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diff --git a/old/ogfox10.txt b/old/ogfox10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d50dfc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ogfox10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2829 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Granny Fox, by Thornton W. Burgess +(#9 in our series by Thornton W. Burgess) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Old Granny Fox + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4980] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, OLD GRANNY FOX *** + + + + +This eBook was transcribed by Kent Fielden (fielden3@aol.com). + +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 noth-ing 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 vou." + +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 youcan 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 he 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 similing 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, OLD GRANNY FOX *** + +This file should be named ogfox10.txt or ogfox10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ogfox11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ogfox10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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