re. He had refused to give up his shaggy clothes for new ones,
because if he did that he would no longer be the shaggy man, he said,
and he might have to get acquainted with himself all over again.

He told Dorothy he had brushed his shaggy hair and whiskers; but she
thought he must have brushed them the wrong way, for they were quite as
shaggy as before.

As for the company of foxes assembled to dine with the strangers, they
were most beautifully costumed, and their rich dresses made Dorothy's
simple gown and Button-Bright's sailor suit and the shaggy man's shaggy
clothes look commonplace. But they treated their guests with great
respect and the King's dinner was a very good dinner indeed. Foxes, as
you know, are fond of chicken and other fowl; so they served chicken
soup and roasted turkey and stewed duck and fried grouse and broiled
quail and goose pie, and as the cooking was excellent the King's guests
enjoyed the meal and ate heartily of the various dishes.

The party went to the theater, where they saw a play acted by foxes
dressed in costumes of brilliantly colored feathers. The play was
about a fox-girl who was stolen by some wicked wolves and carried to
their cave; and just as they were about to kill her and eat her a
company of fox-soldiers marched up, saved the girl, and put all the
wicked wolves to death.

"How do you like it?" the King asked Dorothy.

"Pretty well," she answered. "It reminds me of one of Mr. Aesop's
fables."

"Don't mention Aesop to me, I beg of you!" exclaimed King Dox. "I hate
that man's name. He wrote a good deal about foxes, but always made
them out cruel and wicked, whereas we are gentle and kind, as you may
see."

"But his fables showed you to be wise and clever, and more shrewd than
other animals," said the shaggy man, thoughtfully.

"So we are. There is no question about our knowing more than men do,"
replied the King, proudly. "But we employ our wisdom to do good,
instead of harm; so that horrid Aesop did not know what he was talking
about."

They did not like to contradict him, because they felt he ought to know
the nature of foxes better than men did; so they sat still and watched
the play, and Button-Bright became so interested that for the time he
forgot he wore a fox head.

Afterward they went back to the palace and slept in soft beds stuffed
with feathers; for the foxes raised many fowl for food, and used their
feathers for clothing and to sleep upon.