One day the king of animals asked a cat to see how his palace was built. After a few hours, the little cat came back and said to the tiger, “Oh, your palace is very large, tall and beautiful. ”Several days later the tiger asked a pig to see it. He said, “Go and see how my palace is built. ”But when the pig came back, he said to the tiger, “My dear king, I thought your palace is beautiful, but it suits yourself only. ”
The tiger was very surprised when he heard it. “Why are the cat’s and the pig’s answers not the same? ”he said to himself. He then asked a camel to go to have a look. Before long the camel ran back out of breath and said to the tiger, “Oh, your palace is too small for you to live in, my king. ”
The king became very angry when he heard what the camel said. He said to the animals angrily, “Maybe somebody of you tell lies. Three people have three ideas. I want to kill you. ”Just at the moment, a fox came out to stop the tiger from doing that. He asked the tiger himself to go to see it before killing them.
After the tiger saw the palace himself, he thought that their answers were all right. He said to the animals, “To see with one’s own eyes is more important than only to hear others. ”
The first snow came.How beautiful it was,falling so silently all day long,all night long,on the mountains,on the meadows,on the roofs of the living,on the graves of the dead. All white save the river,that marked its course by a winding(缠,绕) black line across the landscape(风景,山水画);and the leafless trees,that against the leaden(沉闷的)sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches.What silence,too,came with the snow,and what seclusion(隔离)! Every sound was muffled(蒙住, 压抑),every noise changed to some thing soft and musical.No more tramping(踏,践) hoofs(蹄),no more rattling wheels.Only the chiming of sleigh(雪橇)-bells,beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children.
The wolf and the fox want to eat the rabbit, but it wasn't easy to catch him.
One day the wolf says to the fox, "You go home and lie in bed. I'll tell the rabbit that you are dead. When he comes to look at you, you can jump up and catch him." That's a good idea," says the fox.
The fox goes home at once. The wolf goes to the rabbit's house and knocked at the door. "Who is it?" asks the rabbit. "It's the wolf. I come to tell you that the fox is dead." Then the wolf goes away.
The rabbit goes to the fox's house. He looked in through the window and sees the fox lying in bed with his eyes closed. He thinks, "Is the fox really dead or is he pretending to be dead? If he's not dead, he'll catch me when I go near him." so he said, "The wolf says that the fox is dead. But he doesn't look like a dead fox. The mouth of a dead fox is always open." When the fox hears this, he thinks, "I'll show him that I'm dead." So he opened his mouth.
The rabbit knows that the fox isn't dead, and he rans away quickly.