Mr. Rabbit was a very bad little beast; he was always doing things that made other persons angry and they wanted to catch him. But it was very hard to catch Mr. Rabbit.
One day Mr. Wolf said to Mr. Fox, "We will catch Mr. Rabbit and eat him tonight. You go to your home and get into bed. I shall say that you are dead. Then Mr. Rabbit will come near you to look at you, and you will jump up and catch him."Mr. Fox ran home and got into bed. Mr. Wolf went to Mr. Rabbit' house. He stood at the door and called, "Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit.""What is it?" said Mr. Rabbit.
"Have you heard about poor Mr. Fox? It is so sad!""No," said Mr. Rabbit, "I have not heard anything about Mr. Fox.""He is dead!" said Mr. Wolf.
Mr. Wolf went away. Mr. Rabbit went to Mr.Fox's house to see what he could see. He looked in through the window, and there he saw Mr. Fox on the bed with his eyes shut, looking like a dead fox. Mr. Rabbit thought, "I must see if he is dead or not. For if he is not dead, he will catch me when I go near to him."Mr. Rabbit went into Mr. Fox's house; he looked at Mr. Fox and said, "Mr. Wolf says that Mr. Fox is dead but he does not look like a dead fox. You can always know if a fox is dead, for dead foxes always open their mouths.
Mr. Fox heard this, and he thought, "I will show him that I am dead." So he opened his mouth.
When Mr. Rabbit saw Mr. Fox open his mouth he knew that Mr. Fox was not dead. Mr. Rabbit jumped up and ran out of the house as quickly as he could. |