day's journey, so they encamped there for the night, and fed on what they had in their hunting-pouches. The next day, however, they found it equally impossible to get out of the forest, and as they had now nothing left to eat, one of them said, "We must shoot something for ourselves, or we shall starve," and he loaded his gun and looked about to see what he could find.
An old hare came running by, and he was just going to shoot her, when she cried—
"Dear young huntsman, if I may live,
Two of my young to thee I'll give."
And with that she leaped into the underwood and brought out two of her young; but the little things were so lively, and gambolled so prettily, that the two huntsmen could not find it in their hearts to kill them. So they agreed to keep them, and the young animals followed them on foot.
Then a fox crept across their path, and they thought they would shoot him, but he cried—
"Dear young huntsman, if I may live,
Two of my young to thee I'll give."
And he also brought out two of his cubs, but the huntsmen again did not like to kill them; so they gave them to the hares as companions, and the four followed together.
Soon after this, a wolf stepped out from the thicket, and the huntsmen aimed at her, but the wolf cried—
"Dear young huntsman, if I may live,
Two of my young to thee I'll give."
The two young wolves were added to the other animals, and also followed along with them.
