Nursery Tales 203
On the other side of the woods lived an old fox with his mother.
One day the old fox said to his mother, “Now, mother, you have the pot boiling; I’m going to catch the little red hen, and we’ll have her for dinner.”
So he slung a bag over his shoulder, and started for the little red hen's house.
The little red hen was out in the yard picking up chips to make a fire to boil her teakettle with. So the old fox slipped into the house, and hid behind the door.
Pretty soon the little red hen came in with her apron full of chips. She turned around to lock the door, and she saw the old fox. Then she was so frightened that she dropped all her chips, and flew up to a peg in the wall.
The old fox laughed and said, “Ha, ha! I’ll soon bring you down off from there.”
Then he began running round and round after his tail.
The little red hen kept turning around on the peg to watch him, and she got so dizzy after a little that she fell off.
Then the old fox picked her up, and put her in his bag, and started home feeling very fine.
