'
"'You need not be alarmed,' replied the cocks; 'there is only one of
them here--our friend Mr. Flaps,--and he is always stationed outside the
castle; besides, he is just as glad as we are that you have come to kill
the mice.'
"But in spite of this assurance, the fox did not at all like the idea of
going in past Flaps, who stood at the door, showing his teeth, and with
the hair down his back standing on end; but at last, catching sight of a
number of plump young chickens looking out at a window, Reynard could
resist no longer, and with his mouth watering in anxiety to be among
them, he slipped past Flaps like lightning, and scampered up into the
loft. Once there, he behaved so affably to the fowls, and especially to
some of the oldest and most influential hens, that very soon every one
looked on him as their friend in time of need, and their enthusiasm was
brought to a climax when they saw him catch four mice in half as many
minutes.
"In the dead of the night, when all were asleep, Reynard crept up to
where the fowls roosted, and finding out where the youngest and fattest
were perched, he snapped off the heads of a couple before they had even
time to flutter a feather.
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