as he thought, he said to himself, "Why, that will make a
beautiful red fox scarf and muff for my wife Ann." And he got down and
seized hold of Reynard and threw him into the cart all along with the
fish, and then he went driving on as before. Reynard began to throw
the fish out till there were none left, and then he jumped out himself
without the man noticing it, who drove up to his door and called out,
"Ann, Ann, see what I have brought you." And when his wife came to the
door she looked into the cart and said, "Why, there is nothing there."

Reynard in the meantime had brought all his fish together and began
eating some when up comes Bruin and asked for a share. "No, no," said
Reynard, "we only share food when we have shared work. I fished for
these, you go and fish for others."

"Why, how could you fish for these? the water is all frozen over,"
said Bruin.

"I'll soon show you," said Reynard, and brought him down to the bank
of the river, and pointed to a hole in the ice and said, "I put my
tail in that, and the fish were so hungry I couldn't draw 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.

[Illustration: 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 got away leaving three
quarters of his tail in the ice, and that is why bears have such short
tails up to the present day.

Meanwhile Master Reynard was having a great time in the man's house,
golloping everything he could find till the man and his wife came back
and found him with his nose in the cream jug. As soon as he heard them
come in he tried to get away, but not before the man had seized hold
of the cream jug and thrown it at him, just catching him on the tail,
and that is the reason why the tips of foxes' tail