e back.

She stepped inside with her bundle of sticks,
As cheerful as one could be,
When the Wicked Old Fox sprang full at her throat.
"I've got you now!" cried he.

"What good are bolts and bars?" he said,
"How silly you must be
To think that they could ever keep out
A cunning old Fox like me!"

Of course the poor Little Small Red Hen
Was now in a terrible fright.
She gave a scream and dropped her sticks,
They tumbled left and right.

But she just had time to fly on a beam
That went across over head,
Quite out of reach of the Wicked Old Fox.
"But I'll have you yet," he said.

Then he began to run round and round,
And round and round beneath,
Looking up every now and then,
Laughing and showing his teeth.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

It made her dreadfully dizzy and faint,
She gave a cluck and a lurch,
She gave a flap and a flutter and flop,
And fell right off her perch.

Then the Wicked Old Fox threw open his sack,
And in less than half a minute,
He had picked her up with a cry of joy,
And hastily stuffed her in it.

[Illustration]

He swung it over his shoulder, smiled,
And started off for his den;
"How nice you'll be for supper!" said he,
"My dear Little Small Red Hen!"

So there she was, poor thing, you see,
Shut up quite tight in the sack;
She found it most unpleasant there,
Close and stuffy and black.

[Illustration]

But she thought of her little scissors,
In her apron pocket hid.
"I will cut a hole and see where I am,"
She said. And so she did.

Now the sun was hot, and all the time
It was getting hotter still;
And the Wicked Old Fox grew very tired
As he climbed the heathy hill.

[Illustration]

He dropped on mossy bank, and said--
"It may be lazy--but
I think I'll just have forty winks,"
And his wicked eyes blinked and shut.

The Little Small Red Hen, indeed,
Was also very glad
To rest a bit from the jogs and jolts'
And the bangs and bumps she'd had.

[Illustration]

And she thought, "If I cut a little hole,
Why not a big one too?"
And she cut a slit that was long enough
To let her whole self through!

Wasn't she pleased to be free again!
She said, "I must run double-quick;
But before I go I'll manage to play,
The Wicked Old Fox a trick."

[Illustration]

And she took a great