About me lie

Of hard iron
Forged with heat,
Huge gratings,

With which me God

Hath fastened by the neck.

Thus perceive I that he knoweth my mind And that knew also

The Lord of hosts

That should us, through Adam,
Evil befall

About the realm of heaven,

Where I had power of my hands.

But we now suffer chastisement in hell, Which is darkness and heat

Grim, bottomless;

God hath us himself

Swept into these swart mists,

Thus he cannot us accuse of any sin
That we against him in the land framed evil;
Yet hath he deprived us of the light,
Cast us into the greatest of all torments:
We may not for this execute vengeance,
Reward him with aught of hostility,
Because he hath bereft us of the light.
He hath now devised a world
Where he hath wrought man
After his own likeness,

With whom he will repeople

The kingdom of heaven with pure souls;
Therefore must we strive zealously

That we on Adam, if we ever may,

And likewise on his offspring, our wrongs

We cannot that ever obtain,

That we the mighty God's mind weaken;
Let us avert it now from the children of men,
That heavenly kingdom now we may not
have it;

Let us so do that they forfeit his favor,
That they pervert that which he with his
word commanded.

Then with them will he be wroth in mind,
Will cast them from his favor;

Then shall they seek this hell,
And these grim depths;

Then may we them have to ourselves as vassals

The children of men in this fast durance. Begin we now about the warfare to consult:

ROM time immemorial the fox has enjoyed a reputation for cunning which has given it great notoriety. "As cunning as a fox" is one of the most common adages in the languages of nations.

The fox never attacks animals capable of resistance. In the twilight it ventures out in when it wanquest of its prey, ders silently around the country, prowling about the covers and hedges, hoping to surprise birds, rabbits or hares, its usual prey. In default of such delicate food, however, it will eat field-mice, lizards, frogs, etc. It does not dislike certain fruits. For grapes it exhibits a great predilection.

To domestic fowls it is terribly destructive. When during its nocturnal prowling the crow of a cock strikes its ear, it turns at once in the direction of the welcome sound. It wanders incessantly around the poultry-yard, examining, scrutinizing and observing all the weak points by which an entrance might be gained. When at last successful in reaching the hen-roost, a reckless carnage among its occupants is made, and this not so much to satisfy a craving for blood as to provide store for the future. With this object, one by one the victims are carried off and concealed in the woods or its den.

If all efforts to enter the hen-roost are unsuccessful, then Reynard undertakes to ruin it in detail, and to slay in one or more months

those which he cannot kill in a day. With this intention he installs himself on the margin of a wood, in proximity to the farm, and anxiously watches every movement of the poultry. If his prey wander into the fields, his attentions are doubled; seizing the moment when the watch-dog is out of sight, he creeps toward them on his belly, draws near his victim without being seen, seizes, strangles and carries it off. When these manœuvres have once succeeded, they are repeated till the poultry-yard is depopulated.

The following story, narrated to me by an old woodman, also illustrates their cunning.

Two foxes located in a neighborhood where hares abounded adopted an ingenious stratagem for capturing them. One of them lay in ambush on the side of a road; the other started the quarry and pursued it with ardor, with the object of driving the game into the road guarded by his associate. From time to time, by an occasional bark, the associate in ambush was notified how the chase was succeeding. When a hare was driven into the road it was immediately pounced on, and both foxes devoured it in thorough good-fellowship. Nevertheless, it sometimes happened that the fox who kept watch miscalculated his spring, and the hare escaped, when, as though puzzled at his want of skill, he resumed his post, jumped on to the road, and several times repeated the movement. His comrade, arriving in the middle of this exercise, was not slow to comprehend its meaning, and, irritated at being fatigued to no purpose, chastised his clumsy