once upon a time the animals who live away up north, in the cold arctic regions, came together for a feast in celebration of their blessings. the bears, the wolves, the minks, the sables, even the big, spluttery seals that swim in the icy water, were all on hand to make a great noise, singing and shouting and devouring the things that they all loved to eat.

all were there except mrs. fox, and why she was not invited no one knew. maybe mr. penguin, who wrote the invitations, was responsible for the omission, but at any rate it is a fact that the fox family was left out in the cold.

of course, mrs. fox felt herself sorely slighted. she and her six children came near enough, however, to learn that after the celebration and the dance, which was to be held on the ice floor of the bear palace, there was to be a great supper in mrs. bear's kitchen. it was to be a feast of the eggs of the eider-duck. a supper, needless to say, that any bear or fox would travel night and day to enjoy.

on the night of the feast mrs. fox crept quietly up to the bears' house.

mrs. bear and all the ladies were in the bedroom, brushing down their rich winter suits, and prinking away to look their best before going down to meet the other guests. and, of all things, they were gossiping about mrs. fox! just because she wasn't there (as they thought), they were speaking of her in the most slighting terms. it seemed as if they were all talking at once; but mrs. fox, whose ear was close to the chimney, could hear mrs. wolf's deep voice distinctly.

"that old coat of mrs. fox's is the shabbiest i have ever seen," she was saying in her severest tone. "one would think that a woman of her build, slinky and queer as it is, would put on white every winter. i would wear white myself if i didn't think this handsome gray of mine an elegant thing the year round."

they all agreed that mrs. wolf was indeed very elegant, and that mrs. fox was very shabby. little miss ermine, who, as all the world knows, has the finest white coat in the world, piped up shrill and cross:

"right you are, mrs. wolf. white's the thing in winter, but only for those adapted to it. it scarcely becomes every one."

at this she made a great showing of her own dainty figure, cutting several merry dance figures before the mirror.

mrs. fox had heard enough. she waited for the ladies to go downstairs to the great room where all the gentlemen sat about. she knew what they would do. there would be wonderful speeches by the biggest and oldest bears, about the midnight sun and other blessings; the walrus would make a long speech, too, mostly about seaweed and fish; and then, after a dance or two, they would all come trooping out to the kitchen. old uncle penguin would make a very long prayer, and everybody would eat until he could eat no more.

mrs. fox was very angry. she resolved that there should be no supper for her mean, back-biting friends.

cautiously she felt her way down the sides of the cliff which was the outside of mrs. bear's great house. as she expected, the eider-duck eggs were in a basket suspended from the pantry window. quick as a flash she ran back for her children, and in another minute they were all beside her on the roof of mrs. bear's kitchen.

"old mrs. sloth, who cooks for mrs. bear, is sound asleep by the fire. don't wake her up. and do just what i tell you to," whispered mother fox.

the little foxes held their breath.

"stand in a line! now each one of you take hold of the next one's tail. each of you except little fuzzypaw. he's the quickest and the lightest and he is going to run up and down the ladder which the rest of you will make, and bring me those eggs, one by one. just grip each other's tails as tight as you can, and don't make a sound!"

it was no sooner said than done. one after another the eggs were brought up to the edge of the roof by the little fox, who ran up and down the ladder as nimbly as a weasel. mrs. fox stowed the eggs away carefully in a brand-new basket she had brought with her, and in a few minutes the basket by mrs. bear's pantry window was quite empty.

then off through the big woods the little foxes trotted gaily behind their mother.

what happened when the supper party found that it had no supper, mrs. fox never knew. for while mrs. bear and her guests were reduced to confusion and disappointment, the foxes were at home roasting eggs by the fire, and sitting up to all hours in the jolliest fashion.

the next year mrs. fox was invited. old mr. wolf, who knew a thing or two, thought it would be the wisest thing to ask her. so all the other animals agreed; and mrs. fox never found society in the arctic circle more cordial than after the season it ignored her and she stole the eggs of the eider-duck from mrs. bear.