I am sure he played some trick again, for ptarmigan are not easy to see in winter against the snow, when they wear their white dresses.
Mr. Fox very shortly came back with a ptarmigan in his mouth. He gave it to the bear, who after eating it said, “Now, Fox, I will go and find a man for you.”
For two whole days the fox waited for the bear, and the bear did not come back. Then the fox felt sure that the bear had been killed, and he wanted to see how the man had killed him.
Closely following the bear’s tracks, he found the tracks of two men also. The fox was really scared at the sight of the men’s tracks. He was terribly afraid of men, and he began to be sorry that he had been so wicked and had killed so many of his friends.
Sneaking through the woods with his tail dragging, he passed near a trap, which he could smell for a long distance, it was so dirty. There was no danger of his being caught in that trap. He said to himself, “That man is lazy; he will never catch any animals in his dirty traps. A lazy man will never catch anything.”
After a while he passed another trap, but this one had been set out hastily, so the fox got the bait without getting caught.
“That man is lazy, too,” said the fox, “for he gets up too late in the morning to put out his trap. These men are stupid creatures anyway. I don’t believe I am afraid of them after all.”
Just as he said this, snap, Mr. Smart Fox was caught at last.
“Snap, Mr. Smart Fox was caught at last”