on that there are no flies,
either." He decided to kill the ox.

Just as he was ready to eat the ox, along came the tiger. "O, rabbit,
you have been such a good friend of mine," said the tiger, "and now I
am so very, very hungry that all my ribs show, as you yourself can
see. Will you not be a good kind rabbit and give me a piece of your
ox?"

The rabbit gave the tiger a piece of the ox. The tiger devoured it in
the twinkling of an eye. Then he leaned back and said, "Is that all
you are going to give me to eat?"

The tiger looked so big and savage that the rabbit did not dare refuse
to give him any more of the ox. The tiger ate and ate and ate until he
had devoured that entire ox. The rabbit had been able to get only a
tiny morsel of it. He was very, very angry at the tiger.

One day not long after the rabbit went to a place not far from the
tiger's house and began cutting down big staves of wood. The tiger
soon happened along and asked him what he was doing.

"I'm getting ready to build a stockade around myself," replied the
rabbit. "Haven't you heard the orders?" The tiger said that he hadn't
heard any orders.

"That is very strange," said the rabbit. "The order has gone forth
that every beast shall fortify himself by building a stockade around
himself. All the beasts are doing it."

The tiger became very much alarmed. "O, dear! O, dear! What shall I
do," he cried. "I don't know how to build a stockade. I never could do
it in the world. O, good rabbit! O, kind rabbit! You are such, a very
good friend of mine. Couldn't you, as a great favour, because of our
long friendship, build a stockade about me before you build one
around yourself?"

The rabbit replied that he could not think of risking his own life by
building the tiger's fortifications first. Finally, however, he
consented to do it.

The rabbit cut down great quantities of long sharp sticks. He set them
firmly in the ground about the tiger. He fastened others securely over
the top until the tiger was completely shut in by strong bars. Then he
went away and left the tiger.

The tiger waited and waited for something to happen to show him the
need of the fortifications. Nothing at all happened.

He got very hungry and thirsty. After a while the monkey passed that
way.

The tiger called out, "O, monkey, has the danger passed?"

The monkey did not know what danger the tiger meant, but he replied,
"Yes."

Then the tiger said, "O, monkey, O, good, k