Reading Notes: More English Tales, Part A

Scrapefoot by Joseph Jacobs (1894)

• Scrapefoot was a fox that lived near a bear castle with a big Bear, a medium-sized Bear, and a small Bear.
• One day, he was curious what the bears were like, so he sneaked inside the castle. 
• He found a great hall with three chairs, one for each size of the bears. Scrapefoot thought the large chair was too uncomfy, the medium size was too uncomfortable, and the small one was just perfect. 
• However, he sat on it for so long that it broke. 
• Next were the saucers of milk. Same thing with the chairs happened. Scrapefoot ended up drinking up all the milk in the small saucer. 
• Finally were the beds. Scrapefoot ended up loving the small bed so much that he fell asleep. 
• The Bears eventually came home to find all their stuff used up and/or broken. 
• They found the fox fast asleep in the small bed and threw him out the window. 
• Luckily, no bones were broken, and the fox scurried off, never coming back. 

(Arundel Castle in England: Pixabay)