he tree, and rolled over just in front
of them.

For some time they trotted on without any adventures, till just as
they were about to cross a strip of long grass on the edge of the
forest, the lion's quick ears detected a faint rustling noise.

'That is a snake,' he cried, stopping short, for he was much more
afraid of snakes than of bears.

'Oh, it is all right,' answered the cat. 'Snake, die!' And the snake
died, and the two brothers skinned it. They then folded the skin up
into a very small parcel, and the cat tucked it into his mane, for
snakes' skins can do all sorts of wonderful things, if you are lucky
enough to have one of them.

All this time they had had no dinner, for the snake's flesh was not
nice, and the lion did not like eating bear--perhaps because he never
felt sure that the bear was _really_ dead, and would not jump up alive
when his enemy went near him. Most people are afraid of _some_ thing,
and bears and serpents were the only creatures that caused the lion's
heart to tremble. So the two brothers set off again and soon reached
the side of a hill where some fine deer were grazing.

'Kill one of those deer for your own dinner,' said the boy-brother,
'but catch me another alive. I want him.'

The lion at once sprang towards them with a loud roar, but the deer
bounded away, and they were all three soon lost to sight. The cat
waited for a long while, but finding that the lion did not return,
went back to the house where they lived.

It was quite dark when the lion came home, where his brother was
sitting curled up in one corner.

'Did you catch the deer for me?' asked the boy-brother, springing up.

'Well, no,' replied the man-brother. 'The fact is, that I did not get
up to them till we had run half way across the world and left the wind
far behind us. Think what a trouble it would have been to drag it
here! So--I just ate them both.'

The cat said nothing, but he did not feel that he loved his big
brother. He had thought a great deal about that deer, and had meant to
get on his back to ride him as a horse, and go to see all the
wonderful places the lion talked to him about when he was in a good
temper. The more he thought of it the more sulky he grew, and in the
morning, when the lion said that it was time for them to start to
hunt, the cat told him that he might kill the bear and snake by
himself, as _he_ had a headache, and would rather stay at home. The
little fellow knew quite well tha