“Quite!” the Anteater averred.
“You are a very kind-hearted Anteater,” the doe replied, her eyes filling with tears. But she did not prolong the conversation. It was getting to be very late, and she had to be at the hunter’s lodge by daybreak.
She hurried back to her house and got the fawn, who still lay there weeping in her bed. Together they made their way toward the village where the hunter lived. They stole along very softly, keeping close to the walls of the houses, so that the dogs would not see nor hear them.
At the door of the hunter’s cottage the mother knocked loudly:
“Tan! Tan! Tan!”
And the little deer knocked as loudly as she could.
“Ta! Ta! Ta!”
“Who’s there?” a voice called from within.
“It’s us,” said the fawn.
“It’s we,” corrected the mother. “We are friends of the Anteater, and we have the snake’s head!”