Every evening as soon as it got dark, Mr. Fox would say yo Mrs. Fox, "Well, my darling, what shall it be this time?  A plump chicken from Boggis?  A duck or a goose from Bunce?  Or a nice turkey from Bean?"  And when Mrs. Fox had told him what she wanted, Mr. Fox would creep down into the valley in the darkness of the night and help himself.

Boggis and Bunce and Bean knew very well what was going on, and it made them wild with rage.  They were not men who liked to give anything away.  Less still did they like anything to be stolen from them.  So every noght each of them would take his shotgun and hide on his own farm, hoping to catch the robber.

But Mr. Fox was too clever for them.