The room was very quiet, for, though the little boy talked all the time to his sheep and his dog, he had been taught to talk softly in his plays, as all children must do when a whole family lives in one room. He talked very softly indeed when he saw that grandmother had leaned her head against the straight back of her rush-bottomed chair and was taking a little nap. Presently the distaff fell from her lap to the floor and awakened her. "Why, I must have been asleep!" she said, and went on with her spinning. At last the sheep, which had been wandering away upon the hills that rose between the hollows in the clay floor, had all been discovered by the sheep-dog and herded, one by one, in the fold. The little boy was tired of playing, and he sat on the stool to listen to his grandmother's singing. Grandmother was always singing when she was not telling stories to the little boy. "Why can't you tell stories while you spin, as well as when you knit?" asked the little boy. "Oh, that isn't the way!" said the grandmother. "When it is dark and I take my knitting I can tell a story, but not now. You'd better go home till it begins to grow dark; then come, and we'll see what story little grandmother can tell." The winter day was very short, and it was not long before the little boy came back. Grandmother was still spinning, but she laid aside her distaff and spindle, took her knitting down from the shelf, and began the story of THE BEG AND THE FOX Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a Beg whose whole property consisted of a horse, a greyhound, and a musket. He had no other occupation than hunting, and by this he gained his living. One fine day he mounted his horse, threw his musket over his shoulder, called to his greyhound, and set off to hunt upon the high mountains. After riding a long distance he reached an elevated plain, where he tied his horse to a tree and went forward into the thick woods, with his gun upon his shoulder and his dog by his side. While he was hunting on the mountain a Fox drew near to the horse and lay down in the grass beside him. The Beg hunted about in the woods for a long time, but he only made out to kill a single deer. When he went back to his horse and saw the Fox lying there beside it he was astonished, and raised his musket to make an end of the Master. But when the Fox saw what the Beg was about to do he sprang up quickly and implored him, for the love of Heaven, to spare his life, promising to be a faithful guard and protector to his horse. The Beg took pity on the Fox and gave him his life. Then mounting his horse, he laid the deer before him, set the Fox behind him, and went home. On arriving at home he put the deer upon the spit to roast for supper, and threw the offal to the Fox, that he might have a good meal too.