Prevod

It so happened that a cat met Mr. Fox in a forest, and thinking, “He is clever and well versed in the ways of the world, and held in high regard,” she greeted him kindly. “Good day, dear Mr. Fox. How are you? How do things stand? How do you manage in these hard times?” The fox, full of pride, looked the cat up and down, and for a long while could not decide whether to answer her. At last he said, “Oh, you miserable whisker-washer, you motley fool, you starveling and mouse-hunter, what are you thinking of? You dare to ask how I am? What have you learned? How many tricks do you know?” “I know only one,” the cat replied modestly. “And what trick is that?” asked the fox. “When the dogs are after me, I can leap up into a tree and save myself.” “Is that all?” said the fox. “I am master of a hundred tricks, and besides those I have a whole sackful of cunning. I pity you. Come with me, and I will teach you how to escape the dogs.” Just then a huntsman came along with four dogs. The cat sprang nimbly up a tree and settled in the topmost branches, where the boughs and leaves hid her completely. “Open your sack, Mr. Fox, open your sack!” the cat called down to him, but the dogs had already seized him and were holding him fast. “Ah, Mr. Fox,” cried the cat, “with all your hundred tricks, you are caught. If you could have climbed up here as I did, you would not have lost your life.”