hat he was not more careful, for it was apparent that he
had fared badly in yesterday's storm. He limped on his right leg, and
the left wing hung and dragged as if it might be broken.

He acted as if there were no danger, pecked at a grass-blade here and
another there, and did not look about him in any direction. The boy lay
stretched out full length on the goose-back, and looked up toward the
blue sky. He was so accustomed to riding now, that he could both stand
and lie down on the goose-back.

When the goosey-gander and the boy were so care-free, they did not
observe, of course, that the three foxes had come up on the mountain
plain.

And the foxes, who knew that it was well-nigh impossible to take the
life of a goose on an open plain, thought at first that they wouldn't
chase after the goosey-gander. But as they had nothing else to do, they
finally sneaked down on one of the long passes, and tried to steal up to
him. They went about it so cautiously that the goosey-gander couldn't
see a shadow of them.

They were not far off when the goosey-gander made an attempt to raise
himself into the air. He spread his wings, but he did not succeed in
lifting himself. When the foxes seemed to grasp the fact that he
couldn't fly, they hurried forward with greater eagerness than before.
They no longer concealed themselves in the cleft, but came up on the
highland. They hurried as fast as they could, behind tufts and hollows,
and came nearer and nearer the goosey-gander--without his seeming to
notice that he was being hunted. At last the foxes were so near that
they could make the final leap. Simultaneously, all three threw
themselves with one long jump at the goosey-gander.

But still at the last moment he must have noticed something, for he ran
out of the way, so the foxes missed him. This, at any rate, didn't mean
very much, for the goosey-gander only had a couple of metres headway,
and, in the bargain, he limped. Anyway, the poor thing ran ahead as fast
as he could.

The boy sat upon the goose-back--backward--and shrieked and called to
the foxes. "You have eaten yourselves too fat on mutton, foxes. You
can't catch up with a goose even." He teased them so that they became
crazed with rage and thought only of rushing forward.

The white one ran right straight to the big cleft. When he was there, he
made one stroke with his wings, and got over. Just then the foxes were
almost upon him.

The goosey-gander hurried on with