Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/85

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THE GREEDY LITTLE FOX.
73

The wolf asked her to let him lick her brains which he knew to be delicious eating.

After this little game of hers, the fox said to the wolf: "Let's lie down for a while and have a rest, of which I have great need, for I am very tired, and my bones are aching all over."

But when the wily fox saw her companion fast asleep, she noiselessly left him and went to look out for some little creature whom she could adopt, which in her language meant to eat up, and having succeeded in her search and found a kid, she enjoyed another meal all to herself, and all this while she kept the poor sleeping wolf fasting. She then returned and lay down beside him, and was soon fast asleep herself, looking as innocent as a new-born babe.

After they had had their rest, they rose up and went through the country, plundering and carrying away whatever they could find, nothing coming amiss to them; and they left nothing undone which by their cunning, ingenuity, and impudence they could acquire, while the incorrigible glutton of a fox always managed to get the best of the feast; for though the wolf had more strength, his insidious companion had all the more cunning, and would stoop to practise tricks which the wolf only condescended to when hard pressed by hunger.

The fox parted company with the wolf and went her way, and, having met a heron, she asked him to join her in preparing a broth, some of which they were