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diff --git a/16663-h/16663-h.htm b/16663-h/16663-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d011a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/16663-h/16663-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3493 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Tale of Solomon Owl, by Arthur Scott Bailey</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +p.caption {font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Tale of Solomon Owl, by Arthur Scott Bailey</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Tale of Solomon Owl</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Arthur Scott Bailey</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 26, 2005 [eBook #16663]<br /> +[Most recently updated: May 18, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Roger Frank and and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL ***</div> + +<h1>The Tale of Solomon Owl</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Arthur Scott Bailey</h2> + +<p class="center"> +Author of “The Tale of Sandy Chipmunk,” “The Tale of Tommy +Fox,” etc. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith +</p> + +<p class="center"> +New York<br /> +Grosset & Dunlap<br /> +1917 +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="illus01"></a> +<img src="images/image-fp.jpg" width="300" height="450" alt="[Illustration: ]" /> +<p class="caption">Solomon Owl Sat Up And Listened.</p> +</div> + +<h3>Contents</h3> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">Chapter I. Scaring Johnny Green</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">Chapter II. A Newcomer</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">Chapter III. Solomon Likes Frogs</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">Chapter IV. An Odd Bargain</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">Chapter V. The Cold Weather Coat</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">Chapter VI. Solomon Needs a Change</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">Chapter VII. The Blazing Eyes</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">Chapter VIII. Watching The Chickens</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">Chapter IX. Hallowe’en</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">Chapter X. A Troublesome Wishbone</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">Chapter XI. Cured At Last</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">Chapter XII. Benjamin Bat</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">Chapter XIII. The Lucky Guest</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">Chapter XIV. Hanging By The Heels</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">Chapter XV. Disputes Settled</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">Chapter XVI. Nine Fights</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">Chapter XVII. Cousin Simon Screecher</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">Chapter XVIII. A Cousinly Quarrel</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">Chapter XIX. The Sleet Storm</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">Chapter XX. A Pair Of Red-Heads</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">Chapter XXI. At Home In The Haystack</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">Chapter XXII. It Was Solomon’s Fault</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<h3>Illustrations</h3> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#illus01">Solomon Owl Sat Up And Listened</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#illus02">Solomon Found Mr. Frog’s Shop Was Closed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#illus03">Benjamin Bat Asked Solomon’s Advice</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#illus04">“It’s All Right!” Said Solomon</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>The Tale of Solomon Owl</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>I<br /> +Scaring Johnny Green</h2> + +<p> +When Johnnie Green was younger, it always scared him to hear Solomon +Owl’s deep-toned voice calling in the woods after dark. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Whoo-whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo, to-whoo-ah!</i>” That weird cry was +enough to send Johnnie Green hurrying into the farmhouse, though sometimes he +paused in the doorway to listen—especially if Solomon Owl happened to be +laughing. His “<i>haw-haw-hoo-hoo</i>,” booming across the meadow +on a crisp fall evening, when the big yellow moon hung over the fields of +corn-shocks and pumpkins, sounded almost as if Solomon were laughing at the +little boy he had frightened. There was certainly a mocking, jeering note in +his laughter. +</p> + +<p> +Of course, as he grew older, Johnnie Green no longer shivered on hearing +Solomon’s rolling call. When Solomon laughed, Johnnie Green would laugh, +too. But Solomon Owl never knew that, for often he was half a mile from the +farm buildings. +</p> + +<p> +A “hoot owl,” Johnnie Green termed him. And anyone who heard +Solomon hooting of an evening, or just before sunrise, would have agreed that +it was a good name for him. But he was really a <i>barred</i> owl, for he had +bars of white across his feathers. +</p> + +<p> +If you had happened to catch Solomon Owl resting among the thick hemlocks near +the foot of Blue Mountain, where he lived, you would have thought that he +looked strangely like a human being. He had no “horns,” or +ear-tufts, such as some of the other owls wore; and his great pale face, with +its black eyes, made him seem very wise and solemn. +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the mild, questioning look upon his face whenever anyone surprised +him in the daytime, Solomon Owl was the noisiest of all the different families +of owls in Pleasant Valley. There were the barn owls, the long-eared owls, the +short-eared owls, the saw-whet owls, the screech owls—but there! +there’s no use of naming them all. There wasn’t one of them that +could equal Solomon Owl’s laughing and hooting and shrieking and +wailing—at night. +</p> + +<p> +During the day, however, Solomon Owl he was quiet about it. One reason for his +silence then was that he generally slept when the sun was shining. And when +most people were sleeping, Solomon Owl was as wide awake as he could be. +</p> + +<p> +He was a night-prowler—if ever there was one. And he could see a mouse on +the darkest night, even if it stirred ever so slightly. +</p> + +<p> +That was unfortunate for the mice. But luckily for them, Solomon Owl +couldn’t be in more than one place at a time. Otherwise, there +wouldn’t have been a mouse left in Pleasant Valley—if he could have +had <i>his</i> way. +</p> + +<p> +And though he didn’t help the mice, he helped Farmer Green by catching +them. If he did take a fat pullet once in a while, it is certain that he more +than paid for it. +</p> + +<p> +So, on the whole, Farmer Green did not wood-lot. And for a long time Solomon +raised no objection to Farmer Green’s living near Swift River. +</p> + +<p> +But later Solomon Owl claimed that it would be a good thing for the forest folk +if they could get rid of the whole Green family—and the hired man, too. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>II<br /> +A Newcomer</h2> + +<p> +Upon his arrival, as a stranger, in Pleasant Valley, Solomon Owl looked about +carefully for a place to live. What he wanted especially was a good, +<i>dark</i> hole, for he thought that sunshine was very dismal. +</p> + +<p> +Though he was willing to bestir himself enough to suit anybody, when it came to +<i>hunting</i>, Solomon Owl did not like to work. He was no busy nest-builder, +like Rusty Wren. In his search for a house he looked several times at the home +of old Mr. Crow. If it had suited him better, Solomon would not have hesitated +to take that it was altogether <i>too light</i> to please him. +</p> + +<p> +That was lucky for old Mr. Crow. And the black rascal knew it, too. He had +noticed that Solomon Owl was hanging about the neighborhood. And several times +he caught Solomon examining his nest. +</p> + +<p> +But Mr. Crow did not have to worry long. For as it happened, Solomon Owl at +last found exactly what he wanted. In an old, hollow hemlock, he came across a +cozy, dark cavity. As soon as he saw it he knew that it was the very thing! So +he moved in at once. And except for the time that he spent in the +meadow—which was considerably later—he lived there for a good many +years. +</p> + +<p> +Once Fatty Coon thought that he would drive Solomon out of his snug house and +live in it himself. But he soon changed Solomon Owl—so Fatty +discovered—had sharp, strong claws and a sharp, strong beak as well, +which curled over his face in a cruel hook. +</p> + +<p> +It was really a good thing for Solomon Owl—the fight he had with Fatty +Coon. For afterward his neighbors seldom troubled him—except when Jasper +Jay brought a crowd of his noisy friends to tease Solomon, or Reddy Woodpecker +annoyed him by rapping on his door when he was asleep. +</p> + +<p> +But those rowdies always took good care to skip out of Solomon’s reach. +And when Jasper Jay met Solomon alone in the woods at dawn or dusk he was most +polite to the solemn old chap. <i>Then</i> it was “How-dy-do, Mr. +Owl!” and “I hope you’re well to-day!” And when Solomon +Jasper, that bold fellow always felt quite uneasy; and he was glad when Solomon +Owl looked away. +</p> + +<p> +If Solomon Owl chanced to <i>hoot</i> on those occasions, Jasper Jay would jump +almost out of his bright blue coat. Then Solomon’s deep laughter would +echo mockingly through the woods. +</p> + +<p> +You see, though not nearly so wise as he appeared, Solomon Owl knew well enough +how to frighten some people. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>III<br /> +Solomon Likes Frogs</h2> + +<p> +It was a warm summer’s evening—so warm that Mr. Frog, the tailor, +had taken his sewing outside his tailor’s shop and seated himself +cross-legged upon the bank of the brook, where he sang and sewed without +ceasing—except to take a swim now and then in the cool water, “to +stretch his legs,” as he claimed. +</p> + +<p> +He was making a new suit of blue clothes for Jasper Jay. And since Jasper was a +great dandy, and very particular Mr. Frog was taking special pains with his +sewing. +</p> + +<p> +Usually he did his work quickly. But now after every five stitches that he put +into his work he stopped to take out ten. And naturally he was not getting on +very fast. He had been working busily since early morning; and Jasper +Jay’s suit was further than ever from being finished. +</p> + +<p> +Since he was a most cheerful person, Mr. Frog did not mind that. Indeed, he was +more than pleased, because the oftener he took a swim the fewer stitches he +lost. So he sang the merriest songs he knew. +</p> + +<p> +The light was fast fading when a hollow laugh startled Mr. Frog. It seemed to +come from the willow tree right over his head. And he knew without looking up +that it was Solomon Owl’s deep voice. