The Little Sly One had bitten through his backbone, just behind the head.
"Well, now, you see, she had a good square meal before her.

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.