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Title: The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book - being a new edition in one volume of "The Hollow Tree" and - "In The Deep Woods" with several new stories and pictures - added
Author: Paine, Albert Bigelow, 1861-1937
Language: English
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[Illustration: Book Cover]
THE HOLLOW TREE
AND
DEEP WOODS BOOK
[Illustration: AN INVITATION FROM JACK RABBIT.]
THE HOLLOW TREE
AND
DEEP WOODS BOOK
* * * * *
BEING A NEW EDITION IN ONE VOLUME OF "THE HOLLOW TREE"
AND "IN THE DEEP WOODS" WITH SEVERAL NEW
STORIES AND PICTURES ADDED
BY
ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE
ILLUSTRATED BY
J. M. CONDÉ
[Illustration]
* * * * *
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
BOOKS BY
ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE
MARK TWAIN: A BIOGRAPHY. Illustrated.
Octavo, Uniform Red Cloth, Trade Edition, 3 Vols.
(in a box) _net_ $6.00
Octavo, Cloth, Full Gilt Backs, Gilt Tops, Library
Edition, 3 Vols. (in a box) _net_ 7.00
Octavo, Three-quarter Calf, Gilt Tops, 3 Vols.
(in a box) _net_ 14.50
Octavo, Three-quarter Levant, Gilt Tops, 3 Vols.
(in a box) _net_ 15.50
THE SHIP DWELLERS. Illustrated. 8vo _net_ 1.50
THE TENT-DWELLERS. Illustrated. Post 8vo 1.50
"PEANUT." Illustrated. 16mo _net_ .50
Full Leather, 16mo _net_ 1.00
THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS BOOK. Illustrated. Post 8vo 1.50
THE HOLLOW TREE SNOWED-IN BOOK. Ill'd. Crown 8vo 1.50
FROM VAN-DWELLER TO COMMUTER. Illustrated. Post 8vo 1.50
LIFE OF THOMAS NAST. Illustrated. 8vo _net_ 5.00
* * * * *
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, N. Y.
Copyright, 1898, by JAMES GORDON BENNETT
Copyright, 1899, by FRANK MUNSEY
Copyright, 1899, by THE CENTURY CO.
Copyright, 1898, 1899, 1901, by ROBERT HOWARD RUSSELL
Copyright, 1900, by HARPER & BROTHERS
Acknowledgments are due to the New York _Herald_, _The Puritan_,
_Harper's Bazar_, and _The Century Magazine_, in which periodicals these
stories were originally printed.
TO FRIENDS, OLD AND NEW
I suppose the very best pay that ever comes to anyone who writes a book
is to know that the ones he wrote it for really like it. When they like
it well enough to write and tell him so, though they have never seen
him, and perhaps never will, then he feels very proud indeed, and happy.
Perhaps he even looks at himself in the looking-glass to make sure he is
really the one who did it, though of course he wouldn't have anyone see
him doing it, or think him vain, for anything.
The publisher is only going to let me print one of the ever-so-many nice
letters that have come for the man who wrote the Hollow Tree stories and
the other man who drew the pictures for them. So I've picked out one
that is for both of us, and that is signed by three, which makes it
equal to six letters, three for each of us, and as nice letters as
anyone who writes books for other folks to read could ever wish to have.
NEW YORK CITY, 107 SIXTY-NINTH STREET, EAST,
_Oct. 18th, 1900_.
DEAR MR. PAINE:
Won't you please write another book about the 'Coon and the
'Possum and the old black Crow? We know these two by heart,
now. We like that story about the "Rain In The Night"
because that is the way we do when there is a thunderstorm.
_Please_ write some more and make them friends with poor Mr.
Dog, and we want Mr. Condé to draw the pictures, too.
Your sincere friends,
AMY C. HUTTON,
JACK HUTTON, JR.,
M. KATHERINE HUTTON.
Don't you think that is a very nice letter to get? I am sure no one
could be blamed for taking just one little look in the glass after that,
or for trying to "write another book" to please readers who have learned
the others "by heart."
But, dear me, it couldn't be done, because you see there were only just
so many of the Hollow Tree stories that ever happened, and when they
were all written there weren't enough to make another book. So we have
taken what were in the first two books, "The Hollow Tree" and "In the
Deep Woods," and we have put them together in one big book, and added
the three new ones, which were every one to be had, and now here they
are with a nice new cloth cover and very cheap when you consider how
many there are of them, and that there are no more to be had anywhere,
and that there never will be any more, as the Little Lady has said,
"even in a thousand days." You will know why, too, when you get to the
very last story in the book, and until then, and for a long time after,
I wish you, and Mr. Condé wishes you the happy quiet of the Deep Woods,
and the pleasant peace of the Hollow Tree.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Little Lady and the Story Teller 9
The Hollow Tree People 11
A Joke All Around 20
Some New Acquaintances 28
Mr. Rabbit's Big Dinner 38
The Crow's Company 53
The First Moon Story 64
The Second Moon Story 72
On the Edge of the World 79
The First Pig Story 87
The Second Pig Story 93
Mr. Dog Takes Lessons in Dancing 100
Mr. Rabbit's Unwelcome Company 109
How Mr. Dog Got Even 116
How Mr. Dog Got Even--Continued 124
The Little Lady's Vacation and Her Return 137
The Story of the C. X. Pie 139
The Story of the C. X. Pie--Continued 149
The Story of the C. X. Pie--Continued 161
Mr. Rabbit Explains 169
Mr. Turtle's Thunder Story 176
Mr. Turtle's Thunder Story--Continued 183
A Rain in the Night 190
A Deep Woods Fishing Party 196
The Hollow Tree Inn 205
The Hollow Tree Inn--Continued 211
Mr. 'Possum Explains 221
The Hollow Tree Poetry Club 231
Around the World and Back Again 248
Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn 259
Good-Bye to the Little Lady 272
[Illustration]
THE LITTLE LADY AND THE STORY TELLER
THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO THEM
In the House of Many Windows which stands in a large city and is
sometimes called a "flat" by people who, because they are grown up, do
not know any better, live the Little Lady and the Story Teller.
The Little Lady is four years old, going on five, and is fond of
stories. This makes her and the Story Teller good friends. They mostly
sit in the firelight after supper, and while the Little Lady is being
undressed they tell each other all that has happened since morning. Then
the Little Lady looks into the fire and says:--
"Now, tell me a story."
Sometimes she wants a new story. Sometimes one of the old ones, which
must be told always the same, because the Little Lady, like a good many
grown up people, does not care for new and revised editions, but wants
the old stories in the old words, that sound real and true. Sometimes
the Story Teller forgets or improves on his plots, but the Little Lady
never forgets and never fails to set the Story Teller right.
THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE
THE LITTLE LADY IS INTRODUCED TO THE 'COON, THE 'POSSUM AND THE OLD
BLACK CROW
When the Story Teller came home last night the Little Lady had a great
deal to tell him. During the afternoon she had built in one corner of
the sitting room a house for her three dolls, with a separate room for
each. Of course, the house was not a house at all, but only a plan on
the floor made with blocks and books. At one side she had laid out a
large parlor room, where her family of three--Hettie, Annabelle and the
Rubber Boy--could meet together and talk.
"Why," said the Story Teller, "that reminds me of the Crow, the 'Coon
and the 'Possum."
"What did they do? Tell me that story," commanded the Little Lady,
promptly forgetting her day's work and pulling the Story Teller toward
his chair.
The Story Teller stirred the fire and looked into the blaze a moment,
thinking. The Little Lady climbed up into his lap and waited. She was
used to the Story Teller.
"Tell it," she said, presently.
So then he told her the story of the three friends.
Once upon a time in the far depths of the Big Deep Woods there was a big
hollow tree, with three big hollow branches. In one of these there lived
a 'Coon, in another a 'Possum and in the third a Big Black Crow.
"But crows don't live in hollow trees," said the Little Woman, who
happened to be passing.
"This one did," replied the Story Teller. "I suppose styles have changed
some since then."
The hollow tree below was rather dark, so they all used it for a parlor,
and only met in there now and then, to dust off their things, or when
company came.
Now, the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum were all very fond of good
living and mostly of the same things. They were good friends, too, and
they often made plans to catch young chickens and other game and carried
them out together. Between trips they would sit in their doors and pass
the time of day across to each other, just like folks.
Well, one winter, about two weeks after New Year's, it came on to snow
in the woods where the hollow tree was, and it snowed, and it snowed,
and it snowed.
This was long before sleds or skates, and when big snows always came up
over people's windows and snowed them in. And this is what happened to
the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum. They were snowed in!
Well, they rather liked it at first, for they had a good deal left over
from New Year's dinner, and they used to get together down stairs in
the parlor and spread lunch and pitch the bones under the table and talk
and tell stories and wonder how long the snow would last.
But they never counted on its lasting half so long as it did. Every day
they would look out of an upstairs window that they had, to see if the
storm wasn't over. And every day it was just the same, and there was no
sign of clearing up. Then they began to get scared, for their cupboards
were nearly empty, and there was no chance to catch any more game. At
last every scrap was gone, and there wasn't a thing to eat in the house.
[Illustration: ROCKED ON PURPOSE TO THINK ABOUT IT.]
[Illustration: LOOKED IN QUITE A WHILE, THINKING.]
The 'Possum went to bed and pulled up the covers and tried to sleep so
he would forget it. The 'Coon sat up in a rocking chair and rocked on
purpose to think about it, for he was a great hand to plan, and he
thought mebbe he could work it out some way. The Crow didn't do either,
but walked about his house, picking up first one thing and then another,
as people do sometimes when they don't do anything else. But the Crow
was luckier than most people who do that, for by and by he picked up
quite a big paper sack with something in it. Then he untied it and
looked into it quite a while, thinking. It was more than half full of
corn meal, and pretty soon he remembered that he had carried it off once
when he was passing Mr. Man's pantry window, not because he wanted it,
but because he was a crow, and crows carry off anything that isn't too
big, whether they want it or not. Then he hunted around some more and
found another sack with some flour in it that he had picked up once in
the same way. Then he found some little bags of pepper and salt and a
lump of butter.
"My!" said the Little Lady, "but he'd carried off a lot of things!"
Yes, crows always do, and hide them that way. Well, he didn't say
anything, but he slipped down stairs and gathered up some of the chicken
bones under the table and some pieces of bark and sticks, and brought
them up to his own part of the house and shut the door. Then he kindled
a little fire in the stove with the sticks and opened his outside door a
crack and got a skillet full of snow and put it on, and when the snow
melted he dropped in the chicken bones and let them stew, and then a
little of the flour and some pepper and salt and stirred it, and he had
some nice gravy.
By and by the 'Possum and 'Coon smelt it cooking and thought it came
from a farm house, and the 'Possum turned over twice and thought of
everything he had ever heard of to make people go to sleep, and the
'Coon rocked harder and harder.
Then Mr. Crow poured the gravy into a bowl and set it back on the stove
to keep warm while he stirred up some of the cornmeal in some more
melted snow, with a little pinch of salt and a little piece of the
butter. When it was all stirred good he put it into the skillet and
patted it down, and when it was baked nice and brown on both sides it
was as good a Johnnie cake as you ever tasted.
He laughed to himself a minute and then he slipped down stairs again and
set the table. He put on the bowl of gravy in the centre and cut the
Johnnie cake in three pieces. Then he called out as loud as he could:--
"Come to dinner!"
[Illustration: THE 'POSSUM JUMPED STRAIGHT UP IN BED.]
The 'Possum jumped straight up in bed and then lay down again quick, for
he thought the Crow was playing a joke on him, which he was, though not
the kind he thought. The 'Coon jumped, too, and then went to rocking
again, for he thought the same thing. So Mr. Crow opened the 'Possum's
door quick and the 'Coon's door quick and let the smell of the nice
chicken gravy go right up into their rooms. Then he laughed out loud and
called again:--
"Come to dinner while it's hot!"
And down they came, for they couldn't stand that smell. But when they
saw the Johnnie cake they thought it was a joke again, for they had
never seen any before and didn't know what it was like.
"Dip in and try," said the Crow, and he broke off a piece of his cake
and dipped it in the bowl of gravy and began to eat it. So then the
'Possum broke off a piece of his Johnnie cake and dipped it in the gravy
and began to eat it, and the 'Coon broke off a piece of his Johnnie cake
and dipped it in the gravy and began to eat, too. And then the Crow
dipped again, and the 'Possum dipped again, and the 'Coon dipped again.
"It's good," said the 'Possum.
"Yes, it's good," said the 'Coon. "Where did you get it?"
But the Crow did not tell them, and so they dipped and ate, and dipped
and ate, until they dipped and ate it all up.
[Illustration: "DROP IN AGAIN TO-MORROW," SAID THE CROW.]