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Frog tried to leap into the brook. But when he uncrossed his legs, in his +haste he tangled them up in his sewing. And all he could do was to turn a +somersault backward among some bulrushes, hoping that Solomon Owl had not seen +him. +</p> + +<p> +It is no secret that Mr. Frog was terribly afraid of Solomon Owl. Some of Mr. +Frog’s friends had mysteriously disappeared. And they had last been seen +in Solomon’s company. +</p> + +<p> +As it happened, Mr. Frog had hoped in vain. For Solomon Owl only laughed more +loudly than before. And then he said: +</p> + +<p> +“What are you afraid of, Mr. Frog?” +</p> + +<p> +The tailor knew at once that he was caught. So he hopped nimbly to his feet and +answered that there was nothing to be afraid of, so far as he could see. +</p> + +<p> +It was a true statement, too; because Mr. Frog had not yet discovered Solomon +Owl’s exact whereabouts. +</p> + +<p> +But he learned them soon; for Solomon immediately dropped down from the big +willow and alighted on the bank near Mr. Frog—altogether <i>too near</i> +him, in fact, for the tailor’s comfort. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon looked at Mr. Frog very solemnly. And he thought that he shivered. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter? Are you ill?” Solomon Owl inquired. +“You seem to be shaking.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just a touch of chills and fever, probably!” replied Mr. Frog with +an uneasy smile. “You know it’s very damp here.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t look in the best of health—that’s a +fact!” Solomon Owl remarked. “You appear to me to be somewhat green +in the face.” And he laughed once more—that same hollow, mirthless +laugh. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Frog couldn’t help jumping, because the sound alarmed him. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be disturbed!” said Solomon Owl. “I like all the +Frog family.” +</p> + +<p> +At that remark, Mr. Frog started violently That was exactly the trouble! +Solomon Owl was <i>altogether too fond</i> of frogs, whether they were old or +young, big or little. +</p> + +<p> +It was no wonder that Mr. Frog swallowed rapidly sixteen times before he could +say another word. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>IV<br /> +An Odd Bargain</h2> + +<p> +While Mr. Frog was swallowing nothing rapidly, he was thinking rapidly, too. +There was something about Solomon Owl’s big, staring eyes that made Mr. +Frog feel uncomfortable. And if he had thought he had any chance of escaping he +would have dived into the brook and swum under the bank. +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl was too near him for that. And Mr. Frog was afraid his caller +would pounce upon him any moment. So he quickly thought of a plan to save +himself. “No doubt——” he began. But Solomon Owl +interrupted him. +</p> + +<p> +“There!” cried Solomon. “You can speak, after all. I supposed +you’d swallowed your tongue. And I was just waiting to see what +you’d do next. I thought maybe you would swallow your <i>head</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Frog managed to laugh at the joke, though, to tell the truth, he felt more +nervous than ever. He saw what was in Solomon Owl’s mind, for Solomon was +thinking of swallowing Mr. Frog’s head himself. +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt—” Mr. Frog resumed—“no doubt +you’ve come to ask me to make you a new suit of clothes.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, Solomon Owl had had no such idea at all. But when it was mentioned to him, +he rather liked it. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you?” he inquired, with a highly interested air. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, certainly!” the tailor replied. And for the first time since +he had turned his backward somersault into the bulrushes, he smiled widely. +“I’ll tell you what I’ll do!” he said. “First, +I’ll make you a coat free. And second, if you like it I will then make +you a waistcoat and trousers, at double rates.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl liked the thought of getting a coat for nothing. But for all that, +he looked at the tailor somewhat doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Will it take you long?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No, indeed!” Mr. Frog told him. “I’ll make your coat +while you wait.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I wasn’t going away,” Solomon assured him with an odd +look which made Mr. Frog shiver again. “Be quick, please! Because I have +some important business to attend to.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Frog couldn’t help wondering if it wasn’t he himself that +Solomon Owl was going to attend to. In spite of his fears, to work to cut up +some cloth that hung just outside his door. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop!” Solomon Owl cried in a voice that seemed to shake the very +ground. “You haven’t measured me yet!” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s not necessary,” Mr. Frog explained glibly. +“I’ve become so skilful that one look at an elegant figure like +yours is all that I need.” +</p> + +<p> +Naturally, Mr. Frog’s remark pleased Solomon Owl. And he uttered ten +rapid hoots, which served to make Mr. Frog’s fingers fly all the faster. +Soon he was sewing Solomon’s coat with long stitches; and though his +needle slipped now and then, he did not pause to take out a single stitch. For +some reason, Mr. Frog was in a great hurry. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl did not appear to notice that the tailor was not taking much pains +with his sewing. Perhaps Mr. Frog worked so fast that Solomon could not see +what he was doing. +</p> + +<p> +Anyhow, he was delighted when Mr. Frog suddenly cried: +</p> + +<p> +“It’s finished!” And then he tossed the coat to Solomon. +“Try it on!” he said. “I want to see how well it fits +you.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl held up the garment and looked at it very carefully. And as he +examined it a puzzled look came over his great pale face. +</p> + +<p> +There was something about his new coat that he did not understand. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>V<br /> +The Cold Weather Coat</h2> + +<p> +Yes! As he held up his new coat and looked at it, Solomon Owl was puzzled. He +turned his head toward Mr. Frog and stared at him for a moment. And then he +turned his head away from the tailor and gazed upon the coat again. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Frog was most uncomfortable—especially when Solomon looked at +<i>him</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“Everything’s all right, isn’t it?” he inquired. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl slowly shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“This is a queer coat!” he said. “What’s this bag at +the top of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” exclaimed Mr. Frog. “That’s the hood! Knowing +that you spend your winters here in Pleasant Valley, I made a hood to go over +your head.... You’ll find it very comfortable in cold weather—and +it’s the latest style, too. All the winter coats this year will have +hoods, with holes to see through, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl looked relieved at Mr. Frog’s explanation. But there was +still something more that appeared to trouble him. +</p> + +<p> +“How shall I get into the coat?” he inquired. “It +doesn’t open in front, as it should.” +</p> + +<p> +“Another cold-weather style!” Mr. Frog assured him. +“It’s wind-proof! And instead of buttoning the coat, you pull it on +over your head.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl said he didn’t like that style very well. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I can easily change it,” the tailor told him. “But just +try it on!” he urged. “It may please you, after all.” +</p> + +<p> +So Solomon Owl pulled the coat over his head. And it fell down about him, +almost reaching his feet. But the coat did not seem to suit him at all, for he +began to splutter and choke. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter now?” Mr. Frog asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t see—that’s what’s the matter!” +Solomon Owl cried in a voice that sounded hollower than ever, because it was +muffled by the hood, which covered his head. +</p> + +<p> +“I declare—I haven’t cut the holes for your eyes!” the +tailor exclaimed. “Just wait a moment and I’ll make everything +satisfactory.” He clinked his shears together sharply as he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl told him that he wouldn’t <i>think</i> of letting anybody +use shears so near his eyes. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="illus02"></a> +<img src="images/image-001.jpg" width="300" height="450" alt="[Illustration: ]" /> +<p class="caption">Solomon Found Mr. Frog’s Shop Was Closed </p> +</div> + +<p> +“I’ll take off the coat,” he said. “And I know now that +you’re a very poor tailor, or you wouldn’t have made such a +mistake.” He began to tug at the coat. But he soon found that taking it +off was not so easy as putting it on. Solomon’s sharp claws caught in the +cloth; and his hooked beak, too, fastened itself in the hood the moment he +tried to pull the coat over his head. “Here!” he cried to Mr. Frog. +“Just lend me a hand! I can’t see to help myself.” +</p> + +<p> +But Mr. Frog did not even answer him. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you hear me?” Solomon Owl shouted, as he struggled +with his new coat, only to become tangled in it more than ever. +</p> + +<p> +Still, the tailor said never a word, though something very like a giggle, +followed by a splash, caught Solomon’s ear. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s left me!” Solomon Owl groaned. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Frog has left me to get out of this coat alone. And goodness knows +how I’m ever a-going to do it.” He threshed about so vigorously +that he tripped himself and fell upon the bank of the brook, rolling over and +over toward the water. +</p> + +<p> +He had a very narrow escape. If he hadn’t happened to bring up against an +old stump he would certainly have tumbled into the stream. +</p> + +<p> +Though Solomon couldn’t see, he knew that he was in danger. So he lay on +his back on the ground and carefully tore his new coat into strings and +ribbons. +</p> + +<p> +At last he was free. And he rose to his feet feeling very sheepish, for he knew +that Mr. Frog had played a sly trick on him. +</p> + +<p> +“Nevermind!” said Solomon Owl, as he flew way. “I’ll +come back to-morrow and ask Mr. Frog to make me a waistcoat and trousers. And +then——” He did not finish what he was saying. But there is no +doubt that whatever it was, it could not have been very pleasant for Mr. Frog. +</p> + +<p> +Just as he had planned, Solomon Owl returned to the brook the next day. And he +was both surprised and disappointed at what he found. +</p> + +<p> +The door of Mr. Frog’s tailor’s shop was shut and locked. And on it +there was a sign, which said: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +TO LET +</p> + +<p> +“He’s moved away!” cried Solomon Owl. And he went off feeling +that he had been cheated out of a good dinner—to say nothing of a new +waistcoat—and new trousers, too. +</p> + +<p> +He had not been gone long when the door opened. And Mr. Frog leaped nimbly +outside. He took the sign off the door; and sitting down cross-legged upon the +bank, he began to sew upon Jasper Jay’s new blue suit, while his face +wore a wider smile than ever. +</p> + +<p> +He had suddenly decided not to let his shop, after all. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>VI<br /> +Solomon Needs a Change</h2> + +<p> +For some time Solomon Owl had known that a queer feeling was coming over him. +And he could not think what it meant. He noticed, too, that his appetite was +leaving him. Nothing seemed to taste good any more. +</p> + +<p> +So at last, one fine fall evening he went to see Aunt Polly Woodchuck, who was +an herb doctor; for he had begun to worry about his health. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s lucky you came to-day,” said Aunt Polly. “Because +to-night I’m going to begin my winter’s nap. And you couldn’t +have seen me again till spring—unless you happened to come here on +ground-hog day, next February.... What appears to be your trouble?” she +inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s my appetite, partly,” Solomon Owl said. “Nothing +tastes as it did when I was a youngster. And I keep longing for something, +though what it is I can’t just tell.” +</p> + +<p> +Aunt Polly Woodchuck nodded her head wisely. +</p> + +<p> +“What have you been eating lately?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl replied that he hadn’t eaten anything but mice since the +leaves began to turn. +</p> + +<p> +“H-m—the leaves are nearly all off the trees now,” the old +lady remarked. “How many mice have you eaten in that time?” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon said that as nearly as he could remember he had eaten +twenty-seven—or a hundred and twenty-seven. He couldn’t say +which—but one of those numbers was correct. +</p> + +<p> +Aunt Polly Woodchuck threw up her hands. +</p> + +<p> +“Sakes alive!” she cried. “It’s no wonder you +don’t feel well! What you need is a change of food. And it’s lucky +you came to me now. If you’d gone on like that much longer I’d hate +to say what might have happened to you. You’d have had dyspepsia, or some +other sort of misery in your stomach.” +</p> + +<p> +“What shall I do?” asked Solomon Owl. “Insects are scarce at +this season of the year. Of course, there are frogs—but I don’t +seem to care for them. And there are fish—but they’re not easy to +get, for they don’t come out of the water and sit on the bank, as the +frogs do.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about pullets?” Aunt Polly inquired. +</p> + +<p> +At that Solomon Owl let out a long row of hoots, because he was pleased. +</p> + +<p> +“The very thing!” he cried. “That’s what I’ve +been wanting all this time. And I never guessed it.... I’ll pay you for +your advice the next time I see you,” he told Aunt Polly. And Solomon Owl +hurried away before she could stop him. Since he had no intention of visiting +her on ground-hog day, he knew it would be spring before he saw Aunt Polly +Woodchuck again. +</p> + +<p> +The old lady scolded a bit. And it did not make her feel any pleasanter to hear +Solomon’s mocking laughter, which grew fainter and fainter as he left the +pasture behind him. Then she went inside her house, for she was fast growing +sleepy. And she wanted to set things to rights before she began her long +winter’s nap. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, Solomon Owl roamed restlessly through the woods. There was only one +place in the neighborhood where he could get a pullet. That was at Farmer +Green’s chicken house. And for some reason he did not care to visit the +farm buildings until it grew darker. +</p> + +<p> +So he amused himself by making the woods echo with his strange cry, +“<i>Whoo-whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo, to-whoo-ah!</i>” And now and then he +threw in a few “<i>wha-whas</i>,” just for extra measure. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the forest folk who heard him remarked that Solomon Owl seemed to be in +extra fine spirits. +</p> + +<p> +“Probably it’s the hunter’s moon that pleases him!” +Jimmy Rabbit remarked to a friend of his. “I’ve always noticed that +old Solomon makes more noise on moonlight nights than at any other time.” +</p> + +<p> +The hunter’s moon, big and yellow and round, was just rising over Blue +Mountain. But for once it was not the moon that made Solomon Owl so talkative. +He was in fine feather, so to speak, because he was hoping to have a fat pullet +for his supper. And as for the moon, he would have been just as pleased had +there been none at all that night. For Solomon Owl never cared to be seen when +he visited Farmer Green’s chicken house. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>VII<br /> +The Blazing Eyes</h2> + +<p> +It was some three hours after sunset when Solomon Owl at last reached Farmer +Green’s place. All was quiet in the chicken house because the hens and +roosters and their families had long since gone to roost. And except for a +light that shone through a window, the farmhouse showed not a sign of life. +</p> + +<p> +Everything was as Solomon Owl wished it—or so he thought, at least, as he +alighted in a tree in the yard to look about him. He wanted no one to interrupt +him when he should go nosing around the chicken house, to find an opening. +</p> + +<p> +To his annoyance, he had not sat long in the tree when the wood-shed door +opened. And Solomon stared in amazement at the strange sight he saw. +</p> + +<p> +A great head appeared, with eyes and mouth—yes! and nose, too—all a +glaring flame color. Solomon had never seen such a horrible face on man or bird +or beast. But he was sure it was a man, for he heard a laugh that was not to be +mistaken for either a beast’s or a bird’s. And the worst of it was, +those blazing eyes were turned squarely toward Farmer Green’s chicken +house! +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl was too wary to go for his fat pullet just then. He decided that he +would wait quietly in the tree for a time, hoping that the man would go away. +</p> + +<p> +While Solomon watched him the stranger neither moved nor spoke. And, of course, +Solomon Owl was growing hungrier every minute. So at last he felt that he +simply <i>must</i> say something. +</p> + +<p> +“Who-who-who-are-you?” he called out from his tree. +</p> + +<p> +But the strange man did not answer. He did not even turn his head. +</p> + +<p> +“He must be some city person,” Solomon Owl said to himself. +“He thinks he’s too good to speak to a countryman like me.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Solomon sat up and listened. He heard a scratching sound. And soon he saw +a plump figure crawl right up into his tree-top. +</p> + +<p> +It was Fatty Coon! +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing here?” Solomon Owl asked in a low voice, which +was not any too pleasant. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m out for an airing,” Fatty answered. “Beautiful +night—isn’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl was not interested in the weather. “I don’t suppose +you’ve come down here to get a chicken, have you?” he inquired. +</p> + +<p> +Fatty Coon seemed greatly surprised at the question. +</p> + +<p> +“Why—no!” he exclaimed. “But now that you speak of it, +it reminds me that Farmer Green’s saving a pullet for me. He was heard to +say not long ago that he would like to catch me taking one of his hens. So he +must have one for me. And I don’t want to disappoint him.” +</p> + +<p> +At first Solomon Owl didn’t know what answer to make. But at last he +turned his head toward Fatty. +</p> + +<p> +“Why don’t you go and get your pullet now?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s that man down below, with the glaring eyes—” +said Fatty Coon. “I’ve been waiting around here for quite a long +time and he hasn’t looked away from the chicken house even once.... Do +you know him?” +</p> + +<p> +“No! And I don’t want to!” said Solomon Owl. +</p> + +<p> +“S-sh!” Fatty Coon held up a warning hand. “Who’s +that?” he asked, peering down at a dark object at the foot of their tree. +</p> + +<p> +Then both he and Solomon saw that it was Tommy Fox, sitting on his haunches and +staring at the big head, with its blazing eyes and nose and mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“Not looking for chickens, I suppose?” Solomon Owl called in a low +tone, which was hardly more than a whisper. +</p> + +<p> +But Tommy Fox’s sharp ears heard him easily. And he looked up, licking +his chops as if he were very hungry indeed. And all the while the stranger +continued to stare straight at the chicken house, as if he did not intend to +let anybody go +</p> + +<p> +prowling about that long, low building to steal any of Farmer Green’s +poultry. +</p> + +<p> +It was no wonder that the three chicken-lovers (two in the tree and one beneath +it) hesitated. If the queer man had only spoken they might not have been so +timid. But he said never a word. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>VIII<br /> +Watching The Chickens</h2> + +<p> +Solomon Owl and Fatty Coon couldn’t help laughing at what Tommy Fox said +to them, as they sat in their tree near the farmhouse, looking down at him in +the moonlight. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m here to watch Farmer Green’s chickens for +him—” said he—“to see that no rat—or anybody +else—runs away with a pullet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Farmer Green has someone else watching for him to-night,” said +Solomon Owl, when he had stopped laughing. “There’s that strange +man! You can see how he keeps his glaring eyes fixed on the chicken house. And +unless I’m mistaken, he’s on the lookout for <i>you</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“No such thing!” Tommy Fox snapped. And he looked up at Solomon as +if he wished that he could climb the tree. +</p> + +<p> +“Here comes somebody else!” Fatty Coon exclaimed suddenly. His keen +eyes had caught sight of Jimmy Rabbit, hopping along on his way to the +vegetable garden, to see if he couldn’t find a stray cabbage or a turnip. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl called to him. Whereupon, Jimmy Rabbit promptly sat up and looked +at the odd trio. If it hadn’t been for Tommy Fox he would have drawn +nearer. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know that stranger?” Solomon Owl asked him, pointing out +the horrible head to Jimmy. +</p> + +<p> +“I haven’t the pleasure,” said Jimmy Rabbit, after he had +taken a good look. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Solomon, “won’t you kindly speak to him; +and ask him to go away?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly!” answered Jimmy Rabbit, who always tried to be +obliging. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope the stranger won’t eat him,” remarked Tommy Fox, +“because I hope to do that some day, myself.” +</p> + +<p> +It was queer—but Jimmy Rabbit was the only one of the four that +wasn’t afraid of those glaring features. He hopped straight up to the big +round head, which was just a bit higher than one of the fence posts, against +which the stranger seemed to be leaning. And after a moment or two Jimmy Rabbit +called to Solomon and Fatty and Tommy Fox: +</p> + +<p> +“He won’t go away! He’s going to stay right where he +is!” +</p> + +<p> +“Come here a minute!” said Tommy. +</p> + +<p> +Jimmy Rabbit shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“You come over here!” he answered. And he did not stir from the +side of the stranger. He knew very well that Tommy Fox was afraid of the man +with the head with the glaring eyes. +</p> + +<p> +As for Tommy Fox, he did not even reply—that is, to Jimmy Rabbit. But he +spoke his mind freely enough to his two friends in the tree. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems to me one of you ought to do something,” said he. +“We’ll eat no pullets to-night if we can’t get rid of this +meddlesome stranger.” +</p> + +<p> +Fatty Coon quite agreed with him. +</p> + +<p> +“The one who was here first is the one to act!” Fatty declared. +“That’s <i>you!</i>” he told Solomon Owl. +</p> + +<p> +So Solomon Owl felt most uncomfortable. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what I can do,” he said. “I spoke to the +stranger—asked him who he was. And he wouldn’t answer me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t you frighten him away?” Tommy Fox inquired. “Fly +right over his head and give him a blow with your wing as you pass!” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl coughed. He was embarrassed, to say the least. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s afraid!” Fatty Coon cried. And both he and Tommy Fox +kept repeating, over and over again, “He’s afraid! He’s +afraid! He’s afraid!” +</p> + +<p> +It was really more than Solomon Owl could stand. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m not!” he retorted angrily. “Watch me and +you’ll see!” And without another word he darted out of the tree and +swooped down upon the stranger, just brushing the top of his head. Solomon Owl +knew at once that he had knocked something off the top of that dreadful +head—something that fell to the ground and made Jimmy Rabbit jump +nervously. +</p> + +<p> +Then Solomon returned to his perch in the tree. +</p> + +<p> +“He hasn’t moved,” he said. “But I knocked off his +hat.” +</p> + +<p> +“You took off the top of his head!” cried Fatty Coon in great +excitement. “Look! The inside of his head is afire.” +</p> + +<p> +And peering down from the tree-top, Solomon Owl saw that Fatty Coon had told +the truth. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>IX<br /> +Hallowe’en</h2> + +<p> +Solomon Owl was afraid of fire. And when he looked down from his perch in the +tree and saw, through the hole in the stranger’s crown, that all was +aglow inside his big, round head, Solomon couldn’t help voicing his +horror. He “<i>whoo-whooed</i>” so loudly that Tommy Fox, at the +foot of the tree, asked him what on earth was the matter. +</p> + +<p> +“His head’s all afire!” Solomon Owl told him. +“That’s what makes his eyes glare so. And that’s why the fire +shines through his mouth and his nose, too. It’s no wonder he +didn’t answer my question—for, of course, his tongue must certainly +be burned to a cinder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it ought to be safe for anybody to enter the chicken house,” +Tommy Fox observed. “What could the stranger do, when he’s in such +a fix?” +</p> + +<p> +“He could set the chicken house afire, if he followed you inside,” +replied Solomon Owl wisely. “And I, for one, am not going near the +pullets to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor I!” Fatty Coon echoed. “I’m going straight to the +cornfield. The corn is still standing there in shocks; and I ought to find +enough ears to make a good meal.” +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl and Tommy Fox were not interested in corn. They never ate it. +And so it is not surprising that they should be greatly disappointed. After a +person has his mouth all made up for chicken it is hard to think of anything +that would taste even half as good. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s queer he doesn’t go and hold his head under the +pump,” said Solomon Owl. “That’s what I should do, if I were +he.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jimmy Rabbit had better not go too near him, or he’ll get +singed,” said Tommy Fox, anxiously. “I don’t want anything to +happen to <i>him</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jimmy Rabbit is very careless,” Solomon declared. “I +don’t see what he’s thinking of—going so near a fire! It +makes me altogether too nervous to stay here. And I’m going away at +once.” +</p> + +<p> +Tommy Fox said that he felt the same way. And the moment Fatty Coon, with his +sharp claws, started to crawl down the tree on his way to the cornfield, Tommy +Fox hurried off without even stopping to say good-bye. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Haw-haw-haw-hoo!</i>” laughed Solomon Owl. “Tommy Fox is +afraid of you!” he told Fatty Coon. +</p> + +<p> +But Fatty didn’t seem to hear him. He was thinking only of the supper of +corn that he was going to have. +</p> + +<p> +“Better come away!” Solomon Owl called to Jimmy Rabbit, turning his +head toward the fence where Jimmy had been lingering near the hot-headed +stranger. +</p> + +<p> +But Jimmy Rabbit didn’t answer him, either. He was no longer there. The +moment he had seen Tommy Fox bounding off across the meadow Jimmy had started +at once for Farmer Green’s vegetable garden. +</p> + +<p> +So Solomon Owl was the last to leave. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s really nothing else I can do,” he remarked to +himself. “I don’t know what Aunt Polly Woodchuck would say if she +knew that I didn’t follow her advice to-night and eat a pullet for my +supper.... But I’ve tried my best.... And that’s all anybody can +do.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl was upset all the rest of that night. And just before daybreak he +visited the farmyard again, to see whether the strange man with the flaring +head still watched the chicken house. And Solomon found that he had vanished. +</p> + +<p> +So Solomon Owl alighted on the fence. There was nothing there except a +hollowed-out pumpkin, with a few holes cut in it, which someone had left on one +of the fence-posts. +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” said he. “Maybe I can get my pullet after all!” +He turned to fly to the chicken house. But just then the woodshed door opened +again. And Farmer Green stepped outside, with a lantern in his hand. He was +going to the barn to milk the cows. But Solomon Owl did not wait to learn +anything more. +</p> + +<p> +He hurried away to his house among the hemlocks. And having quickly settled +himself for a good nap, he was soon fast asleep. +</p> + +<p> +That was how Johnnie Green’s jack-o’-lantern kept Tommy Fox and +Fatty Coon and Solomon Owl from taking any chickens on Hallowe’en. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>X<br /> +A Troublesome Wishbone</h2> + +<p> +Solomon Owl had pains—sharp pains—underneath his waistcoat. And not +knowing what else to do, he set off at once for Aunt Polly Woodchuck’s +house under the hill, in the pasture, which he had not visited since the +previous fall. Luckily, he found the old lady at home. And quickly he told her +of his trouble. +</p> + +<p> +“What have you been eating?” she inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve followed your advice. I’ve been eating chickens,” +said he—“very small chickens, because they were all I could +get.” +</p> + +<p> +Aunt Polly Woodchuck, who was an herb doctor—and a good +one—regarded him through her spectacles. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m afraid,” said she, “you don’t chew your food +properly. Bolting one’s food is very harmful. It’s as bad as not +eating anything at all, almost.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl showed plainly that her remark surprised him. +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” he exclaimed, “I always swallow my food +whole—when it isn’t too big!” +</p> + +<p> +“Gracious me!” cried Aunt Polly, throwing up both her hands. +“It’s no wonder you’re ill. It’s no wonder you have +pains; and now I know exactly what’s the matter with you. You have a +wishbone inside you. I can feel it!” she told him, as she prodded him in +the waistcoat. +</p> + +<p> +“I wish you could get it out for me!” said Solomon with a look of +distress. +</p> + +<p> +“All the wishing in the world won’t help you,” she answered, +“unless we can find some way of removing the wishbone so you can wish on +that. Then I’m sure you would feel better at once.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is strange,” Solomon mused. “All my life I’ve +been swallowing my food without chewing it. And it has never given me any +trouble before.... What shall I do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t eat anything for a week,” she directed. “And fly +against tree-trunks as hard as you can. Then come back here after seven +days.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl went off in a most doleful frame of mind. It seemed to him that he +had never seen so many mice and frogs and chipmunks as he came across during +the following week. But he didn’t dare catch a single one, on account of +what Aunt Polly Woodchuck had said. +</p> + +<p> +His pains, however, grew less from day to day—at least, the pains that +had first troubled him. But he had others to take their place. Hunger pangs, +these were! And they were almost as bad as those that had sent him hurrying to +see Aunt Polly Woodchuck. +</p> + +<p> +On the whole, Solomon passed a very unhappy week. Flying head foremost into +tree-trunks (as Aunt Polly had instructed him to do) gave him many bumps and +bruises. So he was glad when the time came for him to return to her house in +the pasture. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon’s neighbors had been so interested in watching him that they were +all sorry when he ceased his strange actions. Indeed, there was a rumor that +Solomon had become very angry with Farmer Green and that he was trying to knock +down some of Farmer Green’s trees. Before the end of that unpleasant week +Solomon had often noticed as many as twenty-four of the forest folk following +him about, hoping to see a tree fall. +</p> + +<p> +But they were all disappointed. However, they enjoyed the sight of Solomon +hurling himself against tree-trunks. And the louder he groaned, the more people +gathered around him. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>XI<br /> +Cured At Last</h2> + +<p> +“How do you feel now?” Aunt Polly Woodchuck asked Solomon Owl, when +he had come back to her house after a week’s absence. +</p> + +<p> +“No better!” he groaned. “I still have pains. But they seem +to have moved and scattered all over me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” she exclaimed with a smile. “You are much better, +though you didn’t know it. The wishbone is broken. You broke it by flying +against the trees. And you ought not to have any more trouble. But let me +examine you!” she said, prodding him in the waistcoat once more. +</p> + +<p> +“This is odd!” she continued a bit later. “I can feel the +wishbone more plainly than ever.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s my own wishbone!” Solomon cried indignantly. +“I’ve grown so thin through not eating that it’s a wonder you +can’t feel my backbone, too.” +</p> + +<p> +Aunt Polly Woodchuck looked surprised. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you’re right!” said she. “Not having a +wishbone of my own, I forgot that you had one.” +</p> + +<p> +A look of disgust came over Solomon Owl’s face. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re a very poor doctor,” he told her. “Here +you’ve kept me from eating for a whole week—and I don’t +believe it was necessary at all!” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you’re better, aren’t you?” she asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall be as soon as I have a good meal,” replied Solomon Owl, +hopefully. +</p> + +<p> +“You ought not to eat anything for another week,” Aunt Polly told +him solemnly. +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense!” he cried. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m a doctor; and I ought to know best,” she insisted. +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl hooted rudely. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll never come to you for advice any more,” he declared. +“I firmly believe that my whole trouble was simply that I’ve been +eating too sparingly. And I shall take good care to see that it doesn’t +happen again.” +</p> + +<p> +No one had ever spoken to Aunt Polly in quite that fashion—though old Mr. +Crow had complained one time that she had cured him <i>too quickly</i>. But she +did not lose her temper, in spite of Solomon’s jeers. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll be back here again the very next time you’re +ill,” she remarked. “And if you continue to swallow your food +whole——” +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl did not even wait to hear what she said. He was so impolite +that he flew away while she was talking. And since it was then almost dark, and +a good time to look for field mice, he began his night’s hunting right +there in Farmer Green’s pasture. +</p> + +<p> +By morning Solomon was so plump that Aunt Polly Woodchuck would have had a good +deal of trouble finding his wishbone. But since he did not visit her again, she +had no further chance to prod him in the waistcoat. +</p> + +<p> +Afterward, Solomon heard a bit of gossip that annoyed him. A friend of his +reported that Aunt Polly Woodchuck was going about and telling everybody how +she had saved Solomon’s life. +</p> + +<p> +“Mice!” he exclaimed (he often said that when some would have said +“Rats!”). “There’s not a word of truth in her claim. +And if people in this neighborhood keep on taking her advice and her catnip tea +they’re going to be sorry some day. For they’ll be really ill the +first thing they know. And then what will they do?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>XII<br /> +Benjamin Bat</h2> + +<p> +Solomon Owl was by no means the only night-prowler in Pleasant Valley. He had +neighbors that chose to sleep in the daytime, so they might roam through the +woods and fields after dark. One of these was Benjamin Bat. And furthermore, he +was the color of night itself. +</p> + +<p> +Now, Benjamin Bat was an odd chap. When he was still he liked to hang by his +feet, upside down. And when he was flying he sailed about in a zigzag, +helter-skelter fashion. He went in so many different directions, turning this +way and that, one could never tell where he was going. One might say that his +life was just one continual dodge—when he wasn’t resting with his +heels where his head ought to be. +</p> + +<p> +A good many of Benjamin Bat’s friends said he certainly must be crazy, +because he didn’t do as they did. But that never made the slightest +difference in Benjamin Bat’s habits. He continued to zigzag through +life—and hang by his heels—just the same. Perhaps he thought that +all other people were crazy because they didn’t do likewise. +</p> + +<p> +Benjamin often dodged across Solomon Owl’s path, when Solomon was hunting +for field mice. And since Benjamin was the least bit like a mouse +himself—except for his wings—there was a time, once, when Solomon +tried to catch him. +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl soon found that chasing Benjamin Bat made him dizzy. If +Benjamin hadn’t been used to hanging head downward, maybe he would have +been dizzy, too. +</p> + +<p> +Though the two often saw each other, Benjamin Bat never seemed to care to stop +for a chat with Solomon Owl. One night, however, Benjamin actually called to +Solomon and asked his advice. He was in trouble. And he knew that Solomon Owl +was supposed by some to be the wisest old fellow for miles around. +</p> + +<p> +It was almost morning. And Solomon Owl was hurrying home, because a terrible +storm had arisen. The lightning was flashing, and peals of thunder crashed +through the woods. Big drops of rain were already pattering down. But Solomon +Owl did not care, for he had almost reached his house in the hollow hemlock +near the foot of Blue Mountain. +</p> + +<p> +It was different with Benjamin Bat. That night he had strayed a long distance +from his home in Cedar Swamp. And he didn’t know what to do. “I +want to get under cover, somewhere,” he told Solomon Owl. “You +don’t know of a good place near-by, do you, where I can get out of the +storm and take a nap?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, yes!” answered Solomon Owl. “Come right along to my +house and spend the day with me!” +</p> + +<p> +But Benjamin Bat did not like the suggestion at all. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m afraid I might crowd, you,” he said. He was thinking of +the time when Solomon Owl had chased him. And sleeping in Solomon Owl’s +house seemed far from a safe thing to do. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="illus03"></a> +<img src="images/image-002.jpg" width="266" height="400" alt="[Illustration: ]" /> +<p class="caption">Benjamin Asked Solomon’s Advice </p> +</div> + +<p> +Solomon was wise enough to guess what was going on inside Benjamin’s +head. +</p> + +<p> +“Come along!” he said. “We’ll both be asleep before we +know it. I’m sorry I can’t offer you something to eat. But I +haven’t a morsel of food in my house. No doubt, though, you’ve just +had a good meal. <i>I</i> ate seven mice to-night. And I certainly +couldn’t eat anything more.” +</p> + +<p> +When Solomon Owl told him that, Benjamin Bat thought perhaps there was no +danger, after all. And since the rain was falling harder and harder every +moment, he thanked Solomon and said he would be glad to accent his invitation. +</p> + +<p> +“Follow me, then!” said Solomon Owl. And he led the way to his home +in the hemlock. +</p> + +<p> +For once, Benjamin Bat flew in a fairly straight line, though he did a little +dodging, because he couldn’t help it. +</p> + +<p> +There was more room inside Solomon’s house than Benjamin Bat had +supposed. While Benjamin was looking about and telling Solomon that he had a +fine home, his host quickly made a bed of leaves in one corner of the +room—there was only one room, of course. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s for you!” said Solomon Owl. “I always sleep on +the other side of the house.” And without waiting even to make sure that +his guest was comfortable, Solomon Owl lay down and began to snore—for he +was very sleepy. +</p> + +<p> +It was so cozy there that Benjamin Bat was glad, already, that he had accepted +Solomon’s invitation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>XIII<br /> +The Lucky Guest</h2> + +<p> +In the middle of the day Solomon Owl happened to awake. He was sorry that he +hadn’t slept until sunset, because he was very hungry. Knowing that it +was light outside his hollow tree, he didn’t want to leave home to find +something to eat. +</p> + +<p> +Then, suddenly, he remembered that he had brought Benjamin Bat to his house +early that morning, so Benjamin might escape the storm.... Why not eat Benjamin +Bat? +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the thought occurred to him, Solomon Owl liked it. And he moved +stealthily over to the bed of leaves he had made for his guest just before +daybreak. +</p> + +<p> +But Benjamin Bat was not there. Though Solomon looked in every nook and cranny +of his one-room house, he did not find him. +</p> + +<p> +“He must have left as soon as it stopped raining,” said Solomon Owl +to himself. “He might at least have waited to thank me for giving him a +day’s lodging. It’s the last time I’ll ever bring any +worthless vagabond into my house. And I ought to have known better than to have +anything to do with a crazy person like Benjamin Bat.” +</p> + +<p> +Anybody can see that Solomon Owl was displeased. But it was not at all +astonishing, if one stops to remember how hungry he was, and that he had +expected to enjoy a good meal without the trouble of going away from home to +get it. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl went to the door of his house and looked out. The sun was shining +so brightly that after blinking in his doorway for a few minutes he decided +that he would go to bed again and try to sleep until dusk. He never liked +bright days. “They’re so dismal!” he used to say. “Give +me a good, dark night and I’m happy, for there’s nothing more +cheering than gloom.” +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the pangs of hunger that gnawed inside him, Solomon at last +succeeded in falling asleep once more. And he dreamed that he chased Benjamin +Bat three times around Blue Mountain, and then three times back again, in the +opposite direction. But he never could catch him, because Benjamin Bat simply +wouldn’t fly straight. His zigzag course was so confusing that even in +his dream Solomon Owl grew dizzy. +</p> + +<p> +Now, Benjamin Bat was in Solomon’s house all the time. And the reason why +Solomon Owl hadn’t found him was a very simple one. It was merely that +Solomon hadn’t looked in the right place. +</p> + +<p> +Benjamin Bat was hidden—as you might say—where his hungry host +never once thought of looking for him. And being asleep all the while, Benjamin +didn’t once move or make the slightest noise. +</p> + +<p> +If he had snored, or sneezed, or rustled his wings, no doubt Solomon Owl would +have found him. +</p> + +<p> +When Benjamin awakened, late in the afternoon, Solomon was still sleeping. And +Benjamin crept through the door and went out into the gathering twilight, +without arousing Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll thank him the next time I meet him,” Benjamin Bat +decided. And he staggered away through the air as if he did not quite know, +himself, where he was going. But, of course, that was only his queer way of +flying. +</p> + +<p> +When he told his friends where he had spent the day they were astonished. +</p> + +<p> +“How did you ever dare do anything so dangerous as sleeping in Solomon +Owl’s house?” they all asked him. +</p> + +<p> +But Benjamin Bat only said, “Oh! There was nothing to be afraid +of.” And he began to feel quite important. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>XIV<br /> +Hanging By The Heels</h2> + +<p> +It was several nights before Solomon Owl and Benjamin Bat chanced to meet again +in the forest. +</p> + +<p> +“Hullo!” said Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +“Hullo!” said Benjamin Bat. “I’m glad to see you, +because I want to thank you for letting me spend the day in your house, so I +wouldn’t have to stay out in the storm.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must be a light sleeper,” Solomon observed. (He did not tell +Benjamin that he was welcome!) +</p> + +<p> +“What makes you think that?” Benjamin Bat inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Why—you left my house before noon,” Solomon told him. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no!” said Benjamin. “I slept soundly until sunset. When +I came away the crickets were chirping. And I was surprised that you +hadn’t waked up yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“You were gone before midday,” Solomon Owl insisted. And they had +something very like a dispute, while Solomon Owl sat in one tree and Benjamin +Bat hung head downward from another. “I ought to know,” said +Solomon. “I was awake about noon; and I looked everywhere for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“What for?” asked Benjamin. +</p> + +<p> +Naturally, Solomon didn’t like to tell him that he had intended to eat +him. So he looked wise—and said nothing. +</p> + +<p> +“You didn’t look on the ceiling, did you?” Benjamin Bat +inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“No, indeed!” Solomon Owl exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, that’s where I was, hanging by my feet,” Benjamin Bat +informed him. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl certainly was surprised to hear that. +</p> + +<p> +“The idea!” he cried. “You’re a queer one! I never once +thought of looking <i>on the ceiling</i> for a <i>luncheon!</i>” He was +so astonished that he spoke before he thought how oddly his remark would sound +to another. +</p> + +<p> +When he heard what Solomon Owl said, Benjamin Bat knew at once that Solomon had +meant to eat him. And he was so frightened that he dropped from the limb to +which he was clinging and flew off as fast as he could go. For once in his life +he flew in a straight line, with no zigzags at all, he was in such a hurry to +get away from Solomon Owl, who—for all he knew—might still be very +hungry. +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl had caught so many mice that night that he didn’t feel +like chasing anybody. So he sat motionless in the tree, merely turning his head +to watch Benjamin sailing away through the dusky woods. He noticed that +Benjamin didn’t dodge at all—except when there was a tree in his +way. And he wondered what the reason was. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps he’s not so crazy as I supposed,” said Solomon Owl +to himself. And ever afterward, when he happened to awake and feel hungry, +Solomon Owl used to look up at the ceiling above him and wish that Benjamin Bat +was there. +</p> + +<p> +But Benjamin Bat never cared to have anything more to do with Solomon Owl. +</p> + +<p> +He said he had a good reason for avoiding him. +</p> + +<p> +And ever afterward he passed for a very brave person among his friends. They +often pointed him out to strangers, saying, “There’s Benjamin Bat! +<i>He</i> doesn’t know what fear is. Why, once he even spent a whole day +asleep in Solomon Owl’s house! And if you don’t think <i>that</i> +was a bold thing to do, then I guess you don’t know Solomon Owl.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>XV<br /> +Disputes Settled</h2> + +<p> +Solomon Owl looked so wise that many of his neighbors fell into the habit of +going to him for advice. If two of the forest folk chanced to have a dispute +which they could not settle between them they frequently visited Solomon and +asked him to decide which was in the right. And in the course of time Solomon +became known far and wide for his ability to patch up a quarrel. +</p> + +<p> +At last Jimmy Rabbit stopped Solomon Owl one night and suggested that he hang a +sign outside his house, so that there shouldn’t be anybody in the whole +valley that wouldn’t know what to do in case he found himself in an +argument. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon decided on the spot that Jimmy Rabbit’s idea was a good one. So +he hurried home and before morning he had his sign made, and put out where +everyone could see it. It looked like this: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +DISPUTES SETTLED WITHIN +</p> + +<p> +There was only one objection to the sign. As soon as Jimmy Rabbit saw it he +told Solomon that it should have said: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +DISPUTES SETTLED WITHOUT +</p> + +<p> +“Without what?” Solomon Owl inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, without going into your house!” said Jimmy Rabbit. “I +can’t climb a tree, you know. And neither can Tommy Fox. We might have a +dispute to-night; and how could you ever settle it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I shall be willing to step outside,” Solomon told him. And he +refused to change the sign, declaring that he liked it just as it was. +</p> + +<p> +Now, there was only one trouble with Solomon Owl’s settling of disputes. +Many of the forest folk wanted to see him in the daytime. And <i>night</i> was +the only time <i>he</i> was willing to see them. But he heard so many +objections to that arrangement that in the end Solomon agreed to meet people at +dusk and at dawn, when it was neither very dark nor very light. On the whole he +found that way very satisfactory, because there was just enough light at dusk +and at dawn to make him blink. And when Solomon blinked he looked even wiser +than ever. +</p> + +<p> +Well, the first disputing pair that came to Solomon’s tree after he hung +out his new sign were old Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay. They reached the hemlock +grove soon after sunset and squalled loudly for Solomon. “Hurry!” +Mr. Crow cried, as soon as Solomon Owl stepped outside his door. “It will +be dark before we know it; and it’s almost our bedtime.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s your difficulty?” Solomon asked them. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Crow looked at Jasper Jay. And then he looked at Solomon again. +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe you won’t like to hear it,” he said. And he winked at +Jasper. “But you’ve put out this sign—so we’ve come +here.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve done just right!” exclaimed Solomon Owl. “And +as for my not liking to hear the trouble, it’s your dispute and not mine. +So I don’t see how it concerns me—except to settle it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very Well,” Mr. Crow answered. “The dispute, then, is this: +Jasper says that in spite of your looking so wise, you’re really the +stupidest person in Pleasant Valley.” +</p> + +<p> +“He does, eh?” cried Solomon Owl, while Jasper Jay laughed loudly. +“And you, of course, do not agree with him,” Solomon continued. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not!” Mr. Crow declared. +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” said Solomon, nodding his head approvingly. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I do not agree with Jasper Jay,” Mr. Crow said. “I claim +that there’s one other person more stupid than you are—and +that’s Fatty Coon.” +</p> + +<p> +Well, Solomon Owl certainly was displeased. And it didn’t make him feel +any happier to hear Jasper Jay’s boisterous shouts, or the hoarse +“<i>haw-haw</i>” of old Mr. Crow. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you can decide which one of us is right,” Mr. Crow +ventured. +</p> + +<p> +“I am, of course!” cried Jasper Jay. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re not!” Mr. Crow shouted. And to Solomon Owl he said, +“We’ve been disputing like this all day long.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl didn’t know what to say. If he announced that Jasper was +right it would be the same as admitting that he was the stupidest person in the +whole neighborhood. And if he said that old Mr. Crow’s opinion was +correct he would not be much better off. Naturally he didn’t want to tell +either of them that he was right. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll have to think about this,” Solomon observed at last. +</p> + +<p> +“We don’t want to wait,” said Mr. Crow. “If we keep on +disputing we’re likely to have a fight.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, Solomon Owl hoped that they would have a fight. So he was determined to +keep them waiting for his decision. +</p> + +<p> +“Come back to-morrow at this time,” he said. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>XVI<br /> +Nine Fights</h2> + +<p> +The next evening, just at dusk, Jasper Jay and old Mr. Crow returned to Solomon +Owl’s house, looking much bedraggled. One of Mr. Crow’s eyes was +almost closed; and Jasper Jay’s crest seemed to have been torn half off +his head. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter?” asked Solomon, as soon as he saw them. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve had three fights,” said Jasper Jay. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes! And I’ve whipped him each time!” cried Mr. Crow. +“So I must be in the right. And you’d better decide our dispute in +my favor at once.” +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl was still in no hurry. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a difficult question to settle,” said he. “I +don’t want to make any mistake. So I shall have to ask you to come back +here to-morrow at this time.” +</p> + +<p> +Both Jasper and Mr. Crow seemed disappointed. Although Mr. Crow had won each +fight, he was very weary, for he was older than Jasper Jay. +</p> + +<p> +As they went off, Solomon Owl began to feel much pleased with himself. +</p> + +<p> +The following evening, at sunset, old Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay visited Solomon +Owl once more. And they looked more battered than ever. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve had three more fights,” said Mr. Crow. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes! And I won each time!” Jasper Jay piped up. “So I must +be in the right. And you’d better decide in my favor without any further +delay.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl thought deeply for some time. +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe I ought to wait until to-morrow——” he began. +</p> + +<p> +But his callers both shouted “No!” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Solomon, “Mr. Crow has won three fights; and +Jasper Jay has won three. So it is certain that each must be in the +wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +But that announcement did not satisfy Jasper and Mr. Crow. And they left the +hemlock grove, disputing more loudly than ever. +</p> + +<p> +And the next day, at dusk, they came back again. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve had three more fights; and I won!” they both cried at +the same time. +</p> + +<p> +“That proves my claim,” said Solomon Owl. “You’re both +wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +They whispered together for a few minutes. +</p> + +<p> +“We don’t like your way of settling disputes,” Mr. Crow +remarked shortly. “But we’ve decided to stop quarreling.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” said Solomon Owl. “That shows that you are +sensible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes!” replied Jasper. “We’ve decided to stop +quarreling and fight <i>you!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a moment!” said Solomon Owl hastily, as they drew nearer. +“I don’t want my new suit spoiled.” And he ducked inside the +hollow tree before they could reach him. +</p> + +<p> +Jasper and Mr. Crow waited and waited. But Solomon Owl did not reappear. And +since his two visitors did not dare follow him into the dark cavern where he +lived, they decided at last that they would go home—and get into bed. +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s take away his sign, anyhow!” Jasper Jay suggested. +</p> + +<p> +So they pulled down Solomon’s sign, which said “Disputes Settled +Within,” and they carried it off with them and hid it in some bushes. +</p> + +<p> +That same night Solomon Owl hunted for it for a long time. But he never found +it. +</p> + +<p> +He decided not to hang out another, for he saw that settling disputes was a +dangerous business. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>XVII<br /> +Cousin Simon Screecher</h2> + +<p> +Solomon Owl had a small cousin named Simon Screecher. He was unlike Solomon in +some respects, because he always wore ear-tufts, and his eyes were yellow +instead of black. But in some other ways he was no different from Solomon Owl, +for he was a noisy chap and dearly loved mice—to eat. +</p> + +<p> +It happened that the two met in the woods one fine fall evening; and they +agreed to go hunting mice together. +</p> + +<p> +Now, being so much smaller than Solomon, Simon Screecher was all the spryer. In +fact, he was so active that he could catch mice faster than Solomon Owl could +capture them. And they had not hunted long before Solomon discovered that Simon +had succeeded in disposing of six mice to his three. +</p> + +<p> +That discovery did not please Solomon at all. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here!” he said. “Since we are hunting together +it’s only fair to divide what we catch, half and half.” +</p> + +<p> +Simon Screecher hesitated. But after reflecting that his cousin was very big +and very strong, he agreed to Solomon’s suggestion. +</p> + +<p> +So they resumed their hunting. And every time one of them caught two mice, he +gave one mouse to his cousin. +</p> + +<p> +Still Solomon Owl was not satisfied. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a moment!” Solomon called to Simon Screecher. “It has +just occurred to me that I am more than twice as big as you are; so I ought to +have twice as many mice as you.” +</p> + +<p> +This time Simon Screecher hesitated longer. He did not like the second +suggestion even as well as the first. And in the end he said as much, too. +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon Owl insisted that it was only fair. +</p> + +<p> +“You surely ought to be glad to please your own cousin,” he told +Simon. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s not that,” said Simon Screecher. “It seems to me +that since I’m not half your size, I ought to have twice as many mice to +eat, so I’ll grow bigger.” +</p> + +<p> +Well, Solomon Owl hadn’t thought of that. He was puzzled to know what to +say. And he wanted time in which to ponder. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll think over what you say,” he told Simon Screecher. +“And now, since it’s almost dawn, we’d better not hunt any +longer to-night. But I’ll meet you again at dusk if you’ll come to +my house.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Cousin Solomon!” Simon answered. “I’m sure +that after you’ve had a good sleep you’ll be ready to agree with +me.” +</p> + +<p> +“If that’s the case, I may not take any nap at all,” Solomon +replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! You ought to have your rest!” his cousin exclaimed. Simon knew +that if Solomon went all day without sleep he would be frightfully peevish by +nightfall. +</p> + +<p> +“Well—I’ll try to get forty winks,” Solomon promised. +“But I don’t believe I can get more than that, because I have so +much on my mind that I’m sure to be wakeful.” +</p> + +<p> +Simon Screecher was somewhat worried as they parted. His wailing, tremulous +whistle, which floated through the shadowy woods, showed that he was far from +happy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>XVIII<br /> +A Cousinly Quarrel</h2> + +<p> +It proved to be just as Solomon Owl had told his cousin, Simon Screecher. +Solomon had so much on his mind that he had no sooner fallen asleep than he +awoke again, to study over the question that perplexed him. He certainly did +not want Simon to have twice as many mice as he. But Simon’s argument was +a good one. He had said that since Solomon was more than twice his size, it was +proper that he should have a chance to grow. And everybody knew—Solomon +reflected—everybody knew that <i>eating</i> made one larger. +</p> + +<p> +The longer Solomon pondered, the farther he seemed from any answer that he +liked. And he had begun to fear that he would not succeed in getting more than +thirty-nine winks all day—instead of forty—when all at once an idea +came into his mind. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon knew right away that he had nothing more to worry about. He dropped +into a sound sleep with a pleasant smile upon his usually solemn face. And when +he opened his eyes again it was time for Simon Screecher to arrive. +</p> + +<p> +Yes! Solomon could hear his cousin’s whistle even then. So he hurried to +his door; and there was Simon, sitting on a limb of the big hemlock waiting for +him! +</p> + +<p> +“It’s all right!” said Solomon to his cousin. “I agree +to your suggestion. We’ll hunt together again to-night; and if you will +give me one-third of all the mice you catch, I promise to give you two-thirds +of all the mice that I capture.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” said Simon Screecher. And he looked vastly relieved. +“Just hoot when you have any mice for me!” +</p> + +<p> +“Whistle when you have any for me!” Solomon Owl replied. +</p> + +<p> +And at that they started out for their night’s sport. It was not long +before Simon Screecher’s well known whistle brought Solomon hurrying to +him. Simon already had three mice, one of which he gave to Solomon, according +to their agreement. +</p> + +<p> +That same thing happened several times; until at last Simon Screecher began to +grumble. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter?” he asked his cousin. “You are not +hooting, as you promised you would.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I haven’t caught any mice yet!” Solomon Owl replied. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="illus04"></a> +<img src="images/image-003.jpg" width="300" height="450" alt="[Illustration: ]" /> +<p class="caption">“It’s All Right,” Said Solomon </p> +</div> + +<p> +Again and again and again Simon’s call summoned Solomon. But not once did +Solomon’s summon Simon. And all the time Simon Screecher grew more +discontented. Toward the end of the night he declared flatly that he +wasn’t going to hunt any more with his cousin. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve done exactly as I agreed!” Solomon Owl protested. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re altogether too slow and clumsy,” Simon Screecher told +him bluntly. “If I’m going to hunt with anybody after this +I’m going to choose someone that’s as spry as I am. There’s +no sense in my working for you. Here I’ve toiled all night long and +I’m still hungry, for I’ve given you a third of my food.” +</p> + +<p> +They parted then—and none too pleasantly. +</p> + +<p> +In Simon’s whistle, as he flew away toward his home, there was +unmistakable anger. But Solomon Owl’s answering hoots—while they +were not exactly sweet—seemed to carry more than a hint of laughter. +</p> + +<p> +One would naturally think that Solomon might have been even hungrier than his +small cousin. But it was not so. He had had more to eat than usual; for he had +been very busy catching locusts and katydids—and frogs, too. Solomon Owl +had not tried to catch a single mouse that night. +</p> + +<p> +You know now the idea that had come to him while he was lying awake in his +house during the daytime. He had made up his mind that he would not hunt for +mice. And since he had not promised Simon to give him anything else, there was +no reason why he should not eat all the frogs and katydids and locusts that he +could find. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps it was not surprising that Simon Screecher never guessed the truth. But +he seemed to know that there was something queer about that night’s +hunting, for he never came to Solomon Owl’s house again. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>XIX<br /> +The Sleet Storm</h2> + +<p> +It was winter. And for several days a strong south wind had swept up Pleasant +Valley. That—as Solomon Owl knew very well—that meant a thaw was +coming. He was not sorry, because the weather had been bitterly cold. +</p> + +<p> +Well, the thaw came. And the weather grew so warm that Solomon Owl could stay +out all night without once feeling chilled. He found the change so agreeable +that he strayed further from home than was his custom. Indeed, he was far away +on the other side of Blue Mountain at midnight, when it began to rain. +</p> + +<p> +Now, that was not quite so pleasant. But still Solomon did not mind greatly. It +was not until later that he began to feel alarmed, when he noticed that flying +did not seem so easy as usual. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon had grown heavy all at once—and goodness knows it was not because +he had overeaten, for food was scarce at that season of the year. Moreover, +Solomon’s wings were strangely stiff. When he moved them they +<i>crackled</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“It must be my joints,” he said to himself. “I’m afraid +this wetting has given me rheumatism.” So he started home at +once—though it was only midnight. But the further he went, the worse he +felt—and the harder it was to fly. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll have to rest a while,” he said to himself at last. So +he alighted on a limb; for he was more tired than he had ever been in all his +life. +</p> + +<p> +But he soon felt so much better that he was ready to start on again. And then, +to his dismay, Solomon Owl found that he could hardly stir. The moment he left +his perch he floundered down upon the ground. And though he tried his hardest, +he couldn’t reach the tree again. +</p> + +<p> +The rain was still beating down steadily. And Solomon began to think it a bad +night to be out. What was worse, the weather was fast turning cold. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m afraid I’ll have to stay in bed a week after +this,” he groaned. “If I sit here long, as wet as I am, while the +thaw turns into a <i>freeze</i>, I shall certainly be ill.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, if it hadn’t been for the rain, Solomon Owl would have had no +trouble at all. Or if it hadn’t been for the freezing cold he would have +been in no difficulty. Though he didn’t know it, his trouble was simply +this: The rain froze upon him as +</p> + +<p> +fast as it fell, covering him with a coating of ice. It was no wonder that he +felt strangely heavy—no wonder that he couldn’t fly. +</p> + +<p> +There he crouched on the ground, while the rain and sleet beat upon him. And +the only comforting thought that entered his head was that on so stormy a night +Tommy Fox and Fatty Coon would be snug and warm in their beds. <i>They</i> +wouldn’t go out in such weather. +</p> + +<p> +And Solomon Owl wished that he, too, had stayed at home that night. +</p> + +<p> +From midnight until almost dawn Solomon Owl sat there. Now and then he tried to +fly. But it was no use. He could scarcely raise himself off the ground. +</p> + +<p> +At last he decided he would have to <i>walk</i> home. Fortunately, a hard crust +covered the soft snow. So Solomon started off on his long journey. +</p> + +<p> +Flying, Solomon could have covered the distance in a few minutes. But he was a +slow walker. By the time he reached his home among the hemlocks the sun was +shining brightly—for the rain had stopped before daybreak. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon wondered how he would ever succeed in reaching his doorway, high up in +the hollow tree. He gazed helplessly upward. And as he sat there mournfully the +bright sunshine melted the ice that bound his wings. After a time he discovered +that he could move freely once more. And then he rose quickly in the air and in +a twinkling he had disappeared into the darkness of his home—that +darkness which to him was always so pleasant. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>XX<br /> +A Pair Of Red-Heads</h2> + +<p> +In the woods there was hardly one of Solomon Owl’s neighbors that +couldn’t point out the big hemlock tree where he lived. And mischievous +fellows like Reddy Woodpecker sometimes annoyed Solomon a good deal by rapping +loudly on his door. When he thrust his head angrily out of his house and +blinked in the sunlight, his tormentors would skip away and laugh. They laughed +because they knew that they had awakened Solomon Owl. And they dodged out of +his reach because he was always ill-tempered when anybody disturbed his rest in +the daytime. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl did not mind so <i>very</i> much so long as that trick was not +played on him too often. But after a time it became one of Reddy +Woodpecker’s favorite sports. Not only once, but several times a day did +he go to the hemlock grove to hammer upon Solomon’s hollow tree. And each +time that he brought Solomon Owl to his door Reddy Woodpecker laughed more +loudly than ever before. +</p> + +<p> +Once Solomon forgot to take off his nightcap (though he wore it in the daytime, +it really was a nightcap). And Reddy Woodpecker was so amused that he shouted +at the top of his lungs. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the joke?” asked Solomon Owl in his deep, rumbling +voice. He tried to look very severe. But it is hard to look any way except +funny with a nightcap on one’s head. +</p> + +<p> +As luck had it, Jasper Jay came hurrying up just then. He had heard Reddy +Woodpecker’s laughter. And if there was a joke he wanted to enjoy it, +too. +</p> + +<p> +Jasper Jay, alighting in a small hemlock near Reddy Woodpecker, asked the same +question that Solomon Owl had just put to his rude caller. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the joke?” inquired Jasper Jay. +</p> + +<p> +Reddy could not speak. He was rocking back and forth upon a limb, choking and +gasping for breath. But he managed to point to the big tree where Solomon Owl +lived. +</p> + +<p> +And when Jasper looked, and saw Solomon’s great, round, pale, questioning +face, all tied up in a red nightcap, he began to scream. +</p> + +<p> +They were no ordinary screams—those shrieks of Jasper Jay’s. That +blue-coated rascal was the noisiest of all the feathered folk in Pleasant +Valley. And now he fairly made the woods echo with his hoarse cries. +</p> + +<p> +“This is the funniest sight I’ve ever seen!” Jasper Jay said +at last, to nobody in particular. “I declare, there’s a pair of +them!” +</p> + +<p> +At that, Reddy Woodpecker suddenly stopped laughing. +</p> + +<p> +“A pair of what?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“A pair of red-heads, of course!” Jasper Jay replied. +“You’ve a red cap—and so has he!” Jasper pointed at +Solomon Owl (a very rude thing to do!). +</p> + +<p> +Then two things happened all at once. Solomon Owl snatched off his red +night-cap—which he had quite forgotten. And Reddy Woodpecker dashed at +Jasper Jay. He couldn’t pull off <i>his</i> red cap, for it grew right on +his head. +</p> + +<p> +“So that’s what you’re laughing at, is it?” he cried +angrily. And then nobody laughed any more—that is, nobody but Solomon +Owl. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon was so pleased by the fight that followed between Jasper Jay and Reddy +Woodpecker that his deep, rumbling laughter could be heard for half an +hour—even if it <i>was</i> midday. “<i>Wha-wha! Whoo-ah!</i>” +The sound reached the ears of Farmer Green, who was just crossing a neighboring +field, on his way home to dinner. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well!” he exclaimed. “I wonder what’s happened +to that old owl! Something must have tickled him—for I never heard an owl +laugh in broad daylight before.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>XXI<br /> +At Home In The Haystack</h2> + +<p> +After what happened when he came to his door without remembering to take off +his red nightcap, Solomon Owl hoped that Reddy Woodpecker would stop teasing +him. +</p> + +<p> +But it was not so. Having once viewed Solomon’s red cap, Reddy Woodpecker +wanted to see it some more. So he came again and again and knocked on +Solomon’s door. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl, however, remembered each time to remove his nightcap before +sticking his head out. And it might be said that neither of them was exactly +pleased. For Reddy Woodpecker was disappointed; and Solomon Owl was angry. +</p> + +<p> +Not a day passed that Reddy Woodpecker didn’t disturb Solomon’s +rest at least a dozen times. Perhaps if Solomon had just kept still inside his +house Reddy would have grown tired of bothering him. But Solomon Owl—for +all he looked so wise—never thought of that. +</p> + +<p> +But he saw before a great while that he would have to make a change of some +sort—if he wanted to enjoy a good, quiet sleep again. +</p> + +<p> +For a long time Solomon Owl pondered. It was a great puzzle—to know just +how to outwit Reddy Woodpecker. And Solomon almost despaired of finding a way +out of the difficulty. But at last an idea came to him, all in a flash. He +would take his daytime naps somewhere else! +</p> + +<p> +Solomon spent several nights looking for a good place to pass his days. And in +the end he decided on the meadow. It would be convenient, he thought, when he +was hunting meadow mice at dawn, if he could stay right there, without +bothering to go into the woods to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +Since there were no trees in the meadow, but only a few scrubby bushes along +the stone wall, one might naturally make the mistake of thinking that there +could not possibly be a nook of any kind that would suit Solomon Owl, who could +never sleep soundly unless his bedroom was quite dark. +</p> + +<p> +But there was one hiding place that Solomon liked almost as well as his home in +the hollow hemlock. And that was Farmer Green’s haystack. He burrowed +into one side of it and made himself a snug chamber, which was as dark as a +pocket—and ever so much quieter. What pleased Solomon most, however, was +this: Nobody knew about that new retreat except himself. +</p> + +<p> +Even if Reddy Woodpecker should succeed in finding it, he never could disturb +Solomon by drumming upon the haystack. If Reddy tried that trick, his bill +would merely sink noiselessly into the hay. +</p> + +<p> +So Solomon Owl at last had a good day’s rest. And when he met Reddy +Woodpecker just after sunset, Solomon was feeling so cheerful that he said +“Good-evening!” quite pleasantly, before he remembered that it was +Reddy who had teased him so often. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-evening!” Reddy Woodpecker replied. He seemed much surprised +that Solomon Owl should be so agreeable. “Can you hear me?” Reddy +asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“Perfectly!” said Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s strange!” Reddy Woodpecker exclaimed. “I was +almost sure you had suddenly grown deaf.” And he could not understand why +Solomon Owl laughed loud and long. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Wha-wha! Whoo-ah!</i>” Solomon’s deep-voiced laughter +rolled and echoed through the woodland. +</p> + +<p> +But Reddy Woodpecker did not laugh at all. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>XXII<br /> +It Was Solomon’s Fault</h2> + +<p> +Reddy Woodpecker had a very good reason for not laughing when he met Solomon +Owl. Of course, he knew nothing whatever of Solomon’s new hiding place in +the haystack. And that very morning Reddy had invited a party of friends to go +with him to the hemlock grove where Solomon Owl had always lived, “to +have some fun,” as Reddy had explained. +</p> + +<p> +For a long time he had knocked and hammered and pounded at Solomon Owl’s +door. But for once Solomon’s great pale face did not appear. +</p> + +<p> +“Where’s the fun?” Reddy’s friends had wanted to know, +after they had waited until they were impatient. +</p> + +<p> +And Reddy Woodpecker could only shake his head and say: +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t understand it! It’s never happened like this before. +I’m afraid Solomon Owl has lost his hearing.” +</p> + +<p> +Reddy Woodpecker’s friends were no more polite than he. And they began to +jeer at him. +</p> + +<p> +“You didn’t hammer loud enough,” one of them told him. +</p> + +<p> +So he set to work again and rapped and rapped until his head felt as if it +would fly off, and his neck began to ache. +</p> + +<p> +Still, Solomon Owl did not appear. And the party broke up in something very +like a quarrel. For Reddy Woodpecker lost his temper when his friends teased +him; and a good many unpleasant remarks passed back and forth. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow, Reddy felt that it was all Solomon Owl’s fault, because he +hadn’t come to the door. +</p> + +<p> +Of course, Reddy had no means of knowing that all that time Solomon Owl was +sleeping peacefully in Farmer Green’s haystack in the meadow, a quarter +of a mile away. +</p> + +<p> +It was a good joke on Reddy Woodpecker. And though no one had told Solomon Owl +about it, he was not so stupid that he couldn’t guess at least <i>a +little</i> that had happened. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Solomon Owl continued to have a very pleasant time living in the meadow. Since +there were many mice right close at hand, little by little he visited the woods +less and less. And there came a time at last when he hardly left the meadow at +all. +</p> + +<p> +Not flying any more than he could help, and eating too much, and sleeping very +soundly each day, he grew stouter than ever, until his friends hardly knew him +when they saw him. +</p> + +<p> +“Solomon Owl is a sight—he’s so fat!” people began to +say. +</p> + +<p> +But his size never worried Solomon Owl in the least. When he became too big for +his doorway in the haystack, it was a simple matter to make the opening +larger—much simpler than it would have been to make himself +<i>smaller</i>. And that was another reason why he was delighted with his new +home. +</p> + +<p> +At last, however, something happened to put an end to his lazy way of living. +One day the sound of men’s voices awakened him, when he was having a good +nap in the haystack. And he felt his bedroom quiver as if an earthquake had +shaken it. +</p> + +<p> +Scrambling to his doorway and peeping slyly out, Solomon saw a sight that made +him very angry. A hayrack stood alongside the stack; and on it stood Farmer +Green and his hired man. Each had a pitchfork in his hands, with which he tore +great forkfuls of hay off the stack and piled it upon the wagon. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon Owl knew then that his fine hiding place was going to be spoiled. As +soon as the horses had pulled the load of hay away, with Farmer Green and the +hired man riding on top of it, Solomon Owl crept out of his snug bedroom and +hurried off to the woods. +</p> + +<p> +He was so fat that it was several days before he could squeeze inside his old +home in the hollow hemlock. And for the time being he had to sit on a limb and +sleep in the daylight as best he could. +</p> + +<p> +But to his surprise, Reddy Woodpecker troubled him no more. Reddy had drummed +so hard on Solomon’s door, in the effort to awake him when he +wasn’t there, that Aunt Polly Woodchuck told him he would ruin his bill, +if he didn’t look out. And since the warning thoroughly alarmed him, +Reddy stopped visiting the hemlock grove. +</p> + +<p> +In time Solomon Owl grew to look like himself again. And people never really +knew just what had happened to him. But they noticed that he always hooted +angrily whenever anybody mentioned Farmer Green’s name. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE END +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 16663-h.htm or 16663-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/6/16663/</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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