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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book, by
+Albert Bigelow Paine
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book
+       being a new edition in one volume of "The Hollow Tree" and
+       "In The Deep Woods" with several new stories and pictures
+       added
+
+Author: Albert Bigelow Paine
+
+Illustrator: J. M. Conde
+
+Release Date: September 27, 2010 [EBook #33816]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOLLOW TREE & DEEP WOODS BOOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from
+scanned images of public domain material from the Internet
+Archive.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Book Cover]
+
+
+
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE
+AND
+DEEP WOODS BOOK
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AN INVITATION FROM JACK RABBIT.]
+
+
+
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE
+
+AND
+
+DEEP WOODS BOOK
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+BEING A NEW EDITION IN ONE VOLUME OF "THE HOLLOW TREE"
+AND "IN THE DEEP WOODS" WITH SEVERAL NEW
+STORIES AND PICTURES ADDED
+
+
+BY
+ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+J. M. CONDE
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS BY
+ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE
+
+  MARK TWAIN: A BIOGRAPHY. Illustrated.
+
+    Octavo, Uniform Red Cloth, Trade Edition, 3 Vols.
+        (in a box)                                           _net_ $6.00
+
+    Octavo, Cloth, Full Gilt Backs, Gilt Tops, Library
+        Edition, 3 Vols. (in a box)                          _net_  7.00
+
+    Octavo, Three-quarter Calf, Gilt Tops, 3 Vols.
+        (in a box)                                           _net_ 14.50
+
+    Octavo, Three-quarter Levant, Gilt Tops, 3 Vols.
+        (in a box)                                           _net_ 15.50
+
+  THE SHIP DWELLERS. Illustrated. 8vo                        _net_  1.50
+
+  THE TENT-DWELLERS. Illustrated. Post 8vo                          1.50
+
+  "PEANUT." Illustrated. 16mo                                _net_   .50
+         Full Leather, 16mo                                  _net_  1.00
+
+  THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS BOOK. Illustrated. Post 8vo        1.50
+
+  THE HOLLOW TREE SNOWED-IN BOOK. Ill'd. Crown 8vo                  1.50
+
+  FROM VAN-DWELLER TO COMMUTER. Illustrated. Post 8vo               1.50
+
+  LIFE OF THOMAS NAST. Illustrated. 8vo                      _net_  5.00
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, N. Y.
+
+
+Copyright, 1898, by JAMES GORDON BENNETT
+Copyright, 1899, by FRANK MUNSEY
+Copyright, 1899, by THE CENTURY CO.
+Copyright, 1898, 1899, 1901, by ROBERT HOWARD RUSSELL
+Copyright, 1900, by HARPER & BROTHERS
+
+
+Acknowledgments are due to the New York _Herald_, _The Puritan_,
+_Harper's Bazar_, and _The Century Magazine_, in which periodicals these
+stories were originally printed.
+
+
+
+
+TO FRIENDS, OLD AND NEW
+
+
+I suppose the very best pay that ever comes to anyone who writes a book
+is to know that the ones he wrote it for really like it. When they like
+it well enough to write and tell him so, though they have never seen
+him, and perhaps never will, then he feels very proud indeed, and happy.
+Perhaps he even looks at himself in the looking-glass to make sure he is
+really the one who did it, though of course he wouldn't have anyone see
+him doing it, or think him vain, for anything.
+
+The publisher is only going to let me print one of the ever-so-many nice
+letters that have come for the man who wrote the Hollow Tree stories and
+the other man who drew the pictures for them. So I've picked out one
+that is for both of us, and that is signed by three, which makes it
+equal to six letters, three for each of us, and as nice letters as
+anyone who writes books for other folks to read could ever wish to have.
+
+  NEW YORK CITY, 107 SIXTY-NINTH STREET, EAST,
+  _Oct. 18th, 1900_.
+
+     DEAR MR. PAINE:
+
+     Won't you please write another book about the 'Coon and the
+     'Possum and the old black Crow? We know these two by heart,
+     now. We like that story about the "Rain In The Night"
+     because that is the way we do when there is a thunderstorm.
+     _Please_ write some more and make them friends with poor Mr.
+     Dog, and we want Mr. Conde to draw the pictures, too.
+
+  Your sincere friends,
+  AMY C. HUTTON,
+  JACK HUTTON, JR.,
+  M. KATHERINE HUTTON.
+
+Don't you think that is a very nice letter to get? I am sure no one
+could be blamed for taking just one little look in the glass after that,
+or for trying to "write another book" to please readers who have learned
+the others "by heart."
+
+But, dear me, it couldn't be done, because you see there were only just
+so many of the Hollow Tree stories that ever happened, and when they
+were all written there weren't enough to make another book. So we have
+taken what were in the first two books, "The Hollow Tree" and "In the
+Deep Woods," and we have put them together in one big book, and added
+the three new ones, which were every one to be had, and now here they
+are with a nice new cloth cover and very cheap when you consider how
+many there are of them, and that there are no more to be had anywhere,
+and that there never will be any more, as the Little Lady has said,
+"even in a thousand days." You will know why, too, when you get to the
+very last story in the book, and until then, and for a long time after,
+I wish you, and Mr. Conde wishes you the happy quiet of the Deep Woods,
+and the pleasant peace of the Hollow Tree.
+
+  THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+  The Little Lady and the Story Teller                                 9
+  The Hollow Tree People                                              11
+  A Joke All Around                                                   20
+  Some New Acquaintances                                              28
+  Mr. Rabbit's Big Dinner                                             38
+  The Crow's Company                                                  53
+  The First Moon Story                                                64
+  The Second Moon Story                                               72
+  On the Edge of the World                                            79
+  The First Pig Story                                                 87
+  The Second Pig Story                                                93
+  Mr. Dog Takes Lessons in Dancing                                   100
+  Mr. Rabbit's Unwelcome Company                                     109
+  How Mr. Dog Got Even                                               116
+  How Mr. Dog Got Even--Continued                                    124
+  The Little Lady's Vacation and Her Return                          137
+  The Story of the C. X. Pie                                         139
+  The Story of the C. X. Pie--Continued                              149
+  The Story of the C. X. Pie--Continued                              161
+  Mr. Rabbit Explains                                                169
+  Mr. Turtle's Thunder Story                                         176
+  Mr. Turtle's Thunder Story--Continued                              183
+  A Rain in the Night                                                190
+  A Deep Woods Fishing Party                                         196
+  The Hollow Tree Inn                                                205
+  The Hollow Tree Inn--Continued                                     211
+  Mr. 'Possum Explains                                               221
+  The Hollow Tree Poetry Club                                        231
+  Around the World and Back Again                                    248
+  Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn                                   259
+  Good-Bye to the Little Lady                                        272
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE LADY AND THE STORY TELLER
+
+THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO THEM
+
+
+In the House of Many Windows which stands in a large city and is
+sometimes called a "flat" by people who, because they are grown up, do
+not know any better, live the Little Lady and the Story Teller.
+
+The Little Lady is four years old, going on five, and is fond of
+stories. This makes her and the Story Teller good friends. They mostly
+sit in the firelight after supper, and while the Little Lady is being
+undressed they tell each other all that has happened since morning. Then
+the Little Lady looks into the fire and says:--
+
+"Now, tell me a story."
+
+Sometimes she wants a new story. Sometimes one of the old ones, which
+must be told always the same, because the Little Lady, like a good many
+grown up people, does not care for new and revised editions, but wants
+the old stories in the old words, that sound real and true. Sometimes
+the Story Teller forgets or improves on his plots, but the Little Lady
+never forgets and never fails to set the Story Teller right.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE
+
+THE LITTLE LADY IS INTRODUCED TO THE 'COON, THE 'POSSUM AND THE OLD
+BLACK CROW
+
+
+When the Story Teller came home last night the Little Lady had a great
+deal to tell him. During the afternoon she had built in one corner of
+the sitting room a house for her three dolls, with a separate room for
+each. Of course, the house was not a house at all, but only a plan on
+the floor made with blocks and books. At one side she had laid out a
+large parlor room, where her family of three--Hettie, Annabelle and the
+Rubber Boy--could meet together and talk.
+
+"Why," said the Story Teller, "that reminds me of the Crow, the 'Coon
+and the 'Possum."
+
+"What did they do? Tell me that story," commanded the Little Lady,
+promptly forgetting her day's work and pulling the Story Teller toward
+his chair.
+
+The Story Teller stirred the fire and looked into the blaze a moment,
+thinking. The Little Lady climbed up into his lap and waited. She was
+used to the Story Teller.
+
+"Tell it," she said, presently.
+
+So then he told her the story of the three friends.
+
+Once upon a time in the far depths of the Big Deep Woods there was a big
+hollow tree, with three big hollow branches. In one of these there lived
+a 'Coon, in another a 'Possum and in the third a Big Black Crow.
+
+"But crows don't live in hollow trees," said the Little Woman, who
+happened to be passing.
+
+"This one did," replied the Story Teller. "I suppose styles have changed
+some since then."
+
+The hollow tree below was rather dark, so they all used it for a parlor,
+and only met in there now and then, to dust off their things, or when
+company came.
+
+Now, the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum were all very fond of good
+living and mostly of the same things. They were good friends, too, and
+they often made plans to catch young chickens and other game and carried
+them out together. Between trips they would sit in their doors and pass
+the time of day across to each other, just like folks.
+
+Well, one winter, about two weeks after New Year's, it came on to snow
+in the woods where the hollow tree was, and it snowed, and it snowed,
+and it snowed.
+
+This was long before sleds or skates, and when big snows always came up
+over people's windows and snowed them in. And this is what happened to
+the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum. They were snowed in!
+
+Well, they rather liked it at first, for they had a good deal left over
+from New Year's dinner, and they used to get together down stairs in
+the parlor and spread lunch and pitch the bones under the table and talk
+and tell stories and wonder how long the snow would last.
+
+But they never counted on its lasting half so long as it did. Every day
+they would look out of an upstairs window that they had, to see if the
+storm wasn't over. And every day it was just the same, and there was no
+sign of clearing up. Then they began to get scared, for their cupboards
+were nearly empty, and there was no chance to catch any more game. At
+last every scrap was gone, and there wasn't a thing to eat in the house.
+
+[Illustration: ROCKED ON PURPOSE TO THINK ABOUT IT.]
+
+[Illustration: LOOKED IN QUITE A WHILE, THINKING.]
+
+The 'Possum went to bed and pulled up the covers and tried to sleep so
+he would forget it. The 'Coon sat up in a rocking chair and rocked on
+purpose to think about it, for he was a great hand to plan, and he
+thought mebbe he could work it out some way. The Crow didn't do either,
+but walked about his house, picking up first one thing and then another,
+as people do sometimes when they don't do anything else. But the Crow
+was luckier than most people who do that, for by and by he picked up
+quite a big paper sack with something in it. Then he untied it and
+looked into it quite a while, thinking. It was more than half full of
+corn meal, and pretty soon he remembered that he had carried it off once
+when he was passing Mr. Man's pantry window, not because he wanted it,
+but because he was a crow, and crows carry off anything that isn't too
+big, whether they want it or not. Then he hunted around some more and
+found another sack with some flour in it that he had picked up once in
+the same way. Then he found some little bags of pepper and salt and a
+lump of butter.
+
+"My!" said the Little Lady, "but he'd carried off a lot of things!"
+
+Yes, crows always do, and hide them that way. Well, he didn't say
+anything, but he slipped down stairs and gathered up some of the chicken
+bones under the table and some pieces of bark and sticks, and brought
+them up to his own part of the house and shut the door. Then he kindled
+a little fire in the stove with the sticks and opened his outside door a
+crack and got a skillet full of snow and put it on, and when the snow
+melted he dropped in the chicken bones and let them stew, and then a
+little of the flour and some pepper and salt and stirred it, and he had
+some nice gravy.
+
+By and by the 'Possum and 'Coon smelt it cooking and thought it came
+from a farm house, and the 'Possum turned over twice and thought of
+everything he had ever heard of to make people go to sleep, and the
+'Coon rocked harder and harder.
+
+Then Mr. Crow poured the gravy into a bowl and set it back on the stove
+to keep warm while he stirred up some of the cornmeal in some more
+melted snow, with a little pinch of salt and a little piece of the
+butter. When it was all stirred good he put it into the skillet and
+patted it down, and when it was baked nice and brown on both sides it
+was as good a Johnnie cake as you ever tasted.
+
+He laughed to himself a minute and then he slipped down stairs again and
+set the table. He put on the bowl of gravy in the centre and cut the
+Johnnie cake in three pieces. Then he called out as loud as he could:--
+
+"Come to dinner!"
+
+[Illustration: THE 'POSSUM JUMPED STRAIGHT UP IN BED.]
+
+The 'Possum jumped straight up in bed and then lay down again quick, for
+he thought the Crow was playing a joke on him, which he was, though not
+the kind he thought. The 'Coon jumped, too, and then went to rocking
+again, for he thought the same thing. So Mr. Crow opened the 'Possum's
+door quick and the 'Coon's door quick and let the smell of the nice
+chicken gravy go right up into their rooms. Then he laughed out loud and
+called again:--
+
+"Come to dinner while it's hot!"
+
+And down they came, for they couldn't stand that smell. But when they
+saw the Johnnie cake they thought it was a joke again, for they had
+never seen any before and didn't know what it was like.
+
+"Dip in and try," said the Crow, and he broke off a piece of his cake
+and dipped it in the bowl of gravy and began to eat it. So then the
+'Possum broke off a piece of his Johnnie cake and dipped it in the gravy
+and began to eat it, and the 'Coon broke off a piece of his Johnnie cake
+and dipped it in the gravy and began to eat, too. And then the Crow
+dipped again, and the 'Possum dipped again, and the 'Coon dipped again.
+
+"It's good," said the 'Possum.
+
+"Yes, it's good," said the 'Coon. "Where did you get it?"
+
+But the Crow did not tell them, and so they dipped and ate, and dipped
+and ate, until they dipped and ate it all up.
+
+[Illustration: "DROP IN AGAIN TO-MORROW," SAID THE CROW.]
+
+"Drop in again to-morrow," said the Crow when they were done.
+
+So the next day they came again, and the next day they came again, and
+every day after that they came, until the storm was over and the snow
+was 'most gone, and Mr. Crow never did tell them the secret of it until
+once when he wanted to ask a great favor of Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum,
+but that is too long to tell about to-night.
+
+The Story Teller looked down at the Little Lady.
+
+She was sound asleep.
+
+
+
+
+A JOKE ALL AROUND
+
+ABOUT HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE AND THEIR WAYS
+
+
+"You may tell me some more about the 'Coon and the 'Possum and the Old
+Black Crow," said the Little Lady, settling herself comfortably and
+indicating by the motion of her body that she wanted the Story Teller to
+rock. "They lived in three big hollow limbs of a big hollow tree, you
+know, and used to meet together sometimes in their parlor and talk."
+
+Why, yes, of course. The Story Teller did know this colony, and
+hurriedly tried to recall some one of their many adventures. Out of the
+mists of that long ago time when all animals and men spoke one language
+and mingled more or less sociably together came presently a dim memory
+that cleared and brightened as it came, and took form at last in
+something which the Story Teller told to the Little Lady as
+
+MR. 'COON'S BAD COLD.
+
+[Illustration: THE 'COON CAUGHT A BAD COLD.]
+
+[Illustration: COUGHED AND TOOK ON.]
+
+One day, early in March and during a long wet spell, the 'Coon caught a
+bad cold. The next morning he stayed in bed, and pulled up the covers
+and was cross and too sick to go out. This made extra work for the Crow
+and the 'Possum, who, of course, had to bring him in his meals and
+take care of him, and Mr. 'Coon, who found how nice it was to be
+waited on, thought he would take his own time about getting well. He was
+sick so long that by and by it set Mr. Crow to thinking, and one day,
+all of a sudden, he was taken ill, too, and coughed and took on, and
+called across to the others that he was sick and couldn't come out,
+either.
+
+This made still more work for the 'Possum, who now had to catch game for
+three, besides waiting on sick folks and taking care of their houses. So
+by and by Mr. 'Possum got to thinking some, as well as the others, and
+one morning, while the Crow and the 'Coon were lying all snug in bed and
+laughing to themselves at the trick they were playing, and thinking of
+the nice breakfast they were to have, they heard all at once the 'Possum
+calling out that hard work and exposure had been too much for him, and
+that he was sicker now than both of them put together.
+
+Of course they had to call back to him that they were sorry, and of
+course they were sorry in one way, and then each of them lay down to see
+which would be the first to starve out.
+
+Mr. 'Possum had a little the best of it at first, because he had brought
+in enough the night before to last him for a few meals, but, being very
+greedy, he soon ate it all up, and before long was just as hungry as
+either the 'Coon or the Crow, and maybe hungrier.
+
+Every day they all grew emptier and emptier. Sometimes Mr. Crow would
+get up and slip to the door to see if the 'Possum or the 'Coon was not
+starting out for food. Sometimes Mr. 'Possum would peep out to see if
+the 'Coon and the Crow were not going. Sometimes Mr. 'Coon would look
+out to see if the Crow and the 'Possum hadn't started. Once they all saw
+each other, and jumped back like a flash.
+
+[Illustration: GOT UP SOFTLY AND DRESSED.]
+
+That night Mr. 'Possum decided that he couldn't stand it any longer. He
+was so thin that his skin hung on him like a bag, and he hardly had
+strength enough to curl his tail. So he made a plan to slip through the
+parlor down stairs, and out the door at the bottom of the tree to find a
+good supper just for himself. A little after dark, when he thought the
+others were asleep, he got up softly and dressed himself and took his
+shoes in his hand.
+
+He was afraid to put them on, for fear he would wake up the Crow and the
+'Coon going down stairs.
+
+Well, he slipped down softly, and was just about half way to the door
+when--biff! he ran right against something in the dark----
+
+"But I thought you said once 'possums could see in the dark?"
+interrupted the Little Lady, sitting up straight.
+
+They can in just common dark, but this, you see, was hollow tree dark,
+which is the very darkest dark there is. So he couldn't see a wink, and
+down he came and down came the other thing, too, till pretty soon--biff!
+they struck something else, and down all three things came over and
+over, rattlety-clatter, to the bottom of the stairs, right on out of the
+door into the moonlight, and what do you suppose was there besides Mr.
+'Possum?
+
+"I know," said the Little Lady, eagerly. "The 'Coon and the Old Black
+Crow?"
+
+[Illustration: LOOKING FOOLISH AND HALF STARVED.]
+
+Exactly. Both of them dressed and looking foolish and half starved, and
+each with his shoes in his hand. They had all slipped down softly to get
+something to eat, because they were so hungry, and, of course, when they
+looked at each other standing there they all knew very well that none of
+them had been sick, except Mr. 'Coon a little right at first.
+
+After they had looked at each other for about a minute they all began to
+laugh, and they laughed and laughed till they cried, and rolled on the
+ground and kept on laughing to think how they all had fooled each other
+and been fooled themselves. Then they all hurried off on a big hunt for
+game, and didn't get back till sunrise.
+
+
+
+
+SOME NEW ACQUAINTANCES
+
+THE LITTLE LADY IS INTRODUCED TO MR. JACK RABBIT DURING A VERY EXCITING
+EXPERIENCE WITH MR. DOG. THE FIRST ADVENTURE OF JACK RABBIT
+
+
+[Illustration: HE STOPPED AND TALKED TO MR. ROBIN.]
+
+Once upon a time Mr. Jack Rabbit got up very early and set out for a
+morning walk. It was bright and sunny, and Mr. Rabbit was feeling so
+well that he walked and walked. Every little ways he stopped and talked
+to the Robins and Bluebirds that were up early, too, until by and by he
+didn't know how far away from home he really was.
+
+"Did he know the way?" asked the Little Lady.
+
+[Illustration: A LOUD BARK RIGHT BEHIND HIM.]
+
+Oh, yes, he knew the way, because you can't lose Mr. Jack Rabbit, no
+matter what you do, but talking along and not thinking, he had forgotten
+about its being so far. He was just going to turn back, though, when all
+of a sudden there was a great loud bark right behind him that made him
+jump right straight up in the air and commence running before his feet
+touched the ground.
+
+He didn't stop to ask any questions. He knew that Mr. Dog was out early,
+too, and that he'd found his tracks and was a-coming lickety split.
+
+"What does that mean--lickety split?"
+
+I don't know, exactly, but Mr. Dog always runs that way when he chases
+Jack Rabbit, and Mr. Rabbit knew he had no time to waste.
+
+He ran faster than Mr. Dog at first, and got far enough ahead so that
+when directly he saw Mr. Robin on a limb he slacked up a little minute
+and said:--
+
+"Mr. Dog's coming to call, and I'm going home to get my house ready."
+
+Then pretty soon he saw Mr. Bluebird, but he didn't have time to pause
+again.
+
+"Where are you going so fast, Mr. Rabbit?" said the Bluebird.
+
+"To get ready for Mr. Dog; he's coming to call," said the Rabbit as he
+went by like a streak. Then a little further on he met Mr. Turtle.
+
+"Hi, there!" called the Turtle. "Where are you going so fast, Mr.
+Rabbit?"
+
+"Dog coming--clean house!" shouted Jack Rabbit, 'most out of breath.
+
+That made the Turtle laugh, 'cause Mr. Turtle is old and smart and he
+knew why the Rabbit was running so fast.
+
+"Was the Rabbit so afraid of Mr. Dog?" asked the Little Lady.
+
+He was that, but he didn't want anybody to know it if he could help it,
+and 'specially Mr. Dog.
+
+Well, pretty soon Mr. Dog came by where Mr. Robin was, and he called
+up:--
+
+"Hello, Mr. Robin! Has Mr. Jack Rabbit passed this way?"
+
+"Why, yes, Mr. Dog, and he stopped a little minute to say that you were
+coming to see him, and that he had to hurry home to have his house
+ready."
+
+That kind of surprised Mr. Dog, 'cause he thought the Rabbit was afraid
+of him, but he kept right on till he came to the Bluebird.
+
+"Did Mr. Rabbit come this way?" he called up without stopping.
+
+"Yes, sir, and hurried right on to have his house ready for you," said
+the Bluebird.
+
+That surprised Mr. Dog more and more, and he began to think that after
+all maybe the Rabbit didn't know what he wanted of him and--
+
+"What did he want of him?"
+
+Well, I s'pect it was about the same as the wolf wanted of Red Riding
+Hood, and Jack Rabbit was so far away from home and getting so tired
+that there's no telling what might have happened if it hadn't been for
+Mr. Turtle. Mr. Turtle was a good friend to Jack Rabbit, 'cause once he
+beat him in a foot race by playing a trick, and he'd always felt a
+little sorry for it. So when Mr. Dog came along he got right in the way
+and said:--
+
+[Illustration: "HI, THERE! HOLD ON, MR. DOG!"]
+
+"Hi, there! Hold on, Mr. Dog, or you'll get there before Mr. Rabbit is
+ready for you. He just passed, and said he had to clean up before you
+came. I s'pose he wants to get up a fine dinner, too."
+
+Well, that settled it. Mr. Dog stopped and said he wasn't in any hurry
+at all, but was just running a little because it was a nice morning and
+he felt well. Of course, he said, he didn't want to get there before Mr.
+Rabbit was ready for him, and then he trotted along comfortably,
+thinking how he would eat the Rabbit's fine dinner first, and then there
+would be time enough for Mr. Rabbit himself afterward.
+
+So, when he got to Jack Rabbit's house he straightened his vest and his
+necktie a little, and then he knocked and turned around and whistled
+while he was waiting for Mr. Rabbit to come to the door. But Jack Rabbit
+didn't come to the door. He opened an upstairs window and said:--
+
+"Why, it's Mr. Dog! Sit right down on the porch, Mr. Dog, till I get my
+house ready and the dinner cooked."
+
+[Illustration: MR. RABBIT LAUGHED AND LAUGHED.]
+
+So Mr. Dog sat down and lit his pipe and smoked and looked at the
+scenery, while Mr. Rabbit inside he laughed and laughed, and lay down on
+the bed and finally went to sleep.
+
+Mr. Dog sat there and smoked and smoked, and wished the Rabbit would
+hurry and let him in, 'cause he wanted to get home to his folks, and it
+was a long way to travel. By and by he called up and asked him if dinner
+wasn't ready yet. That waked Jack Rabbit up, and he looked out the
+window and said that he'd had bad luck with his biscuit and dinner would
+be late. Then Mr. Dog said he'd come in while he was waiting, but the
+Rabbit said the house was full of smoke, and he wouldn't think of
+letting his company sit inside such a pleasant day.
+
+Well, Mr. Dog he sat and sat, and Mr. Jack Rabbit laughed and went to
+sleep again, and by and by it got so late that Mr. Dog knew if he didn't
+go home pretty soon he'd "catch it" when he got there. So he called up
+again to Mr. Rabbit, and said that he'd take anything he happened to
+have in the house, and that he didn't care much for biscuit anyway. But
+Jack Rabbit said he would never show his face again if he let his
+company do that, and that it was a perfect shame that Mr. Dog had waited
+so long, when he had so far to go. He said that his stove didn't draw
+worth a cent, and that his fire had gone out once, and he hadn't got it
+started again yet.
+
+Then Mr. Dog didn't wait to hear another word, but just set out for
+home, lickety split, with Mr. Jack Rabbit rolling on the bed and
+laughing to see him go.
+
+"Come again, Mr. Dog!" he called after him. "Come again when you can't
+stay so long."
+
+But Mr. Dog didn't say a word or look 'round, for he knew by Jack
+Rabbit's laughing so loud and saying to come when he couldn't stay so
+long that he'd been fooling him all the time.
