"
War having thus been declared against the bear, all the four-footed
beasts were summoned: the ox, the ass, the cow, the goat, the stag,
and every animal on the face of the earth. The wren, on the other
hand, summoned every flying thing; not only the birds, great and
small, but also the gnat, the hornet, the bee, and the flies.
When the time arrived for the commencement of the war, the wren King
sent out spies to see who was appointed commander-in-chief of
the enemy. The gnat was the most cunning of all the army, and he,
therefore, buzzed away into the forest where the enemy was encamped,
and alighted on a leaf of the tree beneath which the watchword was
given out. There stood the bear and called the fox to him, and said:
"You are the most crafty of animals, so you must be general, and lead
us on." "Well," said the fox, "but what sign shall we appoint?" Nobody
answered. Then the fox said: "I have a fine long bushy tail, which
looks like a red feather at a distance; if I hold this tail straight
up, all is going well and you must march after me; but if I suffer it
to hang down, run away as fast as you can." As soon as the gnat heard
all this she flew home and told the wren King everything to a hair.
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