“Oh, Happy Hare, take care, take care!
Be careful what you do.
The Funny Fox, who takes the air,
may lie in wait for you.”
One morning, the Funny Fox was sighing when the Happy Hare came by.
“Why do you sigh?” asked the Happy Hare.
The Funny Fox said, “The Lordly Lion is so ill I am concerned about him. Let us go and visit him.”
So off the two went and found the Lordly Lion ill in bed, with his Lordly head tied up and his Lordly crown hanging on one of the posts of the bed.
The Funny Fox whispered to him, “If you would eat the heart of a Hare, it would entirely cure you.”
This pleased the Lordly Lion so much that he ordered it at once, and the Happy Hare had just time to escape out the window!
The Lordly Lion did procure the heart of a Hare later and was cured, so he thought a great deal of the Fox and gave him a hamper of food. The Fox sat down by the wayside to eat. The Fox ate until his sides stuck out and said, “Enough is as good as a feast.”
Credits
Laura Rountree Smith was an American author and educator active in the early twentieth century, best known for her engaging children's verses and short stories. "Lordly Lion" reflects her playful storytelling voice, blending light verse with a traditional fable structure and a dry closing moral delivered entirely through the Fox's self-satisfied feast.
