I 7 4 THE FOX 



Everything in this little tale is true, except the 

 purpose for which the fox shams death, which is per- 

 haps a little beyond his intelligence. 



Again, if the fox ever did succeed in leading the 

 bear astray, it would doubtless be by means of honey, 

 as in the fable. It is at least true that the fox knows 

 where the honey is, since he digs out the bumble- 

 bees' nests. The fox has quite a sweet tooth, and 

 the old fable of the fox and the grapes is but a 

 simple transcript of an incident which anyone might 

 have seen in a grape-growing country, the moral 

 being just such as a shrewd mother wit might add. 



Indeed, the natural history of the earlier periods 

 of the fables was more truthful than that of the 

 seventeenth century, for Bishop Pontoppidan, who 

 wrote a Natural History of Norway, informs us that 

 the fox was in the habit of watching the otter going 

 to fish. Reynard then concealed himself behind a 

 stone. When the otter came ashore with his prey, he 

 made such a spring upon him that the affrighted 

 animal ran off and left his booty behind. The otter 

 is quite as strong and fierce as the fox, and is very 

 unlikely to be alarmed thus. 



The same writer tells us that a certain person was 

 surprised to observe a fox laying some cods' heads in 

 a row. The fox then hid himself and caught the first 



