Now, while Mister and Madam Fox were eating, the little ones sat round in a circle, waiting till their parents should have finished, that they might get the bones to pick. But one very little, very round, white, and fat fox, kept staring eagerly at a leg of the goose till it could not resist the temptation; so it snatched up the leg and ran away.

Instantly all the others flew round the cave after it, tumbled over it in confusion, and brought it back, sobbing, with the leg in its mouth and the tears in its eyes. The leg was taken from it, and Madam Fox said, “Now, my dears, learn this lesson,— when you are not to have a thing, don’t look at it too eagerly.” So saying, she gave the little fat fox a bump on the nose, and went on with her supper. When they had finished the goose the bones were given to the little foxes who ate them all up in a very short time. The little fat white one could not begin till it had begged pardon of its mother for being bad, but, after that, it felt so much happier that it ate with a double appetite, and stuffed itself to such an extent that it became broader than it was long. After all was over they lay down on a feather bed at one end of the den, and fell sound asleep. The moon, with a grave smile on its round face, retired behind a cloud and went out. A thick mist then settled down upon the country, so that Mister Fox and Madam Fox and the ten little foxes were never seen again.