"Oh! what a cruel, wicked fellow!" said Willie, almost crying.
"Reynard waited for some time, when Miss Griffin, waving her claw from the window, said cheerfully: 'All's right, my dear Reynard, my papa has eaten his soup, and is now sound asleep: forty cannons going off at once, would not wake him till he has slept off the boiled cat. Come and help me to pack up; I should be sorry to leave a single diamond behind.'
"'So should I,' said the fox. 'Why! the door is shut! open it, beautiful creature, to your adorer.'
"'Alas! my father has the key, you must come up by the basket; I will let it down for you.'
"The fox did not like much to get into a basket, that had taken his lady-love to be boiled, but the most cautious grow rash when money's to be gained: and avarice can trap even a fox. So he jumped into the basket, and went up in an instant. It rested just before it reached the window, and the fox felt, with a slight shudder, the claw of the hideous creature stroking his back.
"'Oh! what a beautiful coat,' said she, caressingly.
"'You are too kind,' said the fox; 'you can feel it better when I am once up. Make haste, I beseech you!'
"'O! what a beautiful bushy tail. Never did I see any thing like it.'
"'It is entirely at your service, sweet creature,' said the fox, 'but pray let me in.'
"'Really, such a beautiful tail; I don't wonder you are proud of it.'
"'Ah! my beloved Miss Griffin, you flatter me, but you pinch my tail a little too hard.'
"Scarce had he said this, when down dropped the basket, but not with the fox in it; he was caught by the tail, and hanging half way down, by the help of the very same sort of pulley with which he had cheated the dog. You may imagine his consternation; he yelped out, at a terrible rate--for it hurts a fox exceedingly to be hanged by his tail, with his head down--when what do you think happened? Why, the door opened, and out stalked the griffin, smoking his pipe, and with him, a fashionable crowd of all the beasts in the neighborhood.
"'Hallo, brother!' said Bruin, the bear, laughing fit to kill himself; 'whoever saw a fox hanged by the tail before?'
"'You'll have need of a physician,' said Doctor Ape.
"'Don't stay there to oblige us,' said Gauntgrim, the wolf.