ry clever, and she
got some of the bits wrong. When the wolverine, who was very particular
about his clothes, came to put it on, he grew very angry.

'What a useless creature you are!' cried he. 'Do you expect me to go
about in such a coat as that? Why it bulges all down the back, as if
I had a hump, and it is so tight across the chest that I expect it to
burst every time I breathe. I knew you were stupid, but I did not think
you were as stupid as that.' And giving the poor frog a blow on her
head, which knocked her straight into the water, he walked off in a rage
to his younger sister the mouse.

'I tore my coat this morning,' he began, when he had found her sitting
at the door of her house eating an apple. 'It was all in little bits,
and I took it to our sister the frog to ask her to sew it for me. But
just look at the way she has done it! You will have to take it to pieces
and fit them together properly, and I hope I shall not have to complain
again.' For as the wolverine was older than the mouse, he was accustomed
to speak to her in this manner. However, the mouse was used to it and
only answered: 'I think you had better stay here till it is done, and if
there is any alteration needed I can make it.' So the wolverine sat down
on a heap of dry ferns, and picking up the apple, he finished it without
even asking the mouse's leave.

At last the coat was ready, and the wolverine put it on.

'Yes, it fits very well,' said he, 'and you have sewn it very neatly.
When I pass this way again I will bring you a handful of corn, as
a reward'; and he ran off as smart as ever, leaving the mouse quite
grateful behind him.

He wandered about for many days, till he reached a place where food was
very scarce, and for a whole week he went without any. He was growing
desperate, when he suddenly came upon a bear that was lying asleep. 'Ah!
here is food at last!' thought he; but how was he to kill the bear, who
was so much bigger than himself? It was no use to try force, he must
invent some cunning plan which would get her into his power. At last,
after thinking hard, he decided upon something, and going up to the
bear, he exclaimed: 'Is that you, my sister?'

The bear turned round and saw the wolverine, and murmuring to herself,
so low that nobody could hear, 'I never heard before that I had a
brother,' got up and ran quickly to a tree, up which she climbed. Now
the wolverine was very angry when he saw his dinner vanishing in front