THE FOX IN FABLE 177 



Buhtan is poorly dressed, so the fox rolls him in a 

 muddy ditch and then goes to the Czar and tells him 

 of the accident. The Czar lends a dress. Buhtan is 

 somewhat uneasy in his new splendour. The fox 

 accounts for his embarrassment by saying that his 

 friend was never so badly dressed before. Then 

 Buhtan is struck with amazement at some golden 

 ware. The resourceful fox declares that his surprise 

 is caused because these fittings are only used in 

 Buhtan's bath-rooms at home. This so surprised the 

 Czar that the wedding ceremony takes place, and 

 the fox leads bride and bridegroom to an enchanted 

 palace. 



After the age of fable, in England at least, the 

 fox becomes of some importance, but of less literary 

 interest, and in modern times the literature of the 

 fox deals with his place in sport. The horse and the 

 hound were made for each other, says Mr. Jorrocks, 

 and the fox is the link to bind them together, and 

 the immortal grocer of Great Coram Street sums up 

 the place of the fox in story. ' The Life of a Fox,' 

 by Tom Smith, successively Master of the Hambledon, 

 Craven, and Pytchley Hunts, only deals with the 

 episodes of the fox's life that have to do with the 

 chase, and only once has the fox been written of, 

 and written of well, fur his own sake. In a charming 



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