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diff --git a/old/4980.txt b/old/4980.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d747213 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4980.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2799 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Granny Fox, by Thornton W. Burgess + +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: Old Granny Fox + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4980] +Posting Date: April 23, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD GRANNY FOX *** + + + + +Produced by Kent Fielden + + + + + + + + +OLD GRANNY FOX + + +By Thornton W. Burgess + + + + +CHAPTER I: Reddy Fox Brings Granny News + + Pray who is there who would refuse + To bearer be of happy news? + --Old Granny Fox. + +Snow covered the Green Meadows and the Green Forest, and ice bound the +Smiling Pool and the Laughing Brook. Reddy and Granny Fox were hungry +most of the time. It was not easy to find enough to eat these days, and +so they spent nearly every minute they were awake in hunting. Sometimes +they hunted together, but usually one went one way, and the other went +another way so as to have a greater chance of finding something. If +either found enough for two, the one finding it took the food back to +their home if it could be carried. If not, the other was told where to +find it. + +For several days they had had very little indeed to eat, and they were +so hungry that they were willing to take almost any chance to get a good +meal. For two nights they had visited Farmer Brown's henhouse, hoping +that they would be able to find a way inside. But the biddies had been +securely locked up, and try as they would, they couldn't find a way in. + +"It's of no use," said Granny, as they started back home after the +second try, "to hope to get one of those hens at night. If we are going +to get any at all, we will have to do it in broad daylight. It can +be done, for I have done it before, but I don't like the idea. We are +likely to be seen, and that means that Bowser the Hound will be set to +hunting us." + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Reddy. "What of it? It's easy enough to fool him." + +"You think so, do you?" snapped Granny. "I never yet saw a young Fox +who didn't think he knew all there is to know, and you're just like the +rest. When you've lived as long as I have you will have learned not to +be quite so sure of your own opinions. I grant you that when there is no +snow on the ground, any Fox with a reasonable amount of Fox sense in his +head can fool Bowser, but with snow everywhere it is a very different +matter. If Bowser once takes it into his head to follow your trail these +days, you will have to be smarter than I think you are to fool him. The +only way you will be able to get away from him will be by going into +a hole in the ground, and when you do that you will have given away a +secret that will mean we will never have any peace at all. We will never +know when Farmer Brown's boy will take it into his head to smoke us out. +I've seen it done. No, Sir, we are not going to try for one of those +hens in the daytime unless we are starving." + +"I'm starving now," whined Reddy. + +"No such thing!" Granny snapped. "I've been without food longer than +this many a time. Have you been over to the Big River lately?" + +"No," replied Reddy. "What's the use? It's frozen over. There isn't +anything there." + +"Perhaps not," replied Granny, "but I learned a long time ago that it +is a poor plan to overlook any chance. There is a place in the Big River +which never freezes because the water runs too swiftly to freeze, and +I've found more than one meal washed ashore there. You go over there now +while I see what I can find in the Green Forest. If neither of us finds +anything, it will be time enough to think about Farmer Brown's hens +to-morrow." + +Much against his will Reddy obeyed. "It isn't the least bit of use," he +grumbled, as he trotted towards the Big River. "There won't be anything +there. It is just a waste of time." + +Late that afternoon he came hurrying back, and Granny knew by the way +that he cocked his ears and carried his tail that he had news of some +kind. "Well, what is it?" she demanded. + +"I found a dead fish that had been washed ashore," replied Reddy. "It +wasn't big enough for two, so I ate it." + +"Anything else?" asked Granny. + +"No-o," replied Reddy slowly; "that is, nothing that will do us any +good. Quacker the Wild Duck was swimming about out in the open water, +but though I watched and watched he never once came ashore." + +"Ha!" exclaimed Granny. "That is good news. I think we'll go Duck +hunting." + + + +CHAPTER II: Granny And Reddy Fox Go Hunting + + When you're in doubt what course is right, + The thing to do is just sit tight. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun had just got well started on his daily +climb up in the blue, blue sky that morning when he spied two figures +trotting across the snow-covered Green Meadows, one behind the other. +They were trotting along quite as if they had made up their minds just +where they were going. They had. You see they were Granny and Reddy Fox, +and they were bound for the Big River at the place where the water ran +too swiftly to freeze. The day before Reddy had discovered Quacker the +Wild Duck swimming about there, and now they were on their way to try to +catch him. + +Granny led the way and Reddy meekly followed her. To tell the truth, +Reddy hadn't the least idea that they would have a chance to catch +Quacker, because Quacker kept out in the water where he was as safe from +them as if they were a thousand miles away. The only reason that Reddy +had willingly started with Granny was the hope that he might find a dead +fish washed up on the shore as he had the day before. + +"Granny certainly is growing foolish in her old age," thought Reddy, as +he trotted along behind her. "I told her that Quacker never once came +ashore all the time I watched yesterday. I don't believe he ever comes +ashore, and if she knows anything at all she ought to know that she +can't catch him out there in the water. Granny used to be smart enough +when she was young, I guess, but she certainly is losing her mind now. +It's a pity, a great pity. I can just imagine how Quacker will laugh at +her. I have to laugh myself." + +He did laugh, but you may be sure he took great pains that Granny should +not see him laughing. Whenever she looked around he was as sober as +could be. In fact, he appeared to be quite as eager as if he felt sure +they would catch Quacker. Now old Granny Fox is very wise in the ways of +the Great World, and if Reddy could have known what was going on in her +mind as she led the way to the Big River, he might not have felt quite +so sure of his own smartness. Granny was doing some quiet laughing +herself. + +"He thinks I'm old and foolish and don't know what I'm about, the young +scamp!" thought she. "He thinks he has learned all there is to learn. It +isn't the least use in the world to try to tell him anything. When young +folks feel the way he does, it is a waste of time to talk to them. +He has got to be shown. There is nothing like experience to take the +conceit out of these youngsters." + +Now conceit is the feeling that you know more than any one else. Perhaps +you do. Then again, perhaps you don't. So sometimes it is best not to +be too sure of your own opinion. Reddy was sure. He trotted along behind +old Granny Fox and planned smart things to say to her when she found +that there wasn't a chance to catch Quacker the Duck. I am afraid, +very much afraid, that Reddy was planning to be saucy. People who think +themselves smart are quite apt to be saucy. + +Presently they came to the bank of the Big River. Old Granny Fox told +Reddy to sit still while she crept up behind some bushes where she could +peek out over the Big River. He grinned as he watched her. He was still +grinning when she tiptoed back. He expected to see her face long with +disappointment. Instead she looked very much pleased. + +"Quacker is there," said she, "and I think he will make us a very good +dinner. Creep up behind those bushes and see for yourself, then come +back here and tell me what you think we'd better do to get him." + +So Reddy stole up behind the bushes, and this time it was Granny who +grinned as she watched. As he crept along, Reddy wondered if it could be +that for once Quacker had come ashore. Granny seemed so sure they could +catch him that this must be the case. But when he peeped through the +hushes, there was Quacker way out in the middle of the open water just +where he had been the day before. + + + +CHAPTER III: Reddy Is Sure Granny Has Lost Her Senses + + Perhaps 'tis just as well that we + Can't see ourselves as others see. + --Old Granny Fox. + +"Just as I thought," muttered Reddy Fox as he peeped through the bushes +on the bank of the Big River and saw Quacker swimming about in the water +where it ran too swiftly to freeze. "We've got just as much chance of +catching him as I have of jumping over the moon. That's what I'll tell +Granny." + +He crept back carefully so as not to be seen by Quacker, and when he had +reached the place where Granny was waiting for him, his face wore a very +impudent look. + +"Well," said Granny Fox, "what shall we do to catch him?" + +"Learn to swim like a fish and fly like a bird," replied Reddy in such a +saucy tone that Granny had hard work to keep from boxing his ears. + +"You mean that you think he can't be caught?" said she quietly. + +"I don't think anything about it; I know he can't!" snapped Reddy. "Not +by us, anyway," he added. + +"I suppose you wouldn't even try?" retorted Granny. + +"I'm old enough to know when I'm wasting my time," replied Reddy with a +toss of his head. + +"In other words you think I'm a silly old Fox who has lost her senses," +said Granny sharply. + +"No-o. I didn't say that," protested Reddy, looking very uncomfortable. + +"But you think it," declared Granny. "Now look here, Mr. Smarty, you do +just as I tell you. You creep back there where you can watch Quacker and +all that happens, and mind that you keep out of his sight. Now go." + +Reddy went. There was nothing else to do. He didn't dare disobey. +Granny watched until Reddy had readied his hiding-place. Then what do +you think she did? Why, she walked right out on the little beach just +below Reddy and in plain sight of Quacker! Yes, Sir, that is what she +did! + +Then began such a queer performance that it is no wonder that Reddy was +sure Granny had lost her senses. She rolled over and over. She chased +her tail round and round until it made Reddy dizzy to watch her. She +jumped up in the air. She raced back and forth. She played with a bit +of stick. And all the time she didn't pay the least attention to Quacker +the Duck. + +Reddy stared and stared. Whatever had come over Granny? She was crazy. +Yes, Sir, that must be the matter. It must be that she had gone without +food so long that she had gone crazy. Poor Granny! She was in her second +childhood. Reddy could remember how he had done such things when he was +very young, just by way of showing how fine he felt. But for a grown-up +Fox to do such things was undignified, to say the least. You know Reddy +thinks a great deal of dignity. It was worse than undignified; it was +positively disgraceful. He did hope that none of his neighbors would +happen along and see Granny cutting up so. He never would hear the end +of it if they did. + +Over and over rolled Granny, and around and around she chased her tail. +The snow flew up in a cloud. And all the time she made no sound. Reddy +was just trying to decide whether to go off and leave her until she had +regained her common sense, or to go out and try to stop her, when he +happened to look out in the open water where Quacker was. Quacker was +sitting up as straight as he could. In fact, he had his wings raised to +help him sit up on his tail, the better to see what old Granny Fox was +doing. + +"As I live," muttered Reddy, "I believe that fellow is nearer than he +was!" + +Reddy crouched lower than ever, and instead of watching Granny he +watched Quacker the Duck. + + + +CHAPTER IV: Quacker The Duck Grows Curious + + The most curious thing in the world is curiosity. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Old Granny Fox never said a truer thing than that. It is curious, very +curious, how sometimes curiosity will get the best of even the wisest +and most sensible of people. Even Old Granny Fox herself has been known +to be led into trouble by it. We expect it of Peter Rabbit, but Peter +isn't a bit more curious than some others of whom we do not expect it. + +Now Quacker the Wild Duck is the last one in the world you would expect +to be led into trouble by curiosity. Quacker had spent the summer in the +Far North with Honker the Goose. In fact, he had been born there. He had +started for the far away Southland at the same time Honker had, but when +he reached the Big River he had found plenty to eat and had decided to +stay until he had to move on. The Big River had frozen over everywhere +except in this one place where the water was too swift to freeze, and +there Quacker had remained. You see, he was a good diver and on the +bottom of the river he found plenty to eat. No one could get at him +out there, unless it were Roughleg the Hawk, and if Roughleg did happen +along, all he had to do was to dive and come up far away to laugh and +make fun of Roughleg. The water couldn't get through his oily feathers, +and so he didn't mind how cold it was. + +Now in his home in the Far North there were so many dangers that Quacker +had early learned to be always on the watch and to take the best of care +of himself. On his way down to the Big River he had been hunted by men +with terrible guns, and he had learned all about them. In fact, he felt +quite able to keep out of harm's way. He rather prided himself that +there was no one smart enough to catch him. + +I suspect he thought he knew all there was to know. In this respect he +was a good deal like Reddy Fox himself. That was because he was young. +It is the way with young Ducks and Foxes and with some other youngsters +I know. + +When Quacker first saw Granny Fox on the little beach, he flirted his +absurd little tail and smiled as he thought how she must wish she could +catch him. But so far as he could see, Granny didn't once look at him. + +"She doesn't know I'm out here at all," thought Quacker. Then suddenly +he sat up very straight and looked with all his might. What under the +sun was the matter with that Fox? She was acting as if she had suddenly +lost her senses. + +Over and over she rolled. Around and around she spun. She turned +somersaults. She lay on her back and kicked her heels in the air. +Never in his life had he known any one to act like that. There must be +something the matter with her. + +Quacker began to get excited. He couldn't keep his eyes off Old Granny +Fox. He began to swim nearer. He wanted to see better. He quite forgot +she was a Fox. She moved so fast that she was just a queer red spot on +the beach. Whatever she was doing was very curious and very exciting. He +swam nearer and nearer. The excitement was catching. He began to swim in +circles himself. All the time he drew nearer and nearer to the shore. He +didn't have the least bit of fear. He was just curious. He wanted to see +better. + +All the time Granny was cutting up her antics, she was watching Quacker, +though he didn't suspect it. As he swam nearer and nearer to the shore, +Granny rolled and tumbled farther and farther back. At last Quacker was +close to the shore. If he kept on, he would be right on the land in a +few minutes. And all the time he stared and stared. No thought of danger +entered his head. You see, there was no room because it was so filled +with curiosity. + +"In a minute more I'll have him," thought Granny, and whirled faster +than ever. And just then something happened. + + + +CHAPTER V: Reddy Fox Is Afraid To Go Home + + Yes, Sir, a chicken track is good to see, but + it often puts nothing but water in my mouth. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Reddy Fox thought of that saying many times as he hunted through the +Green Forest that night, afraid to go home. You see, he had almost dined +on Quacker the Duck over at the Big River that day and then hadn't, and +it was all his own fault. That was why he was afraid to go home. From +his hiding-place on the bank he had watched Quacker swim in and in until +he was almost on the shore where old Granny Fox was whirling and rolling +and tumbling about as if she had entirely lost her senses. Indeed, Reddy +had been quite sure that she had when she began. It wasn't until he saw +that curiosity was drawing Quacker right in so that in a minute or two +Granny would be able to catch him, that he understood that Granny was +anything but crazy, and really was teaching him a new trick as well as +trying to catch a dinner. + +When he realized this, he should have been ashamed of himself for +doubting the smartness of Granny and for thinking that he knew all there +was to know. But he was too much excited for any such thoughts. Nearer +and nearer to the shore came Quacker, his eyes fixed on the red, +whirling form of Granny. Reddy's own eyes gleamed with excitement. Would +Quacker keep on right up to the shore? Nearer and nearer and nearer he +came. Reddy squirmed uneasily. He couldn't see as well as he wanted to. +The bushes behind which he was lying were in his way. He wanted to see +Granny make that jump which would mean a dinner for both. + +Forgetting what Granny had charged him, Reddy eagerly raised his head to +look over the edge of the bank. Now it just happened that at that very +minute Quacker chanced to look that way. His quick eyes caught the +movement of Reddy's head and in an instant all his curiosity vanished. +That sharp face peering at him over the edge of the bank could mean but +one thing--danger! It was all a trick! He saw through it now. Like a +flash he turned. There was the whistle of stiff wings beating the air +and the patter of feet striking the water as he got under way. Then he +flew out to the safety of the open water. Granny sprang, but she was +just too late and succeeded in doing no more than wet her feet. + +Of course, Granny didn't know what had frightened Quacker, not at first, +anyway. But she had her suspicions. She turned and looked up at the +place where Reddy had been hiding. She couldn't see him. Then she +bounded up the bank. There was no Reddy there, but far away across the +snow-covered Green Meadows was a red spot growing smaller and smaller. +Reddy was running away. Then she knew. At first Granny was very angry. +You know it is a dreadful thing to be hungry and have a good dinner +disappear just as it is almost within reach. + +"I'll teach that young scamp a lesson he won't soon forget when I get +home," she muttered, as she watched him. Then she went back to the edge +of the Big River and there she found a dead fish which had been washed +ashore. It was a very good fish, and when she had eaten it Granny felt +better. + +"Anyway," thought she, "I have taught him a new trick and one he is n't +likely to forget. He knows now that Granny still knows a few tricks that +he doesn't, and next time he won't feel so sure he knows it all. I guess +it was worth while even if I didn't catch Quacker. My, but he would have +tasted good!" Granny smacked her lips and started for home. + +But Reddy, with a guilty conscience, was afraid to go home. And so, +miserable and hungry, he hunted through the Green Forest all the long +night and wished and wished that he had heeded what old Granny Fox had +told him. + + + +CHAPTER VI: Old Granny Fox Is Caught Napping + + The wisest folks will make mistakes, but + if they are truly wise they will profit from them. + --Old Granny Fox. + +There is a saying among the little people of the Green Forest and the +Green Meadows which runs something like this: + + "You must your eyes wide open keep + To catch Old Granny Fox asleep." + +Of course this means that Old Granny Fox is so smart, so clever, so +keenly on the watch at all times, that he must be very smart indeed +who fools her or gets ahead of her. Reddy Fox is smart, very smart. But +Reddy isn't nearly as smart as Old Granny Fox. You see, he hasn't lived +nearly as long, so of course there is much knowledge of many things +stored away in Granny's head of which Reddy knows little. + +But once in a while even the smartest people are caught napping. Yes, +Sir, that does happen. They will be careless sometimes. It was just so +with Old Granny Fox. With all her smartness and cleverness and wisdom +she grew careless, and all the smartness and cleverness and wisdom in +the world is useless if the possessor becomes careless. + +You see, Old Granny Fox had become so used to thinking that she was +smarter than any one else, unless it was Old Man Coyote, that she +actually believed that no one was smart enough ever to surprise her. +Yes, Sir, she actually believed that. Now, you know when a person +reaches the point of thinking that no one else in all the Great World is +quite so smart, that person is like Peter Rabbit when he made ready one +winter day to jump out on the smooth ice of the Smiling Pool,--getting +ready for a fall. It was this way with Old Granny Fox. + +Because she had lived near Farmer Brown's so long and had been hunted +so often by Farmer Brown's boy and by Bowser the Hound, she had got the +idea in her head that no matter what she did they would not be able to +catch her. So at last she grew careless. Yes, Sir, she grew careless. +And that is something no Fox or anybody else can afford to do. + +Now on the edge of the Green Forest was a warm, sunny knoll, which, as +you know, is a sort of little hill. It overlooked the Green Meadows and +was quite the most pleasant and comfortable place for a sun-nap that +ever was. At least, that is what Old Granny Fox thought. She took +sun-naps there very often. It was her favorite resting place. When +Bowser the Hound had found her trail and had chased her until she +was tired of running and had had quite all the exercise she needed or +wanted, she would play one of her clever tricks by which to make Bowser +lose her trail. Then she would hurry straight to that knoll to rest and +grin at her own smartness. + +It happened that she did this one day when there was fresh snow on the +ground. Of course, every time she put a foot down she left a print in +the snow. And where she curled up in the sun she left the print of her +body. They were very plain to see, were these prints, and Farmer Brown's +boy saw them. + +He had been tramping through the Green Forest late in the afternoon +and just by chance happened across Granny's footprints. Just for fun he +followed them and so came to the sunny knoll. Granny had left some time +before, but of course she couldn't take the print of her body with +her. That remained in the snow, and Farmer Brown's boy saw it and knew +instantly what it meant. He grinned, and could Granny Fox have seen that +grin, she would have been uncomfortable. You see, he knew that he had +found the place where Granny was in the habit of taking a sun-nap. + +"So," said he, "this is the place where you rest, Old Mrs. Fox, after +running Bowser almost off his feet. I think we will give you a surprise +one of these days. Yes, indeed, I think we will give you a surprise. You +have fooled us many times, and now it is our turn." + +The next day Farmer Brown's boy shouldered his terrible gun and sent +Bowser the Hound to hunt for the trail of Old Granny Fox. It wasn't long +before Bowser's great voice told all the Great World that he had found +Granny's tracks. Farmer Brown's boy grinned just as he had the day +before. Then with his terrible gun he went over to the Green Forest and +hid under some pine boughs right on the edge of that sunny knoll. + +He waited patiently a long, long time. He heard Bowser's great voice +growing more and more excited as he followed Old Granny Fox. By and by +Bowser stopped baying and began to yelp impatiently. Farmer Brown's boy +knew exactly what that meant. It meant that Granny had played one of her +smart tricks and Bowser had lost her trail. + +A few minutes later out of the Green Forest came Old Granny Fox, and +she was grinning, for once more she had fooled Bowser the Hound and +now could take a nap in peace. Still grinning, she turned around two +or three times to make herself comfortable and then, with a sigh of +contentment, curled up for a sun-nap, and in a few minutes was asleep. +And just a little way off behind the pine boughs sat Farmer Brown's boy +holding his terrible gun and grinning. At last he had caught Old Granny +Fox napping. + + + +CHAPTER VII: Granny Fox Has A Bad Dream + + Nothing ever simply happens; + Bear that point in mind. + If you look long and hard enough + A cause you'll always find. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Old Granny Fox was dreaming. Yes, Sir, she was dreaming. There she lay, +curled up on the sunny little knoll on the edge of the Green Forest, +fast asleep and dreaming. It was a very pleasant and very comfortable +place indeed. You see, jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun poured his warmest +rays right down there from the blue, blue sky. When Old Granny Fox was +tired, she often slipped over there for a short nap and sun-bath even +in winter. She was quite sure that no one knew anything about it. It was +one of her secrets. + +This morning Old Granny Fox was very tired, unusually so. In the first +place she had been out hunting all night. Then, before she could reach +home, Bowser the Hound had found her tracks and started to follow them. +Of course, it wouldn't have done to go home then. It wouldn't have done +at all. Bowser would have followed her straight there and so found out +where she lived. So she had led Bowser far away across the Green Meadows +and through the Green Forest and finally played one of her smart tricks +which had so mixed her tracks that Bowser could no longer follow them. +While he had sniffed and snuffed and snuffed and sniffed with that +wonderful nose of his, trying to find out where she had gone, Old Granny +Fox had trotted straight to the sunny knoll and there curled up to rest. +Right away she fell asleep. + +Now Old Granny Fox, like most of the other little people of the Green +Forest and the Green Meadows, sleeps with her ears wide open. Her eyes +may be closed, but not her ears. Those are always on guard, even when +she is asleep, and at the least sound open fly her eyes, and she is +ready to run. If it were not for the way her sharp ears keep guard, she +wouldn't dare take naps in the open right in broad daylight. If you +ever want to catch a Fox asleep, you mustn't make the teeniest, weeniest +noise. Just remember that. + +Now Old Granny Fox had no sooner closed her eyes than she began to +dream. At first it was a very pleasant dream, the pleasantest dream a +Fox can have. It was of a chicken dinner, all the chicken she could eat. +Granny certainly enjoyed that dream. It made her smack her lips quite as +if it were a real and not a dream dinner she was enjoying. + +But presently the dream changed and became a bad dream. Yes, indeed, +it became a bad dream. It was as bad as at first it had been good. It +seemed to Granny that Bowser the Hound had become very smart, smarter +than she had ever known him to be before. Do what she would, she +couldn't fool him. Not one of all the tricks she knew, and she knew a +great many, fooled him at all. They didn't puzzle him long enough for +her to get her breath. + +Bowser kept getting nearer and nearer and nearer, all in the dream, you +know, until it seemed as if his great voice sounded right at her very +heels. She was so tired that it seemed to her that she couldn't run +another step. It was a very, very real dream. You know dreams sometimes +do seem very real indeed. This was the way it was with the bad dream +of Old Granny Fox. It seemed to her that she could feel the breath of +Bowser the Hound and that his great jaws were just going to close on her +and shake her to death. + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Granny and waked herself up. Her eyes flew open. Then +she gave a great sigh of relief as she realized that her terrible fright +was only a bad dream and that she was curled up right on the dear, +familiar, old, sunny knoll and not running for her life at all. + +Old Granny Fox smiled to think what a fright she had had and +then,--well, she didn't know whether she was really awake or still +dreaming! No, Sir, she didn't. For a full minute she couldn't be sure +whether what she saw was real or part of that dreadful dream. You see, +she was staring into the face of Farmer Brown's boy and the muzzle of +his dreadful gun! + +For just a few seconds she didn't move. She couldn't. She was too +frightened to move. Then she knew what she saw was real and not a dream +at all. There wasn't the least bit of doubt about it. That was Farmer +Brown's boy, and that was his dreadful gun! All in a flash she knew that +Farmer Brown's boy must have been hiding behind those pine boughs. + +Poor Old Granny Fox! For once in her life she had been caught napping. +She hadn't the least hope in the world. Farmer Brown's boy had only to +fire that dreadful gun, and that would be the end of her. She knew it. + + + +CHAPTER VIII: What Farmer Brown's Boy Did + + In time of danger heed this rule: + Think hard and fast, but pray keep cool. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Poor Old Granny Fox! She had thought that she had been in tight places +before, but never, never had she been in such a tight place as this. +There stood Farmer Brown's boy looking along the barrel of his dreadful +gun straight at her, and only such a short distance, such a very short +distance away! It wasn't the least bit of use to run. Granny knew that. +That dreadful gun would go "bang!" and that would be the end of her. + +For a few seconds she stared at Farmer Brown's boy, too frightened +to move or even think. Then she began to wonder why that dreadful gun +didn't go off. What was Farmer Brown's boy waiting for? She got to +her feet. She was sure that the first step would be her last, yet she +couldn't stay there. + +How could Fanner Brown's boy do such a dreadful thing? Somehow, his +freckled face didn't look cruel. He was even beginning to grin. That +must be because he had caught her napping and knew that this time she +couldn't possibly get away from him as she had so many times before. +"Oh!" sobbed Old Granny Fox under her breath. + +And right at that very instant Farmer Brown's boy did something. What do +you think it was? No, he didn't shoot her. He didn't fire his dreadful +gun. What do you think he did do? Why, he threw a snowball at Old Granny +Fox and shouted "Boo!" That is what he did and all he did, except to +laugh as Granny gave a great leap and then made those black legs of hers +fly as never before. + +Every instant Granny expected to hear that dreadful gun, and it seemed +as if her heart would burst with fright as she ran, thinking each jump +would be the last one. But the dreadful gun didn't bang, and after a +little, when she felt she was safe, she turned to look back over her +shoulder. Farmer Brown's boy was standing right where she had last seen +him, and he was laughing harder than ever. Yes, Sir, he was laughing, +and though Old Granny Fox didn't think so at the time, his laugh was +good to hear, for it was good-natured and merry and all that an honest +laugh should be. + +"Go it, Granny! Go it!" shouted Farmer Brown's boy. "And the next time +you are tempted to steal my chickens, just remember that I caught you +napping and let you off when I might have shot you. Just remember that +and leave my chickens alone." + +Now it happened that Tommy Tit the Chickadee had seen all that +had happened, and he fairly bubbled over with joy. "Dee, dee, dee, +Chickadee! It is just as I have always said--Farmer Brown's boy isn't +bad. He'd be friends with every one if every one would let him," he +cried. + +"Maybe, maybe," grumbled Sammy Jay, who also had seen all that had +happened. "But he's altogether too smart for me to trust. Oh, my! oh, +my! What news this will be to tell! Old Granny Fox will never hear the +end of it. If ever again she boasts of how smart she is, all we will +have to do will be to remind her of the time Farmer Brown's boy caught +her napping. Ho! ho! ho! I must hurry along and find my cousin, Blacky +the Crow. This will tickle him half to death." + +As for Old Granny Fox, she feared Farmer Brown's boy more than ever, not +because of what he had done to her but because of what he had not done. +You see, nothing could make her believe that he wanted to be her friend. +She thought he had let her get away just to show her that he was smarter +than she. Instead of thankfulness, hate and fear filled Granny's heart. +You know-- + + People who themselves do ill + For others seldom have good will. + + + +CHAPTER IX: Reddy Fox Hears About Granny Fox + + Though you may think another wrong + And be quite positive you're right, + Don't let your temper get away; + And try at least to be polite. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Sammy Jay hurried through the Green Forest, chuckling as he flew. Sammy +was brimming over with the news he had to tell,--how Old Granny Fox had +been caught napping by Farmer Brown's boy. Sammy wouldn't have believed +it if any one had told him. No, Sir, he wouldn't. But he had seen it +with his own eyes, and it tickled him almost to pieces to think that Old +Granny Fox, whom everybody thought so sly and clever and smart, had been +caught actually asleep by the very one of whom she was most afraid, but +at whom she always had turned up her nose. + +Presently Sammy spied Reddy Fox trotting along the Lone Little Path. +Reddy was forever boasting of how smart Granny Fox was. He had boasted +of it so much that everybody was sick of hearing him. When he saw Reddy +trotting along the Lone Little Path, Sammy chuckled harder than ever. He +hid in a thick hemlock-tree and as Reddy passed he shouted: + + "Had I such a stupid old Granny + As some folks who think they are smart, + I never would boast of my Granny, + But live by myself quite apart!" + +Reddy looked up angrily. He couldn't see Sammy Jay, but he knew Sammy's +voice. There is no mistaking that. Everybody knows the voice of Sammy +Jay. Of course it was foolish, very foolish of Reddy to be angry, and +still more foolish to show that he was angry. Had he stopped a minute to +think, he would have known that Sammy was saying such a mean, provoking +thing just to make him angry, and that the angrier he became the better +pleased Sammy Jay would be. But like a great many people, Reddy allowed +his temper to get the better of his common sense. + +"Who says Granny Fox is stupid?" he snarled. + +"I do," replied Sammy Jay promptly. "I say she is stupid." + +"She is smarter than anybody else in all the Green Forest and on all the +Green Meadows. She is smarter than anybody else in all the Great World," +boasted Reddy, and he really believed it. + +"She isn't smart enough to fool Farmer Brown's boy," taunted Sammy. + +"What's that? Who says so? Has anything happened to Granny Fox?" Reddy +forgot his anger in a sudden great fear. Could Granny have been shot by +Farmer Brown's boy? + +"Nothing much, only Farmer Brown's boy caught her napping in broad +daylight," replied Sammy, and chuckled so that Reddy heard him. + +"I don't believe it!" snapped Reddy. "I don't believe a word of it! +Nobody ever yet caught Old Granny Fox napping, and nobody ever will." + +"I don't care whether you believe it or not; it's so, for I saw him," +retorted Sammy Jay. + +"You--you--you--" began Reddy Fox. + +"Go ask Tommy Tit the Chickadee if it isn't true. He saw him too," +interrupted Sammy Jay. + +"Dee, dee, dee, Chickadee! It's so, and Farmer Brown's boy only threw a +snowball at her and let her run away without shooting at her," declared +a new voice. There sat Tommy Tit himself. + +Reddy didn't know what to think or say. He just couldn't believe it, +yet he had never known Tommy Tit to tell an untruth. Sammy Jay alone +he wouldn't have believed. Then Tommy Tit and Sammy Jay told Reddy +all about what they had seen, how Farmer Brown's boy had surprised Old +Granny Fox and then allowed her to go unharmed. Reddy had to believe +it. If Tommy Tit said it was so, it must be so. Reddy Fox started off to +hunt up Old Granny Fox and ask her about it. But a sudden thought popped +into his red head, and he changed his mind. + +"I won't say a thing about it until some time when Granny scolds me for +being careless," muttered Reddy, with a sly grin. "Then I'll see what +she has to say. I guess she won't scold me so much after this." + +Reddy grinned more than ever, which wasn't a bit nice of him. Instead of +being sorry that Old Granny Fox had had such a fright, he was planning +how he would get even with her when she should scold him for his own +carelessness. + + + +CHAPTER X: Reddy Fox Is Impudent + + A saucy tongue is dangerous to possess; + Be sure some day 't will get you in a mess. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Reddy Fox is headstrong and, like most headstrong people, is given to +thinking that his way is the best way just because it is his way. He is +smart, is Reddy Fox. Yes, indeed, Reddy Fox is very, very smart. He has +to be in order to live. But a great deal of what he knows he learned +from Old Granny Fox. The very best tricks he knows she taught him. She +began teaching him when he was so little that he tumbled over his own +feet. It was she who taught him how to hunt, that it is better never to +steal chickens near home but to go a long way off for them, and how to +fool Bowser the Hound. + +It was Granny who taught Reddy how to use his little black nose to +follow the tracks of careless young Rabbits, and how to catch Meadow +Mice under the snow. In fact, there is little Reddy knows which he +didn't learn from wise, shrewd Old Granny Fox. + +But as he grew bigger and bigger, until he was quite as big as Granny +herself, he forgot what he owed to her. He grew to have a very good +opinion of himself and to feel that he knew just about all there was +to know. So sometimes when he had done foolish or careless things and +Granny had scolded him, telling him he was big enough and old enough to +know better, he would sulk and go off muttering to himself. But he never +quite dared to be openly disrespectful to Granny, and this, of course, +was quite as it should have been. + +"If only I could catch Granny doing something foolish or careless," he +would say to himself. But he never could, and he had begun to think that +he never would. But now at last Granny, clever Old Granny Fox, had been +careless! She had allowed Farmer Brown's boy to catch her napping! Reddy +did wish he had been there to see it himself. But anyway, he had been +told about it, and he made up his mind that the next time Granny said +anything sharp to him about his carelessness he would have something to +say back. Yes, Sir, Reddy Fox was deliberately planning to answer back, +which, as you know, is always disrespectful to one's elders. + +At last the chance came. Reddy did a thing no truly wise Fox ever will +do. He went two nights in succession to the same henhouse, and the +second time he barely escaped being shot. Old Granny Fox found out about +it. How she found out Reddy doesn't know to this day, but find out +she did, and she gave him such a scolding as even her sharp tongue had +seldom given him. + +"You are the stupidest Fox I ever heard of," scolded Granny. + +"I'm no more stupid than you are!" retorted Reddy in the most impudent +way. + +"What's that?" demanded Granny. "What's that you said?" + +"I said I'm no more stupid than you are, and what is more, I hope I'm +not so stupid. I know better than to take a nap in broad daylight right +under the very nose of Farmer Brown's boy." Reddy grinned in the most +impudent way as he said this. + +Granny's eyes snapped. Then things happened. Reddy was cuffed this way +and cuffed that way and cuffed the other way until it seemed to him that +the air was full of black paws, every one of which landed on his head +or face with a sting that made him whimper and put his tail between his +legs, and finally howl. + +"There!" cried Granny, when at last she had to stop because she was +quite out of breath. "Perhaps that will teach you to be respectful to +your elders. I was careless and stupid, and I am perfectly ready to +admit it, because it has taught me a lesson. Wisdom often is gained +through mistakes, but never when one is not willing to admit the +mistakes. No Fox lives long who makes the same mistake twice. And those +who are impudent to their elders come to no good end. I've got a fat +goose hidden away for dinner, but you will get none of it." + +"I--I wish I'd never heard of Granny's mistake," whined Reddy to himself +as he crept dinnerless to bed. + +"You ought to wish that you hadn't been impudent," whispered a small +voice down inside him. + + + +CHAPTER XI: After The Storm + + The joys and the sunshine that make us glad; + The worries and troubles that makes us sad + Must come to an end; so why complain + Of too little sun or too much rain? + --Old Granny Fox. + +The thing to do is to make the most of the sunshine while it lasts, and +when it rains to look forward to the corning of the sun again, knowing +that conic it surely will. A dreadful storm was keeping the little +people of the Green Forest, the Green Meadows, and the Old Orchard +prisoners in their own homes or in such places of shelter as they had +been able to find. + +But it couldn't last forever, and they knew it. Knowing this was all +that kept some of them alive. + +You see, they were starving. Yes, Sir, they were starving. You and I +would be very hungry, very hungry indeed, if we had to go without food +for two whole days, but if we were snug and warm it wouldn't do us any +real harm. With the little wild friends, especially the little feathered +folks, it is a very different matter. You see, they are naturally so +active that they have to fill their stomachs very often in order to +supply their little bodies with heat and energy. So when their food +supply is wholly cut off, they starve or else freeze to death in a very +short time. A great many little lives are ended this way in every long, +hard winter storm. + +It was late in the afternoon of the second day when rough Brother North +Wind decided that he had shown his strength and fierceness long enough, +and rumbling and grumbling retired from the Green Meadows and the Green +Forest, blowing the snow clouds away with him. For just a little while +before it was time for him to go to bed behind the Purple Hills, jolly, +round, red Mr. Sun smiled down on the white land, and never was his +smile more welcome. Out from their shelters hurried all the little +prisoners, for they must make the most of the short time before the +coming of the cold night. + +Little Tommy Tit the Chickadee was so weak that he could hardly fly, and +he shook with chills. He made straight for the apple-tree where Farmer +Brown's boy always keeps a piece of suet tied to a branch for Tommy and +his friends. Drummer the Woodpecker was there before him. Now it is +one of the laws of politeness among the feathered folk that when one is +eating from a piece of suet a newcomer shall await his turn. + +"Dee, dee, dee!" said Tommy Tit faintly but cheerfully, for he couldn't +be other than cheery if he tried. "Dee, dee, dee! That looks good to +me." + +"It is good," mumbled Drummer, pecking away at the suet greedily. "Come +on, Tommy Tit. Don't wait for me, for I won't be through for a long +time. I'm nearly starved, and I guess you must be." + +"I am," confessed Tommy, as he flew over beside Drummer. "Thank you ever +so much for not making me wait." + +"Don't mention it," replied Drummer, with his mouth full. "This is no +time for politeness. Here comes Yank Yank the Nuthatch. I guess there is +room for him too." + +Yank Yank was promptly invited to join them and did so after apologizing +for seeming so greedy. + +"If I couldn't get my stomach full before night, I certainly should +freeze to death before morning," said he. "What a blessing it is to have +all this good food waiting for us. If I had to hunt for my usual food +on the trees, I certainly should have to give up and die. It took all +my strength to get over here. My, I feel like a new bird already! Here +comes Sammy Jay. I wonder if he will try to drive us away as he usually +does." + +Sammy did nothing of the kind. He was very meek and most polite. +"Can you make room for a starving fellow to get a bite?" he asked. "I +wouldn't ask it but that I couldn't last another night without food." + +"Dee, dee, dee! Always room for one more," replied Tommy Tit, crowding +over to give Sammy room. "Wasn't that a dreadful storm?" + +"Worst I ever knew," mumbled Sammy. "I wonder if I ever will be warm +again." + +Until their stomachs were full, not another word was said. Meanwhile +Chatterer the Red Squirrel had discovered that the storm was over. As he +floundered through the snow to another apple-tree he saw Tommy Tit +and his friends, and in his heart he rejoiced that they had found food +waiting for them. His own troubles were at an end, for in the tree he +was headed for was a store of corn. + + + +CHAPTER XII: Granny And Reddy Fox Hunt In Vain + + Old Mother Nature's plans for good + Quite often are not understood. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Tommy Tit and Drummer the Woodpecker and Yank Yank the Nuthatch and +Sammy Jay and Chatterer the Red Squirrel were not the only ones who were +out and about as soon as the great storm ended. Oh, my, no! No, indeed! +Everybody who was not sleeping the winter away, or who had not a store +of food right at hand, was out. But not all were so fortunate as Tommy +Tit and his friends in finding a good meal. + +Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Peter came out of the hole in the heart of the +dear Old Briar-patch, where they had managed to keep comfortably warm, +and at once began to fill their stomachs with bark from young trees and +tender tips of twigs. It was very coarse food, but it would take away +that empty feeling. Mrs. Grouse burst out of the snow and hurried to +get a meal before dark. She had no time to be particular, and so she ate +spruce buds. They were very bitter and not much to her liking, but she +was too hungry, and night was too near for her to be fussy. She was +thankful to have that much. + +Granny Fox and Reddy were out too. They didn't need to hurry because, as +you know, they could hunt all night, but they were so hungry that they +just had to be looking for something to eat. They knew, of course, that +everybody else would be out, and they hoped that some of these little +people would be so weak that they could easily be caught. That seems +like a dreadful hope, doesn't it? But one of the first laws of Old +Mother Nature is self-preservation. That means to save your own life +first. So perhaps Granny and Reddy are not to be blamed for hoping that +some of their neighbors might be caught easily because of the great +storm. They were very hungry indeed, and they could not eat bark like +Peter Rabbit, or buds like Mrs. Grouse, or seeds like Whitefoot the +Woodmouse. Their teeth and stomachs are not made for such food. + +It was hard going for Granny and Reddy Fox. The snow was soft and deep +in many places, and they had to keep pretty close to those places where +rough Brother North Wind had blown away enough of the snow to make +walking fairly easy. They soon found that their hope that they would +find some of their neighbors too weak to escape was quite in vain. When +jolly, round, red Mr. Sun dropped clown behind the Purple Hills to go to +bed, their stomachs were quite as empty as when they had started out. + +"We'll go down to the Old Briar-patch. I don't believe it will be of +much use, but you never can tell until you try. Peter Rabbit may take it +into his silly head to come outside," said Granny, leading the way. + +When they reached the dear Old Briar-patch they found that Peter was not +outside. In fact, peering between the brambles and bushes, they could +see his little brown form bobbing about as he hunted for tender bark. He +had already made little paths along which he could hop easily. Peter saw +them almost as soon as they saw him. + +"Hard times these," said Peter pleasantly. "I hope your stomachs are not +as empty as mine." He pulled a strip of bark from a young tree and began +to chew it. This was more than Reddy could stand. To see Peter eating +while his own stomach was just one great big ache from emptiness was too +much. + +"I'm going in there and catch him, or drive him out where you can catch +him, if I tear my coat all to pieces!" snarled Reddy. + +Peter stopped chewing and sat up. "Come right along, Reddy. Come right +along if you want to, but I would advise you to save your skin and your +coat," said he. + +Reddy's only reply was a snarl as he pushed his way under the brambles. +He yelped as they tore his coat and scratched his face, but he kept on. +Now Peter's paths were very cunningly made. He had cut them through the +very thickest of the briars just big enough for himself and Mrs. Peter +to hop along comfortably. But Reddy is so much bigger that he had to +force his way through and in places crawl flat on his stomach, which was +very slow work, to say nothing of the painful scratches from the briars. +It was no trouble at all for Peter to keep out of his way, and before +long Reddy gave up. Without a word Granny Fox led the way to the Green +Forest. They would try to find where Mrs. Grouse was sleeping under the +snow. But though they hunted all night, they failed to find her, for she +wisely had gone to bed in a spruce-tree. + + + +CHAPTER XIII: Granny Fox Admits Growing Old + + Who will not admit he is older each day + fools no one but himself. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Old Granny Fox is a spry old lady for her age. If you don't believe it +just try to catch her. But spry as she is, she isn't as spry as she used +to be. No, Sir, Granny Fox isn't as spry as she used to be. The truth +is, Granny is getting old. She never would admit it, and Reddy never had +realized it until the day after the great storm. All that night they had +hunted in vain for something to eat and at daylight had crept into their +house to rest awhile before starting on another hunt. They had neither +the strength nor the courage to search any longer then. Wading through +snow is very hard work at best and very tiresome, but when your stomach +has been empty for so long that you almost begin to wonder what food +tastes like, it becomes harder work still. You see, it is food that +makes strength, and lack of food takes away strength. + +This was why Granny and Reddy Fox just HAD to rest. Hungry as they were, +they HAD to give up for awhile. Reddy flung himself down, and if ever +there was a discouraged young Fox he was that one. "I wish I were dead," +he moaned. + +"Tut, tut, tut!" said Granny Fox sharply. "That's no way for a young Fox +to talk! I'm ashamed of you. I am indeed." Then she added more kindly: +"I know just how you feel. Just try to forget your empty stomach and +rest awhile. We have had a tiresome, disappointing, discouraging night, +but when you are rested things will not look quite so bad. You know the +old saying: + + 'Never a road so long is there + But it reaches a turn at last; + Never a cloud that gathers swift But + disappears as fast.' + +You think you couldn't possibly feel any worse than you do right now, +but you could. Many a time I have had to go hungry longer than this. +After we have rested awhile we will go over to the Old Pasture. Perhaps +we will have better luck there." + +So Reddy tried to forget the emptiness of his stomach and actually had a +nap, for he was very, very tired. When he awoke he felt better. + +"Well, Granny," said he, "let's start for the Old Pasture. The snow +has crusted over, and we won't find it such hard going as it was last +night." + +Granny arose and followed Reddy out to the doorstep. She walked stiffly. +The truth is, she ached in every one of her old bones. At least, that is +the way it seemed to her. She looked towards the Old Pasture. It seemed +very far away. She sighed wearily. "I don't believe I'll go, Reddy," +said she. "You run along and luck go with you." + +Reddy turned and stared at Granny suspiciously. You know his is a very +suspicious nature. Could it be that Granny had some secret plan of her +own to get a meal and wanted to get rid of him? + +"What's the matter with you?" he demanded roughly. "It was you who +proposed going over to the Old Pasture." + +Granny smiled. It was a sad sort of smile. She is wonderfully sharp and +smart, is Granny Fox, and she knew what was in Reddy's mind as well as +if he had told her. + +"Old bones don't rest and recover as quickly as young bones, and I just +don't feel equal to going over there now," said she. "The truth is, +Reddy, I am growing old. I am going to stay right here and rest. Perhaps +then I'll feel able to go hunting to-night. You trot along now, and if +you get more than a stomachful, just remember old Granny and bring her a +bite." + +There was something in the way Granny spoke that told Reddy she was +speaking the truth. It was the very first time she ever had admitted +that she was growing old and was no longer the equal of any Fox. Never +before had he noticed how gray she had grown. Reddy felt a feeling of +shame creep over him,--shame that he had suspected Granny of playing a +sharp trick. And this little feeling of shame was followed instantly by +a splendid thought. He would go out and find food of some kind, and he +would bring it straight back to Granny. He had been taken care of by +Granny when he was little, and now he would repay Granny for all she had +done for him by taking care of her in her old age. + +"Go back in the house and lie down, Granny," said he kindly. "I am going +to get something, and whatever it may be you shall have your share." +With this he trotted off towards the Old Pasture and somehow he didn't +mind the ache in his stomach as he had before. + + + +CHAPTER XIV: Three Vain And Foolish Wishes + + There's nothing so foolishly silly and vain + As to wish for a thing you can never attain. + --Old Granny Fox. + +We all know that, yet most of us are just foolish enough to make such a +wish now and then. I guess you have done it. I know I have. Peter Rabbit +has done it often and then laughed at himself afterwards. I suspect that +even shrewd, clever old Granny Fox has been guilty of it more than +once. So it is not surprising that Reddy Fox, terribly hungry as he was, +should do a little foolish wishing. + +When he left home to go to the Old Pasture, in the hope that he would +be able to find something to eat there, he started off bravely. It was +cold, very cold indeed, but his fur coat kept him warm as long as he +was moving. The Green Meadows were glistening white with snow. All the +world, at least all that part of it with which Reddy was acquainted, was +white. It was beautiful, very beautiful, as millions of sparkles flashed +in the sun. But Reddy had no thought for beauty; the only thought he had +room for was to get something to put in the empty stomachs of himself +and Granny Fox. + +Jack Frost had hardened the snow so that Reddy no longer had to wade +through it. He could run on the crust now without breaking through. This +made it much easier, so he trotted along swiftly. He had intended to go +straight to the Old Pasture, but there suddenly popped into his head +a memory of the shelter down in a far corner of the Old Orchard which +Farmer Brown's boy had built for Bob White. Probably the Bob White +family were there now, and he might surprise them. He would go there +first. + +Reddy stopped and looked carefully to make sure that Farmer Brown's boy +and Bowser the Hound were nowhere in sight. Then he ran swiftly towards +the Old Orchard. Just as he entered it he heard a merry voice just over +his head: "Dee, dee, dee, dee!" Reddy stopped and looked up. There was +Tommy Tit the Chickadee clinging tightly to a big piece of fresh suet +tied fast to a branch of a tree, and Tommy was stuffing himself. Reddy +sat down right underneath that suet and looked up longingly. The sight +of it made his mouth water so that it was almost more than he could +stand. He jumped once. He jumped twice. He jumped three times. But all +his jumping was in vain. That suet was beyond his reach. There was no +possible way of reaching it save by flying or climbing. Reddy's tongue +hung out of his mouth with longing. + +"I wish I could climb," said Reddy. + +But he couldn't climb, and all the wishing in the world wouldn't enable +him to, as he very well knew. So after a little he started on. As he +drew near the far corner of the Old Orchard, he saw Bob White and Mrs. +Bob and all the young Bobs picking up grain which Farmer Brown's boy had +scattered for them just in front of the shelter he had built for +them. Reddy crouched down and very slowly, an inch at a time, he crept +forward, his eyes shining with eagerness. Just as he was almost within +springing distance, Bob White gave a signal, and away flew the Bob +Whites to the safety of a hemlock-tree on the edge of the Green Forest. + +Tears of rage and disappointment welled up in Reddy's eyes. "I wish I +could fly," he muttered, as he watched the brown birds disappear in the +big hemlock-tree. + +This was quite as foolish a wish as the other, so Reddy trotted on and +decided to go down past the Smiling Pool. When he got there he found it, +as he expected, frozen over. But just where the Laughing Brook joins it +there was a little place where there was open water. Billy Mink was +on the ice at its edge, and just as Reddy got there Billy dived in. A +minute later he climbed out with a fish in his mouth. + +"Give me a bite," begged Reddy. + +"Catch your own fish," retorted Billy Mink. "I have to work hard enough +for what I get as it is." + +Reddy was afraid to go out on the ice where Billy was, and so he sat and +watched him eat that fine fish. Then Billy dived into the water again +and disappeared. Reddy waited a long time, but Billy did not return. "I +wish I could dive," gulped Reddy, thinking of the fine fish somewhere +under the ice. + +And this wish was quite as foolish as the other wishes. + + + +CHAPTER XV: Reddy Fights A Battle + + 'T is not the foes that are without + But those that are within + That give us battles that we find + The hardest are to win. + --Old Granny Fox + +After the last of his three foolish wishes, Reddy Fox left the Smiling +Pool and headed straight for the Old Pasture for which he had started in +the first place. He wished now that he had gone straight there. Then he +wouldn't have seen the suet tied out of reach to the branch of a tree in +the Old Orchard; he wouldn't have seen the Bob Whites fly away to safety +just as he felt almost sure of catching one; he wouldn't have seen Billy +Mink bring a fine fish out of the water and eat it right before him. It +is bad enough to be starving with no food in sight, but to be as hungry +as Reddy Fox was and to see food just out of reach, to smell it, and +not be able to get it is,--well, it is more than most folks can stand +patiently. + +So Reddy Fox was grumbling to himself as he hurried to the Old Pasture +and his heart was very bitter. It seemed to him that everything was +against him. His neighbors had food, but he had none, not so much as a +crumb. It was unfair. Old Mother Nature was unjust. If he could climb he +could get food. If he could fly he could get food. If he could dive he +could get food. But he could neither climb, fly, nor dive. He didn't +stop to think that Old Mother Nature had given him some of the sharpest +wits in all the Green Forest or on all the Green Meadows; that she had +given him a wonderful nose; that she had given him the keenest of ears; +that she had given him speed excelled by few. He forgot these things +and was so busy thinking bitterly of the things he didn't have that +he forgot to use his wits and nose and ears when he reached the Old +Pasture. The result was that he trotted right past Old Jed Thumper, +the big gray Rabbit, who was sitting behind a little bush holding his +breath. The minute Old Jed saw that Reddy was safely past, he started +for his bull-briar castle as fast as he could. + +It was not until then that Reddy