"Drop in again to-morrow," said the Crow when they were done.
So the next day they came again, and the next day they came again, and
every day after that they came, until the storm was over and the snow
was 'most gone, and Mr. Crow never did tell them the secret of it until
once when he wanted to ask a great favor of Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum,
but that is too long to tell about to-night.
The Story Teller looked down at the Little Lady.
She was sound asleep.
A JOKE ALL AROUND
ABOUT HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE AND THEIR WAYS
"You may tell me some more about the 'Coon and the 'Possum and the Old
Black Crow," said the Little Lady, settling herself comfortably and
indicating by the motion of her body that she wanted the Story Teller to
rock. "They lived in three big hollow limbs of a big hollow tree, you
know, and used to meet together sometimes in their parlor and talk."
Why, yes, of course. The Story Teller did know this colony, and
hurriedly tried to recall some one of their many adventures. Out of the
mists of that long ago time when all animals and men spoke one language
and mingled more or less sociably together came presently a dim memory
that cleared and brightened as it came, and took form at last in
something which the Story Teller told to the Little Lady as
MR. 'COON'S BAD COLD.
[Illustration: THE 'COON CAUGHT A BAD COLD.]
[Illustration: COUGHED AND TOOK ON.]
One day, early in March and during a long wet spell, the 'Coon caught a
bad cold. The next morning he stayed in bed, and pulled up the covers
and was cross and too sick to go out. This made extra work for the Crow
and the 'Possum, who, of course, had to bring him in his meals and
take care of him, and Mr. 'Coon, who found how nice it was to be
waited on, thought he would take his own time about getting well. He was
sick so long that by and by it set Mr. Crow to thinking, and one day,
all of a sudden, he was taken ill, too, and coughed and took on, and
called across to the others that he was sick and couldn't come out,
either.
This made still more work for the 'Possum, who now had to catch game for
three, besides waiting on sick folks and taking care of their houses. So
by and by Mr. 'Possum got to thinking some, as well as the others, and
one morning, while the Crow and the 'Coon were lying all snug in bed and
laughing to themselves at the trick they were playing, and thinking of
the nice breakfast they were to have, they heard all at once the 'Possum
calling out that hard work and exposure had been too much for him, and
that he was sicker now than both of them put together.
Of course they had to call back to him that they were sorry, and of
course they were sorry in one way, and then each of them lay down to see
which would be the first to starve out.
Mr. 'Possum had a little the best of it at first, because he had brought
in enough the night before to last him for a few meals, but, being very
greedy, he soon ate it all up, and before long was just as hungry as
either the 'Coon or the Crow, and maybe hungrier.
Every day they all grew emptier and emptier. Sometimes Mr. Crow would
get up and slip to the door to see if the 'Possum or the 'Coon was not
starting out for food. Sometimes Mr. 'Possum would peep out to see if
the 'Coon and the Crow were not going. Sometimes Mr. 'Coon would look
out to see if the Crow and the 'Possum hadn't started. Once they all saw
each other, and jumped back like a flash.
[Illustration: GOT UP SOFTLY AND DRESSED.]
That night Mr. 'Possum decided that he couldn't stand it any longer. He
was so thin that his skin hung on him like a bag, and he hardly had
strength enough to curl his tail. So he made a plan to slip through the
parlor down stairs, and out the door at the bottom of the tree to find a
good supper just for himself. A little after dark, when he thought the
others were asleep, he got up softly and dressed himself and took his
shoes in his hand.
He was afraid to put them on, for fear he would wake up the Crow and the
'Coon going down stairs.
Well, he slipped down softly, and was just about half way to the door
when--biff! he ran right against something in the dark----
"But I thought you said once 'possums could see in the dark?"
interrupted the Little Lady, sitting up straight.
They can in just common dark, but this, you see, was hollow tree dark,
which is the very darkest dark there is. So he couldn't see a wink, and
down he came and down came the other thing, too, till pretty soon--biff!
they struck something else, and down all three things came over and
over, rattlety-clatter, to the bottom of the stairs, right on out of the
door into the moonlight, and what do you suppose was there besides Mr.
'Possum?
"I know," said the Little Lady, eagerly. "The 'Coon and the Old Black
Crow?"
[Illustration: LOOKING FOOLISH AND HALF STARVED.]
Exactly. Both of them dressed and looking foolish and half starved, and
each with his shoes in his hand. They had all slipped down softly to get
something to eat, because they were so hungry, and, of course, when they
looked at each other standing there they all knew very well that none of
them had been sick, except Mr. 'Coon a little right at first.
After they had looked at each other for about a minute they all began to
laugh, and they laughed and laughed till they cried, and rolled on the
ground and kept on laughing to think how they all had fooled each other
and been fooled themselves. Then they all hurried off on a big hunt for
game, and didn't get back till sunrise.
SOME NEW ACQUAINTANCES
THE LITTLE LADY IS INTRODUCED TO MR. JACK RABBIT DURING A VERY EXCITING
EXPERIENCE WITH MR. DOG. THE FIRST ADVENTURE OF JACK RABBIT
[Illustration: HE STOPPED AND TALKED TO MR. ROBIN.]
Once upon a time Mr. Jack Rabbit got up very early and set out for a
morning walk. It was bright and sunny, and Mr. Rabbit was feeling so
well that he walked and walked. Every little ways he stopped and talked
to the Robins and Bluebirds that were up early, too, until by and by he
didn't know how far away from home he really was.
"Did he know the way?" asked the Little Lady.
[Illustration: A LOUD BARK RIGHT BEHIND HIM.]
Oh, yes, he knew the way, because you can't lose Mr. Jack Rabbit, no
matter what you do, but talking along and not thinking, he had forgotten
about its being so far. He was just going to turn back, though, when all
of a sudden there was a great loud bark right behind him that made him
jump right straight up in the air and commence running before his feet
touched the ground.
He didn't stop to ask any questions. He knew that Mr. Dog was out early,
too, and that he'd found his tracks and was a-coming lickety split.
"What does that mean--lickety split?"
I don't know, exactly, but Mr. Dog always runs that way when he chases
Jack Rabbit, and Mr. Rabbit knew he had no time to waste.
He ran faster than Mr. Dog at first, and got far enough ahead so that
when directly he saw Mr. Robin on a limb he slacked up a little minute
and said:--
"Mr. Dog's coming to call, and I'm going home to get my house ready."
Then pretty soon he saw Mr. Bluebird, but he didn't have time to pause
again.
"Where are you going so fast, Mr. Rabbit?" said the Bluebird.
"To get ready for Mr. Dog; he's coming to call," said the Rabbit as he
went by like a streak. Then a little further on he met Mr. Turtle.
"Hi, there!" called the Turtle. "Where are you going so fast, Mr.
Rabbit?"
"Dog coming--clean house!" shouted Jack Rabbit, 'most out of breath.
That made the Turtle laugh, 'cause Mr. Turtle is old and smart and he
knew why the Rabbit was running so fast.
"Was the Rabbit so afraid of Mr. Dog?" asked the Little Lady.
He was that, but he didn't want anybody to know it if he could help it,
and 'specially Mr. Dog.
Well, pretty soon Mr. Dog came by where Mr. Robin was, and he called
up:--
"Hello, Mr. Robin! Has Mr. Jack Rabbit passed this way?"
"Why, yes, Mr. Dog, and he stopped a little minute to say that you were
coming to see him, and that he had to hurry home to have his house
ready."
That kind of surprised Mr. Dog, 'cause he thought the Rabbit was afraid
of him, but he kept right on till he came to the Bluebird.
"Did Mr. Rabbit come this way?" he called up without stopping.
"Yes, sir, and hurried right on to have his house ready for you," said
the Bluebird.
That surprised Mr. Dog more and more, and he began to think that after
all maybe the Rabbit didn't know what he wanted of him and--
"What did he want of him?"
Well, I s'pect it was about the same as the wolf wanted of Red Riding
Hood, and Jack Rabbit was so far away from home and getting so tired
that there's no telling what might have happened if it hadn't been for
Mr. Turtle. Mr. Turtle was a good friend to Jack Rabbit, 'cause once he
beat him in a foot race by playing a trick, and he'd always felt a
little sorry for it. So when Mr. Dog came along he got right in the way
and said:--
[Illustration: "HI, THERE! HOLD ON, MR. DOG!"]
"Hi, there! Hold on, Mr. Dog, or you'll get there before Mr. Rabbit is
ready for you. He just passed, and said he had to clean up before you
came. I s'pose he wants to get up a fine dinner, too."
Well, that settled it. Mr. Dog stopped and said he wasn't in any hurry
at all, but was just running a little because it was a nice morning and
he felt well. Of course, he said, he didn't want to get there before Mr.
Rabbit was ready for him, and then he trotted along comfortably,
thinking how he would eat the Rabbit's fine dinner first, and then there
would be time enough for Mr. Rabbit himself afterward.
So, when he got to Jack Rabbit's house he straightened his vest and his
necktie a little, and then he knocked and turned around and whistled
while he was waiting for Mr. Rabbit to come to the door. But Jack Rabbit
didn't come to the door. He opened an upstairs window and said:--
"Why, it's Mr. Dog! Sit right down on the porch, Mr. Dog, till I get my
house ready and the dinner cooked."
[Illustration: MR. RABBIT LAUGHED AND LAUGHED.]
So Mr. Dog sat down and lit his pipe and smoked and looked at the
scenery, while Mr. Rabbit inside he laughed and laughed, and lay down on
the bed and finally went to sleep.
Mr. Dog sat there and smoked and smoked, and wished the Rabbit would
hurry and let him in, 'cause he wanted to get home to his folks, and it
was a long way to travel. By and by he called up and asked him if dinner
wasn't ready yet. That waked Jack Rabbit up, and he looked out the
window and said that he'd had bad luck with his biscuit and dinner would
be late. Then Mr. Dog said he'd come in while he was waiting, but the
Rabbit said the house was full of smoke, and he wouldn't think of
letting his company sit inside such a pleasant day.
Well, Mr. Dog he sat and sat, and Mr. Jack Rabbit laughed and went to
sleep again, and by and by it got so late that Mr. Dog knew if he didn't
go home pretty soon he'd "catch it" when he got there. So he called up
again to Mr. Rabbit, and said that he'd take anything he happened to
have in the house, and that he didn't care much for biscuit anyway. But
Jack Rabbit said he would never show his face again if he let his
company do that, and that it was a perfect shame that Mr. Dog had waited
so long, when he had so far to go. He said that his stove didn't draw
worth a cent, and that his fire had gone out once, and he hadn't got it
started again yet.
Then Mr. Dog didn't wait to hear another word, but just set out for
home, lickety split, with Mr. Jack Rabbit rolling on the bed and
laughing to see him go.
"Come again, Mr. Dog!" he called after him. "Come again when you can't
stay so long."
But Mr. Dog didn't say a word or look 'round, for he knew by Jack
Rabbit's laughing so loud and saying to come when he couldn't stay so
long that he'd been fooling him all the time.
"And did he ever go to Jack Rabbit's house again?" asked the Little
Lady.
Well, not right away. He didn't go out much of anywhere after that for a
while, because people made fun of him and kept calling out when he went
by:--
"Come again, Mr. Dog! Come again when you can't stay so long!"
MR. RABBIT'S BIG DINNER
MR. JACK RABBIT ENTERTAINS THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE. AN UNWELCOME GUEST
ARRIVES CAUSING SOME EXCITEMENT
Once upon a time there came to the big Hollow Tree, where the 'Coon and
the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow lived, an invitation from Mr. Jack
Rabbit for the three to dine with him next day. Nobody was going to be
there, he said, but the Turtle, and for them to come early so's to have
a nice long afternoon.
He didn't need to say that, for the 'Possum would have started right off
if it had been polite, and the Crow and the 'Coon were both so excited
that the 'Coon commenced with pie first at supper and the Crow took his
hat to get water in. Then they talked all the evening about their
clothes and what they were going to wear, and the 'Possum said he was
afraid to look at his best suit for fear it was moth eaten, and the
'Coon and the Crow rummaged through their bureaus and got out all their
clean shirts so's to have one ready for the next day.
In the morning they all got up long before daylight, and the 'Possum
looked out first and then called over to the others that there had
been a light snow in the night, but that it was clear now and just cold
enough to give a fellow a good appetite. He was going to eat a slim
breakfast, he said, so's to be ready for a big dinner.
They were all dressed and ready long before time, but they managed to
stand it until about ten o'clock, and then the 'Possum said he was just
naturally getting gray headed waiting for that dinner, and off they
started.
[Illustration: THE RABBIT GETTING READY.]
[Illustration: LOOKED AT THE ALBUM.]
[Illustration: TROUBLE IN GETTING HIS BISCUITS TO RISE.]
