"
"Be off home with you," said the king, "and be you parson, and let him
be clerk." And so it was.
FATHER BRUIN
Once on a time there was a man who lived far, far away in the wood. He
had many, many goats and sheep, but never a one could he keep because of
Greylegs, the wolf.
At last he said, "I'll soon trap Greyboots," and so he set to work to
dig a pitfall. When he had dug it deep enough, he put a pole down in the
midst of the pit, and on the top of the pole he set a board, and on the
board he put a little dog. Over the pit itself he spread boughs and
branches and leaves, and other rubbish, and a-top of all he strewed
snow, so that Greylegs might not see that there was a pit underneath.
So when night came on, the little dog grew weary of sitting there:
"Bow-wow, bow-wow," he said, and bayed at the moon. Just then up came a
fox, prowling and sneaking, and thought here was a fine time for
marketing, and with that gave a jump,--head over heels down into the
pitfall.
And when it got a little farther on in the night, the little dog grew so
weary and so hungry, and it fell to yelping and howling: "Bow-wow,
bow-wow," he cried out. Just at that very moment up came Greylegs,
trotting and trotting. He, too, thought he should get a fat steak, and
he, too, made a spring--head over heels down into the pitfall.
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