noticed.

The fox continued his shrieks till he felt sure that the animals must
have got to a safe distance; then he crawled out of his hiding-place
and went to the bodies of the reindeer, which he now had all to
himself. He gathered a bundle of sticks for a fire, and was just
preparing to cook a steak, when his enemy, the Lapp, came up, panting
with haste and excitement.

'What are you doing there?' cried he; 'why did you palm off those
bones on me? And why, when you had got the reindeer, did you kill
them?'

'Dear brother,' answered the fox with a sob, 'do not blame me for this
misfortune. It is my comrades who have slain them in spite of my
prayers.'

The man made no reply, for the white fur of the ermine, who was
crouching with the mouse behind some stones, had just caught his eye.
He hastily seized the iron hook which hung over the fire and flung it
at the little creature; but the ermine was too quick for him, and the
hook only touched the top of its tail, and that has remained black to
this day. As for the mouse, the Lapp threw a half-burnt stick after
him, and though it was not hot enough to hurt him, his beautiful white
skin was smeared all over with it, and all the washing in the world
would not make him clean again. And the man would have been wiser if
he had let the ermine and the mouse alone, for when he turned round
again he found he was alone.

Directly the fox noticed that his enemy's attention had wandered from
himself he watched his chance, and stole softly away till he had
reached a clump of thick bushes, when he ran as fast as he could, till
he reached a river, where a man was mending his boat.

'Oh, I wish, I do wish, I had a boat to mend too!' he cried, sitting
up on his hind-legs and looking into the man's face.

'Stop your silly chatter!' answered the man crossly, 'or I will give
you a bath in the river.'

'Oh, I wish, I do wish, I had a boat to mend,' cried the fox again, as
if he had not heard. And the man grew angry and seized him by the
tail, and threw him far out in the stream close to the edge of an
island; which was just what the fox wanted. He easily scrambled up,
and, sitting on the top, he called: 'Hasten, hasten, O fishes, and
carry me to the other side!' And the fishes left the stones where they
had been sleeping, and the pools where they had been feeding, and
hurried to see who could get to the island first.

'I have won,' shouted the pike. 'Jump on my back, dear fox, and