Mr. Jack Rabbit had got up early, too, that morning, and had the table
'most set when they came. He had his sleeves rolled up and an apron on,
and the way he was flying around and getting ready was a caution. The
'Coon and the Crow sat down in the parlor, and looked at the album and
some travel books they found on the table, but Mr. 'Possum was so hungry
after his light breakfast that he could not keep out of the kitchen,
where it smelled good, and stood around and talked to Jack Rabbit, and
asked him where he got his chickens, and if he thought Mr. Fox would
spare him some, too, and if Mr. Rabbit had any trouble getting his
biscuits to rise in cold weather.
Then the Rabbit gave the 'Possum some new receipts, and Mr. 'Possum
tasted of everything, a great big taste, making believe he wanted to see
just how it was made, but really because he was almost starved, and
couldn't wait.
Well, pretty soon Mr. Turtle straddled in, and everything was on the
table and they all sat down. The 'Possum had tasted so much in the
kitchen that he wasn't so starved as the 'Coon and the Crow, and behaved
very politely, and stepped on the 'Coon's toe under the table because he
ate so greedily, and whispered to the Crow not to shovel the food about
on his plate, as if he were cleaning snow off a roof.
[Illustration: MR. JACK RABBIT FELL OVER BACKWARD.]
They were all too busy to say much at first, but pretty soon they got to
talking and telling stories, and Jack Rabbit told about the time that
Mr. Dog chased him home, and how he kept Mr. Dog sitting out on the
porch all the afternoon waiting for dinner to be ready. Then Mr. Turtle
up and told about his stopping Mr. Dog that day, telling him that the
Rabbit had gone home to get dinner for him, and they all laughed, and
the 'Coon and the 'Possum said that Mr. Dog thought they were afraid of
him, too, but the first time they got a chance they were going to show
him a few things that would open his eyes. That made the Crow laugh till
he coughed and strangled, and when the Rabbit said he wasn't afraid,
either, the Turtle laughed, too. Then the 'Coon and the 'Possum and Mr.
Jack Rabbit all pounded on the table, and said, "Just show us Mr. Dog,
and you'll see whether we're afraid or not," and right then, as they
said these words, there came a loud knock, and a great big bow! wow!
wow! right at the door, and Mr. Jack Rabbit fell over backward, and Mr.
'Coon upset his coffee, and Mr. 'Possum, being stuffed so he could
hardly move, rolled under the table and fainted dead away.
"Wasn't the Crow and Mr. Turtle scared some, too?" interrupted the
Little Lady.
Not a bit. Mr. Dog is good friends with the Crow and the Turtle. Of
course they were afraid some for the Rabbit and the 'Coon and the
'Possum, but they didn't think Mr. Dog could get in, because the door
was locked, so they laughed and pounded on the table as the others had
done and said:--
"Oh, yes, just show us Mr. Dog! Just show us Mr. Dog!"
That made the Rabbit feel ashamed, 'cause he was in his own house, so he
hopped up quick and marched over to the door and said:--
"Why, Mr. Dog, is that you out there?"
Mr. Dog said it was, and that he had seen all the tracks in the snow,
and just thought he'd like to take a hand in that big dinner himself.
That made the hair on Mr. 'Coon's head stand right straight up, and Mr.
'Possum, who had rolled under the table, gave a groan and crawled over
behind a long curtain, where he could faint and be covered up at the
same time. Mr. Rabbit thought a little minute and then said, very
politely:--
"It's just too bad, Mr. Dog, I'll declare it is. But every time you come
it seems like something happens to keep me from having your company.
We've just got up from the table and there isn't a thing left, and
besides, Mr. 'Possum had a sick turn a minute ago, and we're all upside
down and every which way."
But Mr. Dog said he wasn't afraid but that there'd be plenty for him to
eat, and that he was a pretty good hand with sick folks himself. Then he
gave another great loud bark and said:--
"You fooled me once, but you'll fool me no more,
So lift up the latch and open the door!"
Mr. Dog talks poetry that way sometimes when he gets excited. But Jack
Rabbit said he really couldn't think of inviting him in, the way things
were, and that it would likely be after sundown before he'd be ready for
him. Of course, he said, Mr. Dog couldn't wait that long, he knew, and
that he s'posed, after all, they'd have to do without his comp'ny this
time. Then Mr. Dog said that his folks were away from home now, and that
he could stay there all night if he wanted to, but that he didn't want
to and didn't propose to, and then he gave another great big bow wow
wow! and said:--
"You fooled me once, but you can't ag'in;
Open the door or I'll break it in!"
[Illustration: THE 'POSSUM ALMOST DIED.]
[Illustration: SAW MR. DOG'S YELLOW LEGS AND TAIL.]
Jack Rabbit and Mr. 'Coon both jumped when they heard that, and Mr.
'Possum almost died. It worried the Crow and the Turtle some, too, for
they knew if he did break in the door there'd be a big row and no
telling how it would end. And just then Mr. Dog gave a big run and a
jump against the door, and it squeaked and opened a little, so that the
Rabbit could see a streak of light through it and Mr. Dog's yellow legs
and tail. When he saw that Jack Rabbit just gave one spring and landed
on the top shelf of his china closet. Mr. 'Possum jumped up and ran
around the room and fainted in two or three different places, trying to
find one that was safer than the other, and Mr. 'Coon scampered up the
Rabbit's new lace curtains and hung on to the pole for dear life. The
Crow and the Turtle just kept still and got ready to argue some with Mr.
Dog when he got in.
Pretty soon he came, bang! against the door again, and this time a good
deal harder than before, and it squeaked louder and the crack was wider,
for Mr. Dog had jumped against it as hard as ever he could, backward.
And right there Mr. Dog made a mistake, for in just that little second
while the crack was open the end of his tail got in it, and the door
smacked right down on it, and there he was.
"Ho!" said the Little Lady. "Was he caught tight?"
[Illustration: HE HOWLED LIKE A GOOD FELLOW.]
He was that. The harder he pulled the tighter it pinched, and he howled
like a good fellow. You wouldn't have thought that such a little bit of
his tail would make him howl so loud, but it did, and he couldn't get
far enough away from the door to jump against it again. Well, Mr. Rabbit
didn't let on that anything had happened, but just came down out of the
china closet as cool as you please, with the dessert dishes on his arm,
and the 'Possum said his sick turn had passed off, and the 'Coon came
down from the curtain and mentioned that he always liked to take a
little exercise during a heavy meal that way. Then they had dessert, and
all the time Mr. Dog was making a big fuss outside, and by and by he
began to beg and promise anything if they'd just let him loose.
Mr. Rabbit called out to him that, being as his folks were away now, he
needn't be in any hurry, and that he might just as well stay there all
night if he wanted to. Then Mr. Dog called out to the Turtle and the
Crow to "prize" open the door and let him get his tail out, but they
both said that they couldn't think of being impolite with Jack Rabbit in
his own house by sending off any of his friends that way.
Well, pretty soon the 'Coon and the 'Possum said they must be going,
they guessed, so Mr. Rabbit let them out the back door, and they went
around and said goodby to Mr. Dog and hoped he was having a nice time.
And Mr. Dog told them, with tears in his eyes, that he was sorry to see
them go and that he hoped to meet them again. Then the 'Coon and the
'Possum both laughed and took a good look at Mr. Dog, for they had never
been so close to him before in their lives. They kept on laughing and
looking around as far as they could see, and said it was the best joke
they had ever heard of.
The Crow and the Turtle didn't go right away. They stayed and had a talk
with Jack Rabbit first so as to give the 'Coon and the 'Possum time to
get home. By and by they bade goodby to Mr. Rabbit and said they'd had a
nice time, and went out the back door, too, and when it was shut and
locked tight Jack Rabbit told Mr. Dog if he'd promise to go right home
and behave himself, and not go gallivanting around the country, he'd
let him loose. Mr. Dog promised, and said his tail was numb clear up to
his ears, and for Mr. Rabbit to please hurry. Then Jack Rabbit got a
stick of stovewood and pried the door open a little wider, and Mr. Dog's
tail came out just as the Turtle and the Crow stepped around the corner.
"Was Mr. Dog mad at them?" asked the Little Lady, anxiously.
[Illustration: THEY WALKED ALONG WITH HIM.]
Not very. He was too much ashamed, and, besides, they walked along with
him and said they were sorry and thought it was too bad the way he had
been treated, and Mr. Crow said he'd have Mr. Dog over to his house for
supper before long, which would be a good joke on the 'Coon and 'Possum,
too, because they'd have to stay locked in their rooms. That made Mr.
Dog perk up a little, but he didn't have much to say, and he didn't even
look around when Mr. Jack Rabbit sat up in his window and called after
them:--
"I fooled you once and I fooled you twice,
If you come again I'll fool you thrice!"
For Jack Rabbit could make up poetry, too, sometimes when he felt well.
THE CROW'S COMPANY
MR. CROW GIVES A SUPPER TO MR. DOG, ACCORDING TO PROMISE
Well, you remember (said the Story Teller) that the Crow promised Mr.
Dog he would have him over sometime for supper, and play a joke on Mr.
'Coon and Mr. 'Possum. So one morning he sent word to Mr. Dog, and the
same day gave it out to the 'Coon and the 'Possum that we would have
company for supper the next evening, and that he was going to set the
big table in the parlor and have both of them come down and take supper
with him, too. He didn't tell them he was going to have Mr. Dog and went
around laughing to himself, because he thought it would be very funny
for them to get all ready for a fine supper and then be afraid to come
down when they found out who was there. Of course he meant to tell them
before they came, because he didn't really want any fuss there in the
parlor, especially when he had his good things on the table.
Well, the 'Coon and the 'Possum said they'd come, and they guessed and
guessed who it was that the Crow was going to have, but he wouldn't tell
them, and by and by they began to suspect that maybe it was somebody
that they didn't care much about. So they had a little private talk
together and fixed up a way to be ready for him.
After that they went around smiling a good deal, and the Crow thought it
was on account of the big supper they were expecting, so he smiled, too,
and was busy getting ready for the fun next day.
Well, next day about five o'clock, Mr. Dog came and knocked at the door
down stairs, and Mr. Crow slipped down and let him in, and took him
right up to the parlor where supper was all on the table except the
fried chicken, which he had left on the stove to keep hot. Mr. Dog took
a seat and glanced round and said that everything looked good and
smelled even better than it looked. The Crow liked to hear that, for he
was always proud of his cooking and he laughed all over, and kept on
laughing when he thought what a joke he was going to have right away on
Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum.
Then, pretty soon he had everything ready, and said to Mr. Dog:--
"Now I'm going to call my friends down, but they won't come." And then
they both laughed soft like, for of course Mr. Dog knew all about the
joke, too.
So then the Crow went up to the 'Possum's door and knocked and said:--
"Supper's ready! Comp'ny's here! Come down!"
[Illustration: "WHO IS YOUR COMPANY, MR. CROW?"]
"Who is your company, Mr. Crow?"
"Oh, just home folks. Nobody but Mr. Dog. We've got fried chicken and
it's all ready."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Crow, but I've just had comp'ny come, too, and I
couldn't come unless I brought my comp'ny."
"Who is it?" said the Crow.
"Nobody but home folks. Mr. Cat just dropped in to spend the evening."
The Old Black Crow gave a jump when he heard that, for he was afraid as
death of Mr. Cat, and he said, quick as a wink:--
"Table's all full and no room for more! Table's all full and no room for
more!"
Then he hurried over to the 'Coon's door and called:--
"Supper's all ready! Comp'ny's here! Come down!"
[Illustration: MR. 'COON PUT AN EXTRA CHAIR AGAINST THE DOOR.]
Mr. 'Coon put an extra chair against the door and said:--
"Who is your comp'ny, Mr. Crow?"
"Oh, just home folks. Nobody but Mr. Dog. We've got fried chicken and
it's all on the table."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Crow, but comp'ny just came here, too, and I'd have to
bring him along."
"Who is it, Mr. 'Coon?"
"Only home folks. Just Mr. Hawk run in for the evening."
[Illustration: MR. CROW NEARLY FELL OVER BACKWARD.]
Mr. Crow nearly fell over backward when he heard that. He had stolen
some of Mr. Hawk's chickens the day before, and the 'Coon knew about it.
The Hawk would surely know the flavor of his own chickens if he came
down, and, anyhow, Mr. 'Coon would tell him. So he called out just as
quick as lightning:--
"Table's all full and no room for more! Table's all full and no room for
more!"
Then he hurried right back to Mr. Dog and told him not to wait, because
Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum could not come, and Mr. Dog laughed and
pitched into the fried chicken and said it was the best joke and the
best chicken he had ever heard of. But the Crow some way did not think
it was as good a joke as he had expected and could not eat his supper
for looking up at the doors where the 'Possum and the 'Coon were.
