ore it reached the
window, and the fox felt, with a slight shudder, the claw of the hideous
creature stroking his back.

"'Oh! what a beautiful coat,' said she, caressingly.

"'You are too kind,' said the fox; 'you can feel it better when I am
once up. Make haste, I beseech you!'

"'O! what a beautiful bushy tail. Never did I see any thing like it.'

"'It is entirely at your service, sweet creature,' said the fox, 'but
pray let me in.'

"'Really, such a beautiful tail; I don't wonder you are proud of it.'

"'Ah! my beloved Miss Griffin, you flatter me, but you pinch my tail a
little too hard.'

"Scarce had he said this, when down dropped the basket, but not with the
fox in it; he was caught by the tail, and hanging half way down, by the
help of the very same sort of pulley with which he had cheated the dog.
You may imagine his consternation; he yelped out, at a terrible
rate--for it hurts a fox exceedingly to be hanged by his tail, with his
head down--when what do you think happened? Why, the door opened, and
out stalked the griffin, smoking his pipe, and with him, a fashionable
crowd of all the beasts in the neighborhood.

"'Hallo, brother!' said Bruin, the bear, laughing fit to kill himself;
'whoever saw a fox hanged by the tail before?'

"'You'll have need of a physician,' said Doctor Ape.

"'Don't stay there to oblige us,' said Gauntgrim, the wolf.

"'A pretty match, indeed! Miss Griffin, for such as you,' said the goat,
strutting by him.

"The fox grinned with pain, and said nothing. But that which hurt him
most, was the compassion of a dull booby of a donkey, who assured him,
with great gravity, that he saw nothing to laugh at in his situation.

"'At all events,' said the fox, at last, 'cheated and betrayed as I am,
I have played the same trick on the dog; go laugh at him, gentlemen.'

"'Excuse me,' said the griffin, 'WE NEVER LAUGH AT THE HONEST.'

"'And see,' said the bear, 'here he is.'

"And indeed Beppo, after much effort, had gnawed the string in two, and
freed his paw; the scent of the fox had enabled him to track him, and
here he arrived, burning for vengeance, and finding himself already
avenged.

"But his first thought was for his dear cousin. 'Ah! where is she?' he
cried; 'without doubt that rascal Reynard has served her some trick.'

"'I fear so, my old friend,' answered the griffin; 'but don't fret.
After all she was nothing particular. You shall marry my daughter, and
succeed to