“He didn’t have long to wait, for the Brindle Dog was going in a swinging trot. When he came by the bush, the Head Monkey rushed out and tried to pull a bunch of hair from the Brindle Dog’s hide. But he rushed too far. The Brindle Dog shied, as old Mr. Horse used to do when he saw a bunch of shucks in the road. He shied so quick, and he shied so far, that the Head Monkey fell short with his arm, and was carried too far by his legs. As the Brindle Dog shied, he turned and saw what it was, and then he made a rush for the Head Monkey. There was no tree near, and no way for the Head Monkey to escape. The Brindle Dog grabbed him and made short work of him. There was considerable of a fight, for the Head Monkey was strong in his arms and quick on his feet. But the Brindle Dog had a long jaw and a strong one. He grabbed the Head Monkey between shoulder and ham, and shook him up as you have seen people shake a sifter. He just held on and shook, and when he turned loose he’d shut his teeth down in a new place, so that when the rippit was over, it seemed as if there wasn’t a whole bone in the Head Monkey’s hide. But quick done is quick over: and after the Brindle Dog had done all the shaking that the case called for, he dropped the Head Monkey and went on about his business; but he had some bites and scratches on his hide, and as he trotted off he shook his ears, for one of them had been split mighty nigh in two by the Head Monkey.
“Well, after the Brindle Dog had trotted off, the Head Monkey rose from the ground and began to feel of himself. He was afraid that he had been torn in two and scattered all over the road, but when he found that he had his legs and his arms and his head and his body, he began to be more cheerful. He found he could walk. And then he found he could use his hands, and then he strutted around, and said to himself that he had whipped the fight. He was badly bruised and pretty sore, but he was not too sore to strut, and so he walked up and down the road and made his brags that he had compelled the Brindle Dog to take to his heels.
“Then he happened to think what he had come for, and he hunted all about in the road to see if he could find a bunch of the Brindle Dog’s hair. There was a good deal of hair scattered around, and in a little while the Head Monkey had gathered up a handful. He picked it over and sorted it out, and wrapped it up in a poplar leaf. Then he went home to his family and rested a day or two, for he was pretty badly bruised. And he told a big tale of how he had met the great Brindle Dog in the road, and had fanned him out in a fair fight. His children listened with all their ears, and then they jumped from limb to limb and told all the neighbors’ children that their pa was the biggest and the best of all the Monkeys.
“This went on for some time, and finally the Head Monkey felt well enough to visit the Wise Man. So he started on the journey, and after awhile he got there. He climbed the gatepost again, and looked all around to see if there was a Brindle Dog in sight. Seeing none, he went to the door and knocked, and the Wise Man came out.
“‘Good-morning,’ says the Wise Man. ‘I hope you are well.’
“‘Tolerably well, I thank you,’ says the Head Monkey. ‘And I’ve come agreeable to promise to bring you a bunch of the hair of a Brindle Dog.’
“With that he unrolled the poplar leaf, and showed the Wise Man the hair he had picked up in the road. The Wise Man took the bunch of hair and turned it over in his hand, and looked at it. Then he looked at the Head Monkey.
“‘What is this?’ says he.
“‘A bunch of hair from a Brindle Dog,’ says the Head Monkey.
“The Wise Man shook his head. Says he, ‘It may be, but it doesn’t look like the samples I have seen. Are you sure about it?’ says he.