“‘Do you hear that?’ said one of the messengers.  ’He considers himself very lucky to have caught a single mouse.  That’s the sort of animal we want.’

“So the cock called down from the tree—­’I say! below there!  Mr. Mouse-eater! you can have a whole loft-full of such long-tailed vermin as that, if you will come with us.  But you must first solemnly swear that you will never eat eggs instead of mice.’

“’Nothing on earth shall ever tempt me to touch an egg.  I swear it most solemnly,’ said the fox, staring up into the tree.  ’But whence do you come, my worthy masters?’

“’We live at Hencastle, but no one knows where that is except the mice, who eat us out of house and home.’

“‘You don’t say so,’ said the fox from below, licking his lips.  ’And are there many more such handsome, magnificent birds as you are, at Hencastle?’

“‘Why, of course, the whole place is full of them.’

“‘Then I’ll come with you,’ said the fox, lowering his eyes, lest the cocks should discern the hungry look in them.  ’And if there are a thousand mice in the loft, they shall all soon lick the dust.  Ah! you don’t know what delicious dainties such—­mice—­are.’

“This time the fowls had to wait till evening before they heard Mark, the watchman, crowing from his chimney, and calling forth,

    “’Here come the three! 
    But what do I see? 
    Why, the friend that they bring
    Is a four-legged thing.’

“When the fox got to the outer wall, he sniffed about uneasily and said,

“’I smell a dog, and I am not fond of the race, nor do they as a rule like me.’

“‘You need not be alarmed,’ replied the cocks; ’there is only one of them here—­our friend Mr. Flaps,—­and he is always stationed outside the castle; besides, he is just as glad as we are that you have come to kill the mice.’

“But in spite of this assurance, the fox did not at all like the idea of going in past Flaps, who stood at the door, showing his teeth, and with the hair down his back standing on end; but at last, catching sight of a number of plump young chickens looking out at a window, Reynard could resist no longer, and with his mouth watering in anxiety to be among them, he slipped past Flaps like lightning, and scampered up into the loft.  Once there, he behaved so affably to the fowls, and especially to some of the oldest and most influential hens, that very soon every one looked on him as their friend in time of need, and their enthusiasm was brought to a climax when they saw him catch four mice in half as many minutes.

“In the dead of the night, when all were asleep, Reynard crept up to where the fowls roosted, and finding out where the youngest and fattest were perched, he snapped off the heads of a couple before they had even time to flutter a feather.  He then carried them to the window, opened it very gently, dropped the dead bodies out on to the ground beneath, and then sped away down to the house-door and bolted it.