discovered him. Of course, Reddy +started after him, and this time he made good use of his speed. But he +was too late. Old Jed Thumper reached his castle with Reddy two jumps +behind him. Reddy knew now that there was no chance to catch Old Jed +that day, and for a few minutes he felt more bitter than ever. Then all +in a flash Reddy Fox became the shrewd, clever fellow that he really is. +he grinned. + +"It's of no use to try to fill an empty stomach on wishes," said he. + +"If I had come straight here and minded my own business, I'd have caught +old Jed Thumper. Now I'm going to get some food and I'm not going home +until I do." + +Very wisely Reddy put all unpleasant thoughts out of his head and +settled down to using his wits and his eyes and his ears and his nose +for all they were worth, as Old Mother Nature had intended he should. + +All through the Old Pasture he hunted, taking care not to miss a single +place where there was the least chance of finding food. But it was all +in vain. Reddy gulped down his disappointment. + +"Now for the Big River," said he, and started off bravely. + +When he reached the edge of the Big River, he hurried along the bank +until he reached a place where the water seldom freezes. As he had +hoped, he found that it was not frozen now. It looked so black and cold +that it made him shiver just to see it. Back and forth with his nose +to the ground he ran. Suddenly he stopped and sniffed. Then he sniffed +again. Then he followed his nose straight to the very edge of the Big +River. There, floating in the black water, was a dead fish! By wading in +he could get it. + +Reddy shivered at the touch of the cold water, but what were wet feet +compared with such an empty stomach as his? In a minute he had that fish +and was back on the shore. It wasn't a very big fish, but it would stop +the ache in his stomach until he could get something more. With a sigh +of pure happiness he sank his teeth into it and then--well, then he +remembered poor Old Granny Fox. Reddy swallowed a mouthful and tried to +forget Granny. But he couldn't. He swallowed another mouthful. Poor +old Granny was back there at home as hungry as he was and too stiff and +tired to hunt. Reddy choked. Then he began a battle with himself. His +stomach demanded that fish. If he ate it, no one would be the wiser. +But Granny needed it even more than he did. For a long time Reddy fought +with himself. In the end he picked up the fish and started for home. + + + +CHAPTER XVI: Reddy Is Made Truly Happy + + It's what you do for others, + Not what they do for you, + That makes you feel so happy + All through and through and through. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Reddy Fox ran all the way home from the Big River just as fast as he +could go. In his mouth he carried the fish he had found and from which +he had taken just two bites. You remember he had had a battle with +himself over that fish, and now he was running away from himself. That +sounds funny, doesn't it? But it was true. Yes, Sir, Reddy Fox was +running away from himself. He was afraid that if he didn't get home to +Old Granny Fox with that fish very soon, he would eat every last bit of +it himself. So he was running his very hardest so as to get there before +this could happen. So really he was running away from himself, from his +selfish self. + +Old Granny Fox was on the doorstep watching for him, and he saw just how +her hungry old eyes brightened when she saw him and what he had. + +"I've brought you something to eat, Granny," he panted, as he laid the +fish at her feet. He was quite out of breath with running. "It isn't +much, but it is something. It is all I could find for you." + +Granny looked at the fish and then she looked sharply at Reddy, and into +those keen yellow eyes of hers crept a soft, tender look, such a look as +you would never have believed they could have held. + +"What have YOU had to eat?" asked Granny softly. + +Reddy turned his head that Granny might not see his face. "Oh, I've had +something," said he, trying to speak lightly. It was true; he had had +two bites from that fish. + +Now you know just how shrewd and smart and wise Granny Fox is. Reddy +didn't fool her just the least little bit. She took two small bites from +the fish. + +"Now," said she, "we'll divide it," and she bit in two parts what +remained. In a twinkling she had gulped down the smallest part, for you +know she was very, very hungry. "That is your share," said she, as she +pushed what remained over to Reddy. + +Reddy tried to refuse it. "I brought it all for you," said he. "I know +you did, Reddy," replied Granny, and it seemed to Reddy that he never +had known her voice to sound so gentle. "You brought it to me when all +you had had was the two little bites you had taken from it. You can't +fool me, Reddy Fox. There wasn't one good meal for either of us in that +fish, but there was enough to give us both a little hope and keep us +from starving. Now you mind what I say and eat your share." Granny said +this last very sternly. + +Reddy looked at Granny, and then he bolted down that little piece of +fish without another word. + +"That's better," said Granny. "We will feel better, both of us. Now that +I've something in my stomach, I feel two years younger. Before you came, +I didn't feel as if I should ever be able to go on another hunt. If +you hadn't brought something, I--I'm afraid I couldn't have lasted much +longer. By another day you probably wouldn't have had old Granny to +think of. You may not know it, but I know that you saved my life, Reddy. +I had reached a point where I just had to have a little food. You know +there are times when a very little food is of more good than a lot of +food could be later. This was one of those times." + +Never in all his life had Reddy Fox felt so truly happy. He was still +hungry,--very, very hungry. But he gave it no thought. He had saved +Granny Fox, good old Granny who had taught him all he knew. And he knew +that Granny knew how he had had to fight with himself to do it. Reddy +was happy through and through with the great happiness that comes from +having done something for some one else. + +"It was nothing," he muttered. + +"It was a very great deal," replied Granny. And then she changed the +subject. "How would you like to eat a dinner of Bowser the Hound's?" she +asked. + + + +CHAPTER XVII: Granny Fox Promises Reddy Bowser's Dinner + + To give her children what each needs + To get the most from life he can, + To work and play and live his best, + Is wise Old Mother Nature's plan. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Old Granny Fox asked Reddy how he would like to eat a dinner of Bowser +the Hound's, Reddy looked at her sharply to see if she were joking +or really meant what she said. Granny looked so sober and so much in +earnest that Reddy decided she couldn't be joking, even though it did +sound that way. + +"I certainly would like it, Granny. Yes, indeed, I certainly would like +it," said he. "You--you don't suppose he will give us one, do you?" + +Granny chuckled. "No, Reddy," said she. "Bowser isn't so generous as all +that, especially to Foxes. He isn't going to give us that dinner; we are +going to take it away from him. Yes, Sir, we just naturally are going to +take it away from, him." + +Reddy didn't for the life of him see how it could be possible to take +a dinner away from Bowser the Hound. That seemed to him almost as +impossible as it was for him to climb or fly or dive. But he had great +faith in Granny's cleverness. He remembered how she had so nearly caught +Quacker the Duck. He knew that all the time he had been away trying to +find something for them to eat, old Granny Fox had been doing more than +just rest her tired old bones. He knew that not for one single minute +had her sharp wits been idle. He knew that all that time she had been +studying and studying to find some way by which they could get something +to eat. So great was his faith in Granny just then that if she had told +him she would get him a slice of the moon he would have believed her. + +"If you say we can take a dinner away from Bowser the Hound, I suppose +we can," said Reddy, "though I don't see how. But if we can, let's do +it right away. I'm hungry enough to dare almost anything for the sake of +something to put in my stomach. It is so empty that little bit of fish +we divided is shaking around as if it were lost. Gracious, I could eat +a million fish the size of that one! Have you thought of Fanner Brown's +hens, Granny?" + +"Of course, Reddy! Of course! What a silly question!" replied Granny. +"We may have to come to them yet." + +"I wish I was at them right now," interrupted Reddy with a sigh. + +"But you know what I have told you," went on Granny. "The surest way of +getting into trouble is to steal hens. I'm not feeling quite up to being +chased by Bowser the Hound just now, and if we came right home we would +give away the secret of where we live and might be smoked out, and that +would be the end of us. Besides, those hens will be hard to get this +weather, because they will stay in their house, and there is no way for +us to get in there unless we walk right in, in broad daylight, and that +would never do. It will be a great deal better to take Bowser's dinner +away from him. In the first place, if we are careful, no one but Bowser +will know about it, and as long as he is chained up, we will have +nothing to worry about from him. Besides, we will enjoy getting even +with him for the times he has spoiled our chances of catching a fat +chicken and for the way he has hunted us. Most decidedly it will be +better and safer to try for Bowser's dinner than to try for one of those +hens." + +"Just as you say, Granny; just as you say," returned Reddy. "You know +best. But how under the sun we can do it beats me." + +"It is very simple," replied Granny, "very simple indeed. Most things +are simple enough when you find out how to do them. Neither of us could +do it alone, but together we can do it without the least bit of risk. +Listen." + +Granny went close to Reddy and whispered to him, although there wasn't +a soul within hearing. A slow grin spread over Reddy's face as he +listened. When she had finished, he laughed right out. + +"Granny, you are a wonder!" he exclaimed admiringly. "I never should +have thought of that. Of course we can do it. My, won't Bowser be +surprised! And how mad he'll be! Come on, let's be starting!" + +"All right," said Granny, and the two started towards Farmer Brown's. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII: Why Bowser The Hound Didn't Eat His Dinner + + The thing you've puzzled most about + Is simple once you've found it out. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Bowser The Hound dearly loves to hunt just for the pleasure of the +chase. It isn't so much the desire to kill as it is the pleasure of +using that wonderful nose of his and the excitement of trying to catch +some one, especially Granny or Reddy Fox. Farmer Brown's boy had put +away his dreadful gun because he no longer wanted to kill the little +people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows, but rather to make +them his friends. Bowser had missed the exciting hunts he used to enjoy +so much with Farmer Brown's boy. So Bowser had formed the habit of +slipping away alone for a hunt every once in a while. When Farmer +Brown's boy discovered this, he got a chain and chained Bowser to his +little house to keep him from running away and hunting on the sly. + +Of course Bowser wasn't kept chained all the time. Oh, my, no! When his +master was about, where he could keep an eye on Bowser, he would let him +go free. But whenever he was going away and didn't want to take Bowser +with him, he would chain Bowser up. Now Bowser always had one good big +meal a day. To be sure, he had scraps or a bone now and then besides, +but once a day he had one good big meal served to him in a large tin +pan. If he happened to be chained, it was brought out to him. If not, it +was given to him just outside the kitchen door. + +Granny Fox knew all about this. Sly old Granny makes it her business to +know the affairs of other people around her because there is no telling +when such knowledge may be of use to her. So Granny had watched Bowser +the Hound when he and his master had no idea at all that she was +anywhere about, and she had found out his ways, the usual hour for his +dinner and just how far that chain would allow him to go. It was such +things which she had stored away in that shrewd old head of hers that +made her so sure she and Reddy could take Bowser's dinner away from him. +It was just about Bowser's dinner-time when Granny and Reddy trotted +across the snow-covered fields and crept behind the barn until they +could peep around the corner. No one was in sight, not even Bowser, who +was inside his warm little house at the end of the long shed back of +Farmer Brown's house. Granny saw that he was chained and a sly grin +crept over her face. + +"You stay right here and watch until his dinner is brought out to him," +said she to Reddy. "As soon as whoever brings it has gone back to the +house you walk right out where Bowser will see you. At the sight of you, +he'll forget all about his dinner. Sit right down where he can see you +and stay there until you see that I have got that dinner, or until you +hear somebody coming, for you know Bowser will make a great racket. Then +slip around back of the barn and join me back of that shed." + +So Reddy sat down to watch, and Granny left him. By and by Mrs. Brown +came out of the house with a pan full of good things. She put it down +in front of Bowser's little house and called to him. Then she turned and +hurried back, for it was very cold. Bowser came out of his little house, +yawned and stretched lazily. + +It was time for Reddy to do his part. Out he walked and sat down right +in front of Bowser and grinned at him. Bowser stared for a minute as +if he doubted his own eyes. Such impudence! Bowser growled. Then with a +yelp he sprang towards Reddy. + +Now the chain that held him was long, but Reddy had taken care not to +get too near, and of course Bowser couldn't reach him. He tugged with +all his might and yelped and barked frantically, but Reddy just sat +there and grinned in the most provoking manner. It was great fun to +tease Bowser this way. + +Meanwhile old Granny Fox had stolen out from around the corner of the +shed behind Bowser. Getting hold of the edge of the pan with her teeth +she pulled it back with her around the corner and out of sight. If she +made any noise, Bowser didn't hear it. He was making too much noise +himself and was too excited. Presently Reddy heard the sound of an +opening door. Mrs. Brown was coming to see what all the fuss was about. +Like a flash Reddy darted behind the barn, and all Mrs. Brown saw was +Bowser tugging at his chain as he whined and yelped excitedly. + +"I guess he must have seen a stray cat or something," said Mrs. Brown +and went back in the house. Bowser continued to whine and tug at his +chain for a few minutes. Then he gave it up and, growling deep in his +throat, turned to eat his dinner. But there wasn't any dinner! It had +disappeared, pan and all! Bowser couldn't understand it at all. + +Back of the shed Granny and Reddy Fox licked that pan clean; licked +it until it was polished. Then, with little sighs of satisfaction, and +every once in a while a chuckle, they trotted happily home. + + + +CHAPTER XIX: Old Man Coyote Does A Little Thinking + + Investigate and for yourself find out + Those things which most you want to know about. