"So you may," said the Mouse-deer, "only let me get down, and go to some distance before you do so, as the sound would deafen me."
So the Mouse-deer sprang down and ran away. The Deer took a long stick and struck the bees' nest, and the bees flew out angrily and stung him to death.
The Pig, seeing what had happened, pursued the Mouse-deer, determined to avenge the death of his friend. He found his enemy taking refuge on a tree round the trunk of which a large python was curled.
"Come down," said the Pig, "and I will kill you."
"I cannot come down to-day. I am set here to watch the King's girdle. Look at it," he said, pointing to the Python. "Is it not pretty? I have never seen such a handsome waist-belt before."
"It is beautiful," said the Pig. "How I should like to wear it for one day!"
"So you may," said the Mouse-deer, "but be careful and do not spoil it."
So the foolish Pig entangled himself in the folds of the Python, who soon crushed him to death and ate him for his dinner, and the clever Mouse-deer escaped, having outwitted his enemies.