But Bowser the Hound thinks slowly . When he saw old Mother Fox sitting there , he thought it was Reddy Fox and that now he had him . With a great roar of his big voice , he sprang forward . Mother Fox waited until he was almost upon her , then springing to one side , she trotted off a little way . At once Bowser the Hound started after her . She pretended to be very tired . Every time he rushed forward she managed to just slip out of his grasp . Little by little she led him across the White Meadows back towards Farmer Brown 's barnyard . Pretty soon old Mother Fox began to run as fast as she could , and that is very fast indeed . She left Bowser the Hound a long , long way behind . When she came to a stone wall she jumped up on the stone wall and ran along it , just like a squirrel . Every once in a while she would make a long jump and then trot along a little way again . She knew that stones do not carry the scent well , and that Bowser the Hound would have hard work to smell her on the stone wall . Way down at the end of the pasture an old apple tree stretched a long limb out towards the stone wall . When she got opposite to this she jumped onto this long limb and ran up into the tree . There in the crotch , close to the trunk , she sat and watched . Bowser the Hound , making a tremendous noise , followed her trail up to the stone wall . Then he was puzzled . He sniffed this way , and he sniffed that way , but he could not tell where Mother Fox had disappeared to . He looked up at old Mother Moon and bayed and bayed , but old Mother Moon did not help him a bit .
Then he jumped over the stone wall and looked , and looked , and smelled , and smelled , but no track of Mother XXXXX could he find .
Bowser Brown Fox Meadows Moon Pretty barnyard crotch jump limb