THE WAY OF THE WORLD

Once upon a time, a man went into the woods to cut hop-poles, but he could not find any trees as long, straight, and slender as he wanted, until he came high up under a great heap of stones. There he heard groans and moans, as if someone were at death's door. He went to see who needed help and found that the noise came from under a large flat stone lying on the heap. It was so heavy that many men would have been needed to lift it. But the man went back down into the wood, cut down a tree, and turned it into a lever. With that, he pried up the stone, and lo!

out from under it crawled a Dragon, who lunged at the man to swallow him. The man said he had saved the Dragon's life, and it was shamefully ungrateful to want to eat him.

"Maybe," said the Dragon, "but you must know I am starving after being trapped here for hundreds of years without a bite. Besides, it's the way of the world—that's how it pays its debts."

The man pleaded his case stoutly and begged for his life. Finally, they agreed to let the first living thing that came along be the judge. If that judge ruled against the man, the Dragon would eat him; if not, the man would go free.

The first to come was an old hound, trotting along the road below the hillside. They called to him and asked him to be the judge.

"Heaven knows," said the hound, "I have served my master faithfully since I was a pup. I have watched through many a night while he slept warm, and I have saved house and home from fire and thieves more than once. But now I can neither see nor hear well, and he wants to shoot me. So I must run away and beg from house to house until I die of hunger. No! It's the way of the world. That's how it pays its debts."

"Now I am coming to eat you," said the Dragon, and he tried to swallow the man again. But the man begged and prayed, so they agreed to ask the next comer. If that judge agreed with the Dragon and the hound, the Dragon would eat him; if not, the man would go free.

Then came an old horse, limping down the road under the hill. They called him over to settle the dispute. He was ready to do so.

"Now, I have served my master," said the horse, "as long as I could draw or carry. I have slaved and sweated until every hair dripped, and I have worked until I am lame, halt, and worn out with age. Now I am fit for nothing and not worth my feed, so he says I am to get a bullet through me. No, no! It's the way of the world. That's how the world pays its debts."

"Well, now I'm coming to eat you," said the Dragon, opening his jaws wide. But the man begged again for his life.

The Dragon insisted he must have a mouthful of man's meat; he was so hungry he could bear it no longer.

"Look, there comes one who looks like he might be a judge between us," said the man, pointing to Reynard the fox, who came sneaking between the stones of the heap.

"All good things are three," said the man. "Let me ask him too. If he gives the same verdict as the others, eat me up on the spot."

"Very well," said the Dragon, who had also heard that all good things are three, and so it was agreed. The man told the fox the situation as he had told the others.

"Yes, yes," said Reynard. "I see how it all is." But as he spoke, he drew the man aside.

"What will you give me if I free you from the Dragon?" he whispered.

"You shall be free to come to my house and be lord and master over my hens and geese every Thursday night," said the man.

"Well, my dear Dragon," said Reynard, "this is a hard nut to crack. I cannot understand how you, such a big and mighty beast, could fit under that stone."

"Can't you?" said the Dragon. "I was lying under the hillside sunning myself when a landslip came and rolled the stone over me."

"All very likely, I dare say," said Reynard. "But still I don't understand it, and what's more, I won't believe it until I see it."

So the man said they had better prove it. The Dragon crawled back into the hole, and in the blink of an eye, they pulled out the lever, and the stone crashed down again on the Dragon.

"Lie there now until Doomsday," said the fox. "You would eat the man who saved your life?"

The Dragon groaned and moaned and begged to be let out, but the two went on their way and left him alone.

The very first Thursday night, Reynard came to be lord and master over the henhouse and hid behind a large woodpile nearby. When the maid went to feed the fowls, Reynard slipped in. She neither saw nor heard anything, but her back was barely turned before he had drunk enough blood for a week and stuffed himself so full he couldn't move. When she came back in the morning, there lay Reynard, snoring and sleeping in the morning sun with all four legs stretched out, sleek and round as a German sausage.

Away ran the lassie to fetch the goody, and she came with all the other lassies, armed with sticks and brooms to beat Reynard. They nearly beat the life out of him. Just when it was almost over and he thought his last hour had come, he found a hole in the floor, crept out, and limped and hobbled off into the woods.

"Oh, oh," said Reynard. "How true it is. It's the way of the world, and this is how it pays its debts."