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THE GRATEFUL FOXES.

A. B. MITFORD.

One spring day, two friends went out to a moor to gather fern. As they were straying about, they saw at the foot of a hill a fox that had brought its cub out to play; and while they looked on, struck by the strangeness of the sight, three children came up from a neighboring village with baskets in their hands, on the same errand as themselves.

When the children saw the foxes, they picked up a bamboo stick and approached the creatures. After the old foxes took to flight, they surrounded the young ones and beat them with the stick until they ran away as fast as their legs could carry them; but two of the boys caught the cub, and holding it by the back of the neck, went off in great glee.

The two friends were looking on all the time, and one of them, raising his voice, shouted out, "Halloo! you boys! what are you doing with that fox?”

The eldest of the boys replied, "We're going to take him home and sell him to a young man in our village. He'll buy him, and then he'll boil him in a pot and eat him.

"Well," replied the man, after considering the matter carefully, "I suppose it's all the same to you to whom you sell him. You'd better let me have him."

"Oh, but the young man promised us a good round

sum if we could find a fox, and he urged us to come out to the hills to catch one; and so we can't sell him to you at any price."

"Well, I suppose it cannot be helped, then; but how much would the young man give you for the cub?"

“Oh, he'll give us three hundred cash, at least.” "Then I'll give you half a bu,' and so you'll gain five hundred cash by selling him to me."

"We'll sell him for that, sir. How shall we hand him to you?"

"Just tie him up here," said the man. He made the cub fast with the string of a napkin and gave a half bu to the three boys, who ran away delighted.

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The man's friend said to him, "Well, certainly you have queer tastes. What on earth are you going to keep the fox for?"

"How very unkind of you to speak of my tastes like that. If we had not interfered now, the cub would have lost its life. If we had not seen the affair there would have been no help for it. How could I stand by and see life taken? It was but a little I spent to save the cub, but had it cost a fortune I would not have begrudged it. I thought you were intimate enough with me to know my heart, but to-day you have accused me of being eccentric, and I see how mistaken I have been in you. However, our friendship shall cease from this day forth.”

When he sad this, with much firmness, the other, retiring backward and bowing low with his hands on his knees, replied:

"Indeed, indeed, I am filled with admiration at the goodness of your heart. When I hear you speak thus, I feel more than ever the love I bear you. I thought you might use the cub as a decoy to lead the old ones to you, that you might pray them to bring prosperity and virtue to your house. When I called you eccentric just now, I was but trying your heart, because I had some suspicions of you, and now I am truly ashamed of myself."

When he had finished speaking, the other replied, "Really, was that indeed your thought? Then I pray you forgive my harsh words.”

When the two friends had thus become reconciled, they examined the cub, and saw that it had a slight wound in its foot and could not walk. While they were thinking what they could do, they saw the herb called "Doctor's Nakasé," which was just sprouting, so they rolled up a little and applied it to the wound. Then they took some boiled rice from their luncheon box and offered it to the cub, but it showed no signs of wanting to eat. They stroked it gently on the back and petted it, and as the pain of the wound seemed to have subsided, they were admiring the properties of the herb, when, opposite to them, they saw the old foxes sitting beside some stacks of rice straw watching them.

"Look there! the old foxes have come back, out of fear for their cub's safety. Come, we will set it free!" They at once untied the cub and turned its head toward the spot where the old foxes sat. The wounded foot was no longer painful, and with one bound it dashed toward

its parents and licked them all over for joy, while they seemed to bow their thanks to the two friends. The two men, with peace in their hearts, went off to another place and, choosing a pretty spot, ate their noonday meal. After a pleasant day, they returned to their homes, and became firmer friends than ever.

The man who had rescued the cub was a tradesman in good circumstances. He was married and had one son who had reached his tenth year, but he had been attacked by a strange disease that defied all skill and drugs of physicians. At last a famous physician prescribed the liver taken from a live fox, which he said would certainly effect a cure. If that were not forthcoming, the most expensive medicine in the world would not restore the boy's health.

When the parents heard this they were at their wits' end. However, they stated the case to a man who lived on the mountain. "Even though our child should die for it," they said, "we will not ourselves deprive other creatures of their lives, but if you should hear your neighbors were going fox-hunting, we pray you buy a fox's liver of one of them at our expense. We care not what you may have to pay for it." The mountaineer promised faithfully to do

as he was asked, and then went his way.

In the night of the following day there came a messenger, who announced himself as coming from the person who had undertaken to get the fox's liver. The master of the house went out to see him.

"I have come from the man in the mountains. Last night the fox's liver that you asked him to get for you fell

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