"I am Ongwe Ias, the one who eats you!"
barked Fox. "You cannot escape me!"

Rabbit began to run for his life. He
ran as fast as he could around trees
and between rocks, making a great
circle in the hope that he would lose
Fox. But when he looked back he saw
that Fox was gaining on him.

"I am Ongwe Ias," Fox barked again.
"You cannot escape."

Rabbit knew that he had to use his
wits. He slipped off his moccasins and
said, "Run on ahead of me." The
moccasins began to run, leaving tracks
in the snow. Then, using his magic
power, Rabbit made himself look like
a dead, half-rotten rabbit and lay
down by the trail.

When Fox came to the dead rabbit, he
did not even stop to sniff at it.

"This meat has gone bad," he said.
Then, seeing the tracks that led on
through the snow he took up the
chase again and finally caught up
with Rabbit's old moccasins. "Hah,"
Fox snarled, "this time he has
fooled me. Next time I will eat the
meat no matter how rotten it looks."

He began to backtrack. Just as he
expected when he came to the place
where the dead rabbit had been, it
was gone. There were tracks leading
away through the bushes, and Fox
began to follow them.

He hadn't gone far when he came upon
an old woman sitting by the trail. In
front of her was a pot, and she was
making a stew.

"Sit down, grandson," she said. "Have
some of this good stew."

Fox sat down. "Have you seen a
rabbit go by?"

"Yes," said the old woman, handing him
a beautifully carved wooden bowl
filled with hot stew. "I saw a very
skinny rabbit go by. There was no
flesh on his bones, and he looked
old and tough."

"I am going to eat that rabbit,"
said Fox.

"Indeed?" said the old woman. "You will
surely do so, for the rabbit looked
tired and frightened. He must have
known you were close behind him. Now
eat the good stew I have given you."

Fox began to eat and, as he did so, he
looked at the old woman. "Why do you
wear those two tall feathers on
your head, old woman?" he asked.

"These feathers?" said the old woman.
"I wear them to remind me of my son
who is a hunter. Look behind you--
here he comes now."

Fox turned to look and, as he did
so, the old woman threw off her
blankets and leaped high in the air.
She went right over Fox's head and hit
him hard with a big stick that had
been hidden under the blankets.

When Fox woke up his head was sore.
He looked for the stew pot, but all
he could see was a hollow stump. He
looked for the wooden soup bowl, but
all he could find was a folded piece
of bark with mud and dirty water in
it. All around him were rabbit tracks.

"So, he has fooled me again," Fox said.
"It will be the last time." He jumped
up and began to follow the tracks
once more.

Before he had gone far he came to a
man sitting by the trail. The man
held a turtle-shell rattle in his hand
and was dressed as a medicine man.

"Have you seen a rabbit go by?"
asked Fox.

"Indeed," said the medicine man,"
and he looked sick and weak."

"I am going to eat that rabbit,"
Fox said.

"Ah," said the medicine man," that
is why he looked so afraid. When a
great warrior like you decides to catch
someone, surely he cannot escape."

Fox was very pleased. "Yes," he said,
"I am Ongwe Ias. No rabbit alive can
escape me."

"But, Grandson," said the medicine man,
shaking his turtle-shell rattle," what
has happened to your head? You are
hurt."

"It is nothing," said the Fox. "A
branch fell and struck me."

"Grandson," said the medicine man,"
you must let me treat that wound, so
that it heals quickly. Rabbit cannot
go far. Come here and sit down."

Fox sat down, and the medicine man
came close to him. He opened up his
pouch and began to sprinkle something
into the wound.

Fox looked closely at the medicine man.
"Why are you wearing two feathers?"
he asked.

"These two feathers," the medicine man
answered, "show that I have great
power. I just have to shake them like
this, and an eagle will fly down. Look,
over there! An eagle is flying down
now."

Fox looked and, as he did so, the
medicine man leaped high in the air
over Fox's head and struck him hard
with his turtle-shell rattle.

When Fox woke up, he was alone in a
small clearing. The wound on his
head was full of burrs and thorns,
the medicine man was gone, and all
around him were rabbit tracks.

"I will not be fooled again!" Fox
snarled. He gave a loud and terrible
war cry. "I am Ongwe Ias," he shouted.
"I am Fox!"

Ahead of him on the trail, Rabbit
heard Fox's war cry. He was still too
tired to run and so he turned himself
into an old dead tree.|

When Fox came to the tree he stopped.
"This tree must be Rabbit," he said,
and he struck at one of the small
dead limbs. It broke off and fell to
the ground. "No," said Fox, "I am
wrong.

This is indeed a tree." He ran on
again, until he realized the tracks
he was following were old ones. He had
been going in a circle. "That tree!"
he said.

He hurried back to the place where
the tree had been. It was gone, but
there were a few drops of blood on the
ground where the small limb had fallen.
Though Fox didn't know it, the branch
he had struck had been the end of
Rabbit's nose, and ever since then
rabbits' noses have been quite short.

Leading away into the bushes were
fresh rabbit tracks. "Now I shall
catch you!" Fox shouted.

Rabbit was worn out. He had used all
his tricks, and still Fox was after
him. He came to a dead tree by the
side of the trail. He ran around it
four times and then, with one last
great leap, lumped into the middle
of some blackberry bushes close by.
Then, holding his breath, he waited.

Fox came to the dead tree and looked
at the rabbit tracks all around it.
"Hah," Fox laughed, "you are trying
to trick me again." He bit at the
dead tree, and a piece of rotten
wood came away in his mouth.

"Hah," Fox said, "you have even
made yourself taste like a dead
tree. But I am Ongwe Ias, I am Fox.
You cannot fool me again."

Then, coughing and choking, Fox ate
the whole tree.

From his hiding place in the
blackberry bushes, Rabbit watched
and tried not to laugh. When Fox had
finished his meal he went away, still
coughing and choking and not feeling
well at all.