think he might be sorry
for himself if the Weasel was set on his track.

Rory did not go to Gilly's house the next night nor the night after. The
third night, as he was going home from a ramble, the Owl hooted at him.
"Why do you hoot at me, Big Moth?" said the Fox stopping in his trot.
(He always called the Owl "Big Moth" to pretend that he thought she
wasn't a bird at all, but a moth. He made this pretence because he was
annoyed that he could never get an owl to eat). "Why do you hoot at
me, Big Moth?" said he. "The Weasel's going to have your bones for
his stepping-stones and your blood for his morning dram," said the Owl
balefully as she went amongst the dark, dark trees. The Fox stopped long
to consider. Then he went to his burrow and told his youngsters they
would have to move house. He had them stirring at the first light.
He gave them a frog each for their breakfast and took them across the
country. They came to a burrow that Old-Fellow Badger had just left and
Rory the Fox brought his youngsters into it and told them that it would
be their new house.

X

The evening after when Rory the Fox was taking his nap he heard one of
his youngsters give a sharp cry. They were playing outside the burrow,
lie looked out and he saw that his three youngsters were afraid of
something that was between them and the burrow. He looked again and saw
the Weasel.

"Ahem," said Rory the Fox, "and how are we this morning?"

The Weasel had marked one of Rory's youngsters for attack. Although Rory
spoke, he never took his eyes off the youngster he had marked.

"My dear friend," said the Fox, "I was just going to say--if you are
looking for anything, perhaps I could tell you where it might be found."

"Crystal Egg," said the Weasel without ever taking away his
blood-thirsty gaze from Rory's youngster.

"Oh, the Crystal Egg," said Rory the Fox. "Yes, to be sure. I could
bring you at once to the place where the Crystal Egg is." He came out of
the burrow and saw Gilly standing on the bank behind.

"I think it is time for my children to go back to their burrow," said
Rory the Fox. "Please excuse them, my friends." The Weasel took his eyes
off the youngster he had marked and the three little foxes scampered
into the burrow.

"This way, friends," said the Fox, and he started off towards the
Spae-Woman's house with the light and easy trot of a fox. Gilly and the
Weasel went behind him. They crossed a field of flax, a field of