+
+"And did he ever go to Jack Rabbit's house again?" asked the Little
+Lady.
+
+Well, not right away. He didn't go out much of anywhere after that for a
+while, because people made fun of him and kept calling out when he went
+by:--
+
+"Come again, Mr. Dog! Come again when you can't stay so long!"
+
+
+
+
+MR. RABBIT'S BIG DINNER
+
+MR. JACK RABBIT ENTERTAINS THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE. AN UNWELCOME GUEST
+ARRIVES CAUSING SOME EXCITEMENT
+
+
+Once upon a time there came to the big Hollow Tree, where the 'Coon and
+the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow lived, an invitation from Mr. Jack
+Rabbit for the three to dine with him next day. Nobody was going to be
+there, he said, but the Turtle, and for them to come early so's to have
+a nice long afternoon.
+
+He didn't need to say that, for the 'Possum would have started right off
+if it had been polite, and the Crow and the 'Coon were both so excited
+that the 'Coon commenced with pie first at supper and the Crow took his
+hat to get water in. Then they talked all the evening about their
+clothes and what they were going to wear, and the 'Possum said he was
+afraid to look at his best suit for fear it was moth eaten, and the
+'Coon and the Crow rummaged through their bureaus and got out all their
+clean shirts so's to have one ready for the next day.
+
+In the morning they all got up long before daylight, and the 'Possum
+looked out first and then called over to the others that there had
+been a light snow in the night, but that it was clear now and just cold
+enough to give a fellow a good appetite. He was going to eat a slim
+breakfast, he said, so's to be ready for a big dinner.
+
+They were all dressed and ready long before time, but they managed to
+stand it until about ten o'clock, and then the 'Possum said he was just
+naturally getting gray headed waiting for that dinner, and off they
+started.
+
+[Illustration: THE RABBIT GETTING READY.]
+
+[Illustration: LOOKED AT THE ALBUM.]
+
+[Illustration: TROUBLE IN GETTING HIS BISCUITS TO RISE.]
+
+Mr. Jack Rabbit had got up early, too, that morning, and had the table
+'most set when they came. He had his sleeves rolled up and an apron on,
+and the way he was flying around and getting ready was a caution. The
+'Coon and the Crow sat down in the parlor, and looked at the album and
+some travel books they found on the table, but Mr. 'Possum was so hungry
+after his light breakfast that he could not keep out of the kitchen,
+where it smelled good, and stood around and talked to Jack Rabbit, and
+asked him where he got his chickens, and if he thought Mr. Fox would
+spare him some, too, and if Mr. Rabbit had any trouble getting his
+biscuits to rise in cold weather.
+
+Then the Rabbit gave the 'Possum some new receipts, and Mr. 'Possum
+tasted of everything, a great big taste, making believe he wanted to see
+just how it was made, but really because he was almost starved, and
+couldn't wait.
+
+Well, pretty soon Mr. Turtle straddled in, and everything was on the
+table and they all sat down. The 'Possum had tasted so much in the
+kitchen that he wasn't so starved as the 'Coon and the Crow, and behaved
+very politely, and stepped on the 'Coon's toe under the table because he
+ate so greedily, and whispered to the Crow not to shovel the food about
+on his plate, as if he were cleaning snow off a roof.
+
+[Illustration: MR. JACK RABBIT FELL OVER BACKWARD.]
+
+They were all too busy to say much at first, but pretty soon they got to
+talking and telling stories, and Jack Rabbit told about the time that
+Mr. Dog chased him home, and how he kept Mr. Dog sitting out on the
+porch all the afternoon waiting for dinner to be ready. Then Mr. Turtle
+up and told about his stopping Mr. Dog that day, telling him that the
+Rabbit had gone home to get dinner for him, and they all laughed, and
+the 'Coon and the 'Possum said that Mr. Dog thought they were afraid of
+him, too, but the first time they got a chance they were going to show
+him a few things that would open his eyes. That made the Crow laugh till
+he coughed and strangled, and when the Rabbit said he wasn't afraid,
+either, the Turtle laughed, too. Then the 'Coon and the 'Possum and Mr.
+Jack Rabbit all pounded on the table, and said, "Just show us Mr. Dog,
+and you'll see whether we're afraid or not," and right then, as they
+said these words, there came a loud knock, and a great big bow! wow!
+wow! right at the door, and Mr. Jack Rabbit fell over backward, and Mr.
+'Coon upset his coffee, and Mr. 'Possum, being stuffed so he could
+hardly move, rolled under the table and fainted dead away.
+
+"Wasn't the Crow and Mr. Turtle scared some, too?" interrupted the
+Little Lady.
+
+Not a bit. Mr. Dog is good friends with the Crow and the Turtle. Of
+course they were afraid some for the Rabbit and the 'Coon and the
+'Possum, but they didn't think Mr. Dog could get in, because the door
+was locked, so they laughed and pounded on the table as the others had
+done and said:--
+
+"Oh, yes, just show us Mr. Dog! Just show us Mr. Dog!"
+
+That made the Rabbit feel ashamed, 'cause he was in his own house, so he
+hopped up quick and marched over to the door and said:--
+
+"Why, Mr. Dog, is that you out there?"
+
+Mr. Dog said it was, and that he had seen all the tracks in the snow,
+and just thought he'd like to take a hand in that big dinner himself.
+That made the hair on Mr. 'Coon's head stand right straight up, and Mr.
+'Possum, who had rolled under the table, gave a groan and crawled over
+behind a long curtain, where he could faint and be covered up at the
+same time. Mr. Rabbit thought a little minute and then said, very
+politely:--
+
+"It's just too bad, Mr. Dog, I'll declare it is. But every time you come
+it seems like something happens to keep me from having your company.
+We've just got up from the table and there isn't a thing left, and
+besides, Mr. 'Possum had a sick turn a minute ago, and we're all upside
+down and every which way."
+
+But Mr. Dog said he wasn't afraid but that there'd be plenty for him to
+eat, and that he was a pretty good hand with sick folks himself. Then he
+gave another great loud bark and said:--
+
+  "You fooled me once, but you'll fool me no more,
+  So lift up the latch and open the door!"
+
+Mr. Dog talks poetry that way sometimes when he gets excited. But Jack
+Rabbit said he really couldn't think of inviting him in, the way things
+were, and that it would likely be after sundown before he'd be ready for
+him. Of course, he said, Mr. Dog couldn't wait that long, he knew, and
+that he s'posed, after all, they'd have to do without his comp'ny this
+time. Then Mr. Dog said that his folks were away from home now, and that
+he could stay there all night if he wanted to, but that he didn't want
+to and didn't propose to, and then he gave another great big bow wow
+wow! and said:--
+
+  "You fooled me once, but you can't ag'in;
+  Open the door or I'll break it in!"
+
+[Illustration: THE 'POSSUM ALMOST DIED.]
+
+[Illustration: SAW MR. DOG'S YELLOW LEGS AND TAIL.]
+
+Jack Rabbit and Mr. 'Coon both jumped when they heard that, and Mr.
+'Possum almost died. It worried the Crow and the Turtle some, too, for
+they knew if he did break in the door there'd be a big row and no
+telling how it would end. And just then Mr. Dog gave a big run and a
+jump against the door, and it squeaked and opened a little, so that the
+Rabbit could see a streak of light through it and Mr. Dog's yellow legs
+and tail. When he saw that Jack Rabbit just gave one spring and landed
+on the top shelf of his china closet. Mr. 'Possum jumped up and ran
+around the room and fainted in two or three different places, trying to
+find one that was safer than the other, and Mr. 'Coon scampered up the
+Rabbit's new lace curtains and hung on to the pole for dear life. The
+Crow and the Turtle just kept still and got ready to argue some with Mr.
+Dog when he got in.
+
+Pretty soon he came, bang! against the door again, and this time a good
+deal harder than before, and it squeaked louder and the crack was wider,
+for Mr. Dog had jumped against it as hard as ever he could, backward.
+And right there Mr. Dog made a mistake, for in just that little second
+while the crack was open the end of his tail got in it, and the door
+smacked right down on it, and there he was.
+
+"Ho!" said the Little Lady. "Was he caught tight?"
+
+[Illustration: HE HOWLED LIKE A GOOD FELLOW.]
+
+He was that. The harder he pulled the tighter it pinched, and he howled
+like a good fellow. You wouldn't have thought that such a little bit of
+his tail would make him howl so loud, but it did, and he couldn't get
+far enough away from the door to jump against it again. Well, Mr. Rabbit
+didn't let on that anything had happened, but just came down out of the
+china closet as cool as you please, with the dessert dishes on his arm,
+and the 'Possum said his sick turn had passed off, and the 'Coon came
+down from the curtain and mentioned that he always liked to take a
+little exercise during a heavy meal that way. Then they had dessert, and
+all the time Mr. Dog was making a big fuss outside, and by and by he
+began to beg and promise anything if they'd just let him loose.
+
+Mr. Rabbit called out to him that, being as his folks were away now, he
+needn't be in any hurry, and that he might just as well stay there all
+night if he wanted to. Then Mr. Dog called out to the Turtle and the
+Crow to "prize" open the door and let him get his tail out, but they
+both said that they couldn't think of being impolite with Jack Rabbit in
+his own house by sending off any of his friends that way.
+
+Well, pretty soon the 'Coon and the 'Possum said they must be going,
+they guessed, so Mr. Rabbit let them out the back door, and they went
+around and said goodby to Mr. Dog and hoped he was having a nice time.
+And Mr. Dog told them, with tears in his eyes, that he was sorry to see
+them go and that he hoped to meet them again. Then the 'Coon and the
+'Possum both laughed and took a good look at Mr. Dog, for they had never
+been so close to him before in their lives. They kept on laughing and
+looking around as far as they could see, and said it was the best joke
+they had ever heard of.
+
+The Crow and the Turtle didn't go right away. They stayed and had a talk
+with Jack Rabbit first so as to give the 'Coon and the 'Possum time to
+get home. By and by they bade goodby to Mr. Rabbit and said they'd had a
+nice time, and went out the back door, too, and when it was shut and
+locked tight Jack Rabbit told Mr. Dog if he'd promise to go right home
+and behave himself, and not go gallivanting around the country, he'd
+let him loose. Mr. Dog promised, and said his tail was numb clear up to
+his ears, and for Mr. Rabbit to please hurry. Then Jack Rabbit got a
+stick of stovewood and pried the door open a little wider, and Mr. Dog's
+tail came out just as the Turtle and the Crow stepped around the corner.
+
+"Was Mr. Dog mad at them?" asked the Little Lady, anxiously.
+
+[Illustration: THEY WALKED ALONG WITH HIM.]
+
+Not very. He was too much ashamed, and, besides, they walked along with
+him and said they were sorry and thought it was too bad the way he had
+been treated, and Mr. Crow said he'd have Mr. Dog over to his house for
+supper before long, which would be a good joke on the 'Coon and 'Possum,
+too, because they'd have to stay locked in their rooms. That made Mr.
+Dog perk up a little, but he didn't have much to say, and he didn't even
+look around when Mr. Jack Rabbit sat up in his window and called after
+them:--
+
+  "I fooled you once and I fooled you twice,
+  If you come again I'll fool you thrice!"
+
+For Jack Rabbit could make up poetry, too, sometimes when he felt well.
+
+
+
+
+THE CROW'S COMPANY
+
+MR. CROW GIVES A SUPPER TO MR. DOG, ACCORDING TO PROMISE
+
+
+Well, you remember (said the Story Teller) that the Crow promised Mr.
+Dog he would have him over sometime for supper, and play a joke on Mr.
+'Coon and Mr. 'Possum. So one morning he sent word to Mr. Dog, and the
+same day gave it out to the 'Coon and the 'Possum that we would have
+company for supper the next evening, and that he was going to set the
+big table in the parlor and have both of them come down and take supper
+with him, too. He didn't tell them he was going to have Mr. Dog and went
+around laughing to himself, because he thought it would be very funny
+for them to get all ready for a fine supper and then be afraid to come
+down when they found out who was there. Of course he meant to tell them
+before they came, because he didn't really want any fuss there in the
+parlor, especially when he had his good things on the table.
+
+Well, the 'Coon and the 'Possum said they'd come, and they guessed and
+guessed who it was that the Crow was going to have, but he wouldn't tell
+them, and by and by they began to suspect that maybe it was somebody
+that they didn't care much about. So they had a little private talk
+together and fixed up a way to be ready for him.
+
+After that they went around smiling a good deal, and the Crow thought it
+was on account of the big supper they were expecting, so he smiled, too,
+and was busy getting ready for the fun next day.
+
+Well, next day about five o'clock, Mr. Dog came and knocked at the door
+down stairs, and Mr. Crow slipped down and let him in, and took him
+right up to the parlor where supper was all on the table except the
+fried chicken, which he had left on the stove to keep hot. Mr. Dog took
+a seat and glanced round and said that everything looked good and
+smelled even better than it looked. The Crow liked to hear that, for he
+was always proud of his cooking and he laughed all over, and kept on
+laughing when he thought what a joke he was going to have right away on
+Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum.
+
+Then, pretty soon he had everything ready, and said to Mr. Dog:--
+
+"Now I'm going to call my friends down, but they won't come." And then
+they both laughed soft like, for of course Mr. Dog knew all about the
+joke, too.
+
+So then the Crow went up to the 'Possum's door and knocked and said:--
+
+"Supper's ready! Comp'ny's here! Come down!"
+
+[Illustration: "WHO IS YOUR COMPANY, MR. CROW?"]
+
+"Who is your company, Mr. Crow?"
+
+"Oh, just home folks. Nobody but Mr. Dog. We've got fried chicken and
+it's all ready."
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Crow, but I've just had comp'ny come, too, and I
+couldn't come unless I brought my comp'ny."
+
+"Who is it?" said the Crow.
+
+"Nobody but home folks. Mr. Cat just dropped in to spend the evening."
+
+The Old Black Crow gave a jump when he heard that, for he was afraid as
+death of Mr. Cat, and he said, quick as a wink:--
+
+"Table's all full and no room for more! Table's all full and no room for
+more!"
+
+Then he hurried over to the 'Coon's door and called:--
+
+"Supper's all ready! Comp'ny's here! Come down!"
+
+[Illustration: MR. 'COON PUT AN EXTRA CHAIR AGAINST THE DOOR.]
+
+Mr. 'Coon put an extra chair against the door and said:--
+
+"Who is your comp'ny, Mr. Crow?"
+
+"Oh, just home folks. Nobody but Mr. Dog. We've got fried chicken and
+it's all on the table."
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Crow, but comp'ny just came here, too, and I'd have to
+bring him along."
+
+"Who is it, Mr. 'Coon?"
+
+"Only home folks. Just Mr. Hawk run in for the evening."
+
+[Illustration: MR. CROW NEARLY FELL OVER BACKWARD.]
+
+Mr. Crow nearly fell over backward when he heard that. He had stolen
+some of Mr. Hawk's chickens the day before, and the 'Coon knew about it.
+The Hawk would surely know the flavor of his own chickens if he came
+down, and, anyhow, Mr. 'Coon would tell him. So he called out just as
+quick as lightning:--
+
+"Table's all full and no room for more! Table's all full and no room for
+more!"
+
+Then he hurried right back to Mr. Dog and told him not to wait, because
+Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum could not come, and Mr. Dog laughed and
+pitched into the fried chicken and said it was the best joke and the
+best chicken he had ever heard of. But the Crow some way did not think
+it was as good a joke as he had expected and could not eat his supper
+for looking up at the doors where the 'Possum and the 'Coon were.
+
+By and by, when Mr. Dog had finished his supper and had a smoke, he said
+he guessed his folks would be looking for him and that he would have to
+go. Then the Crow nearly had a fit and begged and begged him to spend
+the evening. He said Mr. Dog came so seldom that he ought to stay, now
+he was there, so at last Mr. Dog sat down again and said he might as
+well sit a little longer, he s'posed.
+
+[Illustration: MR. CROW TALKED AND TOLD STORIES.]
+
+Well, the Crow talked and talked and told stories and got Mr. Dog to
+telling stories, too, and once he slipped around behind Mr. Dog while he
+was talking away and put the clock back, but it didn't do any good. Mr.
+Dog said by and by that he was obliged to go and that he was afraid now
+he would be locked out when he got home. So the Crow thought as quick as
+he could and called out loud:--
+
+"Time comp'ny was going home! Time comp'ny was going home!"
+
+But the 'Possum called back that his comp'ny wasn't in any hurry. And
+the Coon called back that his comp'ny wasn't in any hurry either.
+
+Then Mr. Crow was in a bad fix. He hopped around first on one foot and
+then on the other while Mr. Dog was putting on his things, and as soon
+as he was gone he skipped right up into his own room and locked the door
+tight.
+
+Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum were looking out of their windows and saw Mr.
+Dog outside as he lit his pipe and marched off laughing. And the 'Coon
+and 'Possum laughed, too, for they hadn't had any company at all, but
+had been making believe all the time. Then they unbarred their doors and
+went down into the parlor, where there was a lot of the supper left, and
+sat down and passed the fried chicken across to each other and laughed
+some more and said Mr. Crow was certainly a mighty good cook.
+
+"Didn't they give the Crow any?" asked the Little Lady, who had been so
+still that the Story Teller believed her asleep.
+
+Pretty soon they did. They said it was too bad to punish him any longer,
+so they went up to his door, and the 'Possum knocked and said:--
+
+"Better come down to supper, Mr. Crow. Comp'ny's all gone!"
+
+And then the 'Coon he knocked and said:--
+
+"Better come down to fried chicken, Mr. Crow. Comp'ny's all gone!"
+
+So then the Crow opened the door a little crack and peeked out, and when
+he saw nobody was there but the 'Coon and the 'Possum he stepped out as
+brave as you please and said that he had been to one big supper and was
+sleepy and just going to bed, but that he believed he would sit down
+with them just to be sociable. He was sorry, he said, that he couldn't
+have asked them to bring down their comp'ny, but he hadn't fixed for so
+many, and, after all, it would be nicer now, all alone together.
+
+So then the 'Coon and the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow all sat down to
+the table together and ate and ate and ate, and the Old Black Crow ate
+most of all.
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST MOON STORY
+
+A STORY IN WHICH MR. 'COON TELLS MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. RABBIT SOMETHING
+ABOUT THE MOON
+
+
+Last night when the full moon looked into the House of Many Windows the
+Little Lady stood looking at it for a long time.
+
+She had been told that the moon was another world, and that the stars
+were worlds, too, and she was trying to think how that could be when
+they looked so small and close together; also if it were all true, and
+they were so big, why they did not get against each other when the sky
+itself wasn't any bigger than the world and came down to it everywhere
+at the edges. She asked the Story Teller about it when he came in.
+
+The Story Teller tried to explain that the stars and moon were not so
+close together as they looked, and that some were a good deal further
+away than others, and a lot more things, all of which the Little Lady
+doubted, because she said she could see for herself that the sky was
+just a round blue ceiling, and that the moon and stars were right
+against it, and if any of them were further away than the others they
+would be over beyond the ceiling and wouldn't show. This was a good
+deal easier for the Story Teller to understand than the things he had
+been trying to tell, so he said, "Why, of course. I hadn't thought of
+that," and then he said he knew some stories about the moon that were a
+good deal truer, he guessed, than most anything else. And then he told
+her, first of all,
+
+
+MR. 'COON'S STORY OF THE MOON.
+
+Once upon a time, when Mr. Dog had invited the Crow and the Turtle to
+his house for supper, Jack Rabbit came over to the Hollow Tree to spend
+the evening with the 'Coon and the 'Possum, and they took a long walk.
+They walked and walked, till by and by they got to the edge of the world
+and sat down and hung their feet over and talked and looked at the full
+moon that was just rising.
+
+They talked first about one thing and then another, and then they got to
+talking about the moon, and come to find out one thought it was this,
+and one thought it was that, and the third man, which was the 'Coon,
+said he knew it wasn't either one, for the moon had once belonged to his
+family and he knew all about it.
+
+So then they agreed between them to let each one tell what he knew about
+the moon and how he came to know it and all about it. And Mr. 'Coon told
+first.
+
+"Well," he said, "a long time ago, about sixteen
+great-great-grandfathers back, our family lived in a big woods in a big
+tree that was on top of a high mountain and touched the sky with its top
+limbs when the wind blew.
+
+"It was a good big family, too; I don't know just how many there were,
+but I know there was an old grandmother besides the father and mother
+and a lot of children. They were a very noisy lot of youngsters, so the
+story goes, nearly all of the same age, and used to tear around the
+house and never want to do anything but play and run up and down stairs
+until my sixteenth great-great-grandmother used to stop her ears and say
+that those children would be the death of her, and she wished there was
+a school in the neighborhood so they could be sent to it."
+
+[Illustration: A SHINING TIN PLATE.]
+
+"But those children never wanted to learn anything, and never thought
+about even knowing their letters, until one day Father 'Coon came home
+from town with a brand new shiny tin plate with the alphabet around on
+the edge of it. When they saw that they all made a grab for it and
+claimed it, but Father 'Coon held it up high and said that it was for
+the one that first learned his letters. He said that they were to take
+turns using it, a different one each time, and whoever was using it
+could study his letters while he was eating. He said that when it had
+been all around once he would see who knew the most letters and would
+give it to him the next time, and so on, and the first one who knew all
+of them should have it for his own, to keep.
+
+"Well, the first night he gave it to a fellow named Bushy and sat down
+by him and told him the letters over and over, and all the rest leaned
+across the table and looked on instead of eating, all except one
+fellow, named Smart, who was good at learning things by heart, and he
+just listened and ate, too. He did that right along every meal till it
+came his turn, and then he pretended to look very close, but all the
+time he was only saying the letters over and over in his head and
+laughing to himself to think how he was going to surprise everybody when
+the time came to see who knew the most.
+
+"And that's just what he did do. For when the plate had gone clear
+around and Father 'Coon called them all up one night after supper to see
+who could tell the most letters on it, some only knew three and some
+four, and some of them knew six, but when it came Smart's turn he
+commenced when Father 'Coon pointed to A, and said every one clear
+through to & just as fast as he could say them. Then the others all
+began to cry, and Smart took the plate and walked off with it into the
+next room and sat down and was saying the alphabet over and over, when
+all at once Bushy happened to notice that when Smart pointed out the
+letters for himself and said them he was just as apt to begin any place
+else as at A, and that he only knew them by heart and didn't know a
+single one when he saw it."
+
+[Illustration: BUSHY GRABBED THE PLATE.]
+
+[Illustration: SHE FLUNG IT OUT THE WINDOW.]
+
+"Of course that made Bushy mad, and he ran out and told the rest that
+Smart didn't know his alphabet at all, and that he couldn't even tell A
+when it was by itself, and all the others set up a great fuss, too. They
+said he had to go out with the plate to Father 'Coon again, and Smart
+said he wouldn't do it; that it was his plate, and that he had said
+his letters once and didn't intend to say them again for anybody. Then
+Bushy grabbed the plate and said it was his, because he knew six
+letters, and then a little fellow named Stripe grabbed it away from
+Bushy because he knew six letters, too, and pretty soon they all got
+into a regular fight over it, and made such an awful noise that
+Grandmother 'Coon thought the tree was falling down, and came running
+in, and when she saw what they were fighting over she grabbed it away
+from all of them and opened the window and flung it out just as hard as
+ever she could fling it.
+
+"And the tin plate went sailing and shining right straight up in the
+air, and kept on sailing and shining till it got to the sky; and then,
+of course, it couldn't get any further, but it went right on sailing and
+shining in the sky, and has been there, sailing and shining, ever since.
+
+"And that," said Mr. 'Coon, "that's the moon!"
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said the 'Possum.
+
+"What made those dark spots on it?" said the Rabbit.
+
+Mr. 'Coon didn't know what to say to that just at first, and then he
+happened to think.
+
+"Why," he said, "that's where they rubbed the tin off fighting over it."
+
+"Nonsense!" said the Rabbit.
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND MOON STORY
+
+MR. 'POSSUM HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THE MOON WHICH SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON
+THE SUBJECT
+
+
+This is the story told by Mr. 'Possum when he and Mr. 'Coon and Jack
+Rabbit sat on the edge of the world and hung their feet over and looked
+at the moon:--
+
+"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "a good many years ago, when there were a
+great many more chickens than there are now, and Mr. Man took good care
+of them for us and let them roost in trees instead of locking them up
+every night in an unhealthy little pen, my folks used to go around
+sometimes after Mr. Man had gone to bed, and look them over and pick out
+what they wanted for the next day.
+
+"I don't know why we ever began the custom of picking out our victuals
+at night that way, when it was dark and dangerous, but somehow we always
+did it, and have kept it up ever since."
+
+"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
+
+"Yes," continued Mr. 'Possum, "that was before there was any moon, and
+the nights were always dark. It wasn't a good time to choose food, and
+very often my folks made a mistake and got a seven-year-old bantam hen
+instead of a spring pullet, which is about the same size.
+
+"This happened so much that by and by a very wise 'Possum, named
+Smoothe, said that if they would keep him in chickens of a youthful and
+tender sort he would fix up a light, so they could see and know what
+they were doing. They all agreed to do it, and that night Smoothe built
+a big fire in the top of a tall tree and sat up there and 'tended to it
+until nearly morning, and my folks brought home the finest lot of
+chickens that Mr. Man had raised for them in a good many years."
+
+[Illustration: USED TO FALL ASLEEP AND DREAM ABOUT IT.]
