THE FOX IN THE ICE
Very early one winter morning a fox was drinking at a hole in the ice.
While he was drinking, the end of his tail got into the water, and there it froze fast.
He could have pulled it out and left some of the hairs behind, but he would not do this.
"How can I spoil such a beautiful tail!" said the fox to himself.
"No, I will wait a little. The men are asleep and will not catch me. Perhaps when the sun comes up the ice will melt."
So he waited, and the water froze harder and harder.
At last the sun came up.
The fox could see men coming down to the pond. He pulled and pulled, but now his tail was frozen so fast that he could not pull it out.
Just then a wolf came by.
"Help me, friend," cried the fox, "or I shall be lost."
The wolf helped him, and set him free very quickly. He bit off the tail of the fox.
So the fox lost all of his fine great tail because he would not give up a little hair from it.