"Oh, musician," answered the fox, "I will obey you like a pupil obeys his teacher."
"Follow me," said the musician, and when they had gone some distance together, they came to a footpath with tall saplings on both sides. There the musician stood still, and from one side he bent a young hazelnut tree down to the ground and put his foot on the end of it. Then he bent down another young tree from the other side, and said, "Now little fox, if you want to learn something, give me your left front paw."
The fox obeyed, and the musician tied his paw to the left stem. "Little fox," he said, "now give me your right paw."
He tied this one to the right stem. After making sure that the knots in the cord were tight enough, he let go. The trees sprang upright and jerked the little fox upward, leaving him hanging there struggling in the air.
"Wait here until I return," said the musician, and went on his way.
Once again he said to himself, "It is boring here in the woods. I will get myself another companion. So he took his fiddle, and music sounded through the woods. Then a little hare came jumping toward him.
"Ah, a hare is coming," said the musician. "I do not want him."
"Oh, dear musician," said the hare, "You play very well. I too would like to learn to play."
"You can learn quickly," said the musician. "You will only have to do what I tell you."
"Oh, musician," replied the little hare, "I will obey you like a pupil obeys his teacher."
When they had gone some distance together, they came to an aspen tree in a clearing in the woods. The musician tied a long string around the little hare's neck, then tied the other end of the string to the tree.
"Now quickly, little hare, run twenty times around the tree," shouted the musician, and the little hare obeyed. When he had run around twenty times, he had wound the string twenty times around the trunk of the tree, and the little hare was caught. The more the hare tugged and pulled, the more the string cut into his tender neck.
"Wait here until I return," said the musician, and went on his way.
The wolf, in the meantime, had pushed and pulled and bitten at the stone, and had worked so long that he freed his feet from the crack. Full of anger and rage he rushed after the musician, wanting to tear him to pieces.
When the fox saw him running by, he began to wail, crying out with all his might, "Brother wolf, come help me. The musician has tricked me."