+
+"Well, there was never any trouble after that to pick out young meat,
+and Smoothe kept the fire going nights and ate a good deal and got
+pretty fat, so that he didn't like to work, and kept planning some way
+to make his job easier. He wanted to find a light that he wouldn't have
+to 'tend to and keep piling wood on all night. He thought about this for
+a long time, and used to fall asleep and dream about it, and once he let
+the fire go out, and fell out of the tree and nearly gave up his job
+altogether."
+
+[Illustration: A TOP-KNOT CROW NAMED DUSK.]
+
+"Well, while he was getting well he had a good deal of company, and one
+day a top-knot crow named Dusk came to see him. Now, you know that our
+friend Mr. Crow is a wise bird to-day, but in the old times a top-knot
+crow was wiser than anything that now flies or walks, and Dusk was a
+very old bird. He knew a great deal about Mr. Man and his ways, and he
+told Smoothe that he had seen in Mr. Man's pantry, where he went
+sometimes, a light that would not go out during a whole night, and that
+had a big bright something behind it that would throw the light in any
+direction. Dusk, who used to carry off almost everything he saw, whether
+he wanted it or not, said that he thought he might carry this light off
+if Smoothe would be willing to let him have a few chickens for a party
+he was going to give.
+
+"Smoothe told him he might take his pick out of his share of the
+chickens for the next six months if he would only bring that light, and
+Dusk didn't waste any time, but brought it the very next evening."
+
+[Illustration: THE BRIGHT ROUND THING THREW THE LIGHT JUST WHERE HE
+WANTED IT.]
+
+"It was a beautiful light, and Smoothe fastened it to the tip top of the
+tall tree, so that it would swing in any direction, and the bright round
+thing behind it threw the light just where he wanted it. It burned oil,
+and he used to fill it up with chicken oil in the evening and it would
+burn all night and make a better light than the fire ever did. So all he
+had to do was to keep it filled and turned in the direction that my
+folks were harvesting their chicken crop, and then he could go to bed
+and sleep all night if he wanted to.
+
+"And that's just what he did do. And one night while he was asleep there
+came up a terrible storm. Of course, if Smoothe had been awake he would
+have taken the light down; but he wasn't awake, and the first he knew he
+heard broken limbs falling and crashing all around, and he jumped up and
+ran out just in time to see the tip top of the lamp tree break off,
+lamp and all, and go whirling round and round, right straight up in the
+air till it got to the sky, and there it stuck fast. It never went out,
+either, but kept on turning round and round and giving light in
+different directions at different times in the month.
+
+"And that," said Mr. 'Possum, "is the moon. And you don't always see it
+because sometimes the bright reflecting thing is turned in the other
+direction. And when it's turned part way round you see part of it, and
+it's always been so ever since that night Smoothe went to sleep and the
+storm came up and carried it off."
+
+"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
+
+"What makes those spots on it, then?" said the Rabbit.
+
+"Why," said Mr. 'Possum, thinking as quick as he could, "those--those
+are--are some leaves that blew against the reflecting thing and stayed
+there."
+
+[Illustration: "'NONSENSE!" SAID THE RABBIT.]
+
+"Nonsense!" said the Rabbit.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
+
+MR. RABBIT HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THE MOON, DURING WHICH HE EXPLAINS
+THE SPOTS ON IT
+
+
+This is the story that Mr. Jack Rabbit told to Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum
+when they sat together on the edge of the world and hung their feet over
+and looked at the moon. After Mr. 'Possum had finished his story, the
+Rabbit leaned back and swung his feet over the Big Nowhere awhile,
+thinking. Then he began.
+
+"Well," he said, "my folks used to live in the moon."
+
+"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
+
+"Nonsense!" said the 'Possum.
+
+"Yes," said Jack Rabbit, "they did. The moon is a world, away over on
+the other side of the Big Nowhere, and it doesn't stand still and stay
+top side up like this world, but keeps moving about and turning over, so
+that you have to look sharp and hang on tight to keep from falling off
+when it tips bottom side up, or is standing on its edge as it is
+to-night. My folks used to live there and Mr. Dog's folks used to live
+there, too. That was a long time ago, before Mr. Dog ever went to live
+with Mr. Man, and he was big and savage and had no more manners than he
+has now.
+
+"My folks never could and never did get along with Mr. Dog's folks worth
+a cent, but they could mostly beat Mr. Dog's folks running, so they
+didn't have to associate with him unless they wanted to."
+
+[Illustration: "USED TO HIDE AND WATCH FOR US."]
+
+"Of course Mr. Dog's family didn't like that, for they thought they were
+just as good as we were, and they used to hide and watch for us, and
+when we came by jump out and try to keep up with us for as much as two
+or three miles sometimes, just as Mr. Dog tried to keep up with me the
+other day, which you may remember."
+
+The 'Possum and 'Coon grinned to themselves and nodded.
+
+"Well," continued Mr. Rabbit, "there are some laws of etiquette--which
+means politeness--up there in the Moon, and they are very strict. The
+Old Man in the Moon makes these laws, and when one of them is broken he
+makes the one that breaks it just go right on doing whatever it is for
+nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and sometimes a good deal longer
+when it's a worse break than usual.
+
+"Now the very strictest of all these laws used to be the one about Mr.
+Dog trying to keep up with our folks. It was called the 'Brush Pile
+law.' It didn't say that he couldn't keep up with us if he was able, but
+it did say that when we ran behind a brush pile, as we did sometimes, he
+must follow around the brush pile and never jump over it, no matter what
+happened. This was a hard law for Mr. Dog to keep, for he was mostly fat
+and excitable, and my folks would run around and around a brush pile,
+as much as a hundred times very often, and tire Mr. Dog so that he
+couldn't move. Then my folks would laugh and go home leisurely, while
+Mr. Dog would sneak off with his tongue hanging out till it dragged on
+the ground."
+
+[Illustration: "MY TWENTY-FIRST GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER COULD NOT RUN
+VERY FAST."]
+
+"Well, one day in the spring, when my family was out for an airing and a
+little sunshine, they got a good ways from home, and all of a sudden
+here comes Mr. Dog and his whole family, too. My folks didn't want
+anything to do with them, and set out for home in several directions,
+with Mr. Dog's folks following most all of them. My twenty-first
+great-great-grandfather was getting pretty old and couldn't run very
+fast, and there was a young, anxious looking dog named Leap quite close
+behind him. So the first brush pile he came to my relative paused and
+when Leap came around one way he went the other, and they kept that up
+until Leap got so mad and excited and worn out that he didn't care for
+the 'Brush Pile law' or anything else except my twenty-first
+great-great-grandfather, and all of a sudden he gave a great big bark
+and a high jump right straight over the top of the brush pile, and just
+that second the moon tipped up on its edge and all my folks and all Mr.
+Dog's folks came tumbling right down through the Big Nowhere to the
+earth, because they were all running and not holding on--all except
+Leap, who stayed right up in the air, according to law, and he has been
+there ever since.
+
+"And when my folks and Mr. Dog's folks got down to the earth they were
+all so scared that my folks ran in one direction and Mr. Dog's folks ran
+in another. The dog family kept on running till they got to Mr. Man's
+house, and there they hid and stayed."
+
+[Illustration: "IT'S JUST AS PLAIN AS CAN BE."]
+
+"And since that day," concluded Mr. Jack Rabbit, "there has never been
+any of our family in the moon, and Leap is the only dog there. He's
+still jumping over the brush pile because he broke the law, and you can
+see him there any clear night when the moon sits up on its edge as it
+does now. And that's what those spots are--a dog jumping over a brush
+pile. It's just as plain as can be."
+
+The 'Possum and the 'Coon looked up at the full moon and said that the
+spots certainly did look a good deal like Mr. Dog jumping over a brush
+pile, but that the Rabbit couldn't prove his story any more than they
+could prove theirs, and that it wasn't any better story, if it was as
+good.
+
+"Of course I can prove it," said the Rabbit. "There is an old adage
+about it, and you can prove anything by an old adage. It goes this
+way:--
+
+  "The longest way is often best--
+  Never jump over a cuckoo's nest.
+
+"I don't know just why it says 'cuckoo's nest,' but I suppose cuckoos
+always used to build in brush piles in the moon, and maybe they do yet.
+Anyhow it proves it."
+
+"Why, yes," said the 'Coon. "Sure enough!"
+
+"That's so! It does!" said the 'Possum.
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST PIG STORY
+
+MR. CROW SPENDS A SOCIAL EVENING WITH MR. DOG
+
+
+Once upon a time, said the Story Teller, when the Old Black Crow was
+visiting Mr. Dog----
+
+"Was that the night that Mr. Rabbit and the rest told their moon
+stories?" interrupted the Little Lady.
+
+The very same night, and the Crow and Mr. Dog got to telling stories,
+too.
+
+They told pig stories because they both knew a good deal about pigs, and
+Mr. Dog, being in his own house, let the Crow tell first. Mr. Crow said
+he was going to tell a true story, so he lit his pipe and began this
+way:--
+
+
+MR. CROW'S STORY OF THE LITTLE PIG.
+
+Well, said Mr. Crow, there was once a lot of little pigs that lived in a
+large pen with the big mother pig and were very fat and happy--all but
+one.
+
+This poor little fellow was what is called a runt pig, because he was
+not nearly so big as the others, nor so strong. They crowded him away at
+dinner time, so that he barely got enough to live on, and stayed small
+and thin, while the others grew every day fatter and fatter.
+
+At last the little runt pig made up his mind that he would run away
+and be a wild pig such as he had heard his brothers and sisters talk
+about sometimes after supper.
+
+He thought about it a good deal, and one morning bright and early he
+started. Being so little, he squeezed through a small hole in the back
+of the pen, and then ran away very fast, without stopping to look
+behind. He ran and ran, straight across the barnyard, where there were
+some chickens scratching, and out into a big field. When he got so tired
+that he could go no further he stopped for a little, and then ran on
+again.
+
+[Illustration: "OH, HERE'S THE WOODS!"]
+
+He had to go a long way, but by and by he saw a lot of trees, and said,
+"Oh, here's the woods! Now I'll be a wild pig!" So he squeezed between
+two boards that made a crack in the fence, and under the trees he saw a
+lot of ripe peaches and apples, for he was in a big orchard.
+
+It was just peach time, and the little pig was very hungry.
+
+[Illustration: HE BEGAN SQUEALING FOR HIS MOTHER.]
+
+So he ate and ate, first a lot of peaches, and then a lot of apples;
+then a lot more peaches, and then a good many more apples. Then he
+picked out only the ripest and finest apples and peaches as he came to
+them, and ate and kept on eating until he had pains in his stomach and
+began squealing for his mother.
+
+"Oh, oh, oh!" he squealed. "I am going right home!" But when he came to
+the fence he had eaten so much fruit that he could not get through the
+crack again and stuck fast half way. Then he squealed louder than ever,
+and pretty soon somebody said:--
+
+"Why, here's a little pig fast in the fence!" And Mr. Man came through
+the orchard and took hold of the little pig's hind legs and pressed the
+boards apart so's not to hurt him.
+
+"Whose pig are you, I want to know?" he said as he pulled him out.
+
+Then Mr. Man took the little pig under his arm and went back through the
+orchard with him to his house.
+
+"Here's a little runt pig I found stuck fast in our fence," he said to
+Mrs. Man when he got there. "He's eaten too many apples and peaches, I
+should think, by the way he looks and squeals."
+
+Then he fixed up a nice box for him, with clean straw in it, and gave
+him some warm milk in a pan. By and by the little pig went to sleep.
+
+[Illustration: HE TOOK THE FIRST PRIZE.]
+
+Every day Mr. Man and his wife brought him nice things to eat, and soon
+the little pig grew so fat that they had to put him in a larger pen.
+Then they fed him still more, and, being all alone, he ate just as much
+as he wanted. So he grew and grew, fatter and fatter, and every few
+weeks they had to put him in a larger pen, until people came from all
+over the country to see what a beautiful large pig he was. Then by and
+by there was a fair where all the fine pigs were taken for show, and Mr.
+Man and Mrs. Man and the little runt pig all went to the fair, but the
+little pig wasn't a little runt pig any more, for he took the first
+prize for being the largest and finest pig at the fair.
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND PIG STORY
+
+MR. DOG TELLS OF ANOTHER RUNAWAY WHO HAS A STRANGE ADVENTURE
+
+
+When Mr. Crow had finished the story about the little runt pig Mr. Dog
+nodded and said that was a good story and that he knew the mate to it.
+So then he filled up his pipe, too, and lit it and leaned back and told
+the story about
+
+
+CURLY, THE RUNAWAY.
+
+"This," said Mr. Dog, "is the story of a saucy pig--a saucy, fat pig,
+with a curly tail. He wasn't good to his brothers and sisters, and was
+greedy, and not very clean, either, because he wouldn't wear his bib at
+the table, and often grabbed things and tipped them over, instead of
+being polite and taking what his mother put on his plate.
+
+"Besides this, the saucy pig, who was called Curly, used to boast of how
+strong he was, and how fast he could run and how far he could jump, and
+when he heard some story about a little runt pig who ran away and made
+his fortune--the same one you told, perhaps--he went around boasting
+that he could do that any day, and that he could run twice as far as any
+little runt pig, and get twice as fat and take twice as big a prize at
+the fair."
+
+[Illustration: AS BIG AS YOU PLEASE.]
+
+"Well, he talked and bragged about it so much that by and by he really
+believed he could do everything he said, and made up his mind to run
+away sure enough. He didn't creep out through a hole and slip away, as
+your little pig did, but took a pretty valise that he had got for
+Christmas and put all his things in it, and some of his brothers' and
+sisters' things, too, and then put on his best suit and walked out the
+front door, as big as you please, with the others all looking at him and
+wishing they were as big and strong as Curly, so they could go, too, or
+take their playthings away from him, they didn't care which. Then one of
+them ran back and said, 'Oh, ma, Curly's running away! Curly's running
+away, ma, and he's taken our things!'
+
+"But Curly's mother didn't worry much. 'Oh, well, just let him go,' she
+said. 'He'll be back quick enough.' Then she took her afternoon nap, and
+Curly walked out across the meadow, sniffing the sunshine and talking to
+himself about what he was going to do."
+
+[Illustration: HE COULDN'T GET THROUGH.]
+
+"Then he remembered that the little runt pig had run, and Curly thought
+he ought to run some, too, but he was so fat he couldn't run far, and
+had to sit down to rest, and then he walked on again and kept walking
+until he thought he must be almost to the edge of the world, which his
+mother had told him was just beyond the woods. He was getting very
+tired, when all at once he came to a gate and looked up, and there was
+an orchard full of ripe apples and peaches, just as the little runt
+pig had found. The cracks in the fence were too small for him to try to
+get through, but he thought he could wiggle under the gate. So he got
+down in the dust with his new clothes and wiggled and wriggled, but he
+couldn't get through, and when he tried he couldn't get back, either.
+
+"Then he began to squeal. He could squeal louder than any two other pigs
+almost, and by and by Mr. Man, who was working in the next field, heard
+him and came running. When Curly heard Mr. Man coming he thought, 'Now
+he'll take me home and make me a great pig, just as he did the little
+runt pig.' But Mr. Man didn't. 'Here, you rascal!' he said, what are you
+doing under my gate? I'll fix you.' Then he picked up a long, scratchy
+stick and commenced to beat Mr. Curly, first on one side and then on the
+other, till he squealed and howled so loud that you could hear him
+almost a mile. Then Mr. Man caught him by the leg and opened the gate
+and pulled him out. 'Now, you go home!' he said, and Curly started, but
+he was so frightened that he didn't know where home or any place else
+was, and he scampered off without his hat or playthings, and ran and ran
+and ran till he almost dropped. And just then one of my family, who had
+been digging out a mole, happened to see the pig running and took after
+him and caught him and dragged him round and round by the ear till Mr.
+Man came running and parted them and held my relative by the collar
+while he pushed Curly with his foot in the other direction.
+
+"'Now I guess you'll go home!' he said, and Curly thought so, too, and
+limped off, trying to run. It was such a long way back home that it
+seemed as if he never would get there. Every minute he thought he heard
+my cousin coming after him, but he couldn't run any more to save his
+life, and his ear was bleeding and hurt him, and he cried and squealed,
+and when at last he did get home he slipped in the back way and tried to
+wash his face and brush his clothes before they saw him, but they all
+saw him come in, with his sore ear and his nice, new clothes all torn
+and dirty. Then they began to laugh and point at him, and said:--"
+
+[Illustration: RAN TO HIS MOTHER.]
+
+"'Oh, here comes Curly, the runaway. He's been to the fair and brought
+home the red ribbon on his ear!' And that was the very meanest thing
+they could say, for, of course, they meant the red blood on his ear, and
+poor Curly ran to his mother and cried and sobbed as if his heart would
+break and said he would never, never run away again as long as he lived.
+
+"And I've heard," concluded Mr. Dog, "that he never did."
+
+
+
+
+MR. DOG TAKES LESSONS IN DANCING
+
+JACK RABBIT PLAYS ONE MORE JOKE ON MR. DOG
+
+
+After Mr. Dog had finished his pig story he and Mr. Crow got to talking
+over old times and telling what happened to them when they were boys and
+how everything had changed and how young fellows now had things pretty
+much their own way and no trouble to get an education.
+
+Mr. Crow said that he believed if he'd had half a chance when he was
+young he'd have made an artist. He said he used to draw off likenesses
+on his slate so that anybody could almost tell who they were and that
+the 'Coon and the 'Possum each had in their rooms in the Big Hollow Tree
+pictures of themselves that he had drawn which were just as good to-day
+as the day they were made.
+
+Mr. Dog thought it was mighty fine to be talented like that. He said
+that his early education had been neglected, too, and that he knew he
+might have been a poet, for he could make rhymes just as easy as falling
+off a log, and that he knew three rhymes for every word he could think
+of except "silver" and "orange." Of course, it was too late now, and
+he had mostly given up poetry and thought some of going into society.
+All he needed was good clothes and a few instructions in manners and
+some dancing lessons. He said he was just as young and just as good
+looking as he ever was, and that in a few days he'd have some new
+clothes. Then he asked Mr. Crow if he knew of anybody that would give
+him some lessons in politeness and dancing.
+
+[Illustration: MR. RABBIT WAS MAKING SOAP IN THE BACK YARD.]
+
+Mr. Crow thought a while, and then said that he didn't know of a soul in
+the neighborhood that could be so polite and dance as well as Mr. Jack
+Rabbit, and that he didn't suppose Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Dog were on good
+terms. That made Mr. Dog feel pretty bad, 'cause he knew it was just
+that way, and by and by he got Mr. Crow to promise that he would go and
+call on Jack Rabbit next morning and see if he couldn't fix it up
+somehow for him to take a few lessons. So next morning Mr. Crow called
+over to see Mr. Rabbit, and found him making soap out in the back yard.
+He had a good fire built between some stones and a big kettle full of
+brown stuff, which he was stirring with a long stick. He seemed to be
+feeling pretty well, for he kept singing,
+
+  "Fire and stir, and grease and lye--
+    Soap to scrub with by and by."
+
+"Ho!" said the Little Lady. "Do they make soap like that?"
+
+They used to in old times. They made what they called a lye by running
+water through new wood ashes, and then they put grease in it and boiled
+it in a big kettle. It was very strong soap, and people didn't wash
+their hands with it, because it got into sore places and burnt and stung
+like fury. But they used it a good deal to scrub with, and Jack Rabbit
+made it himself because he was smart and knew how.
+
+Well, the Crow told him all about what Mr. Dog had said, and Mr. Rabbit
+kept stirring and singing kind of soft like to himself, and smiling a
+little, and by and by, when the Crow was done, he said that of course
+Mr. Dog wasn't very polite, and that some lessons would certainly do him
+good. As for dancing, he said that if Mr. Dog would promise to do just
+as he told him he would be able to dance as many as three different
+steps in less than five minutes after he got there.
+
+Mr. Crow said that Mr. Dog had promised anything, and that he would send
+him over that very afternoon. And, sure enough right after dinner, here
+comes Mr. Dog, lickety split, to take lessons. Jack Rabbit had his door
+locked and his window open, and was sitting by it and looking out when
+Mr. Dog got there. He told Mr. Dog to sit right down and catch his
+breath a little, and then the lessons would begin. His kettle of soap
+was all done, and he had taken it off of the fire, but the fire wasn't
+out yet, though it looked as if it was, because it had burned down to
+coals and white ashes.
+
+Mr. Rabbit had his new soap in the house, and he spread some of it on a
+cloth and tossed it down to Mr. Dog.
+
+"That's a dance plaster," he said, "but you don't put it on quite yet.
+The first thing will be some lessons in politeness. You must look
+straight at me and do just as I tell you."
+
+[Illustration: BOWED POLITELY, AS IF HE WERE MEETING LADIES.]
+
+Mr. Dog said that he would do that, and took a seat facing Mr. Rabbit
+and paid close attention. Then Jack Rabbit got up and bowed politely, as
+if he were meeting ladies, and, of course, took a step or two backward
+as he bowed, and then Mr. Dog bowed and took some steps backward, too.
+And then he sat down, and Mr. Rabbit told him just where his mistakes
+were, and made him do it over and over until Mr. Dog had bowed and
+scraped and backed himself almost into the fire, though he didn't know
+it.
+
+[Illustration: GAVE A HOWL AND JUMPED STRAIGHT UP INTO THE AIR.]
+
+Next, Jack Rabbit said, they'd have a lesson in paying compliments, and
+then the dancing. Now, whenever anybody pays a compliment to Mr. Dog he
+always wags his tail; so the Rabbit thought of the very finest
+compliment he could think of and paid it to Mr. Dog, and Mr. Dog forgot
+that it was only a lesson and was so happy to receive such a compliment
+from Mr. Jack Rabbit that he wagged his tail a great big wag sideways
+and then up and down, until all at once he gave a howl and jumped
+straight up in the air, for he had pounded his tail right into the ashes
+and hot coals of Mr. Rabbit's fire.
+
+"Did it burn him much?" asked the Little Lady.
+
+It did that, and he howled and jumped up and down and whirled first one
+way and then the other, and Jack Rabbit leaned out of the window and
+held his sides and said:--
+
+"That's it! That's the step! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"
+
+[Illustration: TOOK OVER THE HILL TOWARDS HOME.]
+
+When Mr. Dog heard that, he thought the Rabbit was really in earnest,
+and didn't know, perhaps, he had wagged his tail into the fire; so he
+quit howling and really tried to do a few fancy steps, and Jack Rabbit
+almost died trying to keep from laughing, but he managed to do it, and
+he called out to Mr. Dog that he was doing fine, and that all he needed
+now was the dance plaster on his tail. When Mr. Dog heard that, he
+thought perhaps a dance plaster would take the smart away, too, and he
+sat right down and tied it on, tight. And then pretty soon that soft
+soap began to act, and, right then, of all the howling and dancing and
+performance that you ever heard of, Mr. Dog did it. Mr. Rabbit couldn't
+hold in any longer, and lay back in his chair, and laughed, and rolled
+on his bed and shouted, and when Mr. Dog heard him he knew he had been
+fooled again, and he took off over the hill toward home a good deal
+faster than he came. Every little ways he'd stop to dance and perform,
+and try to get that plaster off his tail, and every time he stopped Jack
+Rabbit would sing out:--
+
+"That's a new step, Mr. Dog! You're doing fine! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"
+
+And for a long time after that Mr. Dog didn't like to go out much,
+because everywhere he went somebody would be sure to say to him:--
+
+"That's a new step, Mr. Dog! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"
+
+
+
+
+MR. RABBIT'S UNWELCOME COMPANY
+
+MR. POLECAT MAKES A MORNING CALL AND MR. DOG DROPS IN
+
+
+"I think I shall have to tell you about Mr. Polecat," said the Story
+Teller, "and about his visit to Mr. Rabbit."
+
+"Who's Mr. Polecat?" said the Little Lady. "You never told me about him
+before."
+
+"Well, no, because you see Mr. Polecat is so queer in some of his ways
+that people even don't talk about him a great deal. He is really quite a
+nice gentleman, though, when he doesn't get excited. But when he does he
+loses friends.
+
+"The trouble is with the sort of perfumery he uses when he gets excited,
+just as some people use a smelling bottle, and nobody seems to like the
+sort Mr. Polecat uses except himself. I suppose he must like it or he
+wouldn't be so free with it. But other people go away when he uses
+it--mostly in the direction the wind's blowing from--and in a hurry, as
+if they were afraid they'd miss a train. Even Mr. Dog doesn't stop to
+argue with Mr. Polecat. Nobody does, and all the other deep woods people
+do their best to make him happy and to keep him in a good humor
+whenever he comes about, and give him their nicest things to eat and a
+lot to carry home with him, so he'll start just as soon as possible.
+
+"But more than anything they try to keep him from saying anything about
+Mr. Dog or hinting or even thinking about Mr. Dog, for when he does any
+of these things he's apt to get excited, and then sometimes he opens up
+that perfume of his and his friends fall over each other to get out of
+reach. They're never very happy to see him coming, and they're always
+glad to see him go, even when he's had a quiet visit and goes pretty
+soon, which is just what didn't happen one time when he came to call on
+Jack Rabbit, and it's that time I'm going to tell about.
+
+"Mr. Rabbit looked out his door one morning and there was Mr. Polecat,
+all dressed up, coming to see him. He wasn't very far off, either, and
+Mr. Rabbit hardly had time to jerk down a crayon picture of Mr. Dog that
+he'd made the day before, just for practice. He pushed it under the bed
+quick, and when Mr. Polecat came up he bowed and smiled, and said what a
+nice day it was, and that he'd bring a chair outside if Mr. Polecat
+would like to sit there instead of coming in where it wasn't so
+pleasant.
