Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/83

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THE GREEDY LITTLE FOX.
71

jumping down each time to the ground; and this operation she repeated until she had made a breach wide enough for cattle to pass through into the field.

She had hardly finished her work when she saw a donkey pass by.

"Neighbour, would you like to come inside and have a good feed of ripe maize?" said the fox.

"I should like it very much indeed," replied the donkey.

"Well, then, come inside and make a good meal, as I wish to revenge myself for the hunter's treachery by destroying his fine crop of maize."

The donkey ate and gorged until there was very little maize left in the field.

After the fox had satisfied her revengeful feelings, and had left the maize field a wreck, she met a wolf, whom she addressed thus: "Oh, my good neighbour, I am glad to see you. What say you to seeking a little one for us to adopt?"

The wolf being nothing loth, they started off together, and after a while they perceived in the distance some labourers in a field who were tying up bundles of rye; the fox, turning to her companion, said: "I'll tell you what we'll do; just you go up to those men, and while they attempt to run after you to strike you with their flails, I, in the meantime, will rob them and carry away their pot of cooked rice, which they are keeping warm for dinner on their