Hoodwinked Again!

Brer Fox strolled slowly over to where our friend the Rabbit was lolling against a tree. Although the wily Fox gave the Rabbit an attempt of a pleasant smile, his thoughts were full of the time when that smart Rabbit had turned the tables on him. “Maybe this time,” he thought, “I will outsmart the long-eared rascal.”

“How would you like to come hunting with me today?” asked Brer Fox, with visions of the Rabbit catching its foot in a snare and making a delightful supper.

The Rabbit sighed. “I am afraid not. You see, today, like yesterday and the day before, is a holiday for me. I am enjoying a good rest.”

“Bah,” scolded Brer Fox. “If you don’t hunt, you will starve to death.”

“I will manage somehow,” retorted the Rabbit with a grin.

Well, Brer Fox went off hunting, and later in the afternoon, the Rabbit took up a position on the path he knew Brer Fox would come along, curious to see what his old enemy had managed to catch.

When he saw Brer Fox in the distance, weighed down with a heavy sack on his shoulders, he said to himself, “Old Fox has done well. Perhaps I will enjoy a good feed after all.” With that, the Rabbit promptly stretched out on the path, pretending to be dead.

As soon as Brer Fox saw the body of the Rabbit lying on the path, he shouted with glee.

“A nice dead rabbit. As soon as I have taken this load to my den, I will come back and collect this rabbit.”

Off he went, smacking his lips in anticipation. Before Brer Fox had gone very far, the Rabbit leaped to its feet and scampered madly through the forest to get ahead of Brer Fox. Edging his way through the bushes to the path, the Rabbit could see Brer Fox hurrying along in the distance, and again he stretched himself on the path, as though dead.

Brer Fox’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he came to a second dead rabbit. “Another rabbit,” he shouted. “This is too good to be true. I had better go back and get the other rabbit. Then I can hide both the rabbits in the bush and collect them later.” With that, Brer Fox left his sack by the side of the path and trotted back to get the first rabbit. No sooner was he out of sight, when the Rabbit got up, and hoisting Brer Fox’s sack onto its back, made off for its burrow to have a good feed.

Poor Brer Fox went home, sad and hungry, puzzling his head as to how that meddlesome Rabbit must have cheated him again.