+
+"But Mr. Polecat said he guessed he'd come in, as it was a little chilly
+and he didn't feel very well anyway. So he came inside, and Jack Rabbit
+gave him his best chair and brought out a little table and put a lot of
+nice things on it that Mr. Polecat likes, and began right away to pack
+a basket for him to take home.
+
+"But Mr. Polecat didn't seem to be in any hurry to go. He ate some of
+the nice things, and then leaned back to talk and smoke, and told Mr.
+Rabbit all the news he'd heard as he came along, and Mr. Rabbit got more
+and more worried, for he knew that just as likely as not Mr. Polecat had
+heard something about Mr. Dog and would begin to tell it pretty soon,
+and then no knowing what would happen. So Jack Rabbit just said 'Yes'
+and 'No' and began to talk about Mr. Robin, because Mr. Robin was a good
+friend of everybody and nobody could get excited just talking about Mr.
+Robin. But Mr. Polecat says:--'Oh, yes, I saw Mr. Robin as I came along,
+and he called to me that Mr. Dog----' And then Jack Rabbit changed the
+subject as quick as he could and spoke about Mr. Squirrel, and Mr.
+Polecat says:--'Oh, did you hear how Mr. Squirrel went over to Mr. Man's
+house and saw Mr. Dog there----' And then poor Mr. Rabbit had to think
+quick and change the subject again to the Hollow Tree people, and Mr.
+Polecat said:--'Oh, yes. I stopped by that way as I came along, and they
+called out to me from up stairs how you were practising drawing, and
+that you gave Mr. Dog some dancing lessons the other day, and then made
+a fine picture of him just as he looked when he danced into the hot
+coals, so I hurried right over here for just to see that picture.'
+
+"Poor Mr. Rabbit! He didn't know what to do. He knew right away that
+the Hollow Tree people had told about the picture to get rid of Mr.
+Polecat, and he made up his mind that he'd get even with them some day
+for getting him in such a fix. But some day was a long ways off and Mr.
+Polecat was right there under his nose, so Mr. Rabbit said, just as
+quick as he could say it, that the Hollow Tree people were always making
+jokes, and that the picture was just as poor as it could be, and that
+he'd be ashamed to show it to anybody, much more to a talented gentleman
+like Mr. Polecat. But that made Mr. Polecat all the more anxious to see
+it, for he was sure Mr. Rabbit was only modest, and pretty soon he
+happened to spy the edge of the picture frame under Mr. Rabbit's bed,
+and just reached under and pulled it out, before Mr. Rabbit could help
+himself.
+
+"Well, he picked up that picture and looked at it a minute, and Jack
+Rabbit began to back off toward the door and say a few soothing words,
+when all at once Mr. Polecat leaned back and commenced to laugh and
+laugh at the funny picture Mr. Dog made where Mr. Rabbit called to him,
+'Dance! Mr. Dog, dance!' And then, of course, Mr. Rabbit felt better,
+for if his company thought it was funny and laughed there wasn't so much
+danger.
+
+"'Why,' said Mr. Polecat, 'it's the best thing I ever saw! You could
+almost imagine that Mr. Dog himself was right here, howling and barking
+and dancing.'
+
+"'Oh, no, hardly that,' said Mr. Rabbit. 'Of course I suppose it is a
+little like him, but it's not at all as if he were here, you know--not
+at all--and he's ever so far off, I'm sure, and won't come again for a
+long time. You know, he's----'
+
+"'Oh, yes, it is!' declared Mr. Polecat. 'It's just as if he were right
+here. And I can just hear him howl and bark, and----'
+
+"And right there Mr. Polecat stopped and Mr. Rabbit stopped, and both of
+them held their breath and listened, for sure enough they did hear Mr.
+Dog howling and barking and coming toward the house as straight as he
+could come.
+
+"Jack Rabbit gave a jump right up in the air, and hollered, 'Run! Mr.
+Polecat, run! and go the back way!' But Mr. Polecat never runs from
+anybody--he doesn't have to--he just opens up that perfume of his and
+the other people do the running. So Mr. Rabbit gave one more jump, and
+this time he jumped straight up the chimney, and didn't stop till he got
+to the roof, where he found a loose board and put it over the chimney
+quick and sat down on it. Then he called to Mr. Dog, who was coming
+lickety-split through the woods:--
+
+"'Why, how are you, Mr. Dog? Glad to see you! Walk right in. There's
+company down stairs; just make yourself at home till I come down.' You
+see there was no use to stop him now, because Mr. Rabbit could tell by
+what was coming up the chimney that it was too late, and he wanted Mr.
+Dog to get a good dose of it as well as himself.
+
+"And Mr. Dog did come just as hard as he could tear, for the wind was
+blowing toward the house and he couldn't detect anything wrong until he
+gave a great big jump into Mr. Rabbit's sitting room and right into the
+midst of the most awful smell that was ever turned loose in the Big Deep
+Woods.
+
+"Well, it took Mr. Dog so suddenly that he almost fainted away. Then he
+gave a howl, as if a wagon had run over his tail, and tumbled out of
+that sitting room and set out for home without once stopping to look
+behind him. Then Mr. Rabbit laughed and laughed, and called:--
+
+"'Come back! Mr. Dog. Came back and stay with us. Mr. Polecat's going to
+spend a week with me. Come back and have a good time.'
+
+"But Mr. Dog didn't stop, and he didn't seem to hear, and by and by Mr.
+Polecat called up that he was going home and that Mr. Rabbit could come
+down now, for Mr. Dog was gone and wouldn't come back, he guessed. But
+Mr. Rabbit said no, he didn't feel very well yet and guessed he'd stay
+where he was for the present, and that if Mr. Polecat was going he might
+leave both doors open and let the wind draw through the house, because
+he always liked to air his house after Mr. Dog had been to see him. Then
+Mr. Polecat took his basket and went, and Jack Rabbit didn't come down
+for a long time, and when he did he couldn't stay in his house for the
+awful smell. So he went over to stay a week with the Hollow Tree people,
+and his clothes didn't smell nice, either, but they had to stand it,
+and Mr. Rabbit said it served them right for getting him into such a
+fix. It was over a week before he could go back to his house again, and
+even then it wasn't just as he wanted it to be, and he aired it every
+day for a long time.
+
+"But there was one thing that made him laugh, and that was when he heard
+from Mr. Robin how Mr. Dog got home and Mr. Man wouldn't have him about
+the house or even in the yard, but made him stay out in the woods for as
+much as ten days, until he had got rid of every bit of Mr. Polecat's
+nice perfumery."
+
+
+
+
+HOW MR. DOG GOT EVEN
+
+THE FOREST FRIENDS PREPARE FOR A MAY PARTY AND ARRANGE FOR A QUIET TIME
+
+
+Well, yes, said the Story Teller, Mr. Dog did have a good deal of
+trouble, and it makes me sorry for him sometimes when I think about it.
+He still kept good friends with the Crow and the Turtle, though, and was
+on pretty fair terms with Mr. Robin and most all the rest of the Bird
+family, besides living in the same yard with Mr. Man, who always kept an
+eye on him and got him out of trouble when he could. Of course Jack
+Rabbit and the Hollow Tree people mostly got the best of Mr. Dog, but
+there was one time when they didn't. This is how it happened.
+
+Once upon a time Mr. Jack Rabbit was spending the evening over at the
+big Hollow Tree with the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum. They had
+all had their supper, and were leaning back and talking about the
+weather and what a late spring it had been, and how bad the cold rains
+were for young chickens. Mr. Rabbit didn't care for chickens himself,
+but he usually kept some for his friends, and always had a nice patch
+of young clover and some garden vegetables for his own use. He said the
+late frost had killed his early lettuce and young cabbage plants, and
+that his clover patch looked as if a fire had been through it.
+
+Mr. 'Coon smoked a little and looked into the fire and said that he
+guessed to-morrow would be a warm day, and the Crow said he knew it
+would be because he could feel it in his leg, where a stray shot from
+Mr. Man's gun happened to hit him once when he was taking a walk in Mr.
+Man's cornfield just about this time of year.
+
+The 'Possum put his thumbs in the armholes of his vest and leaned back
+against the mantel, and said he had a plan he wanted to tell them about.
+When he said that they all kept still to listen, because they knew when
+the 'Possum had a plan it always meant something good to eat, and they
+were always ready to hear about good things to eat, even when they'd
+just got up from the supper table.
+
+Mr. 'Possum puffed a few puffs of smoke, and then he went on to say that
+after so much bad weather in April he thought it would be proper for
+them to give an outdoor feast and a woods party on the first day of May.
+All the others spoke up right off and said that was just the thing. Then
+they all began talking at once about what each would bring and whom they
+should invite.
+
+Jack Rabbit said he would invite Mr. Chipmunk and Mr Quail, and that he
+would speak a piece composed for the occasion. The 'Coon said he would
+invite Mr. Fox, because he had the best chickens, and would bring a
+basket of them along. The 'Possum said that would be a good plan, and
+that they ought to try as much as they could to invite people that would
+bring things. That made the Crow laugh, and he said if they wanted to do
+that they might invite Mr. Man himself.
+
+Of course all the others laughed at first when they heard that, and
+then, all at once, they quit laughing, for speaking of Mr. Man made them
+think of Mr. Dog, and they knew how he was always trapesing around the
+country where he wasn't wanted, and just as likely as not would walk
+right in on them at dinner time and make it unpleasant for everybody.
+
+They all felt pretty lonesome when they thought of that, and then the
+Crow laughed again and said he would send over a note by Mr. Robin to
+Mr. Dog inviting him to go and see some friends of his that had just
+moved across the Wide Grass Lands. He said Mr. Dog would be glad to go,
+and that his friends would be glad to see him, and that it would take
+all day to make the trip and do no harm to anybody. Then all of them
+felt well again.
+
+Mr. Crow wrote the note right away, and when he invited the Robin to the
+May party next morning he asked him if he would take Mr. Dog's
+invitation over to him and slip it under his door before he was up. He
+said it was to be a surprise for Mr. Dog, and he didn't want him to know
+just who sent the invitation. He didn't tell the Robin that it was an
+invitation for Mr. Dog to get out of the country, because the Robin is a
+good bird and wouldn't help to deceive anybody for the world.
+
+[Illustration: HE FELT FOR THE INVITATION.]
+
+Mr. Robin was tickled 'most to death at his own invitation, and slipped
+Mr. Dog's in his pocket, and hurried off with it just as fast as ever he
+could. He was so excited that he forgot he had a hole in the pocket of
+his coat, and never thought of it till he got to Mr. Man's yard, where
+Mr. Dog's house was. Then he remembered all at once, and when he felt
+for the invitation and turned his pocket inside out there was the hole
+all right, but the invitation was gone.
+
+[Illustration: FORGOT HE'D EVER HAD ANY TROUBLE IN HIS LIFE.]
+
+Mr. Robin at first didn't know what to do. Then he happened to think
+that all Mr. Crow had said was that he didn't want Mr. Dog to know just
+who sent it to him, so he went right up to Mr. Dog's house and rapped.
+Mr. Dog came out yawning, but when he heard that he was invited to a May
+party he forgot that he'd ever had any trouble in his life, and danced
+and rolled over and wagged his tail, till the Robin thought he was
+having a fit. Then when Mr. Dog heard that the party was gotten up
+mostly on his own account, and was to be a kind of a surprise, he had
+another fit, and said he never was so happy in the world. Mr. Robin said
+he couldn't tell him just who sent the invitation, but he told him a few
+of those invited, and Mr. Dog grew six inches taller and said he must
+certainly have some more new clothes for a party like that.
+
+[Illustration: AT MR. FOX'S HOUSE THE FEATHERS WERE FLYING.]
+
+[Illustration: TOOK ONE MORE LOOK AT HIMSELF IN THE GLASS.]
+
+Then Mr. Robin set off home to get ready, for there were only two days
+more in April and everybody had to scramble around to be ready in time,
+especially Mr. Jack Rabbit, who had to write a poem. Over at Mr. Fox's
+house the feathers were flying, and at the Hollow Tree Mr. Crow had his
+sleeves rolled up, baking all day long. The 'Coon sat in his room and
+rocked and planned games, and the 'Possum followed Mr. Crow about and
+told him new things to cook. Everywhere in the woods, and even out in
+the Wide Grass Lands, folks were staying up nights to get ready, but
+none of them felt as happy or took as much trouble to look well as Mr.
+Dog. He knew there couldn't be any joke this time, because Mr. Robin had
+invited him, and Mr. Robin wouldn't play a joke on anybody. Every little
+while he would go out and roll on the grass in the sun and then go in
+and put on his new clothes and stand before the glass. Then he would
+march up and down and try to see if his coat wrinkled under the arms and
+if his trousers fitted neatly around the waist. As he thought the party
+was to be given for him, of course he wasn't expected to bring anything
+except all the style he could put on, and when the morning came Mr. Dog
+did put on all he could carry, and took one more look at himself in the
+glass and started. He had never felt so happy in his life.
+
+
+
+
+HOW MR. DOG GOT EVEN
+
+CONTINUED
+
+THE SURPRISE OF MR. RABBIT AND OTHERS
+
+
+Poor Mr. Dog! He did not dream that the Robin had made a big mistake
+when he invited him. He was all ready for a grand time and thought he
+was to be the guest of honor. But the 'Coon and the 'Possum and all the
+rest thought he was in another part of the country that day, and when
+they got to the place where the party was to be they shook hands and
+laughed about how Mr. Crow had played it on Mr. Dog and then rolled on
+the grass and cut up in a great way.
+
+Mr. Fox was there with all his folks, and Mr. Squirrel and his folks,
+and Mr. Weasel and Mr. Woodchuck and Mrs. Quail, and ever so many
+others. Mr. Rabbit had picked out the spot, which was a pretty, green,
+open place in the woods, and right in the centre of it a little weeping
+willow tree, with long, trailing branches like ribbons. This was to be
+their May pole, and they were so happy that they commenced dancing
+almost as soon as they got there. Mr. Dog, of course, hadn't arrived
+yet. It had taken him so long to dress, and then he had a long way to
+come, so he was late.
+
+Pretty soon Mr. 'Possum puffed and blowed because he was so fat, and
+said he thought they ought to sit right down and begin to eat, and let
+Mr. Jack Rabbit read his poem to them through the first course. The
+Rabbit was willing to do that, for he would rather read his own poetry
+than eat any time, and, besides, the first course was something he
+didn't like very well. So then they all sat down around the table cloth
+which they had spread on the grass, and Mr. Rabbit got up and put his
+right hand in the breast of his coat. He commenced by saying that his
+friends seemed to think he was a good deal of a poet, but that he had
+always been too busy to really write his best, and that all his poems,
+like the one he was just about to read, had been little inspirations
+tossed off on the spur of the moment. Of course, everybody there knew
+that Jack Rabbit had sat up two whole days and nights to write his poem,
+but they all cheered and clapped their hands, and Mr. Rabbit bowed and
+coughed a little and began to read:--
+
+WHEN MR. DOG'S AWAY.
+
+By J. Rabbit.
+
+  Oh, 'tis happy in the woodland
+    When Mr. Dog's away;
+  'Tis happy in the woodland
+    Upon the first of May.
+  He's gone across the grassland
+    We hope he's gone to stay;
+  Then don't forget the feast is set
+    And Mr. Dog's away.
+
+The Robin was just about to speak up at this moment and say that Mr. Dog
+was surely coming, but the others cheered so that nobody heard him, and
+Mr. Rabbit went on with his poem.
+
+  Then 'tis hey! for Mr. Woodchuck!
+    And tis hi! for Mrs. Quail!
+  And 'tis ho! for Mr. 'Possum
+    With a bowknot on his tail!
+  Then 'tis hip! for Mr. Robin
+    And for all the rest, hurray!
+  The friends are met, the feast is set,
+    And Mr. Dog's away.
+
+"Hurray! hurray!" shouted all the others. "The friends are met, the
+feast is set, and Mr. Dog's away!"
+
+  Then hand around the glasses
+    And fill them to the brim,
+  And drink a health to Mr. Dog,
+    For we are fond of him.
+  And, though he be not present
+    Upon this happy day,
+  We'll fill the cup and drink it up
+    To Mr. Dog away!
+
+[Illustration: SAW THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG.]
+
+At the last line everybody was just about to lift their glasses and give
+a great big cheer for the poem, when all at once they saw by Jack
+Rabbit's face that something was wrong. Then they all looked where he
+was looking, and there, right before them, bowing and smiling, stood
+Mr. Dog himself! He had just come in time to hear the last stanza of the
+poem and was ready to dance with joy, he was so happy to think they were
+drinking his health when he wasn't there.
+
+He felt so good that he didn't notice how surprised they looked, and
+slipped into a seat at the table, saying he was sorry to be late, and
+that he had just heard the last lines of Mr. Rabbit's poem, but that
+they had made him very proud and happy, and he hoped Mr. Jack Rabbit
+would read it again for his benefit.
+
+Of course, nearly everybody there was scared almost into fits, but they
+didn't dare to let on, for they saw that there had been an awful mistake
+somewhere, and if Mr. Dog found it out and knew he hadn't been invited
+no telling what might happen. Jack Rabbit smiled, kind of sickly like,
+and said that he had been overcome by the excitement, and didn't feel
+quite able to read the poem again. He said he hoped Mr. Dog would judge
+the first verses, though, by the last, and feel just as glad to be there
+as they were to have him. And all the rest said, "Oh, yes, so glad to
+have Mr. Dog with us," and kept piling things oh his plate, so he
+wouldn't want anything to eat besides his dinner. Mr. Dog felt so well
+and was in such a good humor that he commenced pretty soon to tell
+stories and jokes on himself, and by and by told about the time he went
+over to take dancing lessons of Jack Rabbit.
+
+[Illustration: HE SET OUT FOR HOME.]
+
+Everybody thought at first that they'd better laugh at Mr. Dog's jokes,
+and they did laugh like everything, but when he started that story about
+what Mr. Rabbit had done to him they didn't know whether to laugh or
+not. Some laughed a little and some didn't, and Mr. Rabbit said he
+thought it was getting a little too warm for him there in the sun, and
+he believed he'd go and sit in the shade a minute and cool off, so he
+went over behind some waxberry bushes, where it was shady, and the
+minute he got where Mr. Dog couldn't see him he set out for home just
+about as fast as he could travel, without stopping to say goodby or to
+look behind him.
+
+Pretty soon Mr. 'Coon said he thought mebbe Mr. Rabbit was sicker than
+he let on, and he guessed he'd better go and see about it. So he went
+over behind the waxberry bushes, too, and was half way home before you
+could say "Jack Robinson." Then Mr. 'Possum told Mr. Crow that he hoped
+he and the others would entertain Mr. Dog a while, for he knew Mr. 'Coon
+would need help, and away he went, and before long Mr. Fox and Mr.
+Woodchuck, and Mr. Squirrel and all their folks had gone over behind the
+waxberry bushes to look after Mr. Rabbit too, and none of them wasted a
+minute's time making tracks for home as soon as they got out of sight.
+
+But the Crow and the Turtle and the Robin didn't go because they were
+all on good terms with Mr. Dog. Mrs. Quail didn't go either, though
+before long most everybody else had gone. Then Mr. Crow said he guessed
+poor Mr. Rabbit's friends had taken him home, and Mr. Dog said he was
+sorry, and that it was too bad anything should happen that way when
+folks were having such a good time. He said he'd call at Jack Rabbit's
+house next day to see how he was and hear the rest of that poem. Then
+Mr. Crow and Mr. Turtle laughed and laughed, and Mr. Dog didn't know
+what they were laughing at, but he felt so well that he laughed too, and
+Mr. Robin, who had found out by this time what a bad mistake he had
+made, couldn't help laughing some himself.
+
+[Illustration: MR. DOG MADE A SPEECH.]
+
+Then they had dessert, and Mr. Dog made a speech and thanked them for
+the fine party and surprise in his honor, and declared he had never
+spent such a happy day in all his life. He said there had been a little
+misunderstanding now and then between himself and some of the forest
+folks, but he knew now that all was forgiven, and that he would never
+forget this happy May party.
+
+And Mr. Dog never did forget it, concluded the Story Teller--at least
+not for a long time--and he doesn't know to this day that the party
+wasn't given specially for him, or that Mr. Jack Rabbit's poem wasn't
+written in his honor.
+
+"You can sing the Hollow Tree Song, now," said the Little Lady,
+drowsily.
+
+[Illustration: THE THREE FRIENDS.]
+
+So then the Story Teller sang the song that the forest people sing when,
+on dark nights in the far depths of the Deep Woods, they are feasting at
+the table of the 'Coon, the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow.
+
+Long before he had finished, the Little Lady was in the land of dreams.
+
+And the Story Teller had been dreaming, too, while he sang.
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE SONG.
+
+  Oh, there was an old 'Possum in the Big Deep Woods--
+      As fat as a 'Possum could be--
+  And he lived in a hollow, hollow,
+                              hollow, hollow, hollow,
+      He lived in a hollow tree.
+
+  Oh, there was an old Coon in the Big Deep Woods--
+      As sly as a 'Coon could be--
+  And he lived in a hollow, hollow,
+                              hollow, hollow, hollow,
+      He lived in a hollow tree.
+
+  Oh, there was an old Crow in the Big Deep Woods--
+      As black as a Crow could be--
+  And he lived in a hollow, hollow,
+                              hollow, hollow, hollow,
+      He lived in a hollow tree.
+
+  For they all lived together in the Big Deep Woods,
+      As you can plainly see,
+  And the 'Possum made one, and the 'Coon made two,
+      And the Old Black Crow made three.
+
+  Then here's to the 'Possum, and the Old Black Crow,
+      And the 'Coon, with a one, two, three!
+  And here's to the hollow, hollow,
+                              hollow, hollow, hollow,
+      And here's to the hollow tree.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE LADY'S VACATION AND HER RETURN
+
+
+The Little Lady who lives in the House of Many Windows (sometimes called
+a flat or an apartment by people who, because they are grown up, do not
+know any better) had been spending the summer on a nice farm in the Land
+of Pleasant Fields. There had been many things to see--little pigs among
+other things, and some very small chickens. Also a cow with two
+calves--one a dark red one, and one spotted, even to its tail, that
+looked like a barber pole.
+
+Amid all this, and a great deal more, not forgetting the Hillside of
+Sweet Fruits, the Little Lady had almost forgotten a number of people
+who lived in the Big Deep Woods, and whose acquaintance she had made
+through the Story Teller during the winter before, while sailing at
+evening in the Rockaby Chair for the Shore of White Pillows.
+
+But when the cold winds began to blow and they were all back to the
+City of Rumbling Streets in the House of Many Windows again and she
+heard the wind men moaning in the speaking tube, she forgot even the
+striped tailed calf, and remembered all at once the dark forest and the
+queer people who dwelt there. And when the Story Teller that night had
+drawn his chair up before the fire and sat rocking she climbed upon his
+knee and rocked, too, while he thought, and smoked, and looked into the
+blaze.
+
+The Little Lady waited a good while. Then she took hold of the lapel of
+his coat and tugged it gently and looked up into the Story Teller's
+face.
+
+"Tell me a story," she commanded softly. "One about Mr. Crow and Mr.
+'Possum, and Mr. Jack Rabbit and all the others. What did they do this
+summer? You know; tell it."
+
+The Story Teller grumbled something about not having met any of these
+fellows lately, and rocked a little harder and thought very fast.
+
+"I s'pose you've heard about Mr. Crow's April fool," he said, as he
+knocked the ashes from his pipe into the grate.
+
+"No, I haven't--not that story--I never heard that story," she said
+eagerly.
+
+So, then, the Story Teller rocked some more, and half shut his eyes and
+began.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE C. X. PIE
+
+MR. CROW PLANS AN APRIL FIRST PARTY AND PREPARES A SURPRISE FOR THE
+OCCASION
+
+
+[Illustration: TOLD THE 'COON AND 'POSSUM ABOUT IT RIGHT AWAY.]
+
+Once upon a time when the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum lived
+together in three big hollow branches of a great Hollow Tree in the Big
+Deep Woods, and used to meet and have good times together in the parlor
+down stairs, the Crow made up his mind to have a party next day. He told
+the 'Coon and the 'Possum about it right away, and they asked him if he
+was going to have Mr. Dog this time, and Mr. Crow said "No" and looked
+foolish, because once he did have Mr. Dog just for a joke and got the
+worst of it himself.
+
+"I remember about that," said the Little Lady.
+
+That's what the Crow did, too--remembered, and he had never felt just
+right about the way he had been fooled when he meant to fool the others.
+So when they reminded him about Mr. Dog he said to himself that he would
+fool them yet, and he'd do it at this very party.
+
+But he made b'lieve he was very meek and said he was going to have Mr.
+Jack Rabbit over, and Mr. Turtle, to make a full table, and that they
+would have chicken pie and hot biscuits with maple syrup for dinner.
+This suited the 'Coon and the 'Possum exactly, for Mr. Crow was the best
+cook anywhere in the country, and they were both fond of good things.
+The 'Coon said he'd go right away with the invitation for Jack Rabbit,
+and the 'Possum said that he felt like taking a walk anyway, and that
+he'd pass around by the Wide Blue Water where Mr. Turtle lived, and tell
+him. So off they went and left Mr. Crow all alone to think about it and
+get ready.
+
+[Illustration: HE WALKED BACK AND FORTH A WHILE IN HIS OWN ROOM.]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+He walked back and forth a while in his own room and scratched his head,
+and then he went down stairs out in the sun and thought some more. All
+at once he jumped right straight up and laughed, for he happened to
+remember that it was the last day of March, and that it was the very
+thing to have a party on April fool day, and fool the 'Possum and the
+'Coon in some way, so that the others would laugh and say it was the
+best joke of the season. Then he thought of a way to fool them, and
+pretty soon he had that fixed, too.
