But, being
very sly, she first looked all round to see if anyone was coming to
dine with her. There was no one in sight, but she knew how curiously
things get about sometimes. So she growled, on general principles,
grabbed the snake in her teeth, and climbed up the tree so she might
eat in peace.
"The tail was no good to eat, so she bit it off and scornfully let it
drop. If that black snake hadn't had a tail, he would never have been
eaten by a kitten lynx; so the Little Sly One, as she considered this
point, and also thought of the fox, said to herself: 'Well, maybe my
tail doesn't amount to much, after all. But there doesn't seem to be
any luck in tails, anyway.'
"For all that, things in general were keeping her so very, very busy
the Little Sly One felt lonely and homesick at times. And especially
she felt the need of some kind of a nest which she could call her very
own, where she could curl herself up and go to sleep without fear of
unpleasant interruptions.
"This sort of thing, as you may imagine, was not to be found every day
of the week. Most such places had owners, and the Little Sly One was
not yet big enough and strong enough to turn the owners out. If she
_had_ been big enough-- Well, you see, she hadn't any more
conscience than just enough to get along with comfortably.
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