By and by, when Mr. Dog had finished his supper and had a smoke, he said
he guessed his folks would be looking for him and that he would have to
go. Then the Crow nearly had a fit and begged and begged him to spend
the evening. He said Mr. Dog came so seldom that he ought to stay, now
he was there, so at last Mr. Dog sat down again and said he might as
well sit a little longer, he s'posed.
[Illustration: MR. CROW TALKED AND TOLD STORIES.]
Well, the Crow talked and talked and told stories and got Mr. Dog to
telling stories, too, and once he slipped around behind Mr. Dog while he
was talking away and put the clock back, but it didn't do any good. Mr.
Dog said by and by that he was obliged to go and that he was afraid now
he would be locked out when he got home. So the Crow thought as quick as
he could and called out loud:--
"Time comp'ny was going home! Time comp'ny was going home!"
But the 'Possum called back that his comp'ny wasn't in any hurry. And
the Coon called back that his comp'ny wasn't in any hurry either.
Then Mr. Crow was in a bad fix. He hopped around first on one foot and
then on the other while Mr. Dog was putting on his things, and as soon
as he was gone he skipped right up into his own room and locked the door
tight.
Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum were looking out of their windows and saw Mr.
Dog outside as he lit his pipe and marched off laughing. And the 'Coon
and 'Possum laughed, too, for they hadn't had any company at all, but
had been making believe all the time. Then they unbarred their doors and
went down into the parlor, where there was a lot of the supper left, and
sat down and passed the fried chicken across to each other and laughed
some more and said Mr. Crow was certainly a mighty good cook.
"Didn't they give the Crow any?" asked the Little Lady, who had been so
still that the Story Teller believed her asleep.
Pretty soon they did. They said it was too bad to punish him any longer,
so they went up to his door, and the 'Possum knocked and said:--
"Better come down to supper, Mr. Crow. Comp'ny's all gone!"
And then the 'Coon he knocked and said:--
"Better come down to fried chicken, Mr. Crow. Comp'ny's all gone!"
So then the Crow opened the door a little crack and peeked out, and when
he saw nobody was there but the 'Coon and the 'Possum he stepped out as
brave as you please and said that he had been to one big supper and was
sleepy and just going to bed, but that he believed he would sit down
with them just to be sociable. He was sorry, he said, that he couldn't
have asked them to bring down their comp'ny, but he hadn't fixed for so
many, and, after all, it would be nicer now, all alone together.
So then the 'Coon and the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow all sat down to
the table together and ate and ate and ate, and the Old Black Crow ate
most of all.
THE FIRST MOON STORY
A STORY IN WHICH MR. 'COON TELLS MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. RABBIT SOMETHING
ABOUT THE MOON
Last night when the full moon looked into the House of Many Windows the
Little Lady stood looking at it for a long time.
She had been told that the moon was another world, and that the stars
were worlds, too, and she was trying to think how that could be when
they looked so small and close together; also if it were all true, and
they were so big, why they did not get against each other when the sky
itself wasn't any bigger than the world and came down to it everywhere
at the edges. She asked the Story Teller about it when he came in.
The Story Teller tried to explain that the stars and moon were not so
close together as they looked, and that some were a good deal further
away than others, and a lot more things, all of which the Little Lady
doubted, because she said she could see for herself that the sky was
just a round blue ceiling, and that the moon and stars were right
against it, and if any of them were further away than the others they
would be over beyond the ceiling and wouldn't show. This was a good
deal easier for the Story Teller to understand than the things he had
been trying to tell, so he said, "Why, of course. I hadn't thought of
that," and then he said he knew some stories about the moon that were a
good deal truer, he guessed, than most anything else. And then he told
her, first of all,
MR. 'COON'S STORY OF THE MOON.
Once upon a time, when Mr. Dog had invited the Crow and the Turtle to
his house for supper, Jack Rabbit came over to the Hollow Tree to spend
the evening with the 'Coon and the 'Possum, and they took a long walk.
They walked and walked, till by and by they got to the edge of the world
and sat down and hung their feet over and talked and looked at the full
moon that was just rising.
They talked first about one thing and then another, and then they got to
talking about the moon, and come to find out one thought it was this,
and one thought it was that, and the third man, which was the 'Coon,
said he knew it wasn't either one, for the moon had once belonged to his
family and he knew all about it.
So then they agreed between them to let each one tell what he knew about
the moon and how he came to know it and all about it. And Mr. 'Coon told
first.
"Well," he said, "a long time ago, about sixteen
great-great-grandfathers back, our family lived in a big woods in a big
tree that was on top of a high mountain and touched the sky with its top
limbs when the wind blew.
"It was a good big family, too; I don't know just how many there were,
but I know there was an old grandmother besides the father and mother
and a lot of children. They were a very noisy lot of youngsters, so the
story goes, nearly all of the same age, and used to tear around the
house and never want to do anything but play and run up and down stairs
until my sixteenth great-great-grandmother used to stop her ears and say
that those children would be the death of her, and she wished there was
a school in the neighborhood so they could be sent to it."
[Illustration: A SHINING TIN PLATE.]
"But those children never wanted to learn anything, and never thought
about even knowing their letters, until one day Father 'Coon came home
from town with a brand new shiny tin plate with the alphabet around on
the edge of it. When they saw that they all made a grab for it and
claimed it, but Father 'Coon held it up high and said that it was for
the one that first learned his letters. He said that they were to take
turns using it, a different one each time, and whoever was using it
could study his letters while he was eating. He said that when it had
been all around once he would see who knew the most letters and would
give it to him the next time, and so on, and the first one who knew all
of them should have it for his own, to keep.
"Well, the first night he gave it to a fellow named Bushy and sat down
by him and told him the letters over and over, and all the rest leaned
across the table and looked on instead of eating, all except one
fellow, named Smart, who was good at learning things by heart, and he
just listened and ate, too. He did that right along every meal till it
came his turn, and then he pretended to look very close, but all the
time he was only saying the letters over and over in his head and
laughing to himself to think how he was going to surprise everybody when
the time came to see who knew the most.
"And that's just what he did do. For when the plate had gone clear
around and Father 'Coon called them all up one night after supper to see
who could tell the most letters on it, some only knew three and some
four, and some of them knew six, but when it came Smart's turn he
commenced when Father 'Coon pointed to A, and said every one clear
through to & just as fast as he could say them. Then the others all
began to cry, and Smart took the plate and walked off with it into the
next room and sat down and was saying the alphabet over and over, when
all at once Bushy happened to notice that when Smart pointed out the
letters for himself and said them he was just as apt to begin any place
else as at A, and that he only knew them by heart and didn't know a
single one when he saw it."
[Illustration: BUSHY GRABBED THE PLATE.]
[Illustration: SHE FLUNG IT OUT THE WINDOW.]
"Of course that made Bushy mad, and he ran out and told the rest that
Smart didn't know his alphabet at all, and that he couldn't even tell A
when it was by itself, and all the others set up a great fuss, too. They
said he had to go out with the plate to Father 'Coon again, and Smart
said he wouldn't do it; that it was his plate, and that he had said
his letters once and didn't intend to say them again for anybody. Then
Bushy grabbed the plate and said it was his, because he knew six
letters, and then a little fellow named Stripe grabbed it away from
Bushy because he knew six letters, too, and pretty soon they all got
into a regular fight over it, and made such an awful noise that
Grandmother 'Coon thought the tree was falling down, and came running
in, and when she saw what they were fighting over she grabbed it away
from all of them and opened the window and flung it out just as hard as
ever she could fling it.
"And the tin plate went sailing and shining right straight up in the
air, and kept on sailing and shining till it got to the sky; and then,
of course, it couldn't get any further, but it went right on sailing and
shining in the sky, and has been there, sailing and shining, ever since.
"And that," said Mr. 'Coon, "that's the moon!"
"Oh, pshaw!" said the 'Possum.
"What made those dark spots on it?" said the Rabbit.
Mr. 'Coon didn't know what to say to that just at first, and then he
happened to think.
"Why," he said, "that's where they rubbed the tin off fighting over it."
"Nonsense!" said the Rabbit.
THE SECOND MOON STORY
MR. 'POSSUM HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THE MOON WHICH SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON
THE SUBJECT
This is the story told by Mr. 'Possum when he and Mr. 'Coon and Jack
Rabbit sat on the edge of the world and hung their feet over and looked
at the moon:--
"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "a good many years ago, when there were a
great many more chickens than there are now, and Mr. Man took good care
of them for us and let them roost in trees instead of locking them up
every night in an unhealthy little pen, my folks used to go around
sometimes after Mr. Man had gone to bed, and look them over and pick out
what they wanted for the next day.
"I don't know why we ever began the custom of picking out our victuals
at night that way, when it was dark and dangerous, but somehow we always
did it, and have kept it up ever since."
"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
"Yes," continued Mr. 'Possum, "that was before there was any moon, and
the nights were always dark. It wasn't a good time to choose food, and
very often my folks made a mistake and got a seven-year-old bantam hen
instead of a spring pullet, which is about the same size.
"This happened so much that by and by a very wise 'Possum, named
Smoothe, said that if they would keep him in chickens of a youthful and
tender sort he would fix up a light, so they could see and know what
they were doing. They all agreed to do it, and that night Smoothe built
a big fire in the top of a tall tree and sat up there and 'tended to it
until nearly morning, and my folks brought home the finest lot of
chickens that Mr. Man had raised for them in a good many years."
[Illustration: USED TO FALL ASLEEP AND DREAM ABOUT IT.]
"Well, there was never any trouble after that to pick out young meat,
and Smoothe kept the fire going nights and ate a good deal and got
pretty fat, so that he didn't like to work, and kept planning some way
to make his job easier. He wanted to find a light that he wouldn't have
to 'tend to and keep piling wood on all night. He thought about this for
a long time, and used to fall asleep and dream about it, and once he let
the fire go out, and fell out of the tree and nearly gave up his job
altogether."
[Illustration: A TOP-KNOT CROW NAMED DUSK.]
"Well, while he was getting well he had a good deal of company, and one
day a top-knot crow named Dusk came to see him. Now, you know that our
friend Mr. Crow is a wise bird to-day, but in the old times a top-knot
crow was wiser than anything that now flies or walks, and Dusk was a
very old bird. He knew a great deal about Mr. Man and his ways, and he
told Smoothe that he had seen in Mr. Man's pantry, where he went
sometimes, a light that would not go out during a whole night, and that
had a big bright something behind it that would throw the light in any
direction. Dusk, who used to carry off almost everything he saw, whether
he wanted it or not, said that he thought he might carry this light off
if Smoothe would be willing to let him have a few chickens for a party
he was going to give.
"Smoothe told him he might take his pick out of his share of the
chickens for the next six months if he would only bring that light, and
Dusk didn't waste any time, but brought it the very next evening."
[Illustration: THE BRIGHT ROUND THING THREW THE LIGHT JUST WHERE HE
WANTED IT.]
"It was a beautiful light, and Smoothe fastened it to the tip top of the
tall tree, so that it would swing in any direction, and the bright round
thing behind it threw the light just where he wanted it. It burned oil,
and he used to fill it up with chicken oil in the evening and it would
burn all night and make a better light than the fire ever did. So all he
had to do was to keep it filled and turned in the direction that my
folks were harvesting their chicken crop, and then he could go to bed
and sleep all night if he wanted to.
"And that's just what he did do. And one night while he was asleep there
came up a terrible storm. Of course, if Smoothe had been awake he would
have taken the light down; but he wasn't awake, and the first he knew he
heard broken limbs falling and crashing all around, and he jumped up and
ran out just in time to see the tip top of the lamp tree break off,
lamp and all, and go whirling round and round, right straight up in the
air till it got to the sky, and there it stuck fast. It never went out,
either, but kept on turning round and round and giving light in
different directions at different times in the month.
"And that," said Mr. 'Possum, "is the moon. And you don't always see it
because sometimes the bright reflecting thing is turned in the other
direction. And when it's turned part way round you see part of it, and
it's always been so ever since that night Smoothe went to sleep and the
storm came up and carried it off."
"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
"What makes those spots on it, then?" said the Rabbit.
"Why," said Mr. 'Possum, thinking as quick as he could, "those--those
are--are some leaves that blew against the reflecting thing and stayed
there."
[Illustration: "'NONSENSE!" SAID THE RABBIT.]
"Nonsense!" said the Rabbit.
ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
MR. RABBIT HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THE MOON, DURING WHICH HE EXPLAINS
THE SPOTS ON IT
This is the story that Mr. Jack Rabbit told to Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum
when they sat together on the edge of the world and hung their feet over
and looked at the moon. After Mr. 'Possum had finished his story, the
Rabbit leaned back and swung his feet over the Big Nowhere awhile,
thinking. Then he began.
