tail in the ice; you can do what you like with him." So the woman called her husband and they took big sticks and went down to the river and commenced whacking Bruin who, by this time, was fast in the ice. He pulled and he pulled and he pulled, till at last he