'Well, as I was sauntering over the plain, just now, I noticed a flock
of sheep grazing, and some of them had wandered into a little valley
quite out of sight of the shepherd. If you keep among the rocks you will
never be observed. But perhaps you will allow me to go with you and show
you the way?'

'You are really very kind,' answered the lion. And they crept steadily
along till at length they reached the mouth of the valley where a ram,
a sheep and a lamb were feeding on the rich grass, unconscious of their
danger.

'How shall we divide them?' asked the lion in a whisper to the hyena.

'Oh, it is easily done,' replied the hyena. 'The lamb for me, the sheep
for the jackal, and the ram for the lion.'

'So I am to have that lean creature, which is nothing but horns, am I?'
cried the lion in a rage. 'I will teach you to divide things in that
manner!' And he gave the hyena two great blows, which stretched him
dead in a moment. Then he turned to the jackal and said: 'How would you
divide them?'

'Quite differently from the hyena,' replied the jackal. 'You will
breakfast off the lamb, you will dine off the sheep, and you will sup
off the ram.'

'Dear me, how clever you are! Who taught you such wisdom?' exclaimed the
lion, looking at him admiringly.

'The fate of the hyena,' answered the jackal, laughing, and running off
at his best speed; for he saw two men armed with spears coming close
behind the lion!

The jackal continued to run till at last he could run no longer. He
flung himself under a tree panting for breath, when he heard a rustle
amongst the grass, and his father's old friend the hedgehog appeared
before him.

'Oh, is it you?' asked the little creature; 'how strange that we should
meet so far from home!'

'I have just had a narrow escape of my life,' gasped the jackal, 'and
I need some sleep. After that we must think of something to do to amuse
ourselves.' And he lay down again and slept soundly for a couple of
hours.

'Now I am ready,' said he; 'have you anything to propose?'

'In a valley beyond those trees,' answered the hedgehog, 'there is a
small farmhouse where the best butter in the world is made. I know their
ways, and in an hour's time the farmer's wife will be off to milk the
cows, which she keeps at some distance. We could easily get in at the
window of the shed where she keeps the butter, and I will watch, lest
some one should come unexpectedly, while you have a good meal. Then you