She had been watching a long time at the door of a woodmouse burrow, under a tree, when suddenly she seemed to feel danger behind her.

Without waiting to look round, being so sly, she shot into the air and landed on the trunk of a tree.

As she madly clawed up it, the jaws of a leaping fox came together with a snap just about three inches behind her, just, in fact, where an ordinary tail would have been.

So, you see, her tail really saved her life, just by her not having any! "Well, when she was safely up the tree, of course she couldn't help spitting and growling down at the hungry fox for a minute or two, while he looked up at her with his mouth watering.

Then, however, she curled herself up in a crotch and pretended to go to sleep.