The Weasel was right; it was Rory the Fox who had stolen Gilly’s Crystal
Egg. One night, just as he was leaving Gilly’s house, the moon shone
full upon the Crystal Egg. In the turn of a hand Rory the Fox had made a
little spring and had taken the Egg in his mouth. Then he slipped out by
the door as quick and as quiet as a leaf blown in the wind.
He couldn’t help himself stealing the Egg, when the chance came. He had
had a dream about it. He dreamt that the Egg had been hatched and that
out of it had come the most toothsome bird that a Fox had ever taken by
the neck. He snapped his teeth in his sleep when he dreamt of it. The
Fox told his youngsters about the bird he had dreamt of--a bird as big
as a goose and so fat on the neck and the breast that it could hardly
stir from sitting. The youngsters had smacked their lips and
snapped their teeth. Every time he came home now they used to say to
him--“Father, have you brought us the Boobrie Bird?” No wonder that his
eyes used to turn to the Crystal Egg when he sat in Gilly’s house. And
then because the moon shone on it just as he was leaving, and because he
knew that Gilly’s back was turned, he could not keep himself from making
a little spring and taking the Crystal Egg softly in his mouth.
He went amongst the dark, dark trees with the soft and easy trot of a
Fox. He knew well what he should do with the Egg. He had dreamt that it
had been hatched by the Spae-Woman’s old rheumatic goose. This goose was
called Old Mother Hatchie and the Fox had never carried her off because
he knew she was always hatching out goslings for his table. He went
through the trees and across the fields towards the Spae-Woman’s house.
The Spae-Woman lived by telling people their fortunes and reading them
their dreams. That is why she was called the Spae-Woman. The people gave
her goods for telling them their dreams and fortunes and she left her
land and stock to whatever chanced. The fences of her fields were broken
and rotted. Her hens had been carried off by the Fox. Her goat had gone
wild. She had neither ox nor ass nor sheep nor pig. The Fox went through
her fence now as lightning would go through a gooseberry bush and he
came out before her barn. There was a hole in the barn-door and he went
through that. And in the north-west corner of the barn, he saw Old Mother
Hatchie sitting on a nest of straw and he knew that there was a clutch
of eggs under her. She cackled when she saw the Fox on the floor of the
barn but she never stirred off the nest. Rory left what was in his mouth
on the ground. Old Mother Hatchie put her head on one side and looked at
the Egg that was clear in the full moonlight.
“This egg, Mistress Hatchie,” said Rory the Fox, “is from the Hen-wife
of the Queen of Ireland. The Queen asked the Hen-wife to ask me to leave
it with you. She thinks there’s no bird in the world but yourself that
is worthy to hatch it and to rear the gosling that comes out of it.”
“That’s right, that’s right,” said Mother Hatchie. “Put it here, put
it here.” She lifted her wing and the Fox put the Crystal Egg into the
brood-nest.
He went out of the barn, crossed the field again, and went amongst the
dark, dark trees. He went along slowly now for he began to think that
Gilly might find out who stole the Crystal Egg and be vexed with him.
Then he thought of the Weasel. The Fox began to think he might be sorry
for himself if the Weasel was set on his track.
Rory did not go to Gilly’s house the next night nor the night after. The
third night, as he was going home from a ramble, the Owl hooted at him.
“Why do you hoot at me, Big Moth?” said the Fox stopping in his trot.
(He always called the Owl “Big Moth” to pretend that he thought she
wasn’t a bird at all, but a moth. He made this pretence because he was
annoyed that he could never get an owl to eat). “Why do you hoot at
me, Big Moth?” said he. “The Weasel’s going to have your bones for
his stepping-stones and your blood for his morning dram,” said the Owl
balefully as she went amongst the dark, dark trees. The Fox stopped long
to consider. Then he went to his burrow and told his youngsters they
would have to move house. He had them stirring at the first light.
He gave them a frog each for their breakfast and took them across the
country. They came to a burrow that Old-Fellow Badger had just left and
Rory the Fox brought his youngsters into it and told them that it would
be their new house.
X
The evening after when Rory the Fox was taking his nap he heard one of
his youngsters give a sharp cry. They were playing outside the burrow,
lie looked out and he saw that his three youngsters were afraid of
something that was between them and the burrow. He looked again and saw
the Weasel.
“Ahem,” said Rory the Fox, “and how are we this morning?”
The Weasel had marked one of Rory’s youngsters for attack. Although Rory
spoke, he never took his eyes off the youngster he had marked.
“My dear friend,” said the Fox, “I was just going to say--if you are
looking for anything, perhaps I could tell you where it might be found.”
“Crystal Egg,” said the Weasel without ever taking away his
blood-thirsty gaze from Rory’s youngster.
“Oh, the Crystal Egg,” said Rory the Fox. “Yes, to be sure. I could
bring you at once to the place where the Crystal Egg is.” He came out of
the burrow and saw Gilly standing on the bank behind.
“I think it is time for my children to go back to their burrow,” said
Rory the Fox. “Please excuse them, my friends.” The Weasel took his eyes
off the youngster he had marked and the three little foxes scampered
into the burrow.
“This way, friends,” said the Fox, and he started off towards the
Spae-Woman’s house with the light and easy trot of a fox. Gilly and the
Weasel went behind him. They crossed a field of flax, a field of
hemp and a field of barley. They came to the broken fence before the
Spae-Woman’s house, and in front of the house they saw the Spae-Woman
herself and she was crying and crying.
The Fox hid behind the fence, the Weasel climbed up on the ditch and
Gilly himself went to the woman.
“What ails you at all?” said Gilly to her.
“My goose--the only fowl left to me has been taken by robbers.”
“Ask her where the clutch of eggs is that the goose was hatching,” said
Rory the Fox anxiously, putting his head over the fence.
“And where is the clutch of eggs, ma’am, that your goose was hatching?”
“The robbers took the nest with the goose and the eggs with the nest,”
said the Spae-Woman.
“And the Crystal Egg was with the other eggs,” said the Fox to Gilly. He
said no more. He made a quick turn and got clear away before the Weasel
could spring on him. He ran back to his burrow. He told the little foxes
they must change houses again. That night they lay in a wood and at the
first light they crossed water and went to live on an island where the
Weasel never came.
“Where did the robbers go with the goose, the nest, and the eggs?” said
Gilly of the Goatskin.
“They went to the river,” said the Spae-Woman. “I followed them every
inch of the way. They got into a boat and they hoisted their sails. They
rowed and they rowed, so that the hard gravel of the bottom was brought
to the top, and the froth of the top was driven down to the bottom of
the river. And wherever they are,” said the Spae-Woman, “they are far
from us now.”
“Will you come with me?” said Gilly to the Weasel, “we will track them
down and take back the Crystal Egg.”
“I engaged myself to be with you for a quarter of a year,” said the
Weasel, “and the three months are up now, Gilly. Winter is coming on and
I must see to my own affairs.”
“Then good-by, Weasel,” said Gilly. “I will search for the Crystal Egg
myself. But first I must ask the woman to let me rest in the house and
to give me some provision for my journey.” The Weasel looked up into
Gilly’s face and said good-by to him. Then Gilly followed the Spae-Woman
into her house. “Ocone,” she was saying to herself, “my dream told me
I was to lose my poor goose, and still I never did anything to make it
hard for the robbers to take her from me.”