"Well," he said, "my folks used to live in the moon."
"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
"Nonsense!" said the 'Possum.
"Yes," said Jack Rabbit, "they did. The moon is a world, away over on
the other side of the Big Nowhere, and it doesn't stand still and stay
top side up like this world, but keeps moving about and turning over, so
that you have to look sharp and hang on tight to keep from falling off
when it tips bottom side up, or is standing on its edge as it is
to-night. My folks used to live there and Mr. Dog's folks used to live
there, too. That was a long time ago, before Mr. Dog ever went to live
with Mr. Man, and he was big and savage and had no more manners than he
has now.
"My folks never could and never did get along with Mr. Dog's folks worth
a cent, but they could mostly beat Mr. Dog's folks running, so they
didn't have to associate with him unless they wanted to."
[Illustration: "USED TO HIDE AND WATCH FOR US."]
"Of course Mr. Dog's family didn't like that, for they thought they were
just as good as we were, and they used to hide and watch for us, and
when we came by jump out and try to keep up with us for as much as two
or three miles sometimes, just as Mr. Dog tried to keep up with me the
other day, which you may remember."
The 'Possum and 'Coon grinned to themselves and nodded.
"Well," continued Mr. Rabbit, "there are some laws of etiquette--which
means politeness--up there in the Moon, and they are very strict. The
Old Man in the Moon makes these laws, and when one of them is broken he
makes the one that breaks it just go right on doing whatever it is for
nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and sometimes a good deal longer
when it's a worse break than usual.
"Now the very strictest of all these laws used to be the one about Mr.
Dog trying to keep up with our folks. It was called the 'Brush Pile
law.' It didn't say that he couldn't keep up with us if he was able, but
it did say that when we ran behind a brush pile, as we did sometimes, he
must follow around the brush pile and never jump over it, no matter what
happened. This was a hard law for Mr. Dog to keep, for he was mostly fat
and excitable, and my folks would run around and around a brush pile,
as much as a hundred times very often, and tire Mr. Dog so that he
couldn't move. Then my folks would laugh and go home leisurely, while
Mr. Dog would sneak off with his tongue hanging out till it dragged on
the ground."
[Illustration: "MY TWENTY-FIRST GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER COULD NOT RUN
VERY FAST."]
"Well, one day in the spring, when my family was out for an airing and a
little sunshine, they got a good ways from home, and all of a sudden
here comes Mr. Dog and his whole family, too. My folks didn't want
anything to do with them, and set out for home in several directions,
with Mr. Dog's folks following most all of them. My twenty-first
great-great-grandfather was getting pretty old and couldn't run very
fast, and there was a young, anxious looking dog named Leap quite close
behind him. So the first brush pile he came to my relative paused and
when Leap came around one way he went the other, and they kept that up
until Leap got so mad and excited and worn out that he didn't care for
the 'Brush Pile law' or anything else except my twenty-first
great-great-grandfather, and all of a sudden he gave a great big bark
and a high jump right straight over the top of the brush pile, and just
that second the moon tipped up on its edge and all my folks and all Mr.
Dog's folks came tumbling right down through the Big Nowhere to the
earth, because they were all running and not holding on--all except
Leap, who stayed right up in the air, according to law, and he has been
there ever since.
"And when my folks and Mr. Dog's folks got down to the earth they were
all so scared that my folks ran in one direction and Mr. Dog's folks ran
in another. The dog family kept on running till they got to Mr. Man's
house, and there they hid and stayed."
[Illustration: "IT'S JUST AS PLAIN AS CAN BE."]
"And since that day," concluded Mr. Jack Rabbit, "there has never been
any of our family in the moon, and Leap is the only dog there. He's
still jumping over the brush pile because he broke the law, and you can
see him there any clear night when the moon sits up on its edge as it
does now. And that's what those spots are--a dog jumping over a brush
pile. It's just as plain as can be."
The 'Possum and the 'Coon looked up at the full moon and said that the
spots certainly did look a good deal like Mr. Dog jumping over a brush
pile, but that the Rabbit couldn't prove his story any more than they
could prove theirs, and that it wasn't any better story, if it was as
good.
"Of course I can prove it," said the Rabbit. "There is an old adage
about it, and you can prove anything by an old adage. It goes this
way:--
"The longest way is often best--
Never jump over a cuckoo's nest.
"I don't know just why it says 'cuckoo's nest,' but I suppose cuckoos
always used to build in brush piles in the moon, and maybe they do yet.
Anyhow it proves it."
"Why, yes," said the 'Coon. "Sure enough!"
"That's so! It does!" said the 'Possum.
THE FIRST PIG STORY
MR. CROW SPENDS A SOCIAL EVENING WITH MR. DOG
Once upon a time, said the Story Teller, when the Old Black Crow was
visiting Mr. Dog----
"Was that the night that Mr. Rabbit and the rest told their moon
stories?" interrupted the Little Lady.
The very same night, and the Crow and Mr. Dog got to telling stories,
too.
They told pig stories because they both knew a good deal about pigs, and
Mr. Dog, being in his own house, let the Crow tell first. Mr. Crow said
he was going to tell a true story, so he lit his pipe and began this
way:--
MR. CROW'S STORY OF THE LITTLE PIG.
Well, said Mr. Crow, there was once a lot of little pigs that lived in a
large pen with the big mother pig and were very fat and happy--all but
one.
This poor little fellow was what is called a runt pig, because he was
not nearly so big as the others, nor so strong. They crowded him away at
dinner time, so that he barely got enough to live on, and stayed small
and thin, while the others grew every day fatter and fatter.
At last the little runt pig made up his mind that he would run away
and be a wild pig such as he had heard his brothers and sisters talk
about sometimes after supper.
He thought about it a good deal, and one morning bright and early he
started. Being so little, he squeezed through a small hole in the back
of the pen, and then ran away very fast, without stopping to look
behind. He ran and ran, straight across the barnyard, where there were
some chickens scratching, and out into a big field. When he got so tired
that he could go no further he stopped for a little, and then ran on
again.
[Illustration: "OH, HERE'S THE WOODS!"]
He had to go a long way, but by and by he saw a lot of trees, and said,
"Oh, here's the woods! Now I'll be a wild pig!" So he squeezed between
two boards that made a crack in the fence, and under the trees he saw a
lot of ripe peaches and apples, for he was in a big orchard.
It was just peach time, and the little pig was very hungry.
[Illustration: HE BEGAN SQUEALING FOR HIS MOTHER.]
So he ate and ate, first a lot of peaches, and then a lot of apples;
then a lot more peaches, and then a good many more apples. Then he
picked out only the ripest and finest apples and peaches as he came to
them, and ate and kept on eating until he had pains in his stomach and
began squealing for his mother.
"Oh, oh, oh!" he squealed. "I am going right home!" But when he came to
the fence he had eaten so much fruit that he could not get through the
crack again and stuck fast half way. Then he squealed louder than ever,
and pretty soon somebody said:--
"Why, here's a little pig fast in the fence!" And Mr. Man came through
the orchard and took hold of the little pig's hind legs and pressed the
boards apart so's not to hurt him.
"Whose pig are you, I want to know?" he said as he pulled him out.
Then Mr. Man took the little pig under his arm and went back through the
orchard with him to his house.
"Here's a little runt pig I found stuck fast in our fence," he said to
Mrs. Man when he got there. "He's eaten too many apples and peaches, I
should think, by the way he looks and squeals."
Then he fixed up a nice box for him, with clean straw in it, and gave
him some warm milk in a pan. By and by the little pig went to sleep.
[Illustration: HE TOOK THE FIRST PRIZE.]
Every day Mr. Man and his wife brought him nice things to eat, and soon
the little pig grew so fat that they had to put him in a larger pen.
Then they fed him still more, and, being all alone, he ate just as much
as he wanted. So he grew and grew, fatter and fatter, and every few
weeks they had to put him in a larger pen, until people came from all
over the country to see what a beautiful large pig he was. Then by and
by there was a fair where all the fine pigs were taken for show, and Mr.
Man and Mrs. Man and the little runt pig all went to the fair, but the
little pig wasn't a little runt pig any more, for he took the first
prize for being the largest and finest pig at the fair.
THE SECOND PIG STORY
MR. DOG TELLS OF ANOTHER RUNAWAY WHO HAS A STRANGE ADVENTURE
When Mr. Crow had finished the story about the little runt pig Mr. Dog
nodded and said that was a good story and that he knew the mate to it.
So then he filled up his pipe, too, and lit it and leaned back and told
the story about
CURLY, THE RUNAWAY.
"This," said Mr. Dog, "is the story of a saucy pig--a saucy, fat pig,
with a curly tail. He wasn't good to his brothers and sisters, and was
greedy, and not very clean, either, because he wouldn't wear his bib at
the table, and often grabbed things and tipped them over, instead of
being polite and taking what his mother put on his plate.
"Besides this, the saucy pig, who was called Curly, used to boast of how
strong he was, and how fast he could run and how far he could jump, and
when he heard some story about a little runt pig who ran away and made
his fortune--the same one you told, perhaps--he went around boasting
that he could do that any day, and that he could run twice as far as any
little runt pig, and get twice as fat and take twice as big a prize at
the fair."
[Illustration: AS BIG AS YOU PLEASE.]
"Well, he talked and bragged about it so much that by and by he really
believed he could do everything he said, and made up his mind to run
away sure enough. He didn't creep out through a hole and slip away, as
your little pig did, but took a pretty valise that he had got for
Christmas and put all his things in it, and some of his brothers' and
sisters' things, too, and then put on his best suit and walked out the
front door, as big as you please, with the others all looking at him and
wishing they were as big and strong as Curly, so they could go, too, or
take their playthings away from him, they didn't care which. Then one of
them ran back and said, 'Oh, ma, Curly's running away! Curly's running
away, ma, and he's taken our things!'
"But Curly's mother didn't worry much. 'Oh, well, just let him go,' she
said. 'He'll be back quick enough.' Then she took her afternoon nap, and
Curly walked out across the meadow, sniffing the sunshine and talking to
himself about what he was going to do."
[Illustration: HE COULDN'T GET THROUGH.]
"Then he remembered that the little runt pig had run, and Curly thought
he ought to run some, too, but he was so fat he couldn't run far, and
had to sit down to rest, and then he walked on again and kept walking
until he thought he must be almost to the edge of the world, which his
mother had told him was just beyond the woods. He was getting very
tired, when all at once he came to a gate and looked up, and there was
an orchard full of ripe apples and peaches, just as the little runt
pig had found. The cracks in the fence were too small for him to try to
get through, but he thought he could wiggle under the gate. So he got
down in the dust with his new clothes and wiggled and wriggled, but he
couldn't get through, and when he tried he couldn't get back, either.
"Then he began to squeal. He could squeal louder than any two other pigs
almost, and by and by Mr. Man, who was working in the next field, heard
him and came running. When Curly heard Mr. Man coming he thought, 'Now
he'll take me home and make me a great pig, just as he did the little
runt pig.' But Mr. Man didn't. 'Here, you rascal!' he said, what are you
doing under my gate? I'll fix you.' Then he picked up a long, scratchy
stick and commenced to beat Mr. Curly, first on one side and then on the
other, till he squealed and howled so loud that you could hear him
almost a mile. Then Mr. Man caught him by the leg and opened the gate
and pulled him out. 'Now, you go home!' he said, and Curly started, but
he was so frightened that he didn't know where home or any place else
was, and he scampered off without his hat or playthings, and ran and ran
and ran till he almost dropped. And just then one of my family, who had
been digging out a mole, happened to see the pig running and took after
him and caught him and dragged him round and round by the ear till Mr.
Man came running and parted them and held my relative by the collar
while he pushed Curly with his foot in the other direction.
"'Now I guess you'll go home!' he said, and Curly thought so, too, and
limped off, trying to run. It was such a long way back home that it
seemed as if he never would get there. Every minute he thought he heard
my cousin coming after him, but he couldn't run any more to save his
life, and his ear was bleeding and hurt him, and he cried and squealed,
and when at last he did get home he slipped in the back way and tried to
wash his face and brush his clothes before they saw him, but they all
saw him come in, with his sore ear and his nice, new clothes all torn
and dirty. Then they began to laugh and point at him, and said:--"
[Illustration: RAN TO HIS MOTHER.]
"'Oh, here comes Curly, the runaway. He's been to the fair and brought
home the red ribbon on his ear!' And that was the very meanest thing
they could say, for, of course, they meant the red blood on his ear, and
poor Curly ran to his mother and cried and sobbed as if his heart would
break and said he would never, never run away again as long as he lived.
