“Certainly, Brother Hare,” replied the Wolf. “Will you begin?”
“I would with pleasure,” answered the Hare, “but really, the fact is, I can’t recollect a single song at this moment. Perhaps Brother Fox will oblige us.”
“I am very sorry, Brother Hare,” answered the Fox, “but I am afraid I don’t know any songs. I am sure Brother Wolf sings beautifully.”
“Yes,” joined in the Hare. “Pray, Brother Wolf, let us hear you sing?”
“No, no, please,” said the Wolf modestly, scratching his ear with one paw. “I am a very poor singer, you really must excuse me.”
But the Fox and the Hare pressed him, and presently he began to sing. At the first sound of his voice the men in the next room stopped their feasting, and saying [[67]]to one another, “There is a Wolf in the house,” they rushed towards the larder.
As soon as they heard the disturbance the Hare and the Fox, carrying their provisions with them, hopped quietly out of the window and made off quickly for their homes. The Wolf, too, made a leap towards the window, but the great jar round his neck was too broad to go through the narrow opening, and he fell back into the room below. Again he jumped and again he fell back; and he was still jumping and falling when the people of the house rushed in and soon despatched him with sticks and stones. [[68]]