“Ahem,” said Rory the Fox, “and how are we this morning?”
The Weasel had marked one of Rory’s youngsters for attack. Although Rory spoke, he never took his eyes off the youngster he had marked.
“My dear friend,” said the Fox, “I was just going to say—if you are looking for anything, perhaps I could tell you where it might be found.”
“Crystal Egg,” said the Weasel without ever taking away his blood-thirsty gaze from Rory’s youngster.
“Oh, the Crystal Egg,” said Rory the Fox. “Yes, to be sure. I could bring you at once to the place where the Crystal Egg is.” He came out of the burrow and saw Gilly standing on the bank behind.
“I think it is time for my children to go back to their burrow,” said Rory the Fox. “Please excuse them, my friends.” The Weasel took his eyes off the youngster he had marked and the three little foxes scampered into the burrow.
“This way, friends,” said the Fox, and he started off towards the Spae-Woman’s house with the light and easy trot of a fox. Gilly and the Weasel went behind him. They crossed a field of flax, a field of hemp and a field of barley. They came to the broken fence before the Spae-Woman’s house, and in front of the house they saw the Spae-Woman herself and she was crying and crying.
The Fox hid behind the fence, the Weasel climbed up on the ditch and Gilly himself went to the woman.
“What ails you at all?” said Gilly to her.
“My goose—the only fowl left to me has been taken by robbers.”