"And I've heard," concluded Mr. Dog, "that he never did."
MR. DOG TAKES LESSONS IN DANCING
JACK RABBIT PLAYS ONE MORE JOKE ON MR. DOG
After Mr. Dog had finished his pig story he and Mr. Crow got to talking
over old times and telling what happened to them when they were boys and
how everything had changed and how young fellows now had things pretty
much their own way and no trouble to get an education.
Mr. Crow said that he believed if he'd had half a chance when he was
young he'd have made an artist. He said he used to draw off likenesses
on his slate so that anybody could almost tell who they were and that
the 'Coon and the 'Possum each had in their rooms in the Big Hollow Tree
pictures of themselves that he had drawn which were just as good to-day
as the day they were made.
Mr. Dog thought it was mighty fine to be talented like that. He said
that his early education had been neglected, too, and that he knew he
might have been a poet, for he could make rhymes just as easy as falling
off a log, and that he knew three rhymes for every word he could think
of except "silver" and "orange." Of course, it was too late now, and
he had mostly given up poetry and thought some of going into society.
All he needed was good clothes and a few instructions in manners and
some dancing lessons. He said he was just as young and just as good
looking as he ever was, and that in a few days he'd have some new
clothes. Then he asked Mr. Crow if he knew of anybody that would give
him some lessons in politeness and dancing.
[Illustration: MR. RABBIT WAS MAKING SOAP IN THE BACK YARD.]
Mr. Crow thought a while, and then said that he didn't know of a soul in
the neighborhood that could be so polite and dance as well as Mr. Jack
Rabbit, and that he didn't suppose Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Dog were on good
terms. That made Mr. Dog feel pretty bad, 'cause he knew it was just
that way, and by and by he got Mr. Crow to promise that he would go and
call on Jack Rabbit next morning and see if he couldn't fix it up
somehow for him to take a few lessons. So next morning Mr. Crow called
over to see Mr. Rabbit, and found him making soap out in the back yard.
He had a good fire built between some stones and a big kettle full of
brown stuff, which he was stirring with a long stick. He seemed to be
feeling pretty well, for he kept singing,
"Fire and stir, and grease and lye--
Soap to scrub with by and by."
"Ho!" said the Little Lady. "Do they make soap like that?"
They used to in old times. They made what they called a lye by running
water through new wood ashes, and then they put grease in it and boiled
it in a big kettle. It was very strong soap, and people didn't wash
their hands with it, because it got into sore places and burnt and stung
like fury. But they used it a good deal to scrub with, and Jack Rabbit
made it himself because he was smart and knew how.
Well, the Crow told him all about what Mr. Dog had said, and Mr. Rabbit
kept stirring and singing kind of soft like to himself, and smiling a
little, and by and by, when the Crow was done, he said that of course
Mr. Dog wasn't very polite, and that some lessons would certainly do him
good. As for dancing, he said that if Mr. Dog would promise to do just
as he told him he would be able to dance as many as three different
steps in less than five minutes after he got there.
Mr. Crow said that Mr. Dog had promised anything, and that he would send
him over that very afternoon. And, sure enough right after dinner, here
comes Mr. Dog, lickety split, to take lessons. Jack Rabbit had his door
locked and his window open, and was sitting by it and looking out when
Mr. Dog got there. He told Mr. Dog to sit right down and catch his
breath a little, and then the lessons would begin. His kettle of soap
was all done, and he had taken it off of the fire, but the fire wasn't
out yet, though it looked as if it was, because it had burned down to
coals and white ashes.
Mr. Rabbit had his new soap in the house, and he spread some of it on a
cloth and tossed it down to Mr. Dog.
"That's a dance plaster," he said, "but you don't put it on quite yet.
The first thing will be some lessons in politeness. You must look
straight at me and do just as I tell you."
[Illustration: BOWED POLITELY, AS IF HE WERE MEETING LADIES.]
Mr. Dog said that he would do that, and took a seat facing Mr. Rabbit
and paid close attention. Then Jack Rabbit got up and bowed politely, as
if he were meeting ladies, and, of course, took a step or two backward
as he bowed, and then Mr. Dog bowed and took some steps backward, too.
And then he sat down, and Mr. Rabbit told him just where his mistakes
were, and made him do it over and over until Mr. Dog had bowed and
scraped and backed himself almost into the fire, though he didn't know
it.
[Illustration: GAVE A HOWL AND JUMPED STRAIGHT UP INTO THE AIR.]
Next, Jack Rabbit said, they'd have a lesson in paying compliments, and
then the dancing. Now, whenever anybody pays a compliment to Mr. Dog he
always wags his tail; so the Rabbit thought of the very finest
compliment he could think of and paid it to Mr. Dog, and Mr. Dog forgot
that it was only a lesson and was so happy to receive such a compliment
from Mr. Jack Rabbit that he wagged his tail a great big wag sideways
and then up and down, until all at once he gave a howl and jumped
straight up in the air, for he had pounded his tail right into the ashes
and hot coals of Mr. Rabbit's fire.
"Did it burn him much?" asked the Little Lady.
It did that, and he howled and jumped up and down and whirled first one
way and then the other, and Jack Rabbit leaned out of the window and
held his sides and said:--
"That's it! That's the step! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"
[Illustration: TOOK OVER THE HILL TOWARDS HOME.]
When Mr. Dog heard that, he thought the Rabbit was really in earnest,
and didn't know, perhaps, he had wagged his tail into the fire; so he
quit howling and really tried to do a few fancy steps, and Jack Rabbit
almost died trying to keep from laughing, but he managed to do it, and
he called out to Mr. Dog that he was doing fine, and that all he needed
now was the dance plaster on his tail. When Mr. Dog heard that, he
thought perhaps a dance plaster would take the smart away, too, and he
sat right down and tied it on, tight. And then pretty soon that soft
soap began to act, and, right then, of all the howling and dancing and
performance that you ever heard of, Mr. Dog did it. Mr. Rabbit couldn't
hold in any longer, and lay back in his chair, and laughed, and rolled
on his bed and shouted, and when Mr. Dog heard him he knew he had been
fooled again, and he took off over the hill toward home a good deal
faster than he came. Every little ways he'd stop to dance and perform,
and try to get that plaster off his tail, and every time he stopped Jack
Rabbit would sing out:--
"That's a new step, Mr. Dog! You're doing fine! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"
And for a long time after that Mr. Dog didn't like to go out much,
because everywhere he went somebody would be sure to say to him:--
"That's a new step, Mr. Dog! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"
MR. RABBIT'S UNWELCOME COMPANY
MR. POLECAT MAKES A MORNING CALL AND MR. DOG DROPS IN
"I think I shall have to tell you about Mr. Polecat," said the Story
Teller, "and about his visit to Mr. Rabbit."
"Who's Mr. Polecat?" said the Little Lady. "You never told me about him
before."
"Well, no, because you see Mr. Polecat is so queer in some of his ways
that people even don't talk about him a great deal. He is really quite a
nice gentleman, though, when he doesn't get excited. But when he does he
loses friends.
"The trouble is with the sort of perfumery he uses when he gets excited,
just as some people use a smelling bottle, and nobody seems to like the
sort Mr. Polecat uses except himself. I suppose he must like it or he
wouldn't be so free with it. But other people go away when he uses
it--mostly in the direction the wind's blowing from--and in a hurry, as
if they were afraid they'd miss a train. Even Mr. Dog doesn't stop to
argue with Mr. Polecat. Nobody does, and all the other deep woods people
do their best to make him happy and to keep him in a good humor
whenever he comes about, and give him their nicest things to eat and a
lot to carry home with him, so he'll start just as soon as possible.
"But more than anything they try to keep him from saying anything about
Mr. Dog or hinting or even thinking about Mr. Dog, for when he does any
of these things he's apt to get excited, and then sometimes he opens up
that perfume of his and his friends fall over each other to get out of
reach. They're never very happy to see him coming, and they're always
glad to see him go, even when he's had a quiet visit and goes pretty
soon, which is just what didn't happen one time when he came to call on
Jack Rabbit, and it's that time I'm going to tell about.
"Mr. Rabbit looked out his door one morning and there was Mr. Polecat,
all dressed up, coming to see him. He wasn't very far off, either, and
Mr. Rabbit hardly had time to jerk down a crayon picture of Mr. Dog that
he'd made the day before, just for practice. He pushed it under the bed
quick, and when Mr. Polecat came up he bowed and smiled, and said what a
nice day it was, and that he'd bring a chair outside if Mr. Polecat
would like to sit there instead of coming in where it wasn't so
pleasant.
"But Mr. Polecat said he guessed he'd come in, as it was a little chilly
and he didn't feel very well anyway. So he came inside, and Jack Rabbit
gave him his best chair and brought out a little table and put a lot of
nice things on it that Mr. Polecat likes, and began right away to pack
a basket for him to take home.
"But Mr. Polecat didn't seem to be in any hurry to go. He ate some of
the nice things, and then leaned back to talk and smoke, and told Mr.
Rabbit all the news he'd heard as he came along, and Mr. Rabbit got more
and more worried, for he knew that just as likely as not Mr. Polecat had
heard something about Mr. Dog and would begin to tell it pretty soon,
and then no knowing what would happen. So Jack Rabbit just said 'Yes'
and 'No' and began to talk about Mr. Robin, because Mr. Robin was a good
friend of everybody and nobody could get excited just talking about Mr.
Robin. But Mr. Polecat says:--'Oh, yes, I saw Mr. Robin as I came along,
and he called to me that Mr. Dog----' And then Jack Rabbit changed the
subject as quick as he could and spoke about Mr. Squirrel, and Mr.
Polecat says:--'Oh, did you hear how Mr. Squirrel went over to Mr. Man's
house and saw Mr. Dog there----' And then poor Mr. Rabbit had to think
quick and change the subject again to the Hollow Tree people, and Mr.
Polecat said:--'Oh, yes. I stopped by that way as I came along, and they
called out to me from up stairs how you were practising drawing, and
that you gave Mr. Dog some dancing lessons the other day, and then made
a fine picture of him just as he looked when he danced into the hot
coals, so I hurried right over here for just to see that picture.'
"Poor Mr. Rabbit! He didn't know what to do. He knew right away that
the Hollow Tree people had told about the picture to get rid of Mr.
Polecat, and he made up his mind that he'd get even with them some day
for getting him in such a fix. But some day was a long ways off and Mr.
Polecat was right there under his nose, so Mr. Rabbit said, just as
quick as he could say it, that the Hollow Tree people were always making
jokes, and that the picture was just as poor as it could be, and that
he'd be ashamed to show it to anybody, much more to a talented gentleman
like Mr. Polecat. But that made Mr. Polecat all the more anxious to see
it, for he was sure Mr. Rabbit was only modest, and pretty soon he
happened to spy the edge of the picture frame under Mr. Rabbit's bed,
and just reached under and pulled it out, before Mr. Rabbit could help
himself.
"Well, he picked up that picture and looked at it a minute, and Jack
Rabbit began to back off toward the door and say a few soothing words,
when all at once Mr. Polecat leaned back and commenced to laugh and
laugh at the funny picture Mr. Dog made where Mr. Rabbit called to him,
'Dance! Mr. Dog, dance!' And then, of course, Mr. Rabbit felt better,
for if his company thought it was funny and laughed there wasn't so much
danger.
"'Why,' said Mr. Polecat, 'it's the best thing I ever saw! You could
almost imagine that Mr. Dog himself was right here, howling and barking
and dancing.'
"'Oh, no, hardly that,' said Mr. Rabbit. 'Of course I suppose it is a
little like him, but it's not at all as if he were here, you know--not
at all--and he's ever so far off, I'm sure, and won't come again for a
long time. You know, he's----'
"'Oh, yes, it is!' declared Mr. Polecat. 'It's just as if he were right
here. And I can just hear him howl and bark, and----'
"And right there Mr. Polecat stopped and Mr. Rabbit stopped, and both of
them held their breath and listened, for sure enough they did hear Mr.
Dog howling and barking and coming toward the house as straight as he
could come.
"Jack Rabbit gave a jump right up in the air, and hollered, 'Run! Mr.
Polecat, run! and go the back way!' But Mr. Polecat never runs from
anybody--he doesn't have to--he just opens up that perfume of his and
the other people do the running. So Mr. Rabbit gave one more jump, and
this time he jumped straight up the chimney, and didn't stop till he got
to the roof, where he found a loose board and put it over the chimney
quick and sat down on it. Then he called to Mr. Dog, who was coming
lickety-split through the woods:--
"'Why, how are you, Mr. Dog? Glad to see you! Walk right in. There's
company down stairs; just make yourself at home till I come down.' You
see there was no use to stop him now, because Mr. Rabbit could tell by
what was coming up the chimney that it was too late, and he wanted Mr.