+
+[Illustration: WENT RIGHT TO COOKING AND BAKING.]
+
+He didn't wait a minute, but went right to cooking and baking just as
+hard as ever he could, and pretty soon he had three chicken pies done,
+as fine looking as any you ever saw. And two of them were fine, sure
+enough--just as fine as Mr. Crow could make them--but the other wasn't
+chicken at all. It was made out of leaves and sticks, and the only thing
+good about it was the crust. This pie he intended for the 'Coon and
+the 'Possum, and one of the good ones was for Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Turtle.
+The last one was for himself, with an extra piece over for anybody that
+might happen to want a second helping.
+
+Well, he set them all in a row on the kitchen table, and walked up and
+down looking at them and laughing and thinking what fun it would be for
+the others when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon cut their pie and tried to eat
+what was inside of it. He had the pies set on the table so he knew just
+which was which, and besides had made some letters on the upper crust so
+the right ones would be sure to get them. On the leaf pie he had
+"P. C.," for 'Possum and 'Coon. On one of the others he had "R. T.," for
+Rabbit and Turtle. On the last one he had "C. X.," which stood for Crow,
+and an extra piece for manners. He had put these letters where the fancy
+thing is in the centre of pies, and had joined them together so you'd
+hardly notice them at first.
+
+All at once, while he was looking at them and laughing, he heard Mr.
+'Coon and Mr. 'Possum coming back. Then he called out to them and asked
+them if they had invited the guests and told them to come up and see the
+pies he had made while they were gone. So they came up and looked at
+them, and said they certainly were fine, and that Mr. Rabbit and Mr.
+Turtle were busy getting out their best clothes, and would be there
+early.
+
+Then the Crow said he guessed he'd slip over to Mr. Man's pantry and
+borrow some maple syrup while Mr. Man was at dinner and be back for
+early supper. So off he went and left the 'Coon and the 'Possum there
+together.
+
+[Illustration: STOOD AND LOOKED AT THEM.]
+
+When he'd been gone awhile Mr. 'Possum said he believed he'd take one
+more look at those nice pies, and Mr. 'Coon said he guessed he would,
+too. So they went up to Mr. Crow's kitchen again and stood and looked at
+them till they were so hungry that Mr. 'Possum licked out his tongue and
+walked up and smelled of them. First he smelled a good long smell of the
+C. X. pie--so--and said, "O-o-oh! How nice!" Then he smelled a very long
+smell of the R. T. pie--so----and said, "O-o-o-o-oh! How delicious!"
+Then he smelled a very, very long smell of the P. C. pie--so------and
+said, "O-o-o-o-o-oh! How strange!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+That made the 'Coon want to smell, too, and when he had smelled of all
+three he said that there certainly did seem to be a difference in those
+pies, and that the last one had a sort of a woodsy spring-like flavor,
+like the first of April. That made the 'Possum jump, and he said he had
+not remembered till that very minute that to-morrow was the first, sure
+enough. Then he said he didn't suppose Mr. Crow would care how the pies
+were set on the table, so he moved them about and put the P. C. pie
+where the C. X. pie had stood, and the C. X. pie at the end instead of
+the P. C. pie. But while he was doing it he happened to notice the
+joined letters in the middle of the pies, which he hadn't seen before.
+He looked at first one and then the other, and studied a minute what to
+do. Then he picked up an old thin knife that Mr. Crow used for cutting
+around cake and slipping pies out sometimes when they stuck to the pan.
+
+[Illustration: "OH," SAID MR. 'COON, "I HOPE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO CUT
+THEM."]
+
+"Oh," said Mr. 'Coon. "I hope you're not going to cut them!"
+
+"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "Not so's you'll notice it."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Then he slipped the thin knife around the top crust of the P. C. pie and
+lifted it off carefully and looked in and made a very queer face. Mr.
+'Coon came and looked in, too, and made another very queer face. Then
+Mr. 'Possum lifted off the top of the C. X. pie and looked in and
+smiled, and Mr. 'Coon looked in and smiled, too. There were two nice,
+fat chicken legs right on top, and Mr. 'Coon took one and Mr. 'Possum
+the other, because they said that as this was to be their pie any way,
+they might just as well have a little taste of it beforehand. Then they
+changed the covers and put the P. C. cover on the good pie and C. X.
+cover on the fool pie, and just then they heard Mr. Crow coming home,
+and slipped down into the parlor and up into their own rooms and
+pretended to be asleep when he came in.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE C. X. PIE
+
+CONTINUED
+
+MR. CROW'S PARTY AND THE OPENING OF THE PIES
+
+
+Well, next morning Mr. Crow was down stairs bright and early, putting
+the big parlor room in order and setting the table. Pretty soon the
+'Coon and 'Possum came down, too, and helped him, and now and then, when
+they happened to look at each other across the table, they would wink
+and smile, but they didn't say a word. By and by the three pies were
+brought in and set in a row at one end of the table, and nobody could
+tell from looking at them but what they were exactly as the Crow had
+baked them.
+
+[Illustration: MR. RABBIT CAME IN CARRYING A LARGE BUNCH OF EARLY
+FLOWERS.]
+
+Just then there was a knock down stairs, and Mr. Rabbit came in carrying
+a large bunch of early flowers that he had gathered as he came along,
+and dressed in his new spring suit. They saw a little white roll in one
+of his coat pockets, too, and they knew it was a poem for the occasion,
+for Jack Rabbit writes poems whenever he gets a chance, specially in the
+early springtime.
+
+Mr. Crow hurried out and got the pair of pink glass vases that Mr.
+'Coon had given him for Christmas and put the flowers in them for the
+table, while he asked Jack Rabbit if it was muddy walking and if he had
+seen anything of Mr. Turtle.
+
+[Illustration: MR. TURTLE HIMSELF WADDLED IN.]
+
+[Illustration: LEFT THE OTHERS TO SIT AROUND THE TABLE AND TALK.]
+
+Mr. Rabbit said that the ground was rather damp, but that he could pick
+his way pretty well, and that he had never seen such a wet spring since
+the year that the Wide Blue Water came up over his back garden and
+drowned his early pease. He hadn't seen Mr. Turtle, but just then Mr.
+Turtle himself waddled in with a basket of nice water salad, which he
+had gathered before starting. Then Mr. Crow hurried off to put his
+biscuits in the oven and left the others to sit around the table and
+talk.
+
+After they had talked about the weather and told the latest things that
+had happened to Mr. Dog, who lived with Mr. Man, and whom none of them
+liked very well, the 'Possum said all at once that being this was April
+First he shouldn't wonder if it was to be a sort of surprise party in
+some way.
+
+That made Mr. Turtle and Jack Rabbit curious right away, and they wanted
+to know what kind of a surprise he thought it was going to be and if he
+thought it would be a pleasant one. Mr. 'Possum said he was sure it
+would be pleasant, and then he looked at the three fine pies on the
+table and said it was just as apt to be in one of those pies as
+anywhere. Then Mr. Turtle said he'd heard of "four and twenty blackbirds
+baked in a pie," and how they began to sing when the pie was opened, but
+he hoped it wouldn't be that kind of a surprise, for he didn't care
+much for blackbirds himself, specially in pies. The 'Possum said there
+might be one black bird sing when these pies were opened, but he didn't
+b'lieve there'd be any more, which made the 'Coon laugh so he nearly
+fell off his chair. Just then they heard the Crow coming, and the
+'Possum whispered quick to the Turtle and the Rabbit that they must be
+sure and eat their pie all up and ask for more, as Mr. Crow was proud of
+his cooking and always felt offended when people didn't eat heartily.
+
+Well, Mr. Crow came in carrying a great pan of fine biscuits and set
+them down in the middle of the table, while everybody said, "What lovely
+biscuits!" and asked whether they were made with buttermilk or baking
+powder, and wanted his recipe. Mr. Crow said he didn't have any recipe,
+but just took a pinch of this and a pinch of that, and that there was a
+good deal in the knack and in having things come natural, just as it was
+natural for Mr. Rabbit to write poetry. Then he said he hoped Mr. Rabbit
+hadn't forgotten to think up a few thoughts for this occasion, and Mr.
+Rabbit said that he had been too busy with spring work to write much
+lately, but that he did have a few lines in his pocket that they might
+be willing to listen to. So then he took out the roll he had brought and
+put on his glasses and stood up, while all the others sat still and
+listened.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  Oh, sweet the month of April,
+    When birds begin to twitter!
+  When dewdrops on the clover
+    And tender grasses glitter!
+  When every shoot of lettuce
+    That from the ground arises
+  Gives promise of a salad--
+    Oh, month of sweet surprises!
+
+You see Mr. Rabbit is a great gardener, and specially fond of young
+clover and tender salad.
+
+  Oh, sweet the month of April,
+    When youthful chicks are hatching,
+  And gayly in the meadows
+    Around their ma are scratching!
+  The finest way to eat them
+    In dumpling or in pies is--
+  Oh, here's to you, sweet April,
+    With all your glad surprises!
+
+Mr. Rabbit knew that the Crow would have chicken either in dumpling or
+pies, and anyhow he needed "pies is" to rhyme with "surprises," and when
+he came to those lines and sat down the others shouted and laughed and
+Mr. Crow pounded on the table and declared he couldn't have done better
+if he'd been a poet and written it himself! And the 'Coon and the
+'Possum both pounded too and said "That's so! That's so!"
+
+Then Mr. Crow shoved the R. T. pie over between Jack Rabbit and Mr.
+Turtle and the pie that was marked P. C. between the 'Coon and the
+'Possum. The C. X. pie he pulled up in front of himself, for of course
+he never even suspected that the top crust on them had been changed by
+the 'Possum.
+
+  The finest way to eat them
+    In dumpling or in pies is--
+
+he said, quoting Mr. Rabbit's poem,
+
+  Oh, here's to you, sweet April,
+    With all your glad surprises!
+
+[Illustration: MR. TURTLE WAS WATCHING HIM PRETTY ANXIOUSLY.]
+
+Then he told them not to be bashful, but to help themselves and remember
+there was plenty more where that came from. Just as he said this he
+picked up his knife and stuck it down deep into the C. X. pie. Mr.
+'Possum picked up his knife and stuck it down deep into the P. C. pie,
+and Mr. Rabbit picked up his knife and stuck it into the R. T. pie and
+cut it in half. Mr. Turtle was watching him pretty anxiously, for he
+remembered what the 'Possum had said about a surprise, but when Jack
+Rabbit laid a smoking half with the gravy running out of it on his plate
+he forgot all about everything else.
+
+[Illustration: THEN, ALL OF A SUDDEN, HE DIDN'T WANT TO LAUGH ANY MORE.]
+
+Mr. 'Possum didn't divide the P. C. pie just yet, but kept cutting as if
+it cut very hard, and talking a good deal while he cut. He said that,
+speaking of surprises, it used to be quite a fashion to fool people on
+the first of April, and that he'd known lots of the biggest kind of
+jokes played on people that day. The biggest jokes, though, he said,
+were those that came back on the people who played them, and that he
+knew one of that kind once that made him laugh now every time he thought
+about it. Then he did laugh some, and sawed away and said he guessed
+he'd struck a bone; and the 'Coon laughed, too, and Mr. Crow was nearly
+dying with trying to keep from laughing, for he thought Mr. 'Possum was
+sawing away on an old stick. He didn't want to let on, though, so he
+quit looking and commenced cutting his own pie. He laughed to himself
+and cut a minute, and then, all of a sudden, he didn't want to laugh any
+more, for he had cut a hole in the top of the C. X. pie and he saw
+something and smelled something that made him right sick. He looked over
+quick to Mr. 'Possum's plate, and what he saw there made him sicker yet.
+For there lay a half of the P. C. pie, and Mr. Crow saw with one look
+that it was just as fine a chicken pie as ever came out of an oven.
+
+Mr. 'Coon had a piece on his plate, too, and they were saying what a
+fine pie it was, and Mr. Turtle and Mr. Rabbit said so, too, and that
+Mr. Crow was certainly the finest cook in those parts.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE C. X. PIE
+
+CONTINUED
+
+WHAT HAPPENS TO MR. CROW AND HIS PIE
+
+
+Poor Mr. Crow! You never saw anybody look as sickly and foolish as he
+did. He thought that he had made a dreadful mistake in marking the pies,
+and that now he had got to eat or pretend to eat the mess of old leaves
+and sticks that filled up the C. X. pie clear to the top. He never
+thought of Mr. 'Possum's changing the crust, and even if he had, he
+wouldn't have felt any better.
+
+[Illustration: I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU'LL EVER KNOW JUST HOW BAD MR. CROW
+DID FEEL.]
+
+I don't suppose you'll ever know just how bad Mr. Crow did feel, unless
+you get into a fix like that some time yourself. First he got hot and
+then he got cold, and the sweat began to break out on his bill like dew
+drops. He began to eat a little of the crust first, and then he was
+afraid if he ate the crust away the others would see what was inside of
+it, so he put his fork in and got a rolled up leaf with gravy on it and
+whisked it into his mouth and chewed and tried to swallow till his eyes
+stuck out and the tears ran down in a stream. He was glad that nobody
+seemed to be looking at him, for everybody else was too busy eating the
+nice pie, and Mr. 'Possum was just saying that he liked Mr. Crow's
+surprises, for he always surprised them by having something better than
+they expected.
+
+Then he told how once, when they were snowed in, Mr. Crow had kept them
+all from starving by making a kind of bread called Johnnie cake, and
+some chicken gravy, and how they could never get him to tell where he
+got the things to make it of.[1] He said he thought maybe Mr. Crow would
+tell pretty soon, though, now. Then they all looked at Mr. Crow and
+begged him to tell his great secret, and when they looked they saw he
+wasn't eating his pie, but was just sitting there picking at it with his
+fork a little. They all told him not to be afraid to eat some of his own
+nice pie, for they were sure there'd be plenty, and Mr. Crow said in a
+weakly voice that when he cooked he never could eat very much. He said
+he guessed he'd take a biscuit and some syrup because he didn't feel
+quite well, anyway. So he pushed the C. X. pie away and ate a biscuit
+with butter and syrup on it, and felt a good deal better.
+
+But pretty soon Mr. Turtle finished his piece and remembered what Mr.
+'Possum had whispered about asking for a second helping. So he said he
+guessed he'd take another piece of that fine pie--just a small one to
+hold the other down. Mr. Rabbit said he guessed he'd have to ask for
+another small piece, too, it was so good, and the Coon and the 'Possum
+both said that, although they were home folks and used to Mr. Crow's
+good cooking, they certainly would have to take another little piece of
+that fine pie.
+
+[Illustration: FAINTED DEAD AWAY.]
+
+Then Mr. Crow knew there were only two things that he could do. He could
+either faint, or "holler" "Fire!" And, after studying for about half a
+second, he keeled right over and fainted dead away.
+
+Of course that stopped the dinner for a while. Jack Rabbit and Mr.
+Turtle jumped up frightened, and the 'Coon and the 'Possum pretended to
+be frightened, too. They all ran to Mr. Crow and carried him up stairs
+to his room and put him on his bed. Then Mr. 'Coon brought some water
+and Mr. Rabbit fanned him and Mr. Turtle unbuttoned his vest to give him
+air. Mr. 'Possum he stood still and gave orders, and said pretty soon
+that he was sure a good strong hot mustard poultice would help matters.
+When he said that Mr. Crow opened his eyes a little pinch and asked
+where he was, and then he said he guessed he must have fainted, for he'd
+been taken with a dreadful bad turn at the table and didn't remember any
+more.
+
+Mr. 'Possum winked at Mr. 'Coon and said yes, that Mr. Crow had even
+forgot to give them a second helping of pie, but that he supposed Mr.
+Rabbit and Mr. Turtle could go back and help themselves. Then the sweat
+broke out on Mr. Crow again, and he said he hoped they wouldn't, for it
+would be cold now and they would find the biscuits and syrup much
+better. Jack Rabbit said he thought so, too, and the 'Possum, who was
+really beginning to feel sorry for the poor Crow, said the same, and so
+did the others. So then Mr. Crow got better as quick as anything, and
+they all went back down stairs and ate the biscuits and syrup, which
+were certainly very fine. Once Mr. Rabbit wondered what that nice, leafy
+smell was that he got a whiff of now and then, and Mr. Turtle said he'd
+been thinking about that, too. Then Mr. 'Coon helped out and said that
+he s'posed it was Mr. Man and Mr. Dog burning brush over on the edge of
+the Wide Grass Lands, and he went on to make a little speech that was
+kind of a reply to Mr. Rabbit's poem. He said how nice it was to give
+one's friends pleasant surprises of good things as Mr. Crow had done,
+instead of unpleasant ones such as Mr. 'Possum had mentioned, and all
+the others said, "Yes, Yes!" and cheered him, all except Mr. Crow, who
+looked down into his plate and didn't say a word, but just seemed to be
+thinking and thinking.
+
+And by and by, when Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle said goodby and went
+away, he hurried back to the table, and was just going to take the C. X.
+pie up to his own part of the house, when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon
+grabbed him and said they must have a piece of that pie, after all. And
+when Mr. Crow wasn't going to give it to them they both commenced to
+laugh and said it was their pie anyway, and that they meant to have it.
+And right then Mr. Crow knew just what had happened, and that it was no
+use to be an April fool any longer. He stood still a minute, looking
+first at Mr. 'Coon and then at Mr. 'Possum. Then he walked to the window
+and flung the C. X. pie out as far as he could send it among the leaves
+and brush, where it belonged. The 'Coon stood on one side and the
+'Possum on the other, and they watched it strike and roll out of sight
+before they said anything. Then Mr. 'Coon said that perhaps it would be
+a good time now to tell the great secret of the Johnnie cake and gravy,
+and Mr. Crow said he would do that and anything else they wanted him to
+if they'd promise they wouldn't tell this joke on him to anybody--Mr.
+Rabbit and Mr. Turtle especially. Then he went right on and told them
+the great secret of the Johnnie cake, and the 'Coon and the 'Possum did
+promise, though they didn't intend to tell anyway, for they thought a
+great deal of Mr. Crow and they were all good friends.
+
+"But, dear me!" exclaimed the story teller, "I've been telling for three
+evenings on this story, and here it is nine o'clock again."
+
+"You'll tell some more to-morrow night won't you?" said the Little Lady,
+drowsily.
+
+"We'll have a story about Mr. Jack Rabbit next time," said the story
+teller.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The Three Friends, page 136.
+
+
+
+
+MR. RABBIT EXPLAINS
+
+AN EASTER STORY
+
+
+"Now tell me the rabbit story," commanded the Little Lady on the next
+evening. "You know you promised to."
+
+"So I did," said the Story Teller, "and it goes this way:--"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"One afternoon in the early spring Mr. Jack Rabbit and his friends were
+out for an airing. The Hollow Tree people were along, and Mr. Turtle, as
+usual. By and by they came to a log under a big tree and sat down for a
+smoke and talk. They talked about the weather at first and other things,
+till somebody mentioned Easter. Then they all had something to say about
+that.
+
+"'What I object to,' says Mr. Rabbit, when it came his time to talk, 'is
+this thing of people always saying that the Easter eggs belong to me.'
+
+"'Oh, but that's just a joke,' says Mr. 'Coon, laughing.
+
+"'I know it's just a joke, of course, but it's a pretty old joke, and
+I'm tired of it,' says Jack Rabbit.
+
+"'How did it get started anyway?' asked Mr. 'Possum.
+
+"Then Mr. Rabbit took his pipe out of his mouth and leaned forward a
+little, so he could talk better.
+
+"'I tell you how it got started,' he says, 'and after that I don't want
+to hear any more of it. This is how it happened:--
+
+"'Once upon a time, as much as twenty grandmothers back, I should think,
+there was a very nice family of Rabbits that lived in a grassy place on
+a hillside back of a big farmyard. There was quite a hole in the ground
+there, and they had a cosy home in it, and a soft bed for their little
+folk."
+
+[Illustration: A FEW LESSONS IN RUNNING AND HIDING.]
+
+"'Now, every bright morning, Father and Mother Rabbit used to take the
+children out for a walk, and for a few lessons in running and hiding
+from Mr. Dog, who bothered about a good deal, and one day as they were
+coming home they heard a great cackling, and when they got to their
+house there was a nice fresh egg lying right in the children's bed. Some
+old hen from the farmyard had slipped in and laid it while they were
+gone. A good many hens, especially old hens, like to hide their nests
+that way, and this was one of that kind.
+
+"'Well, of course all the young Rabbits claimed it, and Mother Rabbit at
+last gave it to the smallest and weakest one of the children, a little
+girl, who was always painting things with the juice of flower petals.
+And the very first thing that little girl did was to stain that egg all
+over with violet juice, not thinking what trouble it was going to cause
+our family forever after."
+
+[Illustration: IT WAS A NICE BLUE EGG WHEN SHE GOT THROUGH.]
+
+"'It was a nice blue egg when she got through with it, and the next day,
+when they all came back from their walk again there was another white
+egg right by it. The old hen had been there again and laid another while
+they were gone. The second little girl claimed that egg, of course, and
+she painted it a bright yellow with buttercup juice. Then the next day
+there was another egg, and the next day there was another egg, and the
+next day there was another egg, until there was one apiece for every one
+of the children, and some over."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"'And they all painted them. Some painted theirs pink or red with
+roseleaves or japonica, some painted them yellow with buttercups, and
+some blue or purple with violets, as the first little girl had done.
+They had so many at last that it crowded them out of their bed, and they
+had to sleep on the floor.
+
+"'And then, one Sunday, and it must have been Easter Sunday, they all
+went out walking again, and when they came back every one of those
+beautiful colored eggs was gone. The children cried and made a great
+fuss, but it was no use. Some of Mr. Man's boys out hunting hen's nests
+had found them and taken them all home with them.
+
+"'And of course all those colored eggs set Mr. Man to wondering, and he
+came with his boys to the place where they had found them; and when they
+looked in out jumped the whole Rabbit family, helter skelter in every
+direction."
+
+[Illustration: LEANING OVER TO LIGHT HIS PIPE FROM MR. 'POSSUM'S.]
+
+"'And right then,' said Mr. Rabbit, leaning over to light his pipe from
+Mr. 'Possum's, 'right then Mr. Man declared those colored eggs were
+rabbit eggs, and he's kept on saying so ever since, though he knows
+better, and he knows I don't like it. He takes eggs and colors them
+himself now, and makes believe they're mine, and he puts my picture all
+over things about Easter time. I suppose he thinks I don't care, but I
+do, and I wish that little Miss Rabbit twenty grandmothers back had left
+that old hen's egg white as she found it.'
+
+"'It's too bad,' says Mr. Crow. 'It's like that story they tell about
+the fox making me drop the cheese.'
+
+"'Or like Mr. Man making believe that the combs he uses are really made
+out of my shell,' says Mr. Turtle.
+
+"Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum shook their heads. They had their troubles,
+too."
+
+
+
+
+MR. TURTLE'S THUNDER STORY
+
+THE WAY OF THE FIRST THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
+
+
+[Illustration: HAD JACK RABBIT AND MR. TURTLE IN FOR SUPPER.]
+
+Once upon a time, said the Story Teller, when the Crow and the 'Coon and
+the 'Possum lived together in three big, hollow branches of a big big,
+hollow tree in the big, big, Big Deep Woods, and used to meet and have
+good times together in the parlor down stairs, they had Jack Rabbit and
+Mr. Turtle in for supper. It was a nice supper, too, for it was just
+about strawberry time, and strawberries grow thicker in the Big Deep
+Woods than fur on a kitten's back. Mr. Crow, who is a great cook, had
+made a nice shortcake, and been over to Mr. Man's pantry, where he gets
+some of his best things, and borrowed a pail of sweet cream when Mr. Man
+wasn't at home.
+
+"Of course they had fried chicken, too, first, and by the time they were
+through their shortcake and had lit their pipes Mr. 'Possum, who likes
+good things better than anybody, almost, could hardly open his eyes. He
+said he wished he was a poet, like Mr. Jack Rabbit, for he had never
+been so full of summer happiness since he was born, and if he could
+only make rhymes, he knew that poetry would slip right off his tongue.
+Then, of course, Mr. Rabbit wanted to show off, and without stopping a
+second he commenced to talk poetry--this way:--
+
+  "In the summer time I make a rhyme
+    For every breeze that passes,
+  For I can always make it chime
+    With lassies, grasses, sasses."
+
+"Mr. 'Possum said he couldn't do that if it was to save him from being
+hung the next minute, and Mr. Rabbit went right on without catching his
+breath:--
+
+  "Where e'er I go my verses flow--
+    I keep it up for hours.
+  I'm never short of rhymes, you know,
+    With bowers, flowers, showers."
+
+"Well, that set them all to wondering how Jack Rabbit could do it so
+easily, and Mr. Rabbit didn't think to tell them how he'd sat up all the
+night before to compose this poetry, so's to have it on hand and ready
+for a chance to use it. He said that it was somebody else's turn now,
+and that maybe Mr. Turtle would give them a performance of some kind.
+Mr. Turtle wanted to change the subject, and got up and walked over to
+the window. He said that, speaking of showers, it was so warm and close,
+he shouldn't wonder if they had one before morning. He said he believed
+there was lightning now, off in the west, and seemed like he could hear
+it thunder, too. Then they all talked about thunder and lightning and
+what they were. But nobody seemed to know except Mr. Turtle himself.
