"Why," said the Lion, "a narrative containing some interesting event or fact."
"Just so," said the Fox, and began: "There was once a fisherman who went to sea
with a huge net, and spread it far and wide. A great many fish got into it. Just as
the fisherman was about to draw the net the coils snapped. A great opening was
made. First one fish escaped." Then the Fox stopped.
"What then?" said the Lion.
"Then two escaped," said the Fox.
"What then?" asked the impatient Lion.
"Then three escaped," said the Fox. Thus, as often as the Lion repeated his
query, the Fox increased the number by one, and said as many escaped. The
Lion was vexed, and said: "Why you are telling me nothing new!"
"I wish that your majesty may not forget your royal word," said the Fox. "Each
event occurred by itself, and each lot that escaped was different from the rest."
"But wherein is the wonder?" said the Lion.
"Why, your majesty, what can be more wonderful than for Fish to escape in lots,
each exceeding the other by one?"
"I am bound by my word," said the Lion, "else I would see your carcass
stretched on the ground."
The Fox replied in a whisper: "If tyrants that desire things impossible are not at
least bound by their own word, their subjects can find nothing to bind them."
The Fox in the Well
A Fox fell into a well, and was holding hard to some roots at the side of it, just
above the water. A Wolf who was passing by saw him, and said, "Hollo,
Reynard; after all you have fallen into a well!"
"But not without a purpose, and not without the means of getting out of it," said
the Fox.