Dog to get a good dose of it as well as himself.
"And Mr. Dog did come just as hard as he could tear, for the wind was
blowing toward the house and he couldn't detect anything wrong until he
gave a great big jump into Mr. Rabbit's sitting room and right into the
midst of the most awful smell that was ever turned loose in the Big Deep
Woods.
"Well, it took Mr. Dog so suddenly that he almost fainted away. Then he
gave a howl, as if a wagon had run over his tail, and tumbled out of
that sitting room and set out for home without once stopping to look
behind him. Then Mr. Rabbit laughed and laughed, and called:--
"'Come back! Mr. Dog. Came back and stay with us. Mr. Polecat's going to
spend a week with me. Come back and have a good time.'
"But Mr. Dog didn't stop, and he didn't seem to hear, and by and by Mr.
Polecat called up that he was going home and that Mr. Rabbit could come
down now, for Mr. Dog was gone and wouldn't come back, he guessed. But
Mr. Rabbit said no, he didn't feel very well yet and guessed he'd stay
where he was for the present, and that if Mr. Polecat was going he might
leave both doors open and let the wind draw through the house, because
he always liked to air his house after Mr. Dog had been to see him. Then
Mr. Polecat took his basket and went, and Jack Rabbit didn't come down
for a long time, and when he did he couldn't stay in his house for the
awful smell. So he went over to stay a week with the Hollow Tree people,
and his clothes didn't smell nice, either, but they had to stand it,
and Mr. Rabbit said it served them right for getting him into such a
fix. It was over a week before he could go back to his house again, and
even then it wasn't just as he wanted it to be, and he aired it every
day for a long time.
"But there was one thing that made him laugh, and that was when he heard
from Mr. Robin how Mr. Dog got home and Mr. Man wouldn't have him about
the house or even in the yard, but made him stay out in the woods for as
much as ten days, until he had got rid of every bit of Mr. Polecat's
nice perfumery."
HOW MR. DOG GOT EVEN
THE FOREST FRIENDS PREPARE FOR A MAY PARTY AND ARRANGE FOR A QUIET TIME
Well, yes, said the Story Teller, Mr. Dog did have a good deal of
trouble, and it makes me sorry for him sometimes when I think about it.
He still kept good friends with the Crow and the Turtle, though, and was
on pretty fair terms with Mr. Robin and most all the rest of the Bird
family, besides living in the same yard with Mr. Man, who always kept an
eye on him and got him out of trouble when he could. Of course Jack
Rabbit and the Hollow Tree people mostly got the best of Mr. Dog, but
there was one time when they didn't. This is how it happened.
Once upon a time Mr. Jack Rabbit was spending the evening over at the
big Hollow Tree with the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum. They had
all had their supper, and were leaning back and talking about the
weather and what a late spring it had been, and how bad the cold rains
were for young chickens. Mr. Rabbit didn't care for chickens himself,
but he usually kept some for his friends, and always had a nice patch
of young clover and some garden vegetables for his own use. He said the
late frost had killed his early lettuce and young cabbage plants, and
that his clover patch looked as if a fire had been through it.
Mr. 'Coon smoked a little and looked into the fire and said that he
guessed to-morrow would be a warm day, and the Crow said he knew it
would be because he could feel it in his leg, where a stray shot from
Mr. Man's gun happened to hit him once when he was taking a walk in Mr.
Man's cornfield just about this time of year.
The 'Possum put his thumbs in the armholes of his vest and leaned back
against the mantel, and said he had a plan he wanted to tell them about.
When he said that they all kept still to listen, because they knew when
the 'Possum had a plan it always meant something good to eat, and they
were always ready to hear about good things to eat, even when they'd
just got up from the supper table.
Mr. 'Possum puffed a few puffs of smoke, and then he went on to say that
after so much bad weather in April he thought it would be proper for
them to give an outdoor feast and a woods party on the first day of May.
All the others spoke up right off and said that was just the thing. Then
they all began talking at once about what each would bring and whom they
should invite.
Jack Rabbit said he would invite Mr. Chipmunk and Mr Quail, and that he
would speak a piece composed for the occasion. The 'Coon said he would
invite Mr. Fox, because he had the best chickens, and would bring a
basket of them along. The 'Possum said that would be a good plan, and
that they ought to try as much as they could to invite people that would
bring things. That made the Crow laugh, and he said if they wanted to do
that they might invite Mr. Man himself.
Of course all the others laughed at first when they heard that, and
then, all at once, they quit laughing, for speaking of Mr. Man made them
think of Mr. Dog, and they knew how he was always trapesing around the
country where he wasn't wanted, and just as likely as not would walk
right in on them at dinner time and make it unpleasant for everybody.
They all felt pretty lonesome when they thought of that, and then the
Crow laughed again and said he would send over a note by Mr. Robin to
Mr. Dog inviting him to go and see some friends of his that had just
moved across the Wide Grass Lands. He said Mr. Dog would be glad to go,
and that his friends would be glad to see him, and that it would take
all day to make the trip and do no harm to anybody. Then all of them
felt well again.
Mr. Crow wrote the note right away, and when he invited the Robin to the
May party next morning he asked him if he would take Mr. Dog's
invitation over to him and slip it under his door before he was up. He
said it was to be a surprise for Mr. Dog, and he didn't want him to know
just who sent the invitation. He didn't tell the Robin that it was an
invitation for Mr. Dog to get out of the country, because the Robin is a
good bird and wouldn't help to deceive anybody for the world.
[Illustration: HE FELT FOR THE INVITATION.]
Mr. Robin was tickled 'most to death at his own invitation, and slipped
Mr. Dog's in his pocket, and hurried off with it just as fast as ever he
could. He was so excited that he forgot he had a hole in the pocket of
his coat, and never thought of it till he got to Mr. Man's yard, where
Mr. Dog's house was. Then he remembered all at once, and when he felt
for the invitation and turned his pocket inside out there was the hole
all right, but the invitation was gone.
[Illustration: FORGOT HE'D EVER HAD ANY TROUBLE IN HIS LIFE.]
Mr. Robin at first didn't know what to do. Then he happened to think
that all Mr. Crow had said was that he didn't want Mr. Dog to know just
who sent it to him, so he went right up to Mr. Dog's house and rapped.
Mr. Dog came out yawning, but when he heard that he was invited to a May
party he forgot that he'd ever had any trouble in his life, and danced
and rolled over and wagged his tail, till the Robin thought he was
having a fit. Then when Mr. Dog heard that the party was gotten up
mostly on his own account, and was to be a kind of a surprise, he had
another fit, and said he never was so happy in the world. Mr. Robin said
he couldn't tell him just who sent the invitation, but he told him a few
of those invited, and Mr. Dog grew six inches taller and said he must
certainly have some more new clothes for a party like that.
[Illustration: AT MR. FOX'S HOUSE THE FEATHERS WERE FLYING.]
[Illustration: TOOK ONE MORE LOOK AT HIMSELF IN THE GLASS.]
Then Mr. Robin set off home to get ready, for there were only two days
more in April and everybody had to scramble around to be ready in time,
especially Mr. Jack Rabbit, who had to write a poem. Over at Mr. Fox's
house the feathers were flying, and at the Hollow Tree Mr. Crow had his
sleeves rolled up, baking all day long. The 'Coon sat in his room and
rocked and planned games, and the 'Possum followed Mr. Crow about and
told him new things to cook. Everywhere in the woods, and even out in
the Wide Grass Lands, folks were staying up nights to get ready, but
none of them felt as happy or took as much trouble to look well as Mr.
Dog. He knew there couldn't be any joke this time, because Mr. Robin had
invited him, and Mr. Robin wouldn't play a joke on anybody. Every little
while he would go out and roll on the grass in the sun and then go in
and put on his new clothes and stand before the glass. Then he would
march up and down and try to see if his coat wrinkled under the arms and
if his trousers fitted neatly around the waist. As he thought the party
was to be given for him, of course he wasn't expected to bring anything
except all the style he could put on, and when the morning came Mr. Dog
did put on all he could carry, and took one more look at himself in the
glass and started. He had never felt so happy in his life.
HOW MR. DOG GOT EVEN
CONTINUED
THE SURPRISE OF MR. RABBIT AND OTHERS
Poor Mr. Dog! He did not dream that the Robin had made a big mistake
when he invited him. He was all ready for a grand time and thought he
was to be the guest of honor. But the 'Coon and the 'Possum and all the
rest thought he was in another part of the country that day, and when
they got to the place where the party was to be they shook hands and
laughed about how Mr. Crow had played it on Mr. Dog and then rolled on
the grass and cut up in a great way.
Mr. Fox was there with all his folks, and Mr. Squirrel and his folks,
and Mr. Weasel and Mr. Woodchuck and Mrs. Quail, and ever so many
others. Mr. Rabbit had picked out the spot, which was a pretty, green,
open place in the woods, and right in the centre of it a little weeping
willow tree, with long, trailing branches like ribbons. This was to be
their May pole, and they were so happy that they commenced dancing
almost as soon as they got there. Mr. Dog, of course, hadn't arrived
yet. It had taken him so long to dress, and then he had a long way to
come, so he was late.
Pretty soon Mr. 'Possum puffed and blowed because he was so fat, and
said he thought they ought to sit right down and begin to eat, and let
Mr. Jack Rabbit read his poem to them through the first course. The
Rabbit was willing to do that, for he would rather read his own poetry
than eat any time, and, besides, the first course was something he
didn't like very well. So then they all sat down around the table cloth
which they had spread on the grass, and Mr. Rabbit got up and put his
right hand in the breast of his coat. He commenced by saying that his
friends seemed to think he was a good deal of a poet, but that he had
always been too busy to really write his best, and that all his poems,
like the one he was just about to read, had been little inspirations
tossed off on the spur of the moment. Of course, everybody there knew
that Jack Rabbit had sat up two whole days and nights to write his poem,
but they all cheered and clapped their hands, and Mr. Rabbit bowed and
coughed a little and began to read:--
WHEN MR. DOG'S AWAY.
By J. Rabbit.
Oh, 'tis happy in the woodland
When Mr. Dog's away;
'Tis happy in the woodland
Upon the first of May.
He's gone across the grassland
We hope he's gone to stay;
Then don't forget the feast is set
And Mr. Dog's away.
The Robin was just about to speak up at this moment and say that Mr. Dog
was surely coming, but the others cheered so that nobody heard him, and
Mr. Rabbit went on with his poem.
Then 'tis hey! for Mr. Woodchuck!
And tis hi! for Mrs. Quail!
And 'tis ho! for Mr. 'Possum
With a bowknot on his tail!
Then 'tis hip! for Mr. Robin
And for all the rest, hurray!
The friends are met, the feast is set,
And Mr. Dog's away.
"Hurray! hurray!" shouted all the others. "The friends are met, the
feast is set, and Mr. Dog's away!"
Then hand around the glasses
And fill them to the brim,
And drink a health to Mr. Dog,
For we are fond of him.
And, though he be not present
Upon this happy day,
We'll fill the cup and drink it up
To Mr. Dog away!
[Illustration: SAW THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG.]
At the last line everybody was just about to lift their glasses and give
a great big cheer for the poem, when all at once they saw by Jack
Rabbit's face that something was wrong. Then they all looked where he
was looking, and there, right before them, bowing and smiling, stood
Mr. Dog himself! He had just come in time to hear the last stanza of the
poem and was ready to dance with joy, he was so happy to think they were
drinking his health when he wasn't there.
He felt so good that he didn't notice how surprised they looked, and
slipped into a seat at the table, saying he was sorry to be late, and
that he had just heard the last lines of Mr. Rabbit's poem, but that
they had made him very proud and happy, and he hoped Mr. Jack Rabbit
would read it again for his benefit.
Of course, nearly everybody there was scared almost into fits, but they
didn't dare to let on, for they saw that there had been an awful mistake
somewhere, and if Mr. Dog found it out and knew he hadn't been invited
no telling what might happen. Jack Rabbit smiled, kind of sickly like,
and said that he had been overcome by the excitement, and didn't feel
quite able to read the poem again. He said he hoped Mr. Dog would judge
the first verses, though, by the last, and feel just as glad to be there
as they were to have him. And all the rest said, "Oh, yes, so glad to
have Mr. Dog with us," and kept piling things oh his plate, so he
wouldn't want anything to eat besides his dinner. Mr. Dog felt so well
and was in such a good humor that he commenced pretty soon to tell
stories and jokes on himself, and by and by told about the time he went
over to take dancing lessons of Jack Rabbit.
[Illustration: HE SET OUT FOR HOME.]
