“Nevertheless, I must have some of it,” said the Great Red Fox.
“But you can’t have it,” said the Sausage.
“But I must have it,” said the Great Red Fox.
“But you can’t have it,” said the Sausage.
And so they talked and talked and talked, but the end came at last, for one cannot talk forever to an empty stomach. Snip! snap! and the Sausage was down the Great Red Fox’s throat, and there was an end of it. And now the Fox had all that his friend had to give him, and so he went back home again.
“Did Neighbor Sausage give you anything?” said the Grey Goose.
“Oh, yes; he gave me all that he had with him,” said the Great Red Fox; and that also was very true.
After that the world went around for a while as easily as a greased wheel. But one day the Great Red Fox said to the Grey Goose: “See now, my bones grow sore by lying on the hard stones.”
“That is a great pity,” said the Grey Goose; “and if the hard stones were only soft, I, for one, would be glad.”