THE AGILITY OP THE FOX. 51 



enough, Reynard is himself again, and pounces on and 

 captures one or more of his deluded victims. Some- 

 times, when caught in a steel trap, the fox simulates 

 death ; the bonde then approaches, and seeing the fox, 

 as he supposes, dead, he is careless in opening the 

 trap. As soon as he finds the teeth of the trap loosened, 

 Reynard is alive again, and quickly makes off, to the 

 astonishment and chagrin of the worthy agriculturist, 

 who did not expect such a resurrection. 



The fox has an invincible predilection for the flesh 

 of the hedgehog, and circumvents the poor creature in 

 this way. Of course he finds the hedgehog rolled up in 

 a ball, when he turns it on its back, and makes water 

 into its eyes ; the pungent fluid causes the poor hedge- 

 hog to uncoil itself with pain, when it is soon killed 

 and devoured. 



Such are some of the tricks of the fox, according to 

 Pontoppidan and Olaus Magnus, whose statements, 

 however, must be received cum grano sails. Bishop 

 Pontoppidan was a learned man for the times in which 

 he lived, but he was singularly credulous, and, among 

 other things, fervently believed in the existence of the 

 sea serpent, called in ^ Norway kraken, and gave a 

 minute description of one he had seen ! 



The following amusing story of the agility and cun- 

 ning of the fox is narrated by Mr. Lloyd : ' ( A certain 

 jagare, who was one morning keeping watch in the 

 forest, saw a fox cautiously making his approach 

 towards the stump of an old tree. When sufficiently 

 near, he took a high and determined jump on to the 

 top of it, and, after looking round a while, hopped to 

 the ground again. After Reynard had repeated this 

 knightly exercise several times, he went his way, but 



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