she asked , and the marten told his story and begged the hare to help them pull . The hare pulled her hardest , and after a while they were joined by a fox , and then by a wolf , and at length a bear was added to the company , and he was of more use than all the other five beasts put together . Besides , when the whole six had supped off the man he was not so heavy to draw . The worst of it was that they soon began to get hungry again , and the wolf , who was the hungriest of all , said to the rest : ` What shall we eat now , my friends , as there is no more man ? ' ' I suppose we shall have to eat the smallest of us , ' replied the bear , and the marten turned round to seize the squirrel who was much smaller than any of the rest . But the squirrel ran up a tree like lightning , and the marten remembering , just in time , that he was the next in size , slipped quick as thought into a hole in the rocks . ` What shall we eat now ? ' asked the wolf again , when he had recovered from his surprise . ` We must eat the smallest of us , ' repeated the bear , stretching out a paw towards the hare ; but the hare was not a hare for nothing , and before the paw had touched her , she had darted deep into the wood . Now that the squirrel , the marten , and the hare had all gone , the fox was the smallest of the three who were left , and the wolf and the bear explained that they were very sorry , but they would have to eat him . Michael , the fox , did not run away as the others had done , but smiled in a friendly manner , and remarked : ` Things taste so stale in a valley ; one 's appetite is so much better up on a mountain . ' The wolf and the bear agreed , and they turned out of the hollow where they had been walking , and chose a path that led up the mountain side . The fox trotted cheerfully by his two big companions , but on the way he managed to whisper to the wolf : ` Tell me , Peter , when I am eaten , what will you have for your next dinner ? ' This simple question seemed to put out the wolf very much . What would they have for their next dinner , and , what was more important still , who would there be to eat it ? They had made a rule always to dine off the smallest of the party , and when the fox was gone , why of course , he was smaller than the bear . These thoughts flashed quickly through his head , and he said hastily : ` Dear brothers , would it not be better for us to live together as comrades , and everyone to hunt for the common dinner ? Is not my plan a good one ? ' ` It is the best thing I have ever heard , ' answered the fox ; and as they were two to one the bear had to be content , though in his heart he would much have preferred a good dinner at once to any friendship . For a few days all went well ; there was plenty of game in the forest , and even the wolf had as much to eat as he could wish .
One morning the fox as usual was going his rounds when he noticed a tall , slender tree , with a magpie 's nest XXXXX one of the top branches .
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