t with a great noise
pursued him, crying in his rage, "Turn, villain, that I may be revenged
of thee"; but the bear swam in the strength of the stream and suspected
not his calling, for he was proud that he was so escaped from them. Only
he bitterly cursed the honey tree and the fox, which had not only
betrayed him, but had made him lose his hood from his face, and his
gloves from his fingers. In this sort he swam some three miles down the
water, in which time he grew so weary that he went on land to get ease,
where blood trickled down his face; he groaned, sighed, and drew his
breath so short, as if his last hour had been expiring.

Now whilst these things were in doing, the fox in his way home stole a
fat hen, and threw her into his mail, and running through a bypath that
no man might perceive him, he came towards the river with infinite joy;
for he suspected that the bear was certainly slain: therefore he said to
himself, "My fortune is as I wished it, for the greatest enemy I had in
the court is now dead, nor can any man suspect me guilty thereof." But
as he spake these words, looking towards the river, he espied where
_Bruin_ the bear lay and rested, which struck his heart with grief, and
he railed against _Lanfert_ the carpenter, saying, "Silly fool that thou
art, what madman would have lost such good venison, especially being so
fat and wholesome, and for which he took no pains, for he was taken to
his hand; any man would have been proud of the fortune which thou
neglectest." Thus fretting and chiding, he came to the river, where he
found the bear all wounded and bloody, of which _Reynard_ was only
guilty; yet in scorn he said to the bear, "_Monsieur, Dieu vous garde_."

"O thou foul red villain," said the bear to himself, "what impudence is
like to this?"

But the fox went on with his speech, and said, "What, uncle? Have you
forgot anything at _Lanfert's_, or have you paid him for the honeycombs
you stole? If you have not, it will redound much to your disgrace, which
before you shall undergo, I will pay him for them myself. Sure the honey
was excellent good, and I know much more of the same price. Good uncle,
tell me before I go, into what order do you mean to enter, that you wear
this new-fashioned hood? Will you be a monk, an abbot, or a friar?
Surely he that shaved your crown hath cropped your ears; also your
foretop is lost, and your gloves are gone; fie, sloven, go not
bare-handed; they say you can sing _