+
+"'Why,' he said, 'I thought everybody knew that!' Then he went on to say
+that he'd known the story ever since he wasn't 'any bigger than a pants
+button,' and all the others said he must tell it to them, because it was
+his turn, anyway. And Mr. Turtle was glad to do that, for he really
+wanted to show off a little, like Jack Rabbit, only he hadn't known
+before how to do it. So he filled up his pipe nice and fresh, and lit
+it, and began.
+
+"'Well,' he said, 'of course you know my family all live to be pretty
+old. I'm only three hundred and sixteen next spring myself, but Uncle
+Tom Turtle, who lives up by the forks, is a good deal over nine hundred,
+and he isn't nearly as old as Father Storm Turtle and his wife, who live
+up in the Big West Hills, and make the thunder and lightning.'
+
+"Mr. Turtle stopped a minute to light his pipe again, and all the others
+just looked at him and couldn't say a word. They knew he was pretty old,
+but they had never thought much about it before, and what he said about
+Father and Mother Storm Turtle they had never even heard of. But Mr.
+Turtle just lit his pipe, and puffed, and said:--
+
+"'To tell the truth, I never did hear of any of our family dying of old
+age, and I shouldn't wonder if Old Man Turtle Himself would still be
+alive, too, if he hadn't tried to swallow a mussel fish with the shell
+on and got it stuck in his throat a million and twenty-five years ago
+last spring. Anyhow, that's according to the date cut on his shell
+overcoat that Uncle Tom Turtle saw once at Father Storm's house up in
+the Big West Hills.
+
+"'I don't know how many great grandfathers back Father Storm is from me,
+nor how many from Father Storm Old Man Turtle Himself was, but I know
+Father Storm got his shell overcoat after the mussel fish wouldn't go
+down, and that it was a great deal too big to take in the house, and it
+used to set out in the yard on four bricks, for the children to play
+under.
+
+"'Father Storm Turtle had a big family then, and they were pretty
+troublesome. They had a habit of wandering off in the woods and
+forgetting to come back. Every night Mother Storm had to stand in the
+door and call and call and not be able to sleep if they didn't come,
+especially when it was cloudy and looked like rain. She knew that, if
+they got wet they'd all come home with bad colds and sore throats and
+make trouble and expense. Three of them--named Slop, Splash and
+Paddle--were worse than any of the others, for even when it didn't rain
+they were always playing in dirty puddles, and would come home all mud
+and with wet feet.'"
+
+
+
+
+MR. TURTLE'S THUNDER STORY
+
+CONTINUED
+
+FATHER STORM'S PLAN AND HOW IT WORKED
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"At last, one day, when Mother Storm Turtle had shouted herself hoarse
+and couldn't make any of them hear, she said she wouldn't put up with it
+any longer, and that Father Storm had got to fix up some way to call
+those children home when she wanted them, especially when it was going
+to rain, as it was now. So Father Storm went out into the front yard and
+sat down and looked at the clouds and thought and thought."
+
+[Illustration: WENT RIGHT TO WORK AND DUG TWO HOLES.]
+
+"All at once, just as he was about to give it up, he happened to be
+looking right at the shell of Old Man Turtle Himself. He jumped up quick
+and hit it with his cane, and when it made quite a loud sound he
+laughed, for he knew, now, how he could make those children hear when he
+wanted them. He didn't say a word to Mother Storm Turtle, but went right
+to work and dug two holes and put up two tall posts in the yard and
+fastened a stout beam across the top of them. Then he worked until he
+had bored a hole in one end of the shell of Old Man Turtle Himself, and
+put a chain in it and dragged it over and strung it up between the
+posts, so that it swung there and didn't quite touch the ground. That,
+of course, made a thing a good deal like Mr. Man's dinner gong, only a
+hundred times as big, and about a thousand times as loud. Then Father
+Storm went out into the woodhouse to make a club to beat it with,
+laughing to himself now and then when he thought how Mother Storm Turtle
+would most have a fit when she heard it for the first time.
+
+"But while Father Storm Turtle was doing so much, Mother Storm had been
+thinking and doing some herself. She was getting supper, and when she
+looked into the fire to put in a stick of wood, she just happened to
+think that if she could make a torch big enough and bright enough, when
+she stood in the door and waved it, those children would see the light,
+especially nights when it was dark just before a heavy rain. So she went
+right to work and made one, just as big as she could make it, and put
+lots of oil and fat on it, to make it bright. She laughed to think how
+Father Storm Turtle would jump when she waved that out the door, and how
+the children would come running when they saw the big flash. Then she
+noticed that it was getting darker and darker and would rain in a
+minute. So she hurried up and lit it and stepped to the door and gave it
+a great big swing. And just that second Father Storm hit the shell of
+Old Man Turtle Himself with a big hickory club, and there was never such
+a light nor such a roar in the world as that was.
+
+"Mother Storm Turtle tumbled over backward and set the house afire
+with her torch, and Father Storm was so frightened by the big light that
+at first he couldn't help her put the fire out. And just then it began
+raining like forty, and all the children came running and screaming out
+of the woods, half scared to death by the big light and noise. It made a
+terrible commotion there for a few minutes, until they got the fire put
+out, and people heard it all over the country, even to Mr. Man's house.
+And when they found out what it was, and who started it, everybody
+called it a 'storm.' And rain and wind and thunder and lightning, or
+most any other kind of a big fuss, is called a 'storm' to this day,
+after Father and Mother Storm Turtle."
+
+[Illustration: SLOP AND SPLASH AND PADDLE.]
+
+"And that," said Mr. Turtle, lighting his pipe once more, "was the first
+thunder and lightning, and whenever people saw it after that they said,
+'We're going to have another storm!' For Father and Mother Storm Turtle
+went right on using the big torch and the shell of Old Man Turtle
+Himself to call in the children just before a rain, and the children
+would come running every time, all except Slop, Splash and Paddle, who
+got so at last that they liked the mud and dirty water better than
+anything else. They liked the mud so well that Father Storm told them
+one day they might go and live in the mud and be named Mud for all he
+cared; and so they did, and their names were Mud, and they and all their
+families live in dirty water and are called Mud Turtles to this day.
+They never went home again, but whenever they hear Father Storm
+pounding on the shell, they stop whatever they are doing and listen. And
+that's how the saying began that 'a Mud Turtle never lets go till it
+thunders.'"
+
+"What makes the noise always get louder and the light brighter just
+before it rains?" asked Jack Rabbit.
+
+"Why, you see," said Mr. Turtle, "Father and Mother Storm's
+grandchildren and great-grandchildren are a good deal scattered now, and
+as the old people run the thunder and lightning mostly on their account,
+they try to make it just about bright enough and loud enough to keep up
+with the rain wherever it goes."
+
+"It's plenty loud enough," said Mr. 'Coon solemnly.
+
+"And plenty bright enough," said Mr. Crow, blinking.
+
+"What makes it set things on fire sometimes?" asked Mr. 'Possum
+sleepily.
+
+"That's when Mother Storm Turtle swings her torch too hard and coals fly
+out of it," said Mr. Turtle, as he got up and walked over to the window.
+
+Then the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum and Jack Rabbit got up, too,
+and walked over, and they all looked out together. It was dark among the
+trees below them, and Mr. Turtle pointed off toward the Big West Hills.
+
+"You see," he said, speaking low, "Mother Storm is beginning to swing
+her torch, and you'll hear Father Storm pounding before long on the
+shell of Old Man Turtle Himself."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+So the five friends stood very still and listened and pretty soon they
+did hear a low far off rumble, sure enough.
+
+"That means it's time to start for home," said Mr. Jack Rabbit, reaching
+for his hat and cane.
+
+Mr. Turtle reached for his hat and cane, too, and they felt their way
+down the dim stairs, with Mr. 'Coon holding a candle, and Mr. Crow and
+Mr. 'Possum looking after them.
+
+"Good night, everybody," said Mr. Turtle.
+
+[Illustration: CALLED TO JACK RABBIT TO PUSH IN THE LATCH.]
+
+"Push the latch string in from the outside," called Mr. Crow. "Then, I
+won't have to come down."
+
+  "All right!
+  Good night!"
+
+called back Jack Rabbit.
+
+"Good night! Come again!" called the Crow and the 'Coon and the
+'Possum.
+
+
+
+
+A RAIN IN THE NIGHT
+
+A WINDOW THAT WASN'T CLOSED, AND WHO CLOSED IT
+
+
+The night was warm in the Hollow Tree. Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle, who
+had been spending the evening with the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old
+Black Crow, had hurried off to their homes, so as to get there before
+the rain set in.
+
+They had all stood by an open parlor window and seen it coming over the
+Big West Hills, and the visitors knew they'd catch it if they didn't
+hurry. Mr. Crow and the others had watched them down stairs, and called
+to Jack Rabbit to push in the latch string, which would fasten the door
+from the outside. Then Mr. 'Possum had taken his candle, and Mr. 'Coon
+had taken his candle, and Mr. Crow had taken his candle, and each had
+gone up to his own room and scrambled into bed quick, so's to be able to
+cover up his head when it thundered.
+
+Well, they hadn't any more than all gone to bed before Mr. Crow suddenly
+happened to remember that, being in such a hurry, none of them had
+thought to close the parlor window, and it would rain in as sure as the
+world. There was a little table close to the window, with some of his
+best things on it, too, and if it rained in they would all get wet and
+be spoiled. He thought about this twice, and maybe more than twice, and
+the more he thought about it the less he wanted to get up and close that
+window. Then, all at once, there came a flash of lightning and low
+growling thunder. Down he bobbed under the covers, and this made him
+want to get up less than ever. He knew, though, that it would be raining
+hard pretty soon, and spoiling his things. He had to do something right
+off.
+
+So, after thinking a minute, he sat up in bed and called out:
+
+"Oh, Mr. 'Coon! You forgot to close the parlor window. It will rain in
+on your things."
+
+But Mr. 'Coon called back:
+
+"It won't hurt MY things, Mr. Crow. They're over on the other side of
+the room."
+
+And Mr. 'Possum, who was sitting up in bed, too, listened and laughed in
+the dark.
+
+But just then there was another flash of lightning, and Mr. Crow bobbed
+down, and Mr. 'Coon bobbed down, and Mr. 'Possum bobbed down, so's not
+to hear the thunder. Then, pretty soon, Mr. Crow sat up in bed again and
+called out:
+
+"Oh, Mr. 'Possum! You forgot to close the parlor window. It will rain in
+on your things."
+
+But Mr. 'Possum called back:
+
+"It won't hurt MY things, Mr. Crow. They're all over by the stairs."
+
+And Mr. 'Coon, who was sitting up in bed, listened and laughed in the
+dark, too.
+
+Then for a minute Mr. Crow didn't know but that he'd have to go down and
+shut that window himself, after all. And while he was thinking how much
+he didn't want to, there came another flash of lightning, brighter than
+ever, and Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum all bobbed down again
+and covered up their heads, so's not to hear the thunder. But Mr. Crow
+heard it a little, anyway, and it set him to thinking. So when he sat up
+again he called out:
+
+"Oh, Mr. 'Coon, did Jack Rabbit push in the latch string down stairs?"
+
+And Mr. 'Coon called back:
+
+"I s'pose so, Mr. Crow. You told him to. Why?"
+
+"Oh, nothing, only he left in a great hurry, and I thought maybe he
+didn't get it quite in."
+
+And Mr. 'Possum listened again, but this time he didn't laugh.
+
+Then Mr. Crow called out to him, too:
+
+"Oh, Mr. 'Possum, did Mr. Rabbit push in the latch string when he left?"
+
+And Mr. 'Possum called back:
+
+"I don't know, Mr. Crow. But you told him to. Why?"
+
+"Oh, nothing; only I heard something just now that sounded like Mr. Dog
+barking and coming this way."
+
+And Mr. 'Coon listened again, too, but he didn't laugh any this time,
+either.
+
+And just then there was another flash of lightning, a good deal brighter
+than any of the other flashes, and down went Mr. Crow again, and down
+went Mr. 'Coon again, and down went Mr. 'Possum again, so's not to hear
+it thunder. But they did hear it, even under the bedclothes, and being
+covered up that way, and thinking about Mr. Dog anyhow, made it sound to
+them exactly like Mr. Dog's voice barking and growling, and coming
+closer and closer and closer.
+
+And when Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum heard that they didn't wait another
+minute. They just threw back the covers, both of them, and piled out of
+bed and made a rush for that down stairs door, as if Mr. Dog was right
+behind them, sure enough. And of course neither one knew the other had
+started, and when they got to the head of the stairs they bumped
+together in the dark, and down they went, over and over, to the bottom.
+There was a little flash of lightning just as they got there, and they
+saw that Mr. Rabbit had pushed in the latch string after all.
+
+Then they felt foolish, and each began to blame the other for making him
+fall down stairs, and both of them said they knew all the time the door
+was fastened, and that they weren't afraid of Mr. Dog, anyway. They'd
+only got up, they said, to shut the parlor window, and they did shut
+it, both together, as they came back. Then they ran up to their beds
+quick, while Mr. Crow, who had been listening all the time, laid down
+and rolled over and laughed and laughed in the dark.
+
+And just then there came another big, bright flash, and down under the
+covers went all three of them, so's not to hear it thunder. They stayed
+under a good while that time, and when they put their heads out again
+the shower had commenced, and the thunder was passing over.
+
+So then, pretty soon, the 'Possum and the 'Coon and the Old Black Crow
+all dropped off to sleep to the sound of the rain falling among the
+leaves and branches of the Hollow Tree.
+
+
+
+
+A DEEP WOODS FISHING PARTY
+
+AN ADVENTURE WITH MR. DOG AND A VERY LARGE FISH
+
+
+One warm June morning, when the sun was trying to shine and couldn't,
+and the air was close and still and sticky, Mr. Jack Rabbit looked out
+of the window while he was dressing and thought to himself that it would
+be just the very morning for fish to bite.
+
+Jack Rabbit liked to fish better than anything, almost, so right after
+breakfast he took an empty tomato can and went out in the back yard and
+turned over boards till he had the can about half full of bait, with a
+little dirt thrown on top. Then he reached up under the eaves of the
+smoke-house and pulled out a long cane pole with a line and hook and
+floater on it, all rigged up ready, and flung it over his shoulder and
+started.
+
+Mr. Rabbit walked pretty fast--even lazy folks do that when they go
+fishing, and Mr. Jack Rabbit wasn't lazy, by a good deal. So pretty soon
+he came to the Hollow Tree, and there, looking out of an upstairs
+window, he saw the 'Coon, the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow.
+
+"Hello, up there!" he said. "Don't you fellows want to go fishing?"
+
+Mr. 'Possum said he thought fish would bite well on such a morning, and
+that he'd like to go first rate. Mr. 'Coon said he knew a place where
+you could pull them out as fast as you could throw in your hook, and he
+went on and told how he caught a fish there last year that would weigh
+more than four pounds, and lost him just as he got him to the top of the
+water. Mr. Crow said he'd always noticed that Mr. 'Coon's four pound
+fish never got any nearer to him than the top of the water, and that for
+his part he didn't care much about fishing. He said, though, that if the
+'Coon and the 'Possum wanted to go he'd stay at home and get dinner
+while they were gone, so's to have it ready when they all came home
+hungry. He told them that he had some nice canned salmon in the cupboard
+that he could catch most any time, and that if they really wanted fish
+for dinner he s'posed he might as well open it. Then they all laughed,
+and in about a minute down came Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum with their
+fishing things. Jack Rabbit said he had plenty of bait, so away they
+went. Mr. Crow sat up in the window and watched them off, and Mr. Robin,
+who happened along just then, laughed and called after them that he'd
+take a few pounds of nice bass when they got home. The Robin just said
+that to plague them, of course, and Mr. 'Coon called back that they'd
+fool him this time, and then he went on to remark to the 'Possum and
+the Rabbit that he'd never in his life seen a finer day for fishing.
+
+Jack Rabbit said yes, that it was fine, and that it was a fine day for
+Mr. Dog to be out gallivanting over the country, too, and that they'd
+better hurry up and get to the lake and out in his boat before anything
+happened. That made Mr. 'Possum take a good deal livelier step, though
+he commenced to whistle and said he wasn't afraid of Mr. Dog, anyway.
+Mr. 'Coon said he'd always noticed that a fellow mostly whistled when he
+wasn't afraid, but for his part he couldn't get to that boat any too
+soon. And pretty soon they did get to it, and Mr. 'Possum was the first
+one to pile in, though Mr. Dog wasn't anywhere in sight.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Well, they pushed off and Jack Rabbit took one oar and Mr. 'Coon the
+other, while the 'Possum sat on the back seat and baited his hook so's
+to catch the first fish. Then, when they got out to where Mr. 'Coon said
+the good place was, they all went to fishing, and Mr. 'Possum did get
+the first bite, but he didn't get anything else when he pulled. Mr.
+'Coon told him he pulled too quick, and Jack Rabbit told him he didn't
+pull quick enough, and asked him if he expected the fish to climb out on
+his pole. Then Mr. Rabbit had a bite himself, and pulled and didn't get
+anything, either. Of course, that made Mr. 'Possum laugh, and then, all
+at once, the 'Coon had a great big bite that took his float away down
+out of sight the first grab.
+
+Mr. 'Coon let him go for a minute and then gave a hard pull and
+commenced to call out that he had him this time and that he'd show Mr.
+Crow now about only getting fish to the top of the water and having
+canned salmon for dinner. Then he stood up in the boat and pulled as
+hard as ever he could till all of a sudden his line broke, and down he
+went backwards, right on top of Mr. 'Possum, while the Rabbit swung his
+hook over where the 'Coon's hook had been and the big fish grabbed it
+before you could say Jack Robinson.
+
+That was too bad for the 'Coon and the 'Possum, of course, and it wasn't
+as much fun for Jack Rabbit as you might suppose, for he couldn't get
+the big fish out to save his life, and he had to hold on to the boat to
+keep from being pulled into the lake. Then he called to the others to
+help him, and they both got up and took hold of the pole and hauled in
+hand over hand till they got to the line, and that was as far as they
+could get. So Mr. Rabbit gave the line a twist or two around the iron
+ring in the front of his boat, and the big fish started straight for
+shore, dragging the boat and everybody in it behind him, just as hard as
+ever he could go. Then Mr. 'Coon and Jack Rabbit commenced to quarrel
+about whose fish it was, and Mr. 'Possum said he didn't care whose it
+was, he was getting a free ride, and he laid back and laughed and looked
+at the shore, when all of a sudden he happened to spy there, sitting on
+the end of a log, fishing and waiting for them, nobody but Mr. Dog
+himself.
+
+That wasn't very much, of course, but it was plenty for Mr. 'Possum. He
+quit laughing and tumbled down in the bottom of the boat and laid there
+calling for Jack Rabbit to cut that fishline or they'd all be chops and
+steaks and carried home in a basket in less than five minutes. Jack
+Rabbit did try to cut the line, too, but he was so excited he dropped
+his knife overboard, and Mr. 'Coon couldn't find his, and Mr. 'Possum
+didn't have any. So there they were, and there was Mr. Dog! Then Mr.
+Rabbit tried to bite the line off with his teeth, but he couldn't do
+that, either, for it was a big, strong line that he'd made himself,
+'specially for big fish.
+
+And all the time they were getting closer and closer to the shore, and
+Mr. Dog had lifted his line out of the water so it wouldn't be in his
+way, and was sitting there waiting, and smiling to see them come.
+
+Then Jack Rabbit knew that something had to be done, and there was no
+time to lose. He was just about as scared as he could be, but he knew it
+wouldn't do any good to let on, so he sat up straight and smiled some,
+too, and looked at Mr. Dog and called out, big and friendly like:
+
+"Hello, Mr. Dog! Here we come! Here we come with a nice dinner, Mr.
+Dog!"
+
+Then Mr. Dog laughed and called back:
+
+"That's right, Mr. Rabbit. There's a sure enough nice dinner coming,
+this time! Fish for the first course, Mr. Rabbit!"
+
+When Mr. 'Possum heard that he began to groan, and Jack Rabbit and Mr.
+'Coon began to shiver, for each thought he knew pretty well what the
+next courses of Mr. Dog's dinner would be. But Mr. Rabbit didn't stop
+smiling or let on that he knew, and he called out again to Mr. Dog,
+quick:
+
+"You'll have to help us if we have fish, Mr. Dog! He's a big one and
+you'll have to help us catch him!"
+
+And Mr. Dog called back again:
+
+"Don't worry, Mr. Rabbit! I won't leave! I'll be on hand when you get
+here, Mr. Rabbit!"
+
+Then he rolled up his trousers a little and waded out into the shallow
+water, thinking he would nab Mr. Fish first and drag him out on shore,
+and then pull the boat right in after him.
+
+[Illustration: THE FIGHT BETWEEN MR. DOG AND THE BIG FISH.]
+
+Of course, that was a pretty good plan for Mr. Dog, only like some other
+good plans, it didn't work just as he expected it to. You see, he didn't
+quite know how big the fish was, nor how hard a big fish is to handle in
+shallow water. He made a quick grab at it when it got to him and then,
+right away, he had his hands full of business. That fish gave a flop
+with his tail that laid Mr. Dog over on his back and then another flop
+that set him on his feet again, and a side flop that smacked him against
+the water first one way and then the other, and made him breathe hard
+and choke and try to let go.
+
+But Mr. Dog couldn't let go, for he'd got the fish line some way tangled
+in his teeth. So he began to snap and paw and swallow water, and fall
+down and get up again, and sprawl about in the swamp grass, trying to
+get back to shore.
+
+And while all this was going on Jack Rabbit and his friends had jumped
+out into the shallow water and took a little roundin's to shore, keeping
+out of Mr. Dog's way, and made tracks for the top of a hill, where they
+would be out of danger and see the fun at the same time. Then they all
+stood up there and watched the fight between Mr. Dog and the big fish,
+and Jack Rabbit sang out, as loud as ever he could:
+
+"Don't leave, Mr. Dog! Stay with him, Mr. Dog! Hold him to it, Mr. Dog;
+you've got him! First course, Mr. Dog!"
+
+And Mr. Dog heard Jack Rabbit and got madder and madder every minute,
+till all of a sudden he got a lick on the side of the head from Mr.
+Fish's tail that made him see stars and broke the line. And away went
+the big fish out into deep water, while Mr. Dog crawled back to shore,
+wet and bruised from head to foot, and most dead.
+
+Then Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum and Jack Rabbit, standing on top of the
+hill, gave a great big laugh, all together, and Mr. Rabbit called out:
+
+"How did you like the first course, Mr. Dog?"
+
+That made them all laugh again, and then Mr. 'Coon called out:
+
+"Are you ready for the second course, Mr. Dog?"
+
+And pretty soon Mr. 'Possum he called out:
+
+"Are you ready for a nice roast now, Mr. Dog?"
+
+And that, of course, made them all laugh very loud, for Mr. 'Possum used
+slang now and then and meant by a "roast" that people would all make fun
+of Mr. Dog wherever he went; which they did, for a long time.
+
+Even Mr. Robin, who was good friends with Mr. Dog, couldn't help calling
+out to him, now and then, as he went by:
+
+"Are you ready for the next course, Mr. Dog?"
+
+And Mr. Dog would pretend not to hear and go hurrying by very fast, as
+if he were out on special and important business for Mr. Man.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE INN
+
+THE THREE FRIENDS GO INTO BUSINESS
+
+
+One rainy day when the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow were
+rummaging about their house in the Big Hollow Tree where they all lived
+together, they found that above each of their rooms there was a good
+deal of other room that nobody ever used. That set them to thinking, and
+pretty soon Mr. 'Possum said it was too bad to let all that good room go
+to waste, and Mr. 'Coon said yes, it was, and that their house was big
+enough for a hotel.
+
+Of course he didn't think what he was saying at the time, but it set Mr.
+Crow to thinking and walking up and down, whistling, and pretty soon he
+stopped still and looked at the 'Coon and 'Possum.
+
+"I'll do the cookin'," he said, "if you'll get the things to cook."
+
+And right then and there they made up their minds to do it, and early
+the next morning, while the Old Black Crow was hurrying about inside,
+getting things ready for business, the 'Coon and the 'Possum nailed up
+a sign outside, and this is what was on it:
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE INN.
+
+BOARD BY THE DAY OR WEEK.
+
+Then they went inside to help Mr. Crow get ready, and by and by they all
+sat down and waited for people to come. Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum felt
+pretty well, too, for they thought they would have the easiest time. You
+see, they had always depended on Mr. Crow a good deal, for, besides
+being a good cook, he was a great hand to provide, and knew more about
+where to get the best things, and the best time of day or night to get
+them, than both of the others put together. So he didn't say anything,
+but dressed up nice and spruce in a clean apron and cooking cap and
+leaned out of the window, as cooks always do, with his arms folded. By
+and by along came Mr. Jack Rabbit.
+
+[Illustration: "HELLO!" HE SAID, "WHAT'S THIS?"]
+
+"Hello!" he said. "What's this?"
+
+Then he read the sign over and looked at Mr. Crow and asked him if it
+was a joke. And Mr. Crow said:
+
+"Not much! Come up and see."
+
+So then Mr. Rabbit went up stairs and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum showed
+him through, and Jack Rabbit said that he didn't feel very well this
+summer, any way, and he believed he'd just shut up his house and come
+and board a while for a change. He said he guessed he'd take the room
+above Mr. 'Coon's, because it had a nice south window and a tall
+looking glass, and that he'd pack up a few things that he needed and
+come over right away. Then he went home and the 'Coon and 'Possum and
+the Old Black Crow all shook hands and danced around in a circle to
+think how well they were going to do, for if Mr. Jack Rabbit came they
+were sure of having as many others as their house would hold.
