The next morning, Heaven knows how! it was all over the place that Reynard the fox had been banished from court for the favour shown him by her Majesty, and that the lion had bribed his departure with three hairs that would make any lady whom the fox married young and beautiful forever. The cat was the first to learn the news, and she became all curiosity to see so interesting a stranger, possessed of “qualifications” which, in the language of the day, “would render any animal happy!” She was not long without obtaining her wish. As she was taking a walk in the wood the fox contrived to encounter her. You may be sure that he made her his best bow; and he flattered the poor cat with so courtly an air that she saw nothing surprising in the love of the lioness. Meanwhile let us see what became of his rival, the dog. “Ah, the poor creature!” said Nymphalin; “it is easy to guess that he need not be buried alive to lose all chance of marrying the heiress.” “Wait till the end,” answered Fayzenheim. When the dog found that he was thus entrapped, he gave himself up for lost. In vain he kicked with his hind-legs against the stone,--he only succeeded in bruising his paws; and at length he was forced to lie down, with his tongue out of his mouth, and quite exhausted. “However,” said he, after he had taken breath, “it won’t do to be starved here, without doing my best to escape; and if I can’t get out one way, let me see if there is not a hole at the other end.” Thus saying, his courage, which stood him in lieu of cunning, returned, and he proceeded on in the same straightforward way in which he always conducted himself. At first the path was exceedingly narrow, and he hurt his sides very much against the rough stones that projected from the earth; but by degrees the way became broader, and he now went on with considerable ease to himself, till he arrived in a large cavern, where he saw an immense griffin sitting on his tail, and smoking a huge pipe. The dog was by no means pleased at meeting so suddenly a creature that had only to open his mouth to swallow him up at a morsel; however, he put a bold face on the danger, and walking respectfully up to the griffin, said, “Sir, I should be very much obliged to you if you would inform me the way out of these holes into the upper world.” The griffin took the pipe out of his mouth, and looked at the dog very sternly. “Ho, wretch!” said he, “how comest thou hither? I suppose thou wantest to steal my treasure; but I know how to treat such vagabonds as you, and I shall certainly eat you up. “You can do that if you choose,” said the dog; “but it would be very unhandsome conduct in an animal so much bigger than myself. For my own part, I never attack any dog that is not of equal size,--I should be ashamed of myself if I did. And as to your treasure, the character I bear for honesty is too well known to merit such a suspicion.”