before, and Golden-skin and the others followed him up in some anxiety.
The Tortoise had been painfully travelling along, until a hunter, who
was beating the wood for game, had overtaken him. The fellow, who was
very hungry, picked him up, fastened him on his bow-stick, and set off
for home; while the Deer, the Crow, and the Mouse, who had witnessed
the capture, followed them in terrible concern. 'Alas!' cried the
Mouse-king, 'he is gone!--and such a friend!

'Friend! gracious word!--the heart to tell is ill able
Whence came to men this jewel of a syllable.'

'Let us,' continued he to his companions, 'let us make one attempt, at
least, to rescue Slow-toes before the hunter is out of the wood!'

'Only tell us how to do it,' replied they.

'Do thus,' said Golden-skin: 'let Dapple-back hasten on to the water,
and lie down there and make himself appear dead; and do you, Light o'
Leap, hover over him and peck about his body. The hunter is sure to put
the Tortoise down to get the venison, and I will gnaw his bonds.'

'The Deer and the Crow started at once; and the hunter, who was sitting
down to rest under a tree and drinking water, soon caught sight of the
Deer, apparently dead. Drawing his wood-knife, and putting the Tortoise
down by the water, he hastened to secure the Deer, and Golden-skin, in
the meantime, gnawed asunder the string that held Slow-toes, who
instantly dropped into the pool. The Deer, of course, when the hunter
got near, sprang up and made off, and when he returned to the tree the
Tortoise was gone also. "I deserve this," thought he--