Everybody thought at first that they'd better laugh at Mr. Dog's jokes,
and they did laugh like everything, but when he started that story about
what Mr. Rabbit had done to him they didn't know whether to laugh or
not. Some laughed a little and some didn't, and Mr. Rabbit said he
thought it was getting a little too warm for him there in the sun, and
he believed he'd go and sit in the shade a minute and cool off, so he
went over behind some waxberry bushes, where it was shady, and the
minute he got where Mr. Dog couldn't see him he set out for home just
about as fast as he could travel, without stopping to say goodby or to
look behind him.
Pretty soon Mr. 'Coon said he thought mebbe Mr. Rabbit was sicker than
he let on, and he guessed he'd better go and see about it. So he went
over behind the waxberry bushes, too, and was half way home before you
could say "Jack Robinson." Then Mr. 'Possum told Mr. Crow that he hoped
he and the others would entertain Mr. Dog a while, for he knew Mr. 'Coon
would need help, and away he went, and before long Mr. Fox and Mr.
Woodchuck, and Mr. Squirrel and all their folks had gone over behind the
waxberry bushes to look after Mr. Rabbit too, and none of them wasted a
minute's time making tracks for home as soon as they got out of sight.
But the Crow and the Turtle and the Robin didn't go because they were
all on good terms with Mr. Dog. Mrs. Quail didn't go either, though
before long most everybody else had gone. Then Mr. Crow said he guessed
poor Mr. Rabbit's friends had taken him home, and Mr. Dog said he was
sorry, and that it was too bad anything should happen that way when
folks were having such a good time. He said he'd call at Jack Rabbit's
house next day to see how he was and hear the rest of that poem. Then
Mr. Crow and Mr. Turtle laughed and laughed, and Mr. Dog didn't know
what they were laughing at, but he felt so well that he laughed too, and
Mr. Robin, who had found out by this time what a bad mistake he had
made, couldn't help laughing some himself.
[Illustration: MR. DOG MADE A SPEECH.]
Then they had dessert, and Mr. Dog made a speech and thanked them for
the fine party and surprise in his honor, and declared he had never
spent such a happy day in all his life. He said there had been a little
misunderstanding now and then between himself and some of the forest
folks, but he knew now that all was forgiven, and that he would never
forget this happy May party.
And Mr. Dog never did forget it, concluded the Story Teller--at least
not for a long time--and he doesn't know to this day that the party
wasn't given specially for him, or that Mr. Jack Rabbit's poem wasn't
written in his honor.
"You can sing the Hollow Tree Song, now," said the Little Lady,
drowsily.
[Illustration: THE THREE FRIENDS.]
So then the Story Teller sang the song that the forest people sing when,
on dark nights in the far depths of the Deep Woods, they are feasting at
the table of the 'Coon, the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow.
Long before he had finished, the Little Lady was in the land of dreams.
And the Story Teller had been dreaming, too, while he sang.
THE HOLLOW TREE SONG.
Oh, there was an old 'Possum in the Big Deep Woods--
As fat as a 'Possum could be--
And he lived in a hollow, hollow,
hollow, hollow, hollow,
He lived in a hollow tree.
Oh, there was an old Coon in the Big Deep Woods--
As sly as a 'Coon could be--
And he lived in a hollow, hollow,
hollow, hollow, hollow,
He lived in a hollow tree.
Oh, there was an old Crow in the Big Deep Woods--
As black as a Crow could be--
And he lived in a hollow, hollow,
hollow, hollow, hollow,
He lived in a hollow tree.
For they all lived together in the Big Deep Woods,
As you can plainly see,
And the 'Possum made one, and the 'Coon made two,
And the Old Black Crow made three.
Then here's to the 'Possum, and the Old Black Crow,
And the 'Coon, with a one, two, three!
And here's to the hollow, hollow,
hollow, hollow, hollow,
And here's to the hollow tree.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE LITTLE LADY'S VACATION AND HER RETURN
The Little Lady who lives in the House of Many Windows (sometimes called
a flat or an apartment by people who, because they are grown up, do not
know any better) had been spending the summer on a nice farm in the Land
of Pleasant Fields. There had been many things to see--little pigs among
other things, and some very small chickens. Also a cow with two
calves--one a dark red one, and one spotted, even to its tail, that
looked like a barber pole.
Amid all this, and a great deal more, not forgetting the Hillside of
Sweet Fruits, the Little Lady had almost forgotten a number of people
who lived in the Big Deep Woods, and whose acquaintance she had made
through the Story Teller during the winter before, while sailing at
evening in the Rockaby Chair for the Shore of White Pillows.
But when the cold winds began to blow and they were all back to the
City of Rumbling Streets in the House of Many Windows again and she
heard the wind men moaning in the speaking tube, she forgot even the
striped tailed calf, and remembered all at once the dark forest and the
queer people who dwelt there. And when the Story Teller that night had
drawn his chair up before the fire and sat rocking she climbed upon his
knee and rocked, too, while he thought, and smoked, and looked into the
blaze.
The Little Lady waited a good while. Then she took hold of the lapel of
his coat and tugged it gently and looked up into the Story Teller's
face.
"Tell me a story," she commanded softly. "One about Mr. Crow and Mr.
'Possum, and Mr. Jack Rabbit and all the others. What did they do this
summer? You know; tell it."
The Story Teller grumbled something about not having met any of these
fellows lately, and rocked a little harder and thought very fast.
"I s'pose you've heard about Mr. Crow's April fool," he said, as he
knocked the ashes from his pipe into the grate.
"No, I haven't--not that story--I never heard that story," she said
eagerly.
So, then, the Story Teller rocked some more, and half shut his eyes and
began.
THE STORY OF THE C. X. PIE
MR. CROW PLANS AN APRIL FIRST PARTY AND PREPARES A SURPRISE FOR THE
OCCASION
[Illustration: TOLD THE 'COON AND 'POSSUM ABOUT IT RIGHT AWAY.]
Once upon a time when the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum lived
together in three big hollow branches of a great Hollow Tree in the Big
Deep Woods, and used to meet and have good times together in the parlor
down stairs, the Crow made up his mind to have a party next day. He told
the 'Coon and the 'Possum about it right away, and they asked him if he
was going to have Mr. Dog this time, and Mr. Crow said "No" and looked
foolish, because once he did have Mr. Dog just for a joke and got the
worst of it himself.
"I remember about that," said the Little Lady.
That's what the Crow did, too--remembered, and he had never felt just
right about the way he had been fooled when he meant to fool the others.
So when they reminded him about Mr. Dog he said to himself that he would
fool them yet, and he'd do it at this very party.
But he made b'lieve he was very meek and said he was going to have Mr.
Jack Rabbit over, and Mr. Turtle, to make a full table, and that they
would have chicken pie and hot biscuits with maple syrup for dinner.
This suited the 'Coon and the 'Possum exactly, for Mr. Crow was the best
cook anywhere in the country, and they were both fond of good things.
The 'Coon said he'd go right away with the invitation for Jack Rabbit,
and the 'Possum said that he felt like taking a walk anyway, and that
he'd pass around by the Wide Blue Water where Mr. Turtle lived, and tell
him. So off they went and left Mr. Crow all alone to think about it and
get ready.
[Illustration: HE WALKED BACK AND FORTH A WHILE IN HIS OWN ROOM.]
[Illustration]
He walked back and forth a while in his own room and scratched his head,
and then he went down stairs out in the sun and thought some more. All
at once he jumped right straight up and laughed, for he happened to
remember that it was the last day of March, and that it was the very
thing to have a party on April fool day, and fool the 'Possum and the
'Coon in some way, so that the others would laugh and say it was the
best joke of the season. Then he thought of a way to fool them, and
pretty soon he had that fixed, too.
[Illustration: WENT RIGHT TO COOKING AND BAKING.]
He didn't wait a minute, but went right to cooking and baking just as
hard as ever he could, and pretty soon he had three chicken pies done,
as fine looking as any you ever saw. And two of them were fine, sure
enough--just as fine as Mr. Crow could make them--but the other wasn't
chicken at all. It was made out of leaves and sticks, and the only thing
good about it was the crust. This pie he intended for the 'Coon and
the 'Possum, and one of the good ones was for Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Turtle.
The last one was for himself, with an extra piece over for anybody that
might happen to want a second helping.
Well, he set them all in a row on the kitchen table, and walked up and
down looking at them and laughing and thinking what fun it would be for
the others when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon cut their pie and tried to eat
what was inside of it. He had the pies set on the table so he knew just
which was which, and besides had made some letters on the upper crust so
the right ones would be sure to get them. On the leaf pie he had
"P. C.," for 'Possum and 'Coon. On one of the others he had "R. T.," for
Rabbit and Turtle. On the last one he had "C. X.," which stood for Crow,
and an extra piece for manners. He had put these letters where the fancy
thing is in the centre of pies, and had joined them together so you'd
hardly notice them at first.
All at once, while he was looking at them and laughing, he heard Mr.
'Coon and Mr. 'Possum coming back. Then he called out to them and asked
them if they had invited the guests and told them to come up and see the
pies he had made while they were gone. So they came up and looked at
them, and said they certainly were fine, and that Mr. Rabbit and Mr.
Turtle were busy getting out their best clothes, and would be there
early.
Then the Crow said he guessed he'd slip over to Mr. Man's pantry and
borrow some maple syrup while Mr. Man was at dinner and be back for
early supper. So off he went and left the 'Coon and the 'Possum there
together.
[Illustration: STOOD AND LOOKED AT THEM.]
When he'd been gone awhile Mr. 'Possum said he believed he'd take one
more look at those nice pies, and Mr. 'Coon said he guessed he would,
too. So they went up to Mr. Crow's kitchen again and stood and looked at
them till they were so hungry that Mr. 'Possum licked out his tongue and
walked up and smelled of them. First he smelled a good long smell of the
C. X. pie--so--and said, "O-o-oh! How nice!" Then he smelled a very long
smell of the R. T. pie--so----and said, "O-o-o-o-oh! How delicious!"
Then he smelled a very, very long smell of the P. C. pie--so------and
said, "O-o-o-o-o-oh! How strange!"
[Illustration]
That made the 'Coon want to smell, too, and when he had smelled of all
three he said that there certainly did seem to be a difference in those
pies, and that the last one had a sort of a woodsy spring-like flavor,
like the first of April. That made the 'Possum jump, and he said he had
not remembered till that very minute that to-morrow was the first, sure
enough. Then he said he didn't suppose Mr. Crow would care how the pies
were set on the table, so he moved them about and put the P. C. pie
where the C. X. pie had stood, and the C. X. pie at the end instead of
the P. C. pie. But while he was doing it he happened to notice the
joined letters in the middle of the pies, which he hadn't seen before.
He looked at first one and then the other, and studied a minute what to
do. Then he picked up an old thin knife that Mr. Crow used for cutting
around cake and slipping pies out sometimes when they stuck to the pan.
[Illustration: "OH," SAID MR. 'COON, "I HOPE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO CUT
THEM."]
"Oh," said Mr. 'Coon. "I hope you're not going to cut them!"
"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "Not so's you'll notice it."
[Illustration]
Then he slipped the thin knife around the top crust of the P. C. pie and
lifted it off carefully and looked in and made a very queer face. Mr.
'Coon came and looked in, too, and made another very queer face. Then
Mr. 'Possum lifted off the top of the C. X. pie and looked in and
smiled, and Mr. 'Coon looked in and smiled, too. There were two nice,
fat chicken legs right on top, and Mr. 'Coon took one and Mr. 'Possum
the other, because they said that as this was to be their pie any way,
they might just as well have a little taste of it beforehand. Then they
changed the covers and put the P. C. cover on the good pie and C. X.
cover on the fool pie, and just then they heard Mr. Crow coming home,
and slipped down into the parlor and up into their own rooms and
pretended to be asleep when he came in.
THE STORY OF THE C. X. PIE
CONTINUED
MR. CROW'S PARTY AND THE OPENING OF THE PIES
Well, next morning Mr. Crow was down stairs bright and early, putting
the big parlor room in order and setting the table. Pretty soon the
'Coon and 'Possum came down, too, and helped him, and now and then, when
they happened to look at each other across the table, they would wink
and smile, but they didn't say a word. By and by the three pies were
brought in and set in a row at one end of the table, and nobody could
tell from looking at them but what they were exactly as the Crow had
baked them.
[Illustration: MR. RABBIT CAME IN CARRYING A LARGE BUNCH OF EARLY
FLOWERS.]
Just then there was a knock down stairs, and Mr. Rabbit came in carrying
a large bunch of early flowers that he had gathered as he came along,
and dressed in his new spring suit. They saw a little white roll in one
of his coat pockets, too, and they knew it was a poem for the occasion,
for Jack Rabbit writes poems whenever he gets a chance, specially in the
early springtime.
Mr. Crow hurried out and got the pair