The bear woke at once, and when he saw the three mice he became so angry that he lifted his paw and was just going to strike them, for he thought it was they who had shouted in his ear.
But just then he saw Reynard’s tail between the bushes and he set off at such a speed that the branches crackled under him, and Bruin was soon so close upon Reynard that he caught him by the right hind leg just as be was running into a hole under a pine tree.
Reynard was now in a fix; but he was not to be outwitted, and he cried:
“Slip pine root, grip fox foot,” and so the bear let go his hold; but the fox laughed far down in the hole and said:
“I sold you that time, also, grandfather!”
“Out of sight is not out of mind!” said the bear, who was in a fine fury.
The other morning, when Bruin came trudging across the moor with a fat pig, Master Reynard was lying on a stone by the moorside.
“Good-day, grandfather!” said the fox. “What nice thing have you got there?”
“Pork,” said the bear.
“I have got something tasty as well,” said the fox.