“I have and I have not. I am married now, and I have a soldier for a husband.”
“I should like to see him,” said the wolf; “show him to me.”
“Come, I will show him to you,” said the vixen, and going to her lair called Tom, who came out and met the wolf. Tom came out with his sword clanking behind him, and when he saw that huge beast with his huge head, his hair stood on end and he began to spit and to snarl for very fear. The wolf, thinking that Tom was getting angry and ready to draw his sword and cut him up, turned tail and ran away.
Running very fast he met the bear, who asked him:
“What is the matter with you that you run so fast? Who is running after you?” The wolf told him all that had happened, and how the vixen had got a mighty soldier for a husband, who killed anybody who came near him.
The bear began to get curious and ran to the vixen’s lair, and the same thing happened to him, for Tom came out with his hair standing on end, and growled, and snarled, and spat, shaking all the time with fear. The bear ran away as fast as he could and came to the wolf, and they discussed between themselves how best to get rid of that terrible Tom, as their lives were no longer safe. So they called the hare and the lion into counsel. These decided to invite the vixen and her Tom to a banquet at which they would all fall upon him and end his career. So they spread a table-cloth under a huge tree, but none had the courage to go and call the guests. The bear said, “Send the wolf,” but he replied he was too weak and they would catch him. The bear said he was rather stout and heavy and they would catch him. So the trouble fell upon the hare. He, poor fellow, could not help himself, so he went with the message to invite them. But he did not venture too near. From a distance he called out to them that they were invited to a banquet, and off he went after he had delivered the message.
When the vixen heard the message she told Tom, and together they went to the banquet. On the way Tom saw a crow on the top of a tree, and, as is the way with cats, before one could turn round Tom had climbed to the top of the tree and had caught the crow. He then killed it, and threw it down on the ground.
The hosts, who were sitting at the table, saw what had happened, and said to one another, “Just see what that knight is doing. Even the people on the very top of the tree are not safe from him. He catches them and kills them. How then can we fight him on the earth?”
So the lion crawled under the table, the bear climbed up the tree, and the wolf and the hare hid themselves in a bush.
When the vixen and Tom came to the place, no one was there, and they wondered where their hosts could be. Whilst they were looking round, Tom saw the tip of the lion’s tail, and, thinking it to be a rat, he attacked it. When the lion felt someone tugging at his tail he did not wait any longer, but ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.