Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

     An exchange gives the following account of a weasel’s stratagem, with the suspicious remark that it is vouched for by a friend. A grist-mill was infested with large rats, until a weasel came there and destroyed nearly all of them. There was, however, one large rat which he could not conquer. They had several pitched battles, in which the rat whipped the weasel, until whenever the rat appeared the weasel would seek safety in flight. They were watched for several days, when the weasel was observed to be digging a hole in the earth under a pile of lumber. After he had completed it, he approached the mill and the rat came after him as usual. He made some show of fight until he got the rat interested, and then ran into his hole. The rat followed, when the weasel was seen to come out at the other end of the hole, and run in at the entrance after the rat. Subsequent examination proved that the weasel had made the hole large enough for the rat to enter, but had contracted the other end so that he could not get out. Having thus trapped his antagonist, the weasel took him in the rear, and easily conquered him.