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Never in all his life had Reddy Fox enjoyed a dinner more than that one +he and Granny had stolen from Bowser the Hound. Of course it would have +tasted delicious anyway, because they were so dreadfully hungry, but to +Reddy it tasted better still because it had been intended for Bowser. +Bowser has hunted Reddy so often that Reddy has no love for him at all, +and it tickled him almost to death to think that they had taken his +dinner from almost under his nose. + +With that good dinner in their stomachs, Reddy and Granny Fox felt so +much better that the Great World no longer seemed such a cold and cruel +place. Funny how differently things look when your stomach is full from +the way those same things look when it is empty. Best of all they knew +they could play the same sharp trick again and steal another dinner +from Bowser if need be. It is a comforting feeling, a very comforting +feeling, to know for a certainty where you can get another meal. It is +a feeling that Granny and Reddy Fox and many other little people of the +Green Meadows and the Green Forest seldom have in winter. As a rule, +when they have eaten one meal, they haven't the least idea where the +next one is coming from. How would you like to live that way? + +The very next day Granny and Reddy went up to Farmer Brown's at Bowser's +dinner hour. But this time Farmer Brown's boy was at work near the barn, +and Bowser was not chained. Granny and Reddy stole away as silently as +they had come. On the day following they found Bowser chained and stole +another dinner from him; then they went away laughing until their sides +ached as they heard Bowser's whines of surprise and disappointment when +he discovered that his dinner had vanished. They knew by the sound of +his voice that he hadn't the least idea what had become of that dinner. + +Now there was some one else roaming over the snow-covered meadows and +through the Green Forest and the Old Pasture these days with a stomach +so lean and empty that he couldn't think of anything else. It was +Old Man Coyote. You know he is very clever, is Old Man Coyote, and he +managed to find enough food of one kind and another to keep him alive, +but never enough to give him that comfortable feeling of a full stomach. +While he wasn't actually starving, he was always hungry. So he spent all +the time when he wasn't sleeping in hunting for something to eat. + +Of course he often ran across the tracks of Granny and Reddy Fox, and +once in a while he would meet them. It struck Old Man Coyote that they +didn't seem as thin as he was. That set him to thinking. Neither of +them was a smarter hunter than he. In fact, he prided himself on being +smarter than either of them. Yet when he met them, they seemed to be in +the best of spirits and not at all worried because food was so scarce. +Why? There must be a reason. They must be getting food of which he knew +nothing. + +"I'll just keep an eye on them," muttered Old Man Coyote. + +So very slyly and cleverly Old Man Coyote followed Granny and Reddy Fox, +taking the greatest care that they should not suspect that he was doing +it. All one night he followed them through the Green Forest and over the +Green Meadows, and when at last he saw them go home, appearing not at +all worried because they had caught nothing, he trotted off to his own +home to do some more thinking. + +"They are getting food somewhere, that is sure," he muttered, as he +scratched first one ear and then the other. Somehow he could think +better when he was scratching his ears. "If they don't get it in the +night, and they certainly didn't get anything this night, they must get +it in the daytime. I've done considerable hunting myself in the daytime, +and I haven't once met them in the Green Forest or seen them on the +Green Meadows or up in the Old Pasture. I wonder if they are stealing +Farmer Brown's hens and haven't been found out yet. I've kept away from +there myself, but if they can steal hens and not be caught, I certainly +can. There never was a Fox yet smart enough to do a thing that a Coyote +cannot do if he tries. I think I'll slip up where I can watch Farmer +Brown's and see what is going on up there. Yes, Sir, that's what I'll +do." + +With this, Old Man Coyote grinned and then curled himself up for a short +nap, for he was tired. + + + +CHAPTER XX: A Twice Stolen Dinner + + No one ever is so smart that some one else + may not prove to be smarter still. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Listen and you shall hear all about three rogues. Two were in red and +were Granny and Reddy Fox. And one was in gray and was Old Man Coyote. +They were the slyest, smartest rogues on all the Green Meadows or in all +the Green Forest. All three had started out to steal the same dinner, +but the funny part is they didn't intend to steal it from the same +person. And still funnier is it that one of them didn't even know where +that dinner was or what kind of a dinner it would be. + +True to his resolve to know what Granny and Reddy Fox were getting to +eat, and where they were getting it, Old Man Coyote hid where he could +see what was going on about Farmer Brown's, for it was there he felt +sure that Granny and Reddy were getting food. He had waited only a +little while when along came Granny and Reddy Fox past the place where +Old Man Coyote was hiding. They didn't see him. Of course not. He took +care that they should have no chance. But anyway, they were not thinking +of him. Their thoughts were all of that dinner they intended to have, +and the smart trick by which they would get it. + +So with their thoughts all on that dinner they slipped up behind the +barn and prepared to work the trick which had been so successful before. +Old Man Coyote crept after them. He saw Reddy Fox lie down where he +could peep around the corner of the barn to watch Bowser the Hound and +to see that no one else was about. He saw Granny leave Reddy there and +hurry away. Old Man Coyote's wits worked fast. + +"I can't be in two places at once," thought he, "so I can't watch both +Granny and Reddy. As I can watch but one, which one shall it be? Granny, +of course. Granny is the smartest of the two, and whatever they are up +to, she is at the bottom of it. Granny is the one to follow." + +So, like a gray shadow, crafty Old Man Coyote stole after Granny Fox and +saw her hide behind the corner of the shed at the end of which was the +little house of Bowser the Hound. He crept as near as he dared and then +lay flat down behind a little bunch of dead grass close to the shed. For +some time nothing happened, and Old Man Coyote was puzzled. Every once +in a while Granny Fox would look behind and all about to be sure that no +danger was near, but she didn't see Old Man Coyote. After what seemed to +him a long time, he heard a door open on the other side of the shed. It +was Mrs. Brown carrying Bowser's dinner out to him. Of course, Old Man +Coyote didn't know this. He knew by the sounds that some one had come +out of the house, and it made him nervous. He didn't like being so +close to Farmer Brown's house in broad daylight. But he kept his eyes +on Granny Fox, and he saw her ears prick up in a way that he knew meant +that those sounds were just what she had been waiting for. + +"If she isn't afraid, I don't need to be," thought he craftily. After a +few minutes he heard a door close and knew that whoever had come out had +gone back into the house. Almost at once Bowser the Hound began to yelp +and whine. Swiftly Granny Fox disappeared around the corner of the shed. +Just as swiftly Old Man Coyote ran forward and peeped around the corner. +There was Bowser the Hound tugging at his chain, and just beyond his +reach was Reddy Fox, grinning in the most provoking manner. And there +was Granny Fox, backing and dragging after her Bowser's dinner. In a +flash Old Man Coyote understood the plan, and he almost chuckled aloud +at the cleverness of it. Then he hastily backed behind the shed and +waited. In a minute Granny Fox appeared, dragging Bowser's dinner. She +was so intent on getting that dinner that she almost backed into Old Man +Coyote without suspecting that he was anywhere about. + +"Thank you, Granny. You needn't bother about it any longer; I'll take it +now," growled Old Man Coyote in Granny's ear. + +Granny let go of that dinner as if it burned her tongue, and with a +frightened little yelp leaped to one side. A minute later Reddy came +racing around from behind the barn eager for his share. What he saw was +Old Man Coyote bolting down that twice-stolen dinner while Granny Fox +fairly danced with rage. + + + +CHAPTER XXI: Granny And Reddy Talk Things Over. + + You'll find as on through life you go + The thing you want may prove to be + The very thing you shouldn't have. + Then seeming loss is gain, you see. + --Old Granny Fox. + +If ever two folks were mad away through, those two were Granny and Reddy +Fox as they watched Old Man Coyote gobble up the dinner they had so +cleverly stolen from Bowser the Hound. It was bad enough to lose the +dinner, but it was worse to see some one else eat it after they had +worked so hard to get it. "Robber!" snarled Granny. Old Man Coyote +stopped eating long enough to grin. + +"Thief! Sneak! Coward!" snarled Reddy. Once more Old Man Coyote grinned. +When that dinner had disappeared down his throat to the last and +smallest crumb, he licked his chops and turned to Granny and Reddy. + +"I'm very much obliged for that dinner," said he pleasantly, his eyes +twinkling with mischief. "It was the best dinner I have had for a long +time. Allow me to say that that trick of yours was as smart a trick as +ever I have seen. It was quite worthy of a Coyote. You are a very clever +old lady, Granny Fox. Now I hear some one coming, and I would suggest +that it will be better for all concerned if we are not seen about here." + +He darted off behind the barn like a gray streak, and Granny and Reddy +followed, for it was true that some one was coming. You see Bowser the +Hound had discovered that something was going on around the corner of +the shed, and he made such a racket that Mrs. Brown had come out of the +house to see what it was all about. By the time she got around there, +all she saw was the empty pan which had held Bowser's dinner. She was +puzzled. How that pan could be where it was she couldn't understand, and +Bowser couldn't tell her, although he tried his very best. She had been +puzzled about that pan two or three times before. + +Old Man Coyote lost no time in getting back home, for he never felt easy +near the home of man in broad daylight. Granny and Reddy Fox went home +too, and there was hate in their hearts,--hate for Old Man Coyote. But +once they reached home, Old Granny Fox stopped growling, and presently +she began to chuckle. + +"What are you laughing at?" demanded Reddy. + +"At the way Old Man Coyote stole that dinner from us," replied Granny. + +"I hate him! He's a sneaking robber!" snapped Reddy. + +"Tut, tut, Reddy! Tut, tut!" retorted Granny. "Be fair-minded. We stole +that dinner from Bowser the Hound, and Old Man Coyote stole it from us. +I guess he is no worse than we are, when you come to think it over. Now +is he?" + +"I--I--well, I don't suppose he is, when you put it that way," Reddy +admitted grudgingly. + +"And he was smart, very smart, to outwit two such clever people as we +are," continued Granny. "You will have to agree to that." + +"Y-e-s," said Reddy slowly. "He was smart enough, but--" + +"There isn't any but, Reddy," interrupted Granny. "You know the law of +the Green Meadows and the Green Forest. It is everybody for himself, and +anything belongs to one who has the wit or the strength to take it. +We had the wit to take that dinner from Bowser the Hound, and Old Man +Coyote had the wit to take it from us and the strength to keep it. It +was all fair enough, and you know there isn't the least use in crying +over spilled milk, as the saying is. We simply have got to be smart +enough not to let him fool us again. I guess we won't get any more of +Bowser's dinners for a while. We've got to think of some other way of +filling our stomachs when the hunting is poor. I think if I could have +just one of those fat hens of Farmer Brown's, it would put new strength +into my old bones. All summer I warned you to keep away from that +henyard, but the time has come now when I think we might try for a +couple of those hens." + +Reddy pricked up his ears at the mention of fat hens. "I think so too," +said he. "When shall we try for one?" + +"To-morrow morning," replied Granny. "Now don't bother me while I think +out a plan." + + + +CHAPTER XXII: Granny Fox Plans To Get A Fat Hen + + Full half success for Fox or Man + Is won by working out a plan. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Granny Fox knows this. No one knows it better. Whatever she does is +first carefully planned in her wise old head. So now after she had +decided that she and Reddy would try for one of Farmer Brown's fat hens, +she lay down to think out a plan to get that fat hen. No one knew better +than she how foolish it would be to go over to that henyard and just +trust to luck for a chance to catch one of those biddies. Of course, +they might be lucky and get a hen that way, but then again they might be +unlucky and get in a peck of trouble. + +"You see," said she to Reddy, "we must not only plan how to get that fat +hen, but we must also plan how to get away with it safely. If only there +was some way of getting in that henhouse at night, there would be no +trouble at all. I don't suppose there is the least chance of that." + +"Not the least chance in the world," replied Reddy. "There isn't a +hole anywhere big enough for even Shadow the Weasel to get through, and +Farmer Brown's boy is very careful to lock the door every night." + +"There's a little hole that the hens go in and out of during the day, +which is big enough for one of us to slip through, I believe," said +Granny thoughtfully. + +"Sure! But it's always closed at night," snapped Reddy. "Besides, to get +to that or the door either, you have got to get inside the henyard, and +there's a gate to that which we can't open." + +"People are sometimes careless,--even you, Reddy," said Granny. + +Reddy squirmed uneasily, for he had been in trouble many times through +carelessness. "Well, what of it?" he demanded a wee bit crossly. + +"Nothing much, only if that hen-yard gate should happen to be left open, +and if Farmer Brown's boy should happen to forget to close that little +hole that the hens go through, and if we happened to be around at just +that time--" + +"Too many ifs to get a dinner with," interrupted Reddy. + +"Perhaps," replied Granny mildly, "but I've noticed that it is the one +who has an eye open for all the little ifs in life that fares the best. +Now I've kept an eye on that henyard, and I've noticed that very often +Farmer Brown's boy doesn't close the henyard gate at night. I suppose he +thinks that if the henhouse door is locked, the gate doesn't matter. +Any one who is careless about one thing, is likely to be careless about +another. Sometime he may forget to close that hole. I told you that we +would try for one of those hens to-morrow morning, but the more I think +about it, the more I think it will be wiser to visit that henhouse a +few nights before we run the risk of trying to catch a hen in broad +daylight. In fact, I am pretty sure I can make Farmer Brown's boy forget +to close that gate." + +"How?" demanded Reddy eagerly. + +Granny grinned. "I'll try it first and tell you afterwards," said she. +"I believe Farmer Brown's boy closes the henhouse up just before jolly, +round, red Mr. Sun goes to bed behind the Purple Hills, doesn't he?" + +Reddy nodded. Many times from a safe hiding-place he had hungrily +watched Farmer Brown's boy shut the biddies up. It was always just +before the Black Shadows began to creep out from their hiding-places. + +"I thought so," said Granny. The truth is, she KNEW so. There was +nothing about that henhouse and what went on there that Granny didn't +know quite as well as Reddy. "You stay right here this afternoon until I +return. I'll see what I can do." + +"Let me go along," begged Reddy. + +"No," replied Granny in such a decided tone that Reddy knew it would be +of no use to tease. "Sometimes two can do what one cannot do alone, and +sometimes one can do what two might spoil. Now we may as well take a nap +until it is time for Mr. Sun to go to bed. Just you leave it to your old +Granny to take care of the first of those ifs. For the other one we'll +have to trust to luck, but you know we are lucky sometimes." + +With this Granny curled up for a nap, and having nothing better to do, +Reddy followed her example. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII: Farmer Brown's Boy Forgets To Close The Gate + + How easy 't is to just forget + Until, alas, it is too late. + The most methodical of folks + Sometimes forget to shut the gate. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Farmer Brown's Boy is not usually the forgetful kind. He is pretty good +about not forgetting. But Farmer Brown's boy isn't perfect by any means. +He does forget sometimes, and he is careless sometimes. He would be +a funny kind of boy otherwise. But take it day in and day out, he is +pretty thoughtful and careful. + +The care of the hens is one of Farmer Brown's boy's duties. It is one of +those duties which most of the time is a pleasure. He likes the biddies, +and he likes to take care of them. Every morning one of the first things +he does is to feed them and open the henhouse so that they can run in +the henyard if they want to. Every night he goes out just before dark, +collects the eggs and locks the henhouse so that no harm can come to the +biddies while they are asleep on their roosts. After the big snowstorm +he had shovelled a place in the henyard where the hens could come out +and exercise and get a sun-bath when they wanted to, and in the very +warmest part of the clay they would do this. Always in the daytime he +took the greatest care to see that the henyard gate was fastened, for no +one knew better than he how bold Granny and Reddy Fox can be when they +are very hungry, and in winter they are very apt to be very hungry most +of the time. So he didn't intend to give them a chance to slip into that +henyard while the biddies were out, or to give the biddies a chance to +stray outside where they might be still more easily caught. + +But at night he sometimes left that gate open, as Granny Fox had found +out. You see, he thought it didn't matter because the hens were locked +in their warm house and so were safe, anyway. + +It was just at dusk of the afternoon of the day when Granny and Reddy +Fox had talked over a plan to get one of those fat hens that Farmer +Brown's boy collected the eggs and saw to it that the biddies had gone +to roost for the night. He had just started to close the little sliding +door across the hole through which the hens went in and out in the +daytime when Bowser the Hound began to make a great racket, as if +terribly excited about something. + +Farmer Brown's boy gave the little sliding door a hasty push, picked up +his basket of eggs, locked the henhouse door and hurried out through the +gate without stopping to close it. You see, he was in a hurry to find +out what Bowser was making such a fuss about. Bowser was yelping and +whining and tugging at his chain, and it was plain to see that he was +terribly eager to be set free. + +"What is it, Bowser, old boy? Did you see something?" asked Farmer +Brown's boy as he patted Bowser on the head. "I can't let you go, you +know, because you probably would go off hunting all night and come home +in the morning all tired out and with sore feet. Whatever it was, I +guess you've scared it out of a year's growth, old fellow, so we'll let +it go at that." + +Bowser still tugged at his chain and whined, but after a little he +quieted down. His master looked around behind the barn to see if he +could see what had so stirred up Bowser, but nothing was to be seen, +and he returned, patted Bowser once more, and went into the house, never +once giving that open henyard gate another thought. + +Half an hour later old Granny Fox joined Reddy Fox, who was waiting on +the doorstep of their home. "It is all right, Reddy; that gate is open," +said she. + +"How did you do it, Granny?" asked Reddy eagerly. + +"Easily enough," replied Granny. "I let Bowser get a glimpse of me just +as his master was locking up the henhouse. Bowser made a great fuss, and +of course, Farmer Brown's boy hurried out to see what it was all about. +He was in too much of a hurry to close that gate, and afterwards he +forgot all about it or else he thought it didn't matter. Of course, I +didn't let him get so much as a glimpse of me." + +"Of course," said Reddy. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV: A Midnight Visit + + By those who win 't is well agreed + He'll try and try who would succeed. + --Old Granny Fox. + +It seemed to Reddy Fox as if time never had dragged so slowly as it +did this particular night while he and Granny Fox waited until Granny +thought it safe to visit Farmer Brown's henhouse and see if by any +chance there was a way of getting into it. Reddy tried not to hope too +much. Granny had found a way to get the gate to the henyard left open, +but this would do them no good unless there was some way of getting +into the house, and this he very much doubted. But if there was a way he +wanted to know it, and he was impatient to start. + +But Granny was in no hurry. Not that she wasn't just as hungry for a fat +hen as was Reddy, but she was too wise and clever and altogether too sly +to run any risks. + +"There is nothing gained by being in too much of a hurry, Reddy," said +she, "and often a great deal is lost in that way. A fat hen will taste +just as good a little later as it would now, and it will be foolish to +go up to Farmer Brown's until we are sure that everybody up there is +asleep. But to ease your mind, I'll tell you what we will do; we'll go +where we can see Farmer Brown's house and watch until the last light +winks out." + +So they trotted to a point where they could see Farmer Brown's house, +and there they sat down to watch. It seemed to Reddy that those lights +never would wink out. But at last they did. + +"Come on, Granny!" he cried, jumping to his feet. + +"Not yet, Reddy. Not yet," replied Granny. "We've got to give folks time +to get sound asleep. If we should get into that henhouse, those hens +might make a racket, and if anything like that is going to happen, we +want to be sure that Farmer Brown and Farmer Brown's boy are asleep." + +This was sound advice, and Reddy knew it. So with a groan he once more +threw himself down on the snow to wait. At last Granny arose, stretched, +and looked up at the twinkling stars. "Come on," said she and led the +way. + +Up back of the barn and around it they stole like two shadows and quite +as noiselessly as shadows. They heard Bowser the Hound sighing in his +sleep in his snug little house, and grinned at each other. Silently they +stole over to the henyard. The gate was open, just as Granny had told +Reddy it would be. Across the henyard they trotted swiftly, straight to +where more than once in the daytime they had seen the hens come out of +the house through a little hole. It was closed. Reddy had expected it +would be. Still, he was dreadfully disappointed. He gave it merely a +glance. + +"I knew it wouldn't be any use," said he with a half whine. + +But Granny paid no attention to him. She went close to the hole and +pushed gently against the little door that closed it. It didn't move. +Then she noticed that at one edge there was a tiny crack. She tried to +push her nose through, but the crack was too narrow. Then she tried a +paw. A claw caught on the edge of the door, and it moved ever so little. +Then Granny knew that the little door wasn't fastened. Granny stretched +herself flat on the ground and went to work, first with one paw, then +with the other. By and by she caught her claws in it just right again, +and it moved a wee bit more. No, most certainly that door wasn't +fastened, and that crack was a little wider. + +"What are you wasting your time there for?" demanded Reddy crossly. +"We'd better be off hunting if we would have anything to eat this +night." + +Granny said nothing but kept on working. She had discovered that this +was a sliding door. Presently the crack was wide enough for her to get +her nose in. Then she pushed and twisted her head this way and that. +The little door slowly slid back, and when Reddy turned to speak to her +again, for he had had his back to her, she was nowhere to be seen. Reddy +just gaped and gaped foolishly. There was no Granny Fox, but there was +a black hole where she had been working, and from it came the most +delicious smell,--the smell of fat hens! It seemed to Reddy that his +stomach fairly flopped over with longing. He rubbed his eyes to be sure +that he was awake. Then in a twinkling he was inside that hole himself. + +"Sh-h-h, be still!" whispered Old Granny Fox. + + + +CHAPTER XXV: A Dinner For Two + + Dark deeds are done in the stilly night, + And who shall say if they're wrong or right? + --Old Granny Fox. + +It all depends on how you look at things. Of course, Granny and Reddy +Fox had no business to be in Farmer Brown's henhouse in the middle of +the night, or at any other time, for that matter. That is, they had no +business to be there, as Farmer Brown would look at the matter. He would +have called them two red thieves. Perhaps that is just what they were. +But looking at the matter as they did, I am not so sure about it. To +Granny and Reddy Fox those hens were simply big, rather stupid birds, +splendid eating if they could be caught, and bound to be eaten by +somebody. The fact that they were in Farmer Brown's henhouse didn't make +them his any more than the fact that Mrs. Grouse was in a part of the +Green Forest owned by Farmer Brown made her his. + +You see, among the little meadow and forest people there is no such +thing as property rights, excepting in the matter of storehouses, and +because these hens were alive, it didn't occur to Granny and Reddy that +the henhouse was a sort of storehouse. It would have made no difference +if it had. Among the little people it is considered quite right to help +yourself from another's storehouse if you are smart enough to find it +and really need the food. + +Besides, Reddy and Granny knew that Fanner Brown and his boy would eat +some of those hens themselves, and they didn't begin to need them as +Reddy and Granny did. So as they looked at the matter, there was nothing +wrong in being in that henhouse in the middle of the night. They were +there simply because they needed food very, very much, and food was +there. + +They stared up at the roosts where the biddies were huddled together, +fast asleep. They were too high up to be reached from the floor even +when Reddy and Granny stood on their hind legs and stretched as far as +they could. + +"We've got to wake them up and scare them so that some of the silly +things will fly down where we can catch them," said Reddy, licking his +lips hungrily. + +"That won't do at all!" snapped Granny. "They would make a great racket +and waken Bowser the Hound, and he would waken his master, and that is +just what we mustn't do if we hope to ever get in here again. I thought +you had more sense, Reddy." + +Reddy looked a little shamefaced. "Well, if we don't do that, how are we +going to get them? We can't fly," he grumbled. + +"You stay right here where you are," snapped Granny, "and take care that +you don't make a sound." + +Then Granny jumped lightly to a little shelf that ran along in front of +the nesting boxes. From this she could reach the lower roost on which +four fat hens were asleep. Very gently she pushed her head in between +two of these and crowded them apart. Sleepily they protested and moved +along a little. Granny continued to crowd them. At last one of them +stretched out her head to see who was crowding so. Like a flash Granny +seized that head, and biddy never knew what had wakened her, nor did she +have a chance to waken the others. + +Dropping this hen at Reddy's feet, Granny crowded another until she did +the same thing, and just the same thing happened once more. Then Granny +jumped lightly down, picked up one of the hens by the neck, slung the +body over her shoulder, and told Reddy to do the same with the other and +start for home. + +"Aren't you going to get any more while we have the chance?" grumbled +Reddy. + +"Enough is enough," retorted Granny. "We've got a dinner for two, and +so far no one is any the wiser. Perhaps these two won't be missed, and +we'll have a chance to get some more another night. Now come on." + +This was plain common sense, and Reddy knew it, so without another word +he followed old Granny Fox out by the way they had entered, and then +home to the best dinner he had had for a long long time. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI: Farmer Brown's Boy Sets A Trap + + The trouble is that troubles are, + More frequently than not, + Brought on by naught but carelessness; + By some one who forgot. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Granny Fox had hoped that those two hens she and Reddy had stolen from +Farmer Brown's henhouse would not be missed, but they were. They were +missed the very first thing the next morning when Farmer Brown's boy +went to feed the biddies. He discovered right away that the little +sliding door which should have closed the opening through which the hens +went in and out of the house was open, and then he remembered that +he had left the henyard gate open the night before. Carefully Farmer +Brown's boy examined the hole with the sliding door. + +"Ha!" said he presently, and held up two red hairs which he had found on +the edge of the door. "Ha! I thought as much. I was careless last night +and didn't fasten this door, and I left the gate open. Reddy Fox has +been here, and now I know what has become of those two hens. I suppose +it serves me right for my carelessness, and I suppose if the truth were +known, those hens were of more real good to him than they ever could +have been to me, because the poor fellow must be having pretty hard work +to get a living these hard winter days. Still, I can't have him stealing +any more. That would never do at all. If I shut them up every night and +am not careless, he can't get them. But accidents will happen, and I +might do just as I did last night--think I had locked up when I hadn't. +I don't like to set a trap for Reddy, but I must teach the rascal a +lesson. If I don't, he will get so bold that those chickens won't be +safe even in broad daylight." + +Now at just that very time over in their home, Granny and Reddy Fox were +talking over plans for the future, and shrewd old Granny was pointing +out to Reddy how necessary it was that they should keep away from that +henyard for some time. "We've had a good dinner, a splendid dinner, and +if we are smart enough we may be able to get more good dinners where +this one came from," said she. "But we certainly won't if we are too +greedy." + +"But I don't believe Farmer Brown's boy has missed those two chickens, +and I don't see any reason at all why we shouldn't go back there +to-night and get two more if he is stupid enough to leave that gate and +little door open," whined Reddy. + +"Maybe he hasn't missed those two, but if we should take two more he +certainly would miss them, and he would guess what had become of them, +and that might get us into no end of trouble," snapped Granny. "We are +not starving now, and the best thing for us to do is to keep away from +that henhouse until we can't get anything to eat anywhere else, Now you +mind what I tell you, Reddy, and don't you dare go near there." + +Reddy promised, and so it came about that Farmer Brown's boy hunted up +a trap all for nothing so far as Reddy and Granny were concerned. Very +carefully he bound strips of cloth around the jaws of the trap, for +he couldn't bear to think of those cruel jaws cutting into the leg +of Reddy, should he happen to get caught. You see, Farmer Brown's boy +didn't intend to kill Reddy if he should catch him, but to make him a +prisoner for a while and so keep him out of mischief. That night he hid +the trap very cunningly just inside the henhouse where any one creeping +through that little hole made for the hens to go in and out would be +sure to step in it. Then he purposely left the little sliding door open +part way as if it had been forgotten, and he also left the henyard gate +open just as he had done the night before. + +"There now, Master Reddy," said he, talking to himself, "I rather think +that you are going to get into trouble before morning." + +And doubtless Reddy would have done just that thing but for the wisdom +of sly old Granny. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII: Prickly Porky Takes A Sun Bath + + Danger comes when least expected; + 'T is often near when not expected. + --Old Granny Fox. + +The long hard winter had passed, and Spring had come. Prickly Porky +the Porcupine came down from a tall poplar-tree and slowly stretched +himself. He was tired of eating. He was tired of swinging in the +tree-top. + +"I believe I'll have a sun-bath," said Prickly Porky, and lazily walked +toward the edge of the Green Forest in search of a place where the sun +lay warm and bright. + +Now Prickly Porky's stomach was very, very full. He was fat and +naturally lazy, so when he came to the doorstep of an old house just on +the edge of the Green Forest he sat down to rest. It was sunny and warm +there, and the longer he sat the less like moving he felt. He looked +about him with his dull eyes and grunted to himself. + +"It's a deserted house. Nobody lives here, and I guess nobody'll care if +I take a nap right here on the doorstep," said Prickly Porky to himself. +"And I don't care if they do," he added, for Prickly Porky the Porcupine +was afraid of nobody and nothing. + +So Prickly Porky made himself as comfortable as possible, yawned once or +twice, tried to wink at jolly, round, red Mr. Sun, who was winking and +smiling down at him and then fell fast asleep right on the doorstep of +the old house. + +Now the old house had been deserted. No one had lived in it for a long, +long time, a very long time indeed. But it happened that, the night +before, old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had had to move out of their nice +home on the edge of the Green Meadows because Farmer Brown's boy had +found it. Reddy was very stiff and sore, for he had been shot by a +hunter. He was so sore he could hardly walk, and could not go very far. +So old Granny Fox had led him to the old deserted house and put him to +bed in that. + +"No one will think of looking for us here, for every one knows that no +one lives here," said old Granny Fox, as she made Reddy as comfortable +as possible. + +As soon as it was daylight, Granny Fox slipped out to watch for Farmer +Brown's boy, for she felt sure that he would come back to the house they +had left, and sure enough he did. He brought a spade and dug the house +open, and all the time old Granny Fox was watching him from behind a +fence corner and laughing to think that she had been smart enough to +move in the night. + +But Reddy Fox didn't know anything about this. He was so tired that he +slept and slept and slept. It was the middle of the morning when finally +he awoke. He yawned and stretched, and when he stretched he groaned +because he was so stiff and sore. Then he hobbled up toward the doorway +to see if old Granny Fox had left any breakfast outside for him. + +It was dark, very dark. Reddy was puzzled. Could it be that he had +gotten up before daylight--that he hadn't slept as long as he thought? +Perhaps he had slept the whole day through, and it was night again. My, +how hungry he was! + +"I hope Granny has caught a fine, fat chicken for me," thought Reddy, +and his mouth watered. + +Just then he ran bump into something. "Wow!" screamed Reddy Fox, and +clapped both hands to his nose. Something was sticking into it. It was +one of the sharp little spears that Prickly Porky hides in his coat. +Reddy Fox knew then why the old house was so dark. Prickly Porky was +blocking up the doorway. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII: Prickly Porky Enjoys Himself + + A boasting tongue, as sure as fate, + Will trip its owner soon or late. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Prickly Porky the Porcupine was enjoying himself. There was no doubt +about that. He was stretched across the doorway of that old house, the +very house in which old Granny Fox had been born. When he had lain down +on the doorstep for a nap and sun-bath, he had thought that the old +house was still deserted. Then he had fallen asleep, only to be wakened +by Reddy Fox, who bad been asleep in the old house and who couldn't get +out because Prickly Porky was in the way. + +Now Prickly Porky does not love Reddy Fox, and the more Reddy begged and +scolded and called him names, the more Prickly Porky chuckled. It was +such a good joke to think that he had trapped Reddy Fox, and he made up +his mind that he would keep Reddy in there a long time just to tease him +and make him uncomfortable. You see Prickly Porky remembered how often +Reddy Fox played mean tricks on little meadow and forest folks who are +smaller and weaker than himself. + +"It will do him good. It certainly will do him good," said Prickly +Porky, and rattled the thousand little spears hidden in his long coat, +for he knew that the very sound of them would make Reddy Fox shiver with +fright. + +Suddenly Prickly Porky pricked up his funny little short ears. He heard +the deep voice of Bowser the Hound, and it was coming nearer and nearer. +Prickly Porky chuckled again. + +"I guess Mr. Bowser is going to have a surprise; I certainly think he +is," said Prickly Porky as he made all the thousand little spears stand +out from his long coat till he looked like a funny great chestnut burr. + +Bowser the Hound did have a surprise. He was hunting Reddy Fox, and he +almost ran into Prickly Porky before he saw him. The very sight of those +thousand little spears sent little cold chills chasing each other down +Bowser's backbone clear to the tip of his tail, for he remembered how he +had gotten some of them in his lips and mouth once upon a time, and +how it had hurt to have them pulled out. Ever since then he had had the +greatest respect for Prickly Porky. + +"Wow!" yelped Bowser the Hound, stopping short. "I beg your pardon, +Prickly Porky, I beg your pardon, I didn't know you were taking a nap +here." + +All the time Bowser the Hound was backing away as fast as he could. Then +he turned around, put his tail between his legs and actually ran away. + +Slowly Prickly Porky unrolled, and his little eyes twinkled as he +watched Bowser the Hound run away. + + "Bowser's very big and strong; + His voice is deep; his legs are long; + His bark scares some almost to death. + But as for me he wastes his breath; + I just roll up and shake my spears + And Bowser is the one who fears." + +So said Prickly Porky, and laughed aloud. Just then he heard a light +footstep and turned to see who was coming. It was old Granny Fox. She +had seen Bowser run away, and now she was anxious to find out if Reddy +Fox were safe. + +"Good morning," said Granny Fox, taking care not to come too near. + +"Good morning," replied Prickly Porky, hiding a smile. + +"I'm very tired and would like to go inside my house; had you just as +soon move?" asked Granny Fox. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Prickly Porky, "is this your house? I thought you lived +over on the Green Meadows." + +"I did, but I've moved. Please let me in," replied Granny Fox. + +"Certainly, certainly. Don't mind me, Granny Fox. Step right over me," +said Prickly Porky, and smiled once more, and at the same time rattled +his little spears. + +Instead of stepping over him, Granny Fox backed away. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX: The New Home In The Old Pasture + + Who keeps a watch upon his toes + Need never fear he'll bump his nose. + --Old Granny Fox. + +Now there is nothing like being shut in alone in the dark to make one +think. A voice inside of Reddy began to whisper to him. "If you hadn't +tried to be smart and show off you wouldn't have brought all this +trouble on yourself and Old Granny Fox," said the voice. + +"I know it," replied Reddy right out loud, forgetting that it was only a +small voice inside of him. + +"What do you know?" asked Prickly Porky. He was still keeping Reddy in +and Granny out and he had overheard what Reddy said. + +"It is none of your business!" snapped Reddy. + +Reddy could hear Prickly Porky chuckle. Then Prickly Porky repeated as +if to himself in a queer cracked voice the following: + + "Rudeness never, never pays, + Nor is there gain in saucy ways. + It's always best to be polite + And ne'er give way to ugly spite. + If that's the way you feel inside + You'd better all such feelings hide; + For he must smile who hopes to win, + And he who loses best will grin." + +Reddy pretended that he hadn't heard. Prickly Porky continued to chuckle +for a while and finally Reddy fell asleep. When he awoke it was to find +that Prickly Porky had left and old Granny Fox had brought him something +to eat. + +Just as soon as Reddy Fox was able to travel he and Granny had moved +to the Old Pasture. The Old Pasture is very different from the Green +Meadows or the Green Forest. Yes, indeed, it is very, very different. +Reddy Fox thought so. And Reddy didn't like the change,--not a bit. All +about were great rocks, and around and over them grew bushes and +young trees and bull-briars with long ugly thorns, and blackberry and +raspberry canes that seemed to have a million little hooked hands, +reaching to catch in and tear his red coat and to scratch his face and +hands. There were little open places where wild-eyed young cattle fed +on the short grass. They had made many little paths all crisscross among +the bushes, and when you tried to follow one of these paths you never +could tell where you were coming out. + +No, Reddy Fox did not like the Old Pasture at all. There was no long, +soft green grass to lie down in. And it was lonesome up there. He missed +the little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest. There was +no one to bully and tease. And it was such a long, long way from Farmer +Brown's henyard that old Granny Fox wouldn't even try to bring him a fat +hen. At least, that's what she told Reddy. + +The truth is, wise old Granny Fox knew that the very best thing she +could do was to stay away from Farmer Brown's for a long time. She knew +that Reddy couldn't go down there, because he was still too lame and +sore to travel such a long way, and she hoped that by the time Reddy +was well enough to go, he would have learned better than to do such +a foolish thing as to try to show off by stealing a chicken in broad +daylight, as he had when he brought all this trouble on them. + +Down on the Green Meadows, the home of Granny and Reddy Fox had been on +a little knoll, which you know is a little low hill, right where they +could sit on their doorstep and look all over the Green Meadows. It had +been very, very beautiful down there. They had made lovely little paths +through the tall green meadow grass, and the buttercups and daisies had +grown close up to their very doorstep. But up here in the Old Pasture +Granny Fox had chosen the thickest clump of bushes and young trees she +could find, and in the middle was a great pile of rocks. Way in among +these rocks Granny Fox had dug their new house. It was right down under +the rocks. Even in the middle of the day jolly, round, red Mr. Sun could +hardly find it with a few of his long, bright beams. All the rest of the +time it was dark and gloomy there. + +No, Reddy Fox didn't like his new home at all, but when he said so old +Granny Fox boxed his ears. + +"It's your own fault that we've got to live here now," said she. "It's +the only place where we are safe. Farmer Brown's boy never will find +this home, and even if he did he couldn't dig into it as he did into our +old home on the Green Meadows. Here we are, and here we've got to stay, +all because a foolish little Fox thought himself smarter than anybody +else and tried to show off." + +Reddy hung his head. "I don't care!" he said, which was very, very +foolish, because, you know, he did care a very great deal. + +And here we will leave wise Old Granny Fox and Reddy, safe, even if +they do not like their new home. You see, Lightfoot the Deer is getting +jealous. He thinks there should be some books about the people of the +Green Forest, and that the first one should be about him. And because we +all love Lightfoot the Deer, the very next book is to bear his name. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Granny Fox, by Thornton W. 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