Two pretty girls lived not far from Rabbit
and Wolf. One day Rabbit called upon Wolf
and said, "Let's go and visit those pretty
girls up the road."

"All right," Wolf said, and they started
off. When they got to the girls' house,
they were invited in, but both girls took
a great liking to Wolf and paid all their
attention to him while Rabbit had to sit
by and look on. Rabbit of course was not
pleased by this, and he soon said, "We had
better be going back." "Let's wait a while
longer," Wolf replied, and they remained
until late in the day. Before they left,
Rabbit found a chance to speak to one of
the girls so that Wolf could not overhear
and he said, "The one you've been having
so much fun with is my old horse." "I
think you are lying," the girl replied.

"No, I am not. You shall see me ride
him up here tomorrow." "If we see you
ride him up here," the girl said with a
laugh, "we'll believe he's only your old
horse."

When the two left the house, the girls
said, "Well, call again."

Next morning Wolf was up early, knocking
on Rabbit's door. "It's time to visit
those girls again," he announced.

Rabbit groaned. "Oh, I was sick all
night," he answered, "and I hardly feel
able to go."

Wolf kept urging him, and finally Rabbit
said, "If you will let me ride you, I
might go along to keep you company."
Wolf agreed to carry him astride of his
back. But then Rabbit said, "I would like
to put a saddle on you so as to brace
myself" When Wolf agreed to this, Rabbit
added: "I believe it would be better if
I should also bridle you."

Although Wolf objected at first to
being bridled, he gave in when Rabbit
said he did not think he could hold on
and manage to get as far as the girls'
house without a bridle. Finally, Rabbit
wanted to put on spurs. "I am too
ticklish," Wolf protested.

"I will not spur you with them," Rabbit
promised. "I will hold them away from
you, but it would be nicer to have them
on." At last Wolf agreed to this, but
he repeated: "I am very ticklish. You
must not spur me."

"When we get near the girls' house,"
Rabbit said, "we will take everything
off you and walk the rest of the way."
And so they started up the road, Rabbit
proudly riding upon Wolf's back. When
they were nearly in sight of the house,
Rabbit raked his spurs into Wolf's
sides and Wolf galloped full speed
right by the house. "Those girls have
seen you now," Rabbit said. "I will tie
you here and go up to see them and try
to explain everything. I'll come back
after a while and get you."

And so Rabbit went back to the house
and said to the girls: "You both saw
me riding my old horse, did you not?"

"Yes," they answered, and he sat down
and had a good time with them. After a
while Rabbit thought he ought to untie
Wolf, and he started back to the place
where he was fastened. He knew that Wolf
must be very angry with him by this
time, and he thought up a way to untie
him and get rid of him without any
danger to himself. He found a thin
hollow log and began beating upon it as
if it were a drum. Then he ran up to
Wolf as fast as he could go, crying
out: "The soldiers are hunting for you!
You heard their drum. The soldiers are
after you." Wolf was very much frightened
of soldiers. "Let me go, let me go!"
he shouted.

Rabbit was purposely slow in untying
him and had barely freed him when Wolf
broke away and ran as fast as he could
into the woods. Then Rabbit returned
home, laughing to himself over how he
had fooled Wolf, and feeling satisfied
that he could have the girls to himself
for a while. Near the girls' house was
a large peach orchard, and one day they
asked Rabbit to shake the peaches off
the tree for them. They went to the
orchard together and he climbed up into
a tree to shake the peaches off. While
he was there Wolf suddenly appeared and
called out: "Rabbit, old fellow, I'm
going to even the score with you. I'm
not going to leave you alone until I do."

Rabbit raised his head and pretended to
be looking at some people off in the
distance. Then he shouted from the
treetop: "Here is that fellow, Wolf,
you've been hunting for!" At this,
Wolf took fright and ran away again.

Some time after this, Rabbit was
resting against a tree-trunk that leaned
toward the ground. When he saw Wolf
coming along toward him, he stood up so
that the bent tree-trunk pressed against
his shoulder. "I have you now," said
Wolf, but Rabbit quickly replied: "Some
people told me that if I would hold
this tree up with the great power I have
they would bring me four hogs in payment.
Now, I don't like hog meat as well as
you do, so if you take my place they'll
give the hogs to you." Wolf's greed was
excited by this, and he said he was
willing to hold up the tree. He squeezed
in beside Rabbit, who said, "You must
hold it tight or it will fall down."
Rabbit then ran off, and Wolf stood
with his back pressed hard against the
bent tree- trunk until he finally
decided he could stand it no longer. He
jumped away quickly so the tree would
not fall upon him. Then he saw that it
was only a leaning tree rooted in the
earth. "That Rabbit is the biggest
liar," he cried. "If I can catch him
I'll certainly fix him."

After that, Wolf hunted for Rabbit every
day until he found him lying in a nice
grassy place. He was about to spring
upon him when Rabbit said, "My friend,
I've been waiting to see you again. I
have something good for you to eat.
Somebody killed a pony out there in the
road. If you wish I'll help you drag it
out of the road to a place where you
can make a feast off it."

"All right," Wolf said, and he followed
Rabbit out to the road where a pony was
lying asleep.

"I'm not strong enough to move the pony
by myself," said Rabbit, "so I'll tie
its tail to yours and help you by
pushing." Rabbit tied their tails
together carefully so as not to awaken
the pony. Then he grabbed the pony by
the ears as if he were going to lift
it up. The pony woke up, jumped to its
feet, and ran away, dragging Wolf behind.
Wolf struggled frantically to free his
tail, but all he could do was scratch
on the ground with his claws. "Pull with
all your might," Rabbit shouted after
him. "How can I pull with all my might,"
Wolf cried, "when I'm not standing on
the ground?"