This advice pleased the lion, so he laid himself down quietly for the
fox to make him fast to the horse. But the fox managed to tie his legs
together and bound all so hard and fast that with all his strength he
could not set himself free. When the work was done, the fox clapped the
horse on the shoulder, and said, ‘Jip! Dobbin! Jip!’ Then up he sprang,
and moved off, dragging the lion behind him. The beast began to roar
and bellow, till all the birds of the wood flew away for fright; but the
horse let him sing on, and made his way quietly over the fields to his
master’s house.
‘Here he is, master,’ said he, ‘I have got the better of him’: and when
the farmer saw his old servant, his heart relented, and he said. ‘Thou
shalt stay in thy stable and be well taken care of.’ And so the poor old
horse had plenty to eat, and lived--till he died.
THE BLUE LIGHT
There was once upon a time a soldier who for many years had served the
king faithfully, but when the war came to an end could serve no longer
because of the many wounds which he had received. The king said to him:
‘You may return to your home, I need you no longer, and you will not
receive any more money, for he only receives wages who renders me
service for them.’ Then the soldier did not know how to earn a living,
went away greatly troubled, and walked the whole day, until in the
evening he entered a forest. When darkness came on, he saw a light,
which he went up to, and came to a house wherein lived a witch. ‘Do give
me one night’s lodging, and a little to eat and drink,’ said he to
her, ‘or I shall starve.’ ‘Oho!’ she answered, ‘who gives anything to a
run-away soldier? Yet will I be compassionate, and take you in, if you
will do what I wish.’ ‘What do you wish?’ said the soldier. ‘That you
should dig all round my garden for me, tomorrow.’ The soldier consented,
and next day laboured with all his strength, but could not finish it by
the evening. ‘I see well enough,’ said the witch, ‘that you can do no
more today, but I will keep you yet another night, in payment for
which you must tomorrow chop me a load of wood, and chop it small.’ The
soldier spent the whole day in doing it, and in the evening the witch
proposed that he should stay one night more. ‘Tomorrow, you shall only
do me a very trifling piece of work. Behind my house, there is an old
dry well, into which my light has fallen, it burns blue, and never goes
out, and you shall bring it up again.’ Next day the old woman took him
to the well, and let him down in a basket. He found the blue light, and
made her a signal to draw him up again. She did draw him up, but when he
came near the edge, she stretched down her hand and wanted to take the
blue light away from him. ‘No,’ said he, perceiving her evil intention,
‘I will not give you the light until I am standing with both feet upon
the ground.’ The witch fell into a passion, let him fall again into the
well, and went away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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