Atondido Stories
rage. "Take that," and he struck out wildly with his foot. But his
foot, like his fists, stuck fast. Then he kicked with the other foot,
but that too was held in the gum. Rabbit was now very cross,
and in his anger he said, "Now I shall bite you," but when he bit
the little man, his teeth, like his feet and hands, stuck fast. Then
he pushed with his body with all his might, hoping to knock the
little man down, but his whole body stuck to the dummy figure.
He cried out loudly, for he was now beside himself with fear,
and the old woman, when she heard his yells, came running out
of her house. "Aha!" she said, "so you are the robber who has
been stealing from my garden. I will rid the world of a pilfering
pest, for I will kill you this very night." Then she pulled him
away from the gum figure and put him in a strong bag and tied
the mouth of the bag with a stout string. She left the bag on the
path by the garden gate and went to look for her axe to kill Rab-
bit.
While Rabbit lay there wondering how he was going to es-
cape, Fox came prowling along. He stumbled over the bag, for
he did not see it in the shadows, and he plunged forward head-
long to the ground with a great thud. He got up and rained kicks
upon the bag. He was mad because he had been tripped. He
kicked poor Rabbit's back until Rabbit cried in pain. "Who are
you in the bag?" asked Fox when he heard the cries. "I am your
friend Rabbit," was the answer. "What are you doing, hiding in
the bag?" asked Fox. Then Rabbit suddenly thought of a way of
escape. He knew that Fox had long been looking for a wife, but
that no one would have him as no one trusted him because his
fame for treachery and slyness was so great. "I am not hiding,"
he said. "The old woman who owns this garden wants me to
marry her grand-daughter, and when I refused to do it she
caught me and shut me up in this bag; she has just gone to bring
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