dn't catch the fox up; so he returned home and wept bitterly,
because he was now all alone. At last, however, he dried his tears and
got him a little fiddle, a little fiddle-bow, and a big sack, and went
to the fox's hole and began to play:

"_Fiddle-de-dee!
The foxy so wee
Had daughters twice two,
And a little son too,
Called Phil.--Fiddle-dee!
Come, foxy, and see
My sweet minstrelsy!_"

Then the fox's daughter said, "Mammy, I'll go out and see who it is
that is playing so nicely!" So out she skipped, but no sooner did
pussy see her than he caught hold of her and popped her into his sack.
Then he played again:

"_Fiddle-de-dee!
The foxy so wee
Had daughters twice two,
And a little son too,
Called Phil.--Fiddle-dee!
Come, foxy, and see
My sweet minstrelsy!_"

Then the second daughter skipped out, and pussy caught her by the
forehead, and popped her into his sack, and went on playing and
singing till he had got all four daughters into his sack, and the
little son also.

Then the old fox was left all alone, and she waited and waited, but
not one of them came back. At last she said to herself, "I'll go out
and call them home, for the cock is roasting, and the milk pottage is
simmering, and 'tis high time we had something to eat." So out she
popped, and the cat pounced upon her, and killed her too. Then he went
and drank up all the soup, and gobbled up all the pottage, and then he
saw the cock lying on a plate. "Come, shake yourself, cock!" said
puss. So the cock shook himself, and got up, and the cat took the cock
home, and the dead foxes too. And when they got home they skinned them
to make nice beds to lie upon, and lived happily together in peace and
plenty. And as they laughed over the joke as a good joke, we may laugh
over it too!

THE SERPENT-TSAREVICH AND
HIS TWO WIVES

There was once a Tsaritsa who had no child, and greatly desired one,
so the soothsayers said to her, "Bid them catch thee a pike, bid them
boil its head and nothing but its head, eat it, and thou shalt see
what will happen." So she did so. She ate the pike's head and went
about as usual for a whole year, and when the year was out she gave
birth to a son who was a serpent.

And no sooner was he born than he looked about him, and said, "Mammy
and daddy! Bid them make me a stone hut, and let there be a little bed
there, and a little stove and a fire to warm me, and let me be married
in a fortnight!