r whence it
came. But after a time he found that it proceeded from the lower part or
butt of an elm-tree. This tree was very large, and seemed perfectly
sound, but it seems there was a crack in it, whether caused by lightning
or not he did not know, which did not show at ordinary times. But when
the wind blew extremely strong as it did to-night, the tree leant over
before the blast, and thus opened the crack. The fox, listening at the
crack, heard the voice lamenting the long years that had passed, the
darkness and the dreary time, and imploring every species of vengeance
upon the head of the cruel King Kapchack.

After a while the fox came to the conclusion that this must be the toad
who, very many years ago, for some offence committed against the state,
was imprisoned by Kapchack's orders in the butt of an elm, there to
remain till the end of the world. Curious to know why the toad had been
punished in this terrible manner, the fox resolved to speak to the
prisoner, from whom perhaps he might learn something to Kapchack's
disadvantage. Waiting, therefore, till the crack opened as the gust
came, the fox spoke into it, and the toad, only too delighted to get
some one to talk to at last, replied directly.

But the chink was so small that his voice was scarcely audible; the
chink, too, only opened for a second or two during the savage puffs of
the gale, and then closed again, so that connected conversation was not
possible, and all the fox heard was that the toad had some very
important things to say. Anxious to learn these things, the fox tried
his hardest to discover some way of communicating with the toad, and at
last he hit upon a plan. He looked round till he found a little bit of
flint, which he picked up, and when the elm bent over before the gale,
and the chink opened, he pushed the splinter of flint into the crevice.

Then he found another piece of flint just a trifle larger, and, watching
his opportunity, thrust it in. This he did three or four times, each
time putting in a larger wedge, till there was a crack sufficiently open
to allow him to talk to the toad easily. The toad said that this was the
first time he had spoken to anybody since his grandson, who lived in the
rhubarb patch, came to exchange a word with him before the butt of the
tree grew quite round him.

But though the fox plied him with questions, and persuaded him in every
way, he would not reveal the reason why he was imprisoned, except that