ish up a house,
Where like a prince I live at my ease!
What care I for hail or sleet,
With my hairy cap and coat;
And my tail across my feet,
Or wrapp'd about my throat!
Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!"

As Eric opened his eyes, and looked up, he saw a little squirrel with
its tail curling up its back, sitting on a branch looking down upon him;
and then it playfully ran away with the tail down and waving after it.
"Farewell, happy little fellow!" said Eric; "I must do my work now, and
play like you afterwards;" for at that moment the thread again became
tight, and Eric, refreshed with his rest, and hearty for his journey,
stepped out bravely. He saw, at some distance, and beyond an open glade
in the forest, a rapid river towards which he was descending. When near
the river, he perceived something struggling in the water, and then
heard a loud cry or scream for help, as if from one drowning. He was
almost tempted to run off to his assistance without his thread, but he
felt thankful that the thread itself led in the very direction from
whence he heard the cries coming. So off he ran as fast as he could, and
as he came to the brink of a deep, dark pool in the river, he saw the
head of a boy rising above the water, as the poor little fellow tried to
keep himself afloat. Now he sank--again he rose--until he suddenly
disappeared. Eric laid hold of his thread with a firm hand, and leaped
in over head and ears, and then rose to the surface, and with his other
hand swam to where the boy had sank. He soon caught him, and brought him
with great difficulty to the surface, which he never could have done
unless the thread had supported them both above the water.

"Eric!" cried the gasping boy, opening his eyes, almost covered by his
long, wet hair. "Wolf!" cried Eric, "is it you?" It was indeed poor
Wolf, who lay panting on the dry land, with his rough garments dripping
with water, and himself hardly able to move. "Oh, tell me, Wolf, what
brought you here! I am so glad to have helped you!" After a little time,
when Wolf could speak, he told him in his own way, bit by bit, how Ralph
had suspected him; and how the old woman had heard him speaking as she
was looking out of an upper window; and how when Ralph asked the gold
belt he could not give it; and how he was obliged himself to fly; and
how he had been running for his life for hours. "Now let us fly," said
Wolf; "I am quite strong ag