+
+And while they were dancing along came Mr. Robin. He read the sign, too,
+and laughed, and then knocked at the door till Mr. 'Coon came down and
+let him in. He thought it was a joke at first, like the Rabbit, but when
+he heard that Jack Rabbit was coming to board he spoke up just as quick
+as anything and said he'd come, too, and that he'd have his things there
+before supper time. He took the room over Mr. Crow, because he said he
+didn't mind the smell of the cooking, and then maybe he'd learn some new
+receipts. You see, Mr. Crow and Mr. Robin are sort of kinsfolk, and when
+they have time they often get together and trace back to find out just
+what relation they are to each other, and that makes them good friends.
+
+Well, Mr. Robin hadn't more'n got out of the house when who should walk
+in but Mr. Squirrel.
+
+"What's all this about boarders?" said Mr. Squirrel. "I'm looking for a
+place to spend a month or two myself."
+
+So then they showed him the room above Mr. 'Possum's, and he was so
+pleased with the view and everything that he paid a week's board in
+advance to be sure of keeping anybody else from getting it. When he was
+gone the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow did another dance, and
+kept saying over and over how rich they'd be and what they would do with
+all the money. Then they heard somebody laughing outside, and when they
+looked out there was Mr. Turtle laughing and reading the sign.
+
+"Hello!" he said. "This isn't the first of April."
+
+"No," said Mr. Crow, "it's a boarding house, and a good one. All the
+best people in the country stop here. Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Robin and Mr.
+Squirrel. Sorry, Mr. Turtle, but our rooms are all full."
+
+Then Mr. Turtle did look cheap, for he thought he couldn't be in the
+crowd, and it was the very crowd he liked to associate with. But just
+then Mr. 'Coon happened to think that they might fit up the big room
+below the other big room where they all gathered to eat and talk, and
+Mr. Turtle said that would suit him, exactly, because he was large and
+heavy and didn't care much about climbing any way. So he hurried off
+after his things, too, and he wasn't out of sight before here comes Mr.
+Dog!
+
+Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum were both looking out the window when he came
+up, and they jumped back like lightning. You see, they didn't like Mr.
+Dog worth a cent. Then Mr. Crow came and looked out the window and
+talked to him. Mr. Dog was just as polite as a basket of chips, and of
+course that's the politest thing in the world.
+
+"I've just seen Mr. Robin," said Mr. Dog, "and I came to get a room,
+too."
+
+"Awfully sorry, Mr. Dog, but our rooms are all full," said Mr. Crow.
+
+"Why don't you take down your sign, then?" said Mr. Dog.
+
+"Hotels never take down their signs," said Mr. Crow.
+
+"Hotels are never too full for one more, either," said Mr. Dog. "If you
+don't let me come in I think I'll wait around here and make a vacancy."
+
+
+
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE INN
+
+CONTINUED
+
+WHAT HAPPENS TO MR. DOG
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: AND UP HE CAME.]
+
+Now, when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon heard that their hair stood up
+straight, for they knew very well that there'd be two vacant rooms any
+way if Mr. Dog ever got inside, and two if he stayed where he was, for
+they happened to think that Mr. Rabbit would be coming along presently,
+and Mr. Squirrel wouldn't be far behind. So they hurried to the back
+window and looked out, and sure enough there was Mr. Rabbit coming with
+his trunk on his shoulder and almost there. At first they were
+frightened most to death for Mr. Rabbit, and then the 'Coon slipped over
+and whispered to the Crow to keep Mr. Dog talking as hard as he could,
+so he wouldn't notice anything. All the time he was doing this the
+'Possum was motioning to Jack Rabbit to slip up easy-like with his
+trunk.
+
+So Mr. Rabbit slipped up softly on the other side of the house from Mr.
+Dog and set his trunk down, and the 'Possum let out a long rope with a
+hook on it. Jack Rabbit stood up on his trunk and grabbed the hook as
+soon as he could reach it and hooked it under his arms. Then the 'Coon
+and the 'Possum pulled and pulled and up he came, and as soon as he was
+safe they let down the rope and caught the hook in the trunk handle.
+That was a load for all three of them, and even then they couldn't get
+it up, and called across to the Crow to come quick and help. So he had
+to leave Mr. Dog a minute, and when he did that Mr. Dog walked around
+the tree, and there was the trunk just a few feet from the ground, going
+up very slowly. That was enough for Mr. Dog. He knew then he'd been
+fooled, and he was so mad he didn't know what to do.
+
+He took one look at that trunk and made up his mind he wouldn't stand
+it. So he stepped back a little and made a short run and gave a jump for
+the trunk, just as high as ever he could.
+
+[Illustration: HE CAUGHT IT AS HE WENT BY.]
+
+But Mr. Dog wasn't very lucky, for instead of landing on the trunk he
+landed his nose right against one corner of it, and that made him madder
+than ever. He ran and jumped again harder than before, but this time the
+trunk was a little higher and Mr. Dog didn't quite hit it. There was a
+strap hanging down, though, and he caught it as he went by. He caught it
+with his teeth, and two of his teeth went right through two of the holes
+where the buckle catches, and there they stayed. He had the trunk all
+right enough, but the trunk had him, too.
+
+[Illustration: THE ARRIVAL OF THE OTHER GUESTS.]
+
+There he was. His feet didn't quite touch the ground, and he couldn't
+get up any higher either. Then all at once the people up stairs saw how
+it was, and they commenced to laugh in spite of themselves, and hitched
+the rope around a peg under the sill so they could rest a minute. That
+was fun for them, but it wasn't for Mr. Dog, by a good deal. He couldn't
+laugh, and he couldn't rest, either. And just then Mr. Squirrel came
+with his trunk, and Mr. Robin with his satchel and a hand bag, and Mr.
+Turtle with his things in a big sack. Mr. 'Coon ran down and let them
+all in and locked the door. Then he ran back to the window where Mr. Dog
+was.
+
+"If we'll let you down will you go home and not come around this hotel
+interfering with our business?" says Mr. 'Possum.
+
+"Yes; will you promise not to try to get any of our guests away from
+us?" says Mr. 'Coon.
+
+Mr. Dog couldn't talk much in the fix he was in, but he did the best he
+could, and promised yes to everything, so pretty soon, they let the
+trunk down till his feet touched the ground, and he could get his teeth
+out of the strap. Then he put out for home just about as fast as he
+could go, without so much as thanking them for letting him down, and up
+went Mr. Rabbit's trunk pretty quick, now that there were plenty to
+help.
+
+Then the guests all hurried to their rooms to unpack, and Mr. Crow
+bustled around to get supper with what he had in the house, for Mr.
+'Possum and Mr. 'Coon hadn't time yet to bring in anything. It was a
+pretty good supper, though, and all the guests said so, and said they
+knew what a good cook Mr. Crow was if he had things to work with, and
+the Crow said he guessed he could do his part if the 'Coon and 'Possum
+would do theirs.
+
+Well, it makes a good deal of difference whether you're company at a
+house or a boarder. They all felt a good deal like company at first, but
+by the next evening at supper time they felt different. Mr. 'Coon and
+Mr. 'Possum had been out all day bringing in things, too, and Mr. Crow
+had been cooking harder than ever. Mr. Robin was first to make remarks.
+He said that the cherries were canned, and not very good ones at that.
+
+"That's what I said," put in Mr. 'Coon, "but Mr. 'Possum said you
+wouldn't know the difference."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Oh, he did, did he?" says Mr. Robin. "Well, I've got better cherries
+than these at home," and he got up from the table with a disgusted air.
+
+Then Mr. Squirrel picked up some roasted nuts that the Crow had just
+brought in.
+
+"Where'd you get these nuts?" he says, after he'd cracked one or two of
+them.
+
+"Down on the slope of Green Bushes," says Mr. 'Coon. "Why, aren't they
+good ones?"
+
+"I suppose they were once," says Mr. Squirrel--"two or three years ago.
+Nuts have to be fresh to be good."
+
+"That's what I told him," says Mr. 'Possum; "but he said you wouldn't
+know the difference."
+
+"Oh, he did, did he?" says Mr. Squirrel. "Well, I've got better nuts
+than these at home," and Mr. Squirrel he got up and left the table.
+
+Then Jack Rabbit began.
+
+"Where'd you get this salad?" he says, turning up his nose.
+
+"Out by Mr. Man's back gate," says Mr. 'Possum. "Why, isn't it good?"
+
+"Might have been once," says Mr. Rabbit. "I s'pose it's some Mr. Man
+threw out because it was wilted."
+
+"That's what I told him," says Mr. 'Coon, "but he said you wouldn't know
+the difference."
+
+"Oh, he did, did he? Well, I've got better salad than this at home," and
+Jack Rabbit he got up and he left the table.
+
+And then, pretty soon, Mr. Turtle made a face over the fish because they
+were salt mackerel and not nice fresh fish, such as he was used to at
+home. So he got up and left the table, too, and there sat the 'Coon and
+'Possum and the Old Black Crow all by themselves and looking cheap
+enough to fall through the floor. Mr. Crow said it wasn't his fault, and
+then Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum commenced to blame it on each other, and
+nearly got into a fight. They were just about to fight when Mr. Crow
+happened to think of something. Mr. Crow always did think of things.
+
+"I'll tell you!" he says. "We'll just rent rooms."
+
+"Do what?" says Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon together.
+
+"Why, just rent each of our guests his room and let him take his meals
+out. Then we won't have any work."
+
+"Whoo-ee!" says Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon both together, as loud as ever
+they could. That made all the guests come running back, and when they
+heard the new plan they all cheered, too, and said it was just the
+thing.
+
+So then Mr. 'Possum went down and got the sign and brought it up and
+changed it to read:
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE INN.
+
+FURNISHED ROOMS ONLY.
+
+And that was how business began at last in the Hollow Tree.
+
+
+
+
+MR. 'POSSUM EXPLAINS
+
+HOW UNCLE SILAS TRIED TO PLEASE AUNT MELISSY
+
+
+Well, you remember that the Hollow Tree people took four of their
+friends to live with them and called it the Hollow Tree Inn. Mr. Robin
+came, and Mr. Turtle, also Jack Rabbit and Mr. Squirrel, and they made a
+jolly crowd after they got settled and knew about each getting his own
+things to eat, because the Hollow Tree people--the 'Coon and 'Possum and
+the old black Crow--found they couldn't suit their guests exactly when
+it came to a steady diet. So they all kept house together, and used to
+go out days (and nights, too, sometimes, when Mr. Man and Mr. Dog were
+tired and asleep and didn't want to be disturbed) and get nice things.
+Then they'd bring them in and fix them to suit themselves, and have them
+all on the big table down stairs, nice and comfortable, where they could
+sit and talk as long as they pleased.
+
+It was a good deal like a big family when they were all together that
+way, and they used to say how nice it was, and once Mr. 'Possum said he
+always did think a big family was nice, anyway. Then Jack Rabbit laughed
+and said he should think Mr. 'Possum was just the kind of a man for a
+big family, being fond of good things to eat and not very fond of
+getting them for himself, and mostly fat and sleepy like. He said if
+there was just a nice, spry Mrs. 'Possum, now, to keep house and look
+after things he should think it would be ever so much better than living
+in bachelor quarters, or, rather, thirds, with Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow,
+and not having things very orderly. Of course, with himself, Jack Rabbit
+said, it was different, but even at his house it got lonesome, too, now
+and then.
+
+Well, Mr. 'Possum thought a minute, and then he said that there was such
+a thing as folks being too spry, and that it was because he had always
+been afraid of getting that kind that he had been pretty well satisfied
+to live in the Hollow Tree just as he was. He said that he had once had
+an uncle that something happened to in that line, and whenever he
+thought about poor Uncle Lovejoy he didn't seem to care much about
+trying anything he wasn't used to. Then they all wanted him to tell
+about Uncle Lovejoy and what happened to him. So Mr. 'Possum did tell,
+and it went this way:
+
+"Once upon a time," he said, "Uncle Lovejoy--we always called him Uncle
+Silas then, and he was uncle on my mother's side, and lived with Aunt
+Melissy in a nice place just beyond the Wide Pawpaw Hollows--once upon a
+time, as I was saying, he had to go to town on some business, and that
+was something that never happened to Uncle Lovejoy before."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Well, Aunt Melissy was always a spry woman, as I said, and
+stirring--very stirring, and primpy, too. But she was never as stirring
+and spry and primpy as she was the day that Uncle Silas started for
+town. She dressed him all up neat and proper in his very best things,
+and tied his tie for him, and while she was tying it she says:
+
+"'Now, Silas,' she says, 'when you get to town you buy a few little
+articles right away and put them on. You don't want folks to see that
+you come from the country, you know, and you don't want Cousin Glenwood
+to be ashamed of you before folks. Cousin Glen will know just what
+things you need and where to get them.' Then she told him not to get run
+over by anything, or blow out the gas, or let anybody see that he wasn't
+used to things, because, you see, Aunt Melissy was proud, being a
+Glenwood herself. Then Uncle Lovejoy promised all those things, and that
+he would use his napkin and not eat pie out of his hand or drink out of
+his finger bowl, and a lot more things that Aunt Melissy remembered at
+the last minute. So you see by the time he got on the train he had a
+good deal to think about, and he kept thinking about it until by the
+time he got to the city he'd made up his mind he'd try to do for once
+everything she told him to and give her a pleasant surprise with the
+way he had fixed up and improved his manners when he got back. Uncle
+Lovejoy was good natured and always anxious to please folks, especially
+Aunt Melissy."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Well, Cousin Glenwood met him at the station, and about the first thing
+Uncle Silas said was to ask him where he got his clothes, and to tell
+him that Aunt Melissy had said he was to fix up, so's folks wouldn't
+think he came from the country, which, of course, she had. That just
+suited Cousin Glenwood, for he liked to spend money and show off what he
+knew about the city; so he took Uncle Lovejoy 'most everywhere, and
+told him to buy 'most everything he saw. And of course Uncle Silas did
+it, because he wanted to surprise Aunt Melissy when he got back and make
+her feel happy for once in her life."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Cousin Glen took Uncle Lovejoy to the stores first, and then to a good
+many different kinds of places afterward, and every place where there
+was a mirror Uncle Lovejoy would stand before it and admire himself and
+wonder what Aunt Melissy would say when he got home. He kept buying new
+things every day, because every day he'd see somebody with something on
+or carrying or leading something, and when he remembered what Aunt
+Melissy said, he made up his mind he'd have to have all the things to
+please her, and he got them as far as he could. Even Cousin Glenwood
+had to commence buying things pretty soon to keep up, and before long
+people used to stop on the street and look at them when they went by.
+Uncle Silas didn't want to go home, either, when the time came, but of
+course he had to, and he put on his best clothes for the trip, and took
+a young man he'd hired to wait on him, and started.
+
+"He didn't tell Aunt Melissy just what time he'd be there, so it was a
+surprise sure enough. He walked right into the yard, and behind was the
+young man he'd hired, carrying his things. Aunt Melissy was getting
+dinner, and had just come to the door a minute to see what time it was
+by the sun, when all of a sudden, as she looked up, there he was! He had
+his hat in one hand and a cane in the other, and was leading a game
+chicken by a string. All his boxes and bundles and the young man were
+behind him. Uncle Lovejoy wore an eyeglass, too, and smoked a paper
+thing he said was a cigarette. My little cousins, who were there, told
+me afterward that their pa had never looked so fine in his life before
+or since. They didn't know him at all, and neither did Aunt Melissy. She
+thought he was somebody with something to sell at first, and when he
+said:"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"'Aw, there, Melissah!' she threw up her hands and was just about to
+call for help, when just that minute she saw it was Uncle Silas.
+
+"Poor Uncle Silas! He meant to surprise her, and he did it sure enough.
+He meant to please her, though, and he didn't do that worth a cent. It
+seemed funny, but she was mad. That's just the trouble about women
+folks; you never know when you're going to please them. My little
+cousins said they never saw their ma so mad before or since. She made
+Uncle Lovejoy take off all his nice clothes, and the young man, too, and
+she cooked the game chicken for dinner. Then, right after dinner, she
+picked up a bag of shinney sticks that Uncle Lovejoy had brought home,
+and she says to him and the young man:"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"'Now you get out in the garden,' she says, 'both of you, and try to
+earn back some of this money you've been spending.' And Uncle Lovejoy
+didn't feel very much like it, but he went, and so did the young man.
+So did Aunt Melissy, and she used up most of those shinney sticks on
+Uncle Silas and the young man before fall, and Uncle Silas never saw any
+of his nice clothes again, though they had the best garden they ever did
+have, so my little cousins said.
+
+"And that," said Mr. 'Possum, leaning back in his chair to smoke,
+"that's why I've always been afraid to try family life. It's easier to
+please one than two, especially when the other one is a spry, stirring
+person like Aunt Melissy Lovejoy."
+
+"What became of all the good clothes?" asked Jack Rabbit, who was always
+very stylish.
+
+"Why, I've heard," said Mr. 'Possum, "that Aunt Melissy made some of
+them over for my little cousins, and that she traded off the rest of
+them to a pedler for patent medicine to give Uncle Silas for a weak
+mind, and I think he needed it some myself for trying to please her in
+the first place."
+
+Mr. Rabbit nodded.
+
+"It takes all kind of people to make a world," he said.
+
+Mr. 'Coon yawned and rubbed his eyes. The others were fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOLLOW TREE POETRY CLUB
+
+MR. CROW PLANS AN ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE FOREST PEOPLE
+
+
+[Illustration: HAD TO SCRATCH HIS HEAD AND THINK PRETTY HARD.]
+
+Once upon a time, when it was getting along toward fall in the Hollow
+Tree where Jack Rabbit and Mr. Robin and the others had come to live
+with the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow, there began to be
+long evenings, and the Hollow Tree people used to think of new ways to
+pass the time. They tried games at first, and sleight of hand tricks.
+Then they tried doing things, and Mr. Turtle carried them all together
+twice around the big parlor room on his back. But even that wasn't so
+funny after the first evening, and Mr. Crow, who did most of the
+thinking, had to scratch his head and think pretty hard what to do next.
+
+All at once he happened to remember that Jack Rabbit, who was the big
+man of the party, was also a first rate poet, and liked to read his own
+poetry better than anything. So, when he thought of that, he said:
+
+"I'll tell you. We'll have a poetry club."
+
+And of course that made Mr. Rabbit wake up right away.
+
+"What's that?" he said. "What kind of a thing is a poetry club?"
+
+"Why," said Mr. Crow, "it's a place where the members each write a poem
+and read it at the next meeting. You're the only real, sure enough poet,
+of course, and will be president, and write the best poem, but the rest
+of us can try, and you can tell us our mistakes. I've heard that Mr. Man
+has them, and they're ever so much fun."
+
+Jack Rabbit thought so, too, and all the others liked the plan. So they
+elected Mr. Rabbit president and then went to work on their poems. They
+couldn't have the first meeting very soon, for it took longer to write
+poems in those days than it does now, so before they got half ready the
+news got out some way, and even Mr. Dog had heard of it.
+
+[Illustration: POOR MR. DOG.]
+
+Poor Mr. Dog! It made him really quite ill to think he wasn't on very
+good terms with the Hollow Tree people, for he thought he could write
+pretty nice poetry, too, and he wanted to belong to that club worse than
+anything he could think of. He wanted to so bad that at last he told Mr.
+Robin that if they'd just let him come he'd promise anything they asked.
+
+They didn't want to let him, though, until Mr. Crow, who always felt
+kind of sorry for Mr. Dog, said he didn't see why Mr. Dog shouldn't come
+and look in through the window shutters, and that they could nail a seat
+for him on a limb just outside. They could pull him up to it with a rope
+and he could sit there and listen and applaud the poems all through
+without being able to do any damage to the poets, and he would be glad
+enough to be let down by the time they got done reciting.
+
+So they sent him an invitation, and Mr. Dog was as happy as a king. He
+went right to work on his poem, and he worked all night and walked up
+and down the yard all day trying to think up rhymes for "joyful" and
+"meeting," and a lot of other nice words. Even when he was asleep he
+dreamed about it, and said over some of the lines out loud and jerked
+his paws about as if he were reciting it and making motions. You see,
+Mr. Dog hadn't always done just right by the Hollow Tree people, and he
+was anxious to make a good impression and fix up things. He fixed
+himself all up, too, when the night came for the meeting, and took his
+poem under his arm and lit a cigar that he'd borrowed of Mr. Man for the
+occasion, and away he went.
+
+The Hollow Tree people were on the lookout for him and had the rope down
+and ready. So Mr. Dog tied it around under his arms, and they pulled and
+pulled, and up he came. Then, when he got pretty close to the window,
+they closed the shutter and put the rope through and pulled him up still
+a little higher, so that he could reach the seat on the limb, which was
+fixed just right for him to sit there and lean on the window sill while
+he listened and looked in.
+
+Of course, Mr. Dog wished he was inside, like the others, but he knew
+why he wasn't, and he was glad enough to be there at all. He peeked
+through the slats at the big room and smiled and said some nice things
+about how pretty the room looked, till they all got real sociable with
+him. Then Jack Rabbit called the meeting to order and made a few
+remarks.
+
+[Illustration: MR. RABBIT BOWED.]
+
+He said the duties of his office had kept him from writing quite as long
+and as good a poem as he would have liked to write, but that he hoped
+they might be willing to hear what he had done. Then they all shouted,
+"Yes, yes!" and "Hear, hear!" and Mr. Rabbit bowed first to the ones
+inside and then to Mr. Dog outside, and began:
+
+THE JOYS OF POETRY.
+
+BY J. RABBIT.
+
+  Oh, sweet the joys of poetry
+      In the merry days of spring,
+  When the dew is on the meadow
+      And the duck is on the wing!
+  For 'tis then, from Dan to Dover,
+  I'm a rover 'mid the clover,
+  Seeking rhymes the country over
+      With a ring, sing, swing--
+      With a ding, dong, ding,
+      And a ting a ling a ling--
+  For I'm the rhyming rover of the spring.
+
+  Oh, sweet the joys of poetry
+      In the pleasant summer time!
+  For 'tis then I have no trouble
+      To compose my gentle rhyme;
+  In a nooklet by the brooklet
+  I can think up quite a booklet,
+  As with fishing line and hooklet
+      I assist the fish to climb
+      To the music of my chime,
+      For with rollick and with rhyme
+  I'm the poet of the pleasant summer time.
+
+  Oh, sweet the joys of poetry
+      When any days have come,
+  When the autumn zephyrs whisper
+      Or the winter breezes hum!
+  For 'tis then my thoughts unfurling,
+  While the smoke goes upward curling,
+  Come a whirling, swirling, twirling,
+      With a rumty, tumty, turn,
+  Come a twirling, swirling, whirling,
+      Like the rattle of a drum.
+  Come a whirling, come a swirling;
+      For in spring or in the summer,
+    In the autumn or the winter
+      I'm the rumty, tumty, tummer
+  That rejoices in the seasons as they come.
+
+Well, when Mr. Rabbit got through everybody sat still for a minute, till
+Mr. Dog called out for somebody to come and unwind him so he could get
+his breath again. Then they all commenced to laugh and shout and pound
+on the table. And Mr. Rabbit coughed and looked pleased and said it was
+easy enough to do when you knew how.
+
+[Illustration: LOOKED FOOLISH AND SWALLOWED TWO OR THREE TIMES.]
+
+Then Mr. 'Possum, who was next on the program, said he hoped they'd let
+him off this time because he could only think of four lines, and that he
+was a better hand at the dinner table than he was at poetry, anyway. But
+they wouldn't do it, so he got up and looked foolish and swallowed two
+or three times before he could get started.
+
+WHAT I LOVE.
+
+BY A. PUFFINGTON 'POSSUM.
+
+  I love the fragrant chicken pie
+    That blooms in early spring;
+  I love a chicken stew or fry,
+    Or any old thing.
+
+Mr. 'Possum's poem was short, but it went right to the spot, and the way
+they applauded almost made Jack Rabbit jealous. He said that it was
+'most too true to be good poetry, but that it was good for a first
+effort, and that being short helped it. Then Mr. Robin spoke his piece:
+
+MOTHER AND ME.
+
+BY C. ROBIN.
+
+  When the bud breaks out on the maple bough
+    Mother and me we build our nest--
+  A twig from the yard and a wisp from the mow
+    And four blue eggs 'neath the mother breast.
+  Up in the tree, mother and me,
+  Happy and blithe and contented are we.
+
+  When the daisies fall and the roses die,
+    An empty nest in the boughs to swing--
+  Four young robins that learn to fly
+    And a sweet adieu till another spring.
+  Then up in the tree, mother and me,
+  Happy once more and contented we'll be.
+
+The applause wasn't so loud after Mr. Robin's poem, but they all said it
+was very pretty, and Mr. 'Possum even wiped his eyes with his
+handkerchief, because it made him remember something sad. Mr. Rabbit
+said that it ought to be "Mother and I," but that it didn't make much
+difference, he supposed, about grammar, so long as it rhymed and sounded
+nice. Then Mr. Crow got up.
+
+JUST NOTHING.
+
+BY J. CROW.
+
+  While others may sing of the pleasures of spring,
+    Or winter or summer or fall,
+  I'll sing not of these, because, if you please,
+    I'll sing of just nothing at all.
+  Just nothing at all, because, oh, ho!
+  I'll sing of myself, an old black crow.
+
+  As black as a coal and as homely as sin--
+    What more can I tell you, I pray?
+  For when you have nothing to sing of, why, then,
+    Of course there is nothing to say.
+  Nothing to say at all, oh, ho!
+  Except goodby to the old black crow--
+  The rollicking old black crow!
+
+They made a good deal of fuss over Mr. Crow's poem. They applauded, of
+course, but they said it wasn't so at all, and that Mr. Crow was a good
+deal more than "just nothing." They said that it was he who had got up
+this party, and that he was the best man to plan and cook anywhere. Mr.
