Fox Leads Rabbit to the Fence

Fox caught Rabbit and was leading him home, tied with a rope. "I'll show Miss Meadows and the gals that you're my prisoner," he gloated.

They reached a fence. "I can go under," said Rabbit, "but you won't fit. I'll need to lift up that fence-rail for you."

Fox hesitated.

"I think I see Miss Meadows and the gals over there," Rabbit added.

"Miss Meadows?" repeated Fox. "Hurry! Let's go!"

Rabbit lifted the rail and as soon as Fox stuck his head through, Rabbit dropped the rail back down right on top of Fox's head, and then ran away, laughing.

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Inspired by: Terrapin's Pot of Sense by Harold Courlander.

Notes: This is the story "Rabbit, Fox, and the Rail Fence," p. 18. Courlander cites an Indonesian story about mouse deer who escapes by getting his enemy to put his nose in a split bamboo tree, and there he gets stuck. In the original story, Fox is taking rabbit to "the pretty girls from Tuscaloosa," but I borrowed "Miss Meadows and the gals" from the Joel Chandler Harris stories.