t he had
them all in his hand.

'I'll go to my sister the frog,' he thought to himself, 'and she will
sew them together for me'; and he set off at once for the swamp in
which his sister lived.

'Will you sew my coat together? I had an unlucky accident, and it is
quite impossible to wear,' he said, when he found her.

'With pleasure,' she answered, for she had always been taught to be
polite; and getting her needle and thread she began to fit the pieces.
But though she was very good-natured, she was not very clever, and she
got some of the bits wrong. When the wolverine, who was very
particular about his clothes, came to put it on, he grew very angry.

'What a useless creature you are!' cried he. 'Do you expect me to go
about in such a coat as that? Why it bulges all down the back, as if I
had a hump, and it is so tight across the chest that I expect it to
burst every time I breathe. I knew you were stupid, but I did not
think you were as stupid as that.' And giving the poor frog a blow on
her head, which knocked her straight into the water, he walked off in
a rage to his younger sister the mouse.

'I tore my coat this morning,' he began, when he had found her sitting
at the door of her house eating an apple. 'It was all in little bits,
and I took it to our sister the frog to ask her to sew it for me. But
just look at the way she has done it! You will have to take it to
pieces and fit them together properly, and I hope I shall not have to
complain again.' For as the wolverine was older than the mouse, he was
accustomed to speak to her in this manner. However, the mouse was used
to it and only answered: 'I think you had better stay here till it is
done, and if there is any alteration needed I can make it.' So the
wolverine sat down on a heap of dry ferns, and, picking up the apple,
he finished it without even asking the mouse's leave.

At last the coat was ready, and the wolverine put it on.

'Yes, it fits very well,' said he, 'and you have sewn it very neatly.
When I pass this way again I will bring you a handful of corn, as a
reward'; and he ran off as smart as ever, leaving the mouse quite
grateful behind him.

He wandered about for many days, till he reached a place where food
was very scarce, and for a whole week he went without any. He was
growing desperate, when he suddenly came upon a bear that was lying
asleep. 'Ah! here is food at last!' thought he; but how was he to kill
the bear, who was so much bigg