all right to-morrow,' said the
fox, trotting off, not knowing that the oranges dropped down the
hollow trunk, straight into the tortoise's hole, and that he had as
many as he could possibly eat.

So the seven years went by; and when the tortoise came out of his hole
he was as fat as ever.

Now it was the fox's turn, and he chose his hole, and the tortoise
heaped the earth round, promising to return every day or two with a
nice young bird for his dinner. 'Well, how are you getting on?' he
would ask cheerfully when he paid his visits.

'Oh, all right; only I wish you had brought a bird with you,' answered
the fox.

'I have been so unlucky, I have never been able to catch one,' replied
the tortoise. 'However, I shall be more fortunate to-morrow, I am
sure.'

But not many to-morrows after, when the tortoise arrived with his
usual question: 'Well, how are you getting on?' he received no answer,
for the fox was lying in his hole quite still, dead of hunger.

By this time the tortoise was grown up, and was looked up to
throughout the forest as a person to be feared for his strength and
wisdom. But he was not considered a very swift runner, until an
adventure with a deer added to his fame.

One day, when he was basking in the sun, a stag passed by, and stopped
for a little conversation. 'Would you care to see which of us can run
fastest?' asked the tortoise, after some talk. The stag thought the
question so silly that he only shrugged his shoulders. 'Of course, the
victor would have the right to kill the other,' went on the tortoise.
'Oh, on that condition I agree,' answered the deer; 'but I am afraid
you are a dead man.'

'It is no use trying to frighten me,' replied the tortoise. 'But I
should like three days for training; then I shall be ready to start
when the sun strikes on the big tree at the edge of the great
clearing.'

The first thing the tortoise did was to call his brothers and his
cousins together, and he posted them carefully under ferns all along
the line of the great clearing, making a sort of ladder which
stretched for many miles. This done to his satisfaction, he went back
to the starting place.

The stag was quite punctual, and as soon as the sun's rays struck the
trunk of the tree the stag started off, and was soon far out of the
sight of the tortoise. Every now and then he would turn his head as he
ran, and call out: 'How are you getting on?' and the tortoise who
happened to be nearest at tha