90 . NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



was riding in a sleigh in company with his wife and child, 

 when he became aware that they were being pursued by 

 wolves. He urged the horses to their utmost speed but it 

 soon became evident that the wolves would overtake them 

 before they could reach a place of safety. Urged to des- 

 peration, the peasant ordered his wife to throw the child to 

 the wolves, hoping thereby to gain time and thus escape. 

 The wife refused to part with her little one, whereupon an 

 altercation ensued, during which the peasant tried to drag 

 the child from her arms with a view to throwing it to the 

 wolves himself. In the struggle both mother and child fell 

 from the vehicle, and with a lightened load the horses 

 dashed forward at an even greater speed. For some ap- 

 parently unaccountable reason, however, the wolves took no 

 notice of the mother and child and continued to pursue the 

 sleigh, possibly anticipating the larger meal that the horses 

 would supply. In this they were not disappointed, for they 

 succeeded in overtaking the sleigh, and the peasant and the 

 horses fell victims to their ravage. In the meantime the mother 

 and child found their way to a farm house where they were 

 sheltered until danger was past. 



Tame Notwithstanding his natural fierceness, the 



Wolves. wo if becomes tame under kindly treatment, and 

 shows much affection for those who cherish him. Instances 

 are common in which wolves have remembered their bene- 

 factors, after years of absence, and have shown every demon- 

 stration of joy on recognition. They have even been har- 

 nessed and taught to draw carriages and to fulfil other useful 

 offices. With wolves, as with many other animals, hunger 

 and thirst are apparently the principal causes of savagery 

 and the struggle for existence the main cause of rapacity and 

 cruelty. 



The Cunning The cunning of the fox is proverbial and if 



of the Fox. on iy one half of the stories told about him are 



true, there are quite sufficient to invest him with a degree of 



