u join us?"

When the innocent Dove saw the Cock upon the Fox's back she thought that
certainly everything must be safe, so she answered:--

"Yes, Madame Fox, I will go with you."

"Jump right up on my back; there is plenty of room beside the Cock,"
said the Fox cordially.

A little further on they met a wild Duck, who waddled away quacking
wildly when he saw the Fox trotting towards him. But the sly old lady
called out to him, smiling:--

"Be calm, little brother. I have given up my former unkind tricks, for
which I sadly repent, and now I am going on a pious pilgrimage. See,
your friends the Cock and the Dove are my companions."

"In that case I will go along, too," said the Duck, "for you have a
goodly party."

"That is right," replied the Fox approvingly. "I thought you would go.
Kindly take a back seat with the others."

Now when these queer pilgrims had traveled for some time they came to a
cave in the rocks, a deep dark cave which looked like a den. And here
the Fox stopped, saying:--

"Dear brothers, it is time that we paused and thought more carefully
about our sins. We must cross seas and rivers, and Heaven knows when we
shall reach the end of our journey. Let us listen to one another's
confessions, for I am sure we have all been miserable sinners. Come, Mr.
Cock, come into the cave with me and I will hear you first."

The Cock followed her into the cave, saying with some surprise, "Why,
Madame Fox, what have I done that is wicked?"

"Do you not know?" answered the Fox sternly. "Why, do you not begin to
crow at midnight and wake poor tired people out of their first sleep? Go
to! You ought to be ashamed! Then again you crow at the most
inconveniently early hour in the morning and make the caravans mistake
the true time, so that they start upon their journeys long before the
proper hour and fall into the hands of robbers who prowl about before
light. These are dreadful sins, Mr. Cock, and you deserve to be
punished." So the wicked old Fox seized the Cock and ate him all up.

After the Fox had finished him she came to the entrance of the cave and
called, "Now you come, little Dove, and tell me what you have done that
is naughty."

"But I have done nothing," said the innocent Dove, wondering very much;
"of what evil do you accuse me, Madame Fox?"

"When the farmers sow their grain you dig up the yellow kernels and eat
them for your dinner. That is stealing, which is a wicked, wicked sin,
and must