little silver. Who could
tell? He would not, of course, take the money out to count it, for
that might bring him bad luck. But there could be no harm in just one
peep! So he slowly broke the seal, and untied the strings, and,
behold, a heap of burnt bones lay before him! In a minute he knew he
had been tricked, and flinging the bag to the ground in a rage, he ran
after the fox as fast as his snow-shoes would carry him.

Now the fox had guessed exactly what would happen, and was on the look
out. Directly he saw the little speck coming towards him, he wished
that the man's snow-shoes might break, and that very instant the
Lapp's shoes snapped in two. The Lapp did not know that this was the
fox's work, but he had to stop and fetch one of his other reindeer,
which he mounted, and set off again in pursuit of his enemy. The fox
soon heard him coming, and this time he wished that the reindeer might
fall and break its leg. And so it did; and the man felt it was a
hopeless chase, and that he was no match for the fox.

So the fox drove on in peace till he reached the cave where all his
stores were kept, and then he began to wonder whom he could get to
help him kill his reindeer, for though he could steal reindeer he was
too small to kill them. 'After all, it will be quite easy,' thought
he, and he bade a squirrel, who was watching him on a tree close by,
take a message to all the robber beasts of the forest, and in less
than half an hour a great crashing of branches was heard, and bears,
wolves, snakes, mice, frogs, and other creatures came pressing up to
the cave.

When they heard why they had been summoned, they declared themselves
ready each one to do his part. The bear took his crossbow from his
neck and shot the reindeer in the chin; and, from that day to this,
every reindeer has a mark in that same spot, which is always known as
the bear's arrow. The wolf shot him in the thigh, and the sign of his
arrow still remains; and so with the mouse and the viper and all the
rest, even the frog; and at the last the reindeer all died. And the
fox did nothing, but looked on.

'I really must go down to the brook and wash myself,' said he (though
he was perfectly clean), and he went under the bank and hid himself
behind a stone. From there he set up the most frightful shrieks, so
that the animals fled away in all directions. Only the mouse and the
ermine remained where they were, for they thought that they were much
too small to be