The Fox, full of pride, looked at the Cat from head to foot for some time hardly knowing whether he would deign to answer or not. At last he said-- 'Oh, you poor whisker-wiper, you piebald fool, you starveling mouse-hunter! what has come into your head? How dare you ask me how I am getting on? What sort of education have you had? How many arts are you master of?' [Illustration: The Cat crept stealthily up to the topmost branch.] 'Only one,' said the Cat, meekly. 'And what might that one be?' asked the Fox. 'When the hounds run after me, I can jump into a tree and save myself.' 'Is that all?' said the Fox. 'I am master of a hundred arts, and I have a sack full of cunning tricks in addition. But I pity you. Come with me, and I will teach you how to escape the hounds.' Just then, a huntsman came along with four hounds. The Cat sprang trembling into a tree, and crept stealthily up to the topmost branch, where she was entirely hidden by twigs and leaves. 'Open your sack, Mr. Fox! open your sack!' cried the Cat; but the hounds had gripped him, and held him fast. 'O Mr. Fox!' cried the Cat, 'you with your hundred arts, and your sack full of tricks, are caught, while I, with my one, am safe. Had you been able to climb up here, you would not have lost your life.' [Illustration: {So the four Brothers took their sticks in their hands, bade their Father good-bye, and passed out of the town gate.}] The Four Clever Brothers There was once a poor man who had four sons, and when they were grown up, he said to them: 'Dear children, you must go out into the world now, for I have nothing to give you. You must each learn a trade and make your own way in the world.' So the four Brothers took their sticks in their hands, bid their father good-bye, and passed out of the town gate. When they had walked some distance, they came to four cross roads, which led into four different districts. Then the eldest one said: 'We must part here, but this day four years, we will meet here again, having in the meantime done our best to make our fortunes.' Then each one went his own way. The eldest met an old man, who asked him where he came from, and what he was going to do. 'I want to learn a trade,' he answered. Then the Man said: 'Come with me and learn to be a Thief.' 'No,' answered he, 'that is no longer considered an honest trade; and the end of that song would be that I should swing as the clapper in a bell.' 'Oh,' said the Man, 'you need not be afraid of the gallows. I will only teach you how to take things no one else wants, or knows how to get hold of, and where no one can find you out.' So he allowed himself to be persuaded, and under the Man's instructions he became such an expert thief that nothing was safe from him which he had once made up his mind to have. The second Brother met a Man who put the same question to him, as to what he was going to do in the world. 'I don't know yet,' he answered.