204 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARlVtER. 



April 



then barked toward the middle of the river. Sev- 

 eral times this manoeuvre was repeated, and al- 

 ways with the same result, until the tricky pair 

 were convinced that they must try some other 

 scheme. 



It so happened.that whilst they were consider- 

 ing what they should do nexr, the fox espied a 

 small piece of meat, when it was agreed, that he 

 should tear this into little bits, and throw them 

 into the stream above wliere they then were; that 

 the cat should wait, crouched behiud a tuft of 

 grass, to dash into tlie river, and seize the trout, 

 if he should come lo take any piece of meat float- 

 ing near the bank ; and that the fox should, on 

 the first movement of the cat, return and give his 

 help. This scheme was put into practice, but with 

 no better success than the other. The trout came 

 and took the pieces of meat which had floated 

 farthest off from the bank, but to those which 

 floated near, he seemed to pay no attention. As 

 he rose to take the last, he put his mouth out of 

 the water, and said, "To other travellers with 

 these petty tricks : here we are 'wide awake as a 

 black fish,' and are not to be caught with bits and 

 scraps, like so many silly gudgeons !" As the 

 trout went down, the fox said, in an undertone, 

 "Say you so, my fine fellow ? we may, perhaps, 

 make a gudgeon of you yet!" Then turning to 

 the cat, he proposed to her a new scheme, in the 

 following terms : 



"I have a scheme to propose which cannot, I 

 am persuaded, fail of succeeding, if you will lend 

 your talents and skill for the execution of it. As 

 I crossed the bridge, a little way above, I saw the 

 dead body of a small dog, and near it a flat 

 piece of wood rather longer than your person. 

 Now, let us throw the dead dog into the river, 

 and give the trout time to examine it ; then let us 

 put the piece of wood into the water, and do you 

 set yourself upon it, so that it will be lengthwise 

 under you, and your mouth m.'iy lean over one 

 edge, and your tail hang in the water as if you 

 were dead. The trout, no doubt, will come up to 

 you, when you may seize him, and paddle to the 

 bank with him, where I will be in waiting to help 

 you land the prey." The scheme pleased the cat 

 60 much, that, in spite of her repugnance to the 

 wetting which it promised her, she resolved to act 

 the part which the cunning fox had assigned to 

 her. They first threw the dead dog into the river, 

 and, going down the stream, they soon had the 

 satisfaction to see the trout glide up close to it 

 and examine it. They then returned to the 

 bridge, and put the piece of wood into the water, 

 and the cat, having placed herself on it, and taken 



a posture as if she were dead, was soon carried 

 down by the current to where the trout was. Ap- 

 parently without the least suspicion, he came up 

 close to the cat's head, and she, seizing him by 

 one of his gills, held him in spite of all his strug- 

 gles. The task of regaining the bank still had to 

 be performed, and this was no small difficulty, 

 for the trout struggled so hard, and the business 

 of navigation was so new to the cat, that not with- 

 out great labor and fatigue did she reach the place 

 wliere the fox was waitmg for her. As one end of 

 the board struck the bank, the fox put his right 

 fore-paw upon it, then seizing the fish near the 

 tail, as the cat let it go, he gave the board a vio- 

 lent push which sent it toward the middle of the 

 stream, and instantly ran off with the trout in his 

 mouth, to.vard the bridge. 



It so happened that after the fox had quitted 

 the bridge the last time, an otter had come there 

 to watch for fish, and he, seeing the trout in the 

 fox's mouth, rushed toward him, and compelled 

 him to drop the fish, and put himself on the de- 

 fensive. It had also happened that this otter had 

 been seen in an earlier part of the day, and that 

 notice of him had been given to the farmer to 

 whom the cat belonged, and who had more than 

 once declared that if ever he found her fishing 

 again, she should be thrown into the river with a 

 stone tied to her neck. The moment the farmer 

 heard of the otter, he took his gun, and, followed 

 by a laborer and two strong dogs, went toward the 

 river, where he arrived just as the cat, exhausted 

 by the fatigue of her second voyage, was crawling 

 up the bank. Immediately he ordered the la- 

 borer to put the sentence of drowning in execu- 

 tion ; then, followed by his dogs, he arrived near 

 the bridge just as the fox and the otter were about 

 to join battle. Instantly the dogs set on the fox 

 and tore him to pieces ; and the farmer, shooting 

 the otter dead on the spot, possessed himself of 

 the trout, which had thus served to detain first 

 one, then the other of his destroyers, till a severe 

 punishment had overtaken each of them. 



MORAL. 



The inexperienced are never so much in danger 

 of being deceived and hurt, as when they thmk 

 themselves a match for the crafty, and suppose 

 that they have penetrated their designs and seen 

 through all their stratagems. As to the crafty, 

 they are ever in danger, either of being over- 

 reached one by another, or of falling in a hurry 

 into some snare of their own, where, as commonly 

 happens, should they be caught, they are treated 

 witti a full measure of severity. — Appleton's Juve- 

 nile Annual. 



