Page:Sagas from the Far East; or, Kalmouk and Mongolian traditionary tales.djvu/81

Rh "Ha!" he exclaimed, "there is one of my friends of last time. To be sure, there is no sheep's paunch of butter this time, but if I could only kill him his skin would make a nice warm cap."

As he had never learnt to draw a bow, his arrows were of no service, so he set his horse trotting after the fox; but the fox got away faster than he could follow, and took refuge in the hole of a marmot.

"Now I have you!" he cried, and, dismounting from his horse, he took off all his clothes to have freer use of his limbs and bound them on his saddle; the dog he tied to the bridle of the horse, and stopped the mouth of the hole with his cap; then he took a great stone and endeavoured with heavy blows on the earth to crush the fox.

But the fox, taking fright at the noise, rushed out with such impetus that it carried off the cap on its head. The dog, seeing it run, gave chase, and the horse was forced to follow the dog, as they were both tied together; so off he galloped, carrying on his saddle every thing the man had in the world, and leaving him stretched on the ground without a thread of covering.

Getting up, he wandered on to the banks of a river which formed the boundary of the kingdom of a rich and powerful Khan. Going into this Khan's stable, he laid himself down under the straw and covered himself completely, so that no one could see him. Here he was warmed and well rested.