rly as
big as the whole five of them put together. For I suppose that, for
its size, there is no creature on earth so fierce and bloodthirsty as
a weasel; but remember, too, that he is also the pluckiest little
beast that there is, and would fight you and me if we drove him too
far.

The Calf was very much puzzled. "Why doesn't the Rabbit run on,
mother, if he is afraid of the Weasels?" he said. "I should have run
on as far as I could. Will they leave him alone because he lies down
and squeals?"

But she answered sadly, "No, no! and, my son, if ever it should befall
you that you must run for your life, as I fear may be only too likely,
then keep up a brave heart and run on till you can run no more."

And he answered, "Yes, mother," and thought to himself that he would
fight to the end too; for he hoped one day to grow into a good stag
and have horns to fight with; and besides he was a brave little
fellow. And, for my part, I think that the Calf was right; and if (as
I hope may never be) after you are grown up, disappointment should lie
in wait for you at every turn, and fate and your own fault should hunt
you to despair, then run on bravely, and when you can run no more,
face them and dare them to do their worst; but never, never, never
lie down and squeal.

So they journeyed on for three whole days, often stopping that the
Calf might rest. And on the third day as they were passing along one
side of a combe, they saw another strange sight. For on the other side
the rock came through the soil, and there at the foot of the rock
stood a ruddy-coloured creature with a white throat, and prick ears,
and a sharp nose, and a bushy tail that tapered to a point and ended
in a white tag. She carried a rabbit in her mouth, and round her stood
five little Cubs, jumping and scrambling and playing, and crying out,
"Rabbit for dinner, rabbit for dinner!" For a time she looked at them
with the rabbit still in her mouth while they danced around her, till
presently one ran up behind one of his brothers and rolled him over,
and the other lay on his back kicking and struggling while the first
pretended to kill him; and then a third came up and caught one of them
by the scruff of the neck and made him open his mouth so wide that you
would have thought he could never have shut it again. And then the old
Vixen laid the rabbit on the ground, and said, "Worry, worry, worry!"
and the Cubs dashed at it and began biting at it and tearing, and