The old Scottish poet John Barbour relates the following tale. A fisherman had built himself a little hut near the river, the better to watch his nets. It had a fireplace and only one door. One night he got out of bed and went to look at his nets. When he returned after an hour or two, he saw in his hut by the light of the blazing fire a fox busily gnawing at a fine salmon he had caught that morning. He ran to the door, and, drawing a sword, cried, “Thine hour has come, Master Fox!” Seized with fear, the fox looked round him for a way out, but could find none, save the door where the fisherman stood with the drawn sword in his hand. But he espied a mantle on the bed, and, taking a corner of it in his teeth, he dragged it into the fire. When the fisherman saw his mantle in danger, he rushed to save it, and the fox ran out at the door.