“I can’t help it,” cried Ugly Dog, “Sly Fox made me stand in front of the house which was running on two rails and the front step knocked me over and nearly killed me.”
“Now you do what I tell you,” said Mole, “and you can pay Sly Fox for that trick.”
So Mole and Ugly Dog went down into the dark room, and Mole told Ugly Dog just what to do. Ugly Dog went back and stood in front of the photograph gallery, and when Sly Fox came up he made a low bow.
“Good morning, Sly Fox. Ha! Ha!” he said. “That was such a very good joke. After the running house struck me and I found myself lying in the road, I got up and laughed, and laughed so hard that for weeks afterward I was sore all over. You are such a very funny animal, and you look just as funny as you are. Whenever I see that great, big, long, thin neck of yours I can hardly help laughing.”
Sly Fox was very vain. He put his paw up to his neck and felt it all over, and then said: “You are a very foolish animal, Ugly Dog. Anybody can see that my neck is very short and very graceful.”
“I don’t wonder that you do not care to have your picture taken,” said Ugly Dog. “Silly Goose passed by here only yesterday and ordered two dozen. I don’t suppose that my partner, Mole, would care to risk his camera taking a picture of one so ugly, anyway. It’s too bad that your tail is so short and stubby.”
Sly Fox sits for his picture.