Atondido Stories
the girl from her house, for she is determined to make me marry
her here in the moonlight this very night. I don't want to marry
her, for she is very big and fat, and I am very small and lean."
Then he cried "Boo-hoo-hoo" again, and Fox said, "I have been
looking for a wife for a long time, and I like fat people. Let me
get into the bag in your place, and I will marry the grand-
daughter instead, for the old woman will not know me in the
shadows." And Rabbit gladly agreed. Then Fox untied the bag
and let Rabbit out and got into the bag himself, and Rabbit tied
up the mouth of the bag and hurried away as quickly as he
could.
Soon the old woman came back, carrying her axe. She sharp-
ened it on a stone and said, "Now I will kill you, and you will
thieve no more in my garden. A poor woman must live untrou-
bled by such pilfering rogues." When Fox heard these words and
the sound of the stone upon the axe, he knew that he had been
deceived by Rabbit, and when the old woman opened the bag he
sprang nimbly out with a sudden bound and was away before
she could catch him. He swore by the Starlight that he would
have vengeance on Rabbit. All night long he searched for him
and all the next day, but he could not find him. At last in the
gathering twilight he came upon him in an open space in the for-
est, on the other side of a stream, eating his fill of wild vegeta-
bles. Fox tried to coax him across the stream to his side, for he
himself was afraid of the water, but Rabbit would not go. "Why
don't you eat some cheese?" said Rabbit; "there is a big round
cheese in the stream." Fox looked into the stream where Rabbit
pointed, and there he saw the reflection of the big round yellow
moon. He thought it was a round cheese, and he plunged in after
it, for he was very fond of cheese. Rabbit hoped he would be
drowned, but the stream was shallow and Fox climbed out with
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