An Ass was being driven along a road leading down the mountain side, when he suddenly took it into his silly head to choose his own path. So they held a council and decided that the very best thing to do was to drink up the river. Dear friend, he said, I was just on my way to visit a sick relative, when I stumbled into this string and got all tangled up. They immediately attacked the Mouse army in large numbers. But Mercury did not give them the golden axe. I hear you, said the Wolf, and I haven't the least grudge against you for what you say or do. The Stork could easily get at the food with his long bill, but all the Fox could do was to lick the outside of the jar, and sniff at the delicious odor. My son, said the Mother Mouse, that gentle creature you saw was none other than the Cat. Mercury dived down for the third time, and when he came up again he had the very axe that had been lost. And when they returned next day to look for their own axes, they were nowhere to be found.
The trickster is easily tricked.