Matheson Collection > Popular tales of the west Highlands > Volume 1

278 WEST HIGHLAND TALES.
saw the fox sitting very demurely at the side of the fire.
It had entered by the hole under the door provided for
the convenience of the dog, the cat, the pig, and the hen.
"Oh! ho!" said the Tod-hunter, "now I have you."
And he went and sat down at the hole to prevent
Eeynard's escape.
"Oh! ho!" said the fox, "I will soon make that
stupid fellow get up." So he found the man's shoes,
and putting them into the fire, wondered if that would
make the enemy move.
"I shan't get up for that, my fine gentleman," cried
the Tod-hunter.
Stockings followed the shoes, coat and trousers
shared the same fate, but still the man sat over the
hole. At last the fox having set the bed and bedding
on fire, put a light to the straw on which his jailor lay,
and it blazed up to the ceiling.
"No! That I cannot stand," shouted the man,
jumping up; and the fox taking advantage of the smoke
and confusion, made good his exit.
Note by the Collector.— This is the beginning of Eeineke
Fuchs in the Erse. I cannot get any one to write them down in
Gaelic, which very few people can write. Most of the tales are
got from my guide, the gamekeeper ; but I have got them from
many others. C. D.
Having told this story to a man whom I met near Oban, as a
bait, I was told the following in return. — J. F. C.
6. " The fox is very wise indeed. I don't know
whether it is true or not, but an old fellow told me
that he had seen him go to a loch where there were
wild ducks, and take a bunch of heather in his mouth,
then go into the water, and s^vim doAvn with the wind
till he got into the hiiddle of the ducks, and then he
let go the heather and killed two of them."