SLY-BOOTS. 59 



him. He springs up and laps the sweet drops, even 

 though the whole swarm buzz around him in their fury , 

 he laughs at their sting, and, receiving them on his fur, 

 rolls himself on the ground, crushes and eats them ; so at 

 last the busy workers are obliged to resign to him the 

 sweet store, and desert their house and home. Or he 

 steals into the vineyard to taste the grapes, if not too high 

 or too sour ; or he lies in ambush near the brook to go 

 halves with the heron in her prey, or to tickle the crayfish 

 with his brush, and coax him out of his watery cave. 



13. But cold winter approaches. The migratory birds 

 are off to the land of the sun. The few of the feathered 

 tribes that remain roost higli on the trees. He looks at 

 them wistfully, but makes no vain attempt to disturb their 

 repose. The hare sits securely in his form in the distant 

 field, and the rabbit lies snug in his chambers under-ground. 

 Now the farm-yard allures, and happy is the fox if, at 

 night, some unguarded hole allows him to enter the house 



|9MHHHHBflHffiggg| 



l~he Fox in Luck. 



where hens and chickens repose in fancied security. He 

 discovers his prey, and makes a frantic leap, but misses. 