+'Possum said he even liked Mr. Crow's April fool chicken pies, and then
+they all remembered and laughed, even to Mr. Crow himself. After that it
+was Mr. Squirrel's turn. Mr. Squirrel coughed twice and straightened
+his vest before he began, so they knew his poem wasn't to be funny.
+
+THE FOOLISH LITTLE LAD.
+
+BY MR. GRAY SQUIRREL.
+
+  Once on a time, the story goes,
+    A silly squirrel lad
+  One summer day did run away--
+    Which made his ma feel bad.
+
+  She hunted for him up and down
+    And round and round she ran--
+  Alas, that foolish squirrel boy
+    Was caught by Mr. Man.
+
+  For he had tried to climb a tree
+    As Mr. Man came past.
+  "I'll make you climb!" said Mr. Man,
+    And walked home pretty fast.
+
+  When he got there a boy came out
+    As Mr. Man went in.
+  That silly squirrel soon was put
+    Into a house of tin.
+
+  "Now you can climb!" said Mr. Man,
+    But when he did he found
+  That nice tin house, so bright and new,
+    Turned round and round and round.
+
+  And there he climbs and climbs all day
+    And never seems to stop,
+  And I have heard my mother say
+    He'll never reach the top.
+
+When Mr. Squirrel sat down there wasn't a dry eye in the room, and even
+Mr. Dog outside was affected. He said he'd seen that poor little
+squirrel at Mr. Man's house turning and turning away in his tin wheel,
+and felt so sorry for him that two or three times he'd tried to get him
+out. He said, though, that Mr. Man had always caught him at it and that
+then they didn't get on well for a day or two. He was so tender-hearted,
+though, he said, that he couldn't help pitying the little fellow,
+climbing and climbing all day long and never getting anywhere. Mr.
+'Possum shivered, and said it reminded him of bad dreams he'd had
+sometimes, when he'd eaten too much supper, and dreamed of climbing the
+rainbow. Then they all sat still and waited for Mr. Turtle, who came
+next.
+
+MY SNUG HOUSE.
+
+BY D'LAND TURTLE.
+
+  Oh, what do I care for your houses of wood,
+    Your houses of brick or of stone,
+  When I have a house that is cosy and good--
+    A beautiful house of my own?
+  And the doors will not sag and the roof will not crack
+  Of the house that I carry about on my back.
+
+  It is never too large and 'tis never too small,
+    It is with me wherever I roam.
+  In spring or in summer, in winter or fall,
+    I always can find my way home.
+  For it isn't so hard to remember the track
+  To the house that you carry about on your back.
+
+Well, of course, everybody applauded that, and then it was Mr. 'Coon's
+time. Mr. 'Coon said he was like Mr. 'Possum. He wasn't much on poetry,
+and only had four lines. He said they were some like Mr. 'Possum's,
+too.
+
+THE BEST THINGS.
+
+BY Z. COON.
+
+  I like the spring, I like the fall,
+    I like the cold and heat,
+  And poems, too, but best of all
+    I like good things to eat.
+
+[Illustration: LEANED OVER CLOSE TO THE BLINDS AND COMMENCED TO READ.]
+
+That brought the house down, and the Hollow Tree people thought the
+entertainment was over. They were going to have supper right away, but
+Mr. Dog called out to wait a minute. He said he had a little poem
+himself that he wanted to read. So out of politeness they all sat still,
+though they didn't expect very much. Then Mr. Dog unrolled his poem and
+leaned over close to the blinds and commenced to read.
+
+MY FOREST FRIENDS.
+
+BY MR. DOG.
+
+  Oh, dear to me my forest friends,
+    Especially Mr. Rabbit--
+  I love his poetry very much,
+    And every gentle habit.
+
+  And dear to me is Mr. 'Coon,
+    And also Mr. 'Possum;
+  I hope to win their friendship soon--
+    'Twill be a precious blossom.
+
+  And Mr. Crow and Robin, too,
+    With fancy sweet and fertile,
+  And Mr. Squirrel, kind and true,
+    And likewise Mr. Turtle.
+
+  Oh, dear to me my forest friends,
+    Especially Mr. Rabbit--
+  I love his poetry very much
+    And every gentle habit.
+
+Before Mr. Dog was half through reading the Hollow Tree people had
+gathered around the window to listen. By the time he got to the end of
+the third stanza he had to stop for them to cheer, and when he read the
+last one, Jack Rabbit pounded on the shutter with his fist and shouted,
+"Hurrah for Mr. Dog! Hurrah for Mr. Dog!" just as loud as ever he could,
+while all the others crowded up and shouted and tried to pound, too.
+
+Well, maybe the shutter wasn't very strong, or maybe they crowded and
+pounded too hard in their excitement over Mr. Dog's nice poem, for all
+at once there was a loud crack and the shutter flew open and out went
+Mr. Rabbit right smack into the arms of Mr. Dog!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I tell you that was pretty sudden and--Mr. Rabbit was scared. So were
+all the others and they were going to grab the shutter and close it
+again and leave Mr. Rabbit out there. But Jack Rabbit thinks quick.
+
+"Oh Mr. Dog," he said, "that was the nicest poem I ever heard. Let me
+embrace you, Mr. Dog, and be your friend forever after!"
+
+Then he hugged Mr. Dog just as tight as he could, and Mr. Dog hugged
+him, too, and shed tears, he was that happy. He had been wanting to make
+up with the forest people for a long time, but he hadn't expected this.
+Then the others all saw how it was and they shouted, "Hurrah for Mr.
+Dog!" again and invited him in. And Mr. Dog went in and they had the
+biggest supper and the biggest time that ever was known in the Hollow
+Tree.
+
+And that's how Mr. Dog got to be friends with all the Hollow Tree people
+at last. And he stayed friends with them ever and ever so long--and
+longer--just as long as he lived, for the Mr. Dog that isn't good
+friends with them now isn't the same Mr. Dog. And he isn't as smart,
+either, for he can't write poetry, and he's never even been able to find
+the Hollow Tree, where the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow live
+together and every summer keep open house for their friends.
+
+
+
+
+AROUND THE WORLD AND BACK AGAIN
+
+
+Once upon a time, when Mr. Dog was over spending the evening with the
+Hollow Tree people, he told them that Mr. Man had said the world was
+round, like a ball. Of course this was after Mr. Dog got to be good
+friends with the 'Possum and the 'Coon and the old black Crow, and he
+often used to come over to the Hollow Tree, where they lived, for a
+quiet talk and smoke, and to tell the things that Mr. Man said, and did,
+and what he had on his table for dinner.
+
+The Hollow Tree people liked to hear about Mr. Man, too; but when they
+heard what he said about the world being round they thought there must
+be some mistake in the way Mr. Dog had understood it. Mr. 'Coon said
+that it couldn't be so, for the edge of the world was just beyond the
+last trees of the big deep woods, and that he'd often sat there and hung
+his feet over and watched the moon come up. Mr. 'Possum said so, too;
+and Mr. Crow said that the other edge was over along the wide, blue
+water, where Mr. Turtle lived, and that of course the water was flat,
+as everybody could see. Anyway, it would spill out if it wasn't.
+
+But Mr. Dog stuck to it that Mr. Man had said just what Mr. Dog had said
+he said, and that, what was more, Mr. Man had said that the world turned
+over every day, and that the sun and moon and stars all went round it.
+And Mr. Man had said, too, that people sometimes went around the world,
+and didn't turn over or fall off into the sky when they were underneath,
+but kept on, and came up on the other side, right back to the very place
+they started from.
+
+Well, that made them all wonder a good deal more than ever; and Mr. Jack
+Rabbit, who came in just then for the evening, said he shouldn't be a
+bit surprised if it were true, for he'd often noticed how the seasons
+went round and round, and he thought, now, they must travel around the
+world some way, too. He said he'd composed some poetry on Spring as he
+came along, and that now he understood some lines of it better than he
+had at the start; for, of course, when poetry just comes to anybody, as
+it does to Mr. Rabbit, it isn't expected that even the poet himself will
+understand it very well at first.
+
+Then they all wanted to hear Jack Rabbit's poem, and Mr. Rabbit said
+that it really wasn't just as he wanted it yet, but that if they
+wouldn't expect too much, he'd let them hear how it went, anyway.
+
+WHICH WAY, SPRING?
+
+By J. Rabbit.
+
+        O Spring,
+        Ho, Spring!
+  Whither do you go, Spring?
+  If I did but know. Spring,
+    I would go there, too.
+        Pray, Spring,
+        Say, Spring,
+  Whither and away, Spring?
+  I would start to-day, Spring,
+    If I go with you.
+
+And Spring answers:--
+
+        "Why, sir,
+        I, sir,
+  Just go tripping by, sir--
+  If you did but try, sir,
+    You could go with me.
+        Follow,
+        Follow,
+  Over hill and hollow--
+  Where the bluebirds call, O,
+    I am sure to be."
+
+Well, everybody applauded that, of course; and Mr. 'Coon said that for
+his part he was tired of cold weather, and that if to-morrow was a
+bright day, and anybody'd go with him, he'd start out at sunrise and
+follow Spring clear around the world. Then Mr. 'Possum said he'd go just
+to see whether Mr. Man was right or not, and Mr. Crow said he'd go, too.
+Mr. Rabbit wanted to go to prove some things in his poem, but he had to
+make a garden if it was a good day, and Mr. Dog had an engagement to dig
+moles for Mr. Man.
+
+[Illustration: SET OUT IN HIGH SPIRITS.]
+
+So the next morning, bright and early, the three Hollow Tree people got
+up and started. They packed some lunch in a basket, so they wouldn't get
+hungry, in case they were gone all day, and set out in high spirits; for
+it was a beautiful morning in April, and they knew Spring had come at
+last.
+
+They saw a bluebird up in a tree not far away, and they remembered what
+Mr. Rabbit's poem had said about following him over hill and hollow; so
+they went along in that direction, talking and whistling and singing,
+because they felt so good in the fresh morning sunlight.
+
+And Mr. Bluebird hopped and whistled and flew along ahead, until,
+by-and-by, they came to where Mr. Fox lived.
+
+"Where are you fellows going, so early?" called Mr. Fox.
+
+"We're following Spring around the world," called back Mr. Crow; and
+then they told him all that Mr. Dog had said.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Then Mr. Fox looked very wise, for he didn't know if Mr. Dog was playing
+a trick on them, or if it were really true that the world was round and
+he hadn't heard of it. Anyway, he wasn't going to let on, so he said,
+"Why, of course! I knew that all the time. You just keep right on until
+you come to that big elm over yonder, and turn to the right. Anybody
+over there can show you the way." Then Mr. Fox coughed and went back
+into the house, but he made up his mind he wouldn't laugh until he had
+seen Mr. Dog and was sure it was all a joke. And the Hollow Tree people
+kept on to the elm tree, and, sure enough, there was Mr. Bluebird,
+hopping and whistling and flying on ahead, for he'd been listening to
+what Mr. Fox had told them.
+
+So they hurried right along after him till they came to Mr. Wolf's
+place. Mr. Wolf was looking out of his door as they came by.
+
+"Hello, you early birds!" he called. "Whose hen-roost you been after?"
+
+Then they told him they weren't thinking of such things as that on a
+beautiful morning like this, but that they were following Spring around
+the world. And they told him all that Mr. Man had said to Mr. Dog, and
+what Mr. Fox had said, and about Jack Rabbit's poem. Mr. Wolf thought
+he'd better be wise, too, until he found out just how things were, so he
+said:--"Sure enough! That's a good plan. I'd go along if I had time. I
+know the way well. You just keep on till you come to that creek yonder,
+then cross and turn to the right, and after that any one can show you
+the way."
+
+So away went the Hollow Tree people, and when they got to the creek, and
+crossed, and turned to the right, there was the bluebird again, hopping
+and whistling and dancing on ahead, just in the direction that Mr. Wolf
+had said to go. Then, pretty soon, Mr. 'Possum said he was hungry, so
+they sat down on some moss and ate their lunch, and Mr. Bluebird came up
+close and sang to them till Mr. 'Possum went to sleep in the sun and
+took a little nap, while the 'Coon and the Crow put what was left back
+into the basket and got ready to go. Then Mr. 'Possum woke up and said
+he was sure they must be nearly around the world, for he'd just had a
+dream about catching a chicken with four legs and two heads, and he knew
+that must mean something good. So then they went on and the bluebird
+went ahead, until they came to a fine, big cave, where Mr. Bear lived.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Now Mr. Bear is very big and wise--at least he thinks he is--and he knew
+right away that Mr. Dog was just playing a joke on them, or at least he
+thought he did, so he said:--"Well, well! I supposed you fellows knew
+all that long ago. You don't mean to say, do you, that this is really
+your first time round? Why, I go round the world every spring and fall,
+and buy most of my things on the other side. You just follow this path
+till you come to a big black rock, and then turn to the right and keep
+straight ahead. You can't miss the way."
+
+Then Mr. Bear went back in his cave, and laid down and rolled over and
+laughed to think what a big joke everybody was playing on the Hollow
+Tree people. But the Hollow Tree people kept right on, for they saw Mr.
+Bluebird still whistling and dancing on ahead; and by-and-by they came
+to the big black rock that Mr. Bear had mentioned, and turned to the
+right again as he had told them, to do. Then they walked and walked, and
+Mr. Bluebird hopped and skipped and whistled, until at last, just as
+they were all getting very tired and it was most night, they came to a
+big hollow tree in a deep woods; and Mr. 'Possum looked up and says,
+
+"Why," he says, "this tree looks a good deal like our tree!"
+
+And Mr. 'Coon he says, "Why, it's just like our tree!"
+
+[Illustration: AND MR. CROW, HE SAYS, "WHY, IT _IS_ OUR TREE!"]
+
+And Mr. Crow, he says, "Why, it is our tree!" for of course they'd
+turned to the right three times, which brought them right back where
+they started from, though they did not know it.
+
+So then all at once they commenced to laugh and shout:--"We've done it!
+We've done it!
+
+  "We've followed Spring around the world,
+    According to the plan!
+  Hurrah for Mr. Rabbit!
+    And hurrah for Mr. Man!"
+
+And the bluebird up in the branches whistled and danced and shouted,
+too; and Jack Rabbit and Mr. Dog came over pretty soon to see if they'd
+got home yet. And of course Mr. Rabbit was proud about the way his poem
+had turned out; and Mr. Dog he was proud, too, on Mr. Man's account.
+Then they all had a big supper, to celebrate, and by-and-by Mr. Rabbit
+and Mr. Dog went away arm in arm, singing Mr. Rabbit's poem to the moon;
+while the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow went to bed happy
+because they had followed Spring clear around the world, and hadn't got
+lost or tumbled off into the sky, but were home again safe and sound in
+the Hollow Tree.
+
+
+
+
+CHRISTMAS AT THE HOLLOW TREE INN
+
+THE STORY TELLER TOLD THE LAST HOLLOW TREE STORY ON CHRISTMAS EVE. IT
+WAS SNOWING OUTSIDE, AND THE LITTLE LADY WAS WONDERING HOW IT WAS IN THE
+FAR DEEP WOODS
+
+
+Once upon a time, he said, when the Robin, and Turtle, and Squirrel, and
+Jack Rabbit had all gone home for the winter, nobody was left in the
+Hollow Tree except the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow. Of
+course the others used to come back and visit them pretty often, and Mr.
+Dog, too, now that he had got to be good friends with all the Deep Woods
+people, and they thought a great deal of him when they got to know him
+better. Mr. Dog told them a lot of things they had never heard of
+before, things that he'd learned at Mr. Man's house, and maybe that's
+one reason why they got to liking him so well.
+
+[Illustration: HE TOLD THEM ALL ABOUT SANTA CLAUS.]
+
+He told them about Santa Claus, for one thing, and how the old fellow
+came down the chimney on Christmas Eve to bring presents to Mr. Man and
+his children, who always hung up their stockings for them, and Mr. Dog
+said that once he had hung up his stocking, too, and got a nice bone in
+it, that was so good he had buried and dug it up again as much as six
+times before spring. He said that Santa Claus always came to Mr. Man's
+house, and that whenever the children hung up their stockings they were
+always sure to get something in them.
+
+[Illustration: MR. CROW HE MADE HIMSELF A NEW PAIR ON PURPOSE.]
+
+Well, the Hollow Tree people had never heard of Santa Claus. They knew
+about Christmas, of course, because everybody, even the cows and sheep,
+know about that, but they had never heard of Santa Claus. You see, Santa
+Claus only comes to Mr. Man's house, but they didn't know that, either,
+so they thought if they just hung up their stockings he'd come there,
+too, and that's what they made up their minds to do. They talked about
+it a great deal together, and Mr. 'Possum looked over all his stockings
+to pick out the biggest one he had, and Mr. Crow he made himself a new
+pair on purpose. Mr. 'Coon said he never knew Mr. Crow to make himself
+such big stockings before, but Mr. Crow said he was getting old and
+needed things bigger, and when he loaned one of his new stockings to Mr.
+'Coon, Mr. 'Coon said, "That's so," and that he guessed they were about
+right after all. They didn't tell anybody about it at first, but by and
+by they told Mr. Dog what they were going to do, and when Mr. Dog heard
+it he wanted to laugh right out. You see, he knew Santa Claus never went
+anywhere except to Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would be a great
+joke on the Hollow Tree people when they hung up their stockings and
+didn't get anything.
+
+But by and by Mr. Dog thought about something else. He thought it would
+be too bad, too, for them to be disappointed that way. You see, Mr. Dog
+liked them all now, and when he had thought about that a minute he made
+up his mind to do something. And this is what it was--he made up his
+mind to play Santa Claus!
+
+He knew just how Santa Claus looked, 'cause he'd seen lots of his
+pictures at Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would be great fun to
+dress up that way and take a bag of presents to the Hollow Tree while
+they were all asleep and fill up the stockings of the 'Coon and 'Possum
+and the old black Crow. But first he had to be sure of some way of
+getting in, so he said to them he didn't see how they could expect Santa
+Claus, their chimneys were so small, and Mr. Crow said they could leave
+their latch string out down stairs, which was just what Mr. Dog wanted.
+Then they said they were going to have all the folks that had spent the
+summer with them over for Christmas dinner and to see the presents they
+had got in their stockings. They told Mr. Dog to drop over, too, if he
+could get away, and Mr. Dog said he would, and went off laughing to
+himself and ran all the way home because he felt so pleased at what he
+was going to do.
+
+Well, he had to work pretty hard, I tell you, to get things ready. It
+wasn't so hard to get the presents as it was to rig up his Santa Claus
+dress. He found some long wool out in Mr. Man's barn for his white
+whiskers, and he put some that wasn't so long on the edges of his
+overcoat and boot tops and around an old hat he had. Then he borrowed a
+big sack he found out there, too, and fixed it up to swing over his
+back, just as he had seen Santa Claus do in the pictures. He had a lot
+of nice things to take along. Three tender young chickens he'd borrowed
+from Mr. Man, for one thing, and then he bought some new neckties for
+the Hollow Tree folks all around, and a big, striped candy cane for each
+one, because candy canes always looked well sticking out of a stocking.
+Besides all that, he had a new pipe for each, and a package of tobacco.
+You see, Mr. Dog lived with Mr. Man, and didn't ever have to buy much
+for himself, so he had always saved his money. He had even more things
+than that, but I can't remember just now what they were; and when he
+started out, all dressed up like Santa Claus, I tell you his bag was
+pretty heavy, and he almost wished before he got there that he hadn't
+started with quite so much.
+
+[Illustration: IT GOT HEAVIER AND HEAVIER.]
+
+[Illustration: HE ALMOST HAD TO LAUGH RIGHT OUT LOUD.]
+
+It got heavier and heavier all the way, and he was glad enough to get
+there and find the latch string out. He set his bag down to rest a
+minute before climbing the stairs, and then opened the doors softly and
+listened. He didn't hear a thing except Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon and Mr.
+'Possum breathing pretty low, and he knew they might wake up any minute,
+and he wouldn't have been caught there in the midst of things for a
+good deal. So he slipped up just as easy as anything, and when he got up
+in the big parlor room he almost had to laugh right out loud, for there
+were the stockings sure enough, all hung up in a row, and a card with a
+name on it over each one telling who it belonged to.
+
+Then he listened again, and all at once he jumped and held his breath,
+for he heard Mr. 'Possum say something. But Mr. 'Possum was only talking
+in his sleep, and saying, "I'll take another piece, please," and Mr. Dog
+knew he was dreaming about the mince pie he'd had for supper.
+
+So, then he opened his bag and filled the stockings. He put in mixed
+candy and nuts and little things first, and then the pipes and tobacco
+and candy canes, so they'd show at the top, and hung a nice dressed
+chicken outside. I tell you, they looked fine! It almost made Mr. Dog
+wish he had a stocking of his own there to fill, and he forgot all about
+them waking up, and sat down in a chair to look at the stockings. It was
+a nice rocking chair, and over in a dark corner where they wouldn't be
+apt to see him, even if one of them did wake up and stick his head out
+of his room, so Mr. Dog felt pretty safe now, anyway. He rocked softly,
+and looked and looked at the nice stockings, and thought how pleased
+they'd be in the morning, and how tired he was. You've heard about
+people being as tired as a dog; and that's just how Mr. Dog felt. He was
+so tired he didn't feel a bit like starting home, and by and by--he
+never did know how it happened--but by and by Mr. Dog went sound
+asleep right there in his chair, with all his Santa Claus clothes on.
+
+And there he sat, with his empty bag in his hand and the nice full
+stockings in front of him, all night long. Even when it came morning and
+began to get light Mr. Dog didn't know it; he just slept right on, he
+was that tired. Then pretty soon the door of Mr. 'Possum's room opened
+and he poked out his head. And just then the door of Mr. 'Coon's room
+opened and he poked out his head. Then the door of the old black Crow
+opened and out poked his head. They all looked toward the stockings, and
+they didn't see Mr. Dog, or even each other, at all. They saw their
+stockings, though, and Mr. 'Coon said all at once:--
+
+"Oh, there's something in my stocking!"
+
+And then Mr. Crow says:--"Oh, there's something in my stocking, too!"
+
+And Mr. 'Possum says:--"Oh, there's something in all our stockings!"
+
+[Illustration: TO SEE MR. DOG JUMP RIGHT STRAIGHT OUT OF HIS CHAIR.]
+
+And with that they gave a great hurrah all together, and rushed out and
+grabbed their stockings and turned around just in time to see Mr. Dog
+jump right straight up out of his chair, for he did not know where he
+was the least bit in the world.
+
+"Oh, there's Santa Claus himself!" they all shouted together, and made a
+rush for their rooms, for they were scared almost to death. But it all
+dawned on Mr. Dog in a second, and he commenced to laugh and hurrah to
+think what a joke it was on everybody. And when they heard Mr. Dog laugh
+they knew him right away, and they all came up and looked at him, and he
+had to tell just what he'd done and everything; so they emptied out
+their stockings on the floor and ate some of the presents and looked at
+the others, until they almost forgot about breakfast, just as children
+do on Christmas morning.
+
+Then Mr. Crow said, all at once, that he'd make a little coffee, and
+that Mr. Dog must stay and have some, and by and by they made him
+promise to spend the day with them and be there when the Robin and the
+Squirrel and Mr. Turtle and Jack Rabbit came, which he did.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+And it was snowing hard outside, which made it a nicer Christmas than if
+it hadn't been, and when all the others came they brought presents, too.
+And when they saw Mr. Dog dressed up as Santa Claus and heard how he'd
+gone to sleep and been caught, they laughed and laughed. And it snowed
+so hard that they had to stay all night, and after dinner they sat
+around the fire and told stories. And they had to stay the next night,
+too, and all that Christmas week. And I wish I could tell you all that
+happened that week, but I can't, because I haven't time. But it was the
+very nicest Christmas that ever was in the Hollow Tree, or in the Big
+Deep Woods anywhere.
+
+And this, said the Story Teller, is the very last Hollow Tree story, and
+there will be no more, for they all came out through Mr. Dog, and Mr.
+Dog has gone away now into that Far Land of Evening where all good dogs
+go to when they get very, very old. He was friends with the Hollow Tree
+people to the last, and when he got too old to visit them, they used to
+come to see him, sometimes at night, when Mr. Man was asleep. And when
+Mr. Dog went away on his long journey beyond the sunset they were all so
+sorry, for they knew that no other Mr. Dog would ever be friends with
+them, and they were very sad in the Hollow Tree for a long time.
+
+  Then here's goodby to the old black Crow,
+    And the rest, with a one, two, three!
+  And here's goodby to the Hollow, Hollow, Hollow--
+    Good-by to the Hollow Tree.
+
+
+
+
+GOOD-BYE TO THE LITTLE LADY
+
+WHAT SHE WISHES AND WHAT THE STORY TELLER SAYS
+
+
+The Little Lady looks into the fire thoughtfully.
+
+"And isn't there any more about the Hollow Tree?" she says at last.
+
+The Story Teller looks into the fire, too.
+
+"I'm afraid not," he answers.
+
+"And won't you never know any more? Not ever--in a thousand days?"
+
+"I--no, I'm afraid not."
+
+"I wish we lived in a Hollow Tree," says the Little Lady.
+
+From the House of Many Windows the Story Teller looks down on the
+dazzling lights and the clatter and jangle of the street. Then he
+remembers cool, musky ways in the dim woods, down which the padded feet
+of the forest people pass silently to hidden homes of peace. The Story
+Teller sighs.
+
+"Yes, sweetheart," he says, "I have wished that sometimes, too."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book, by
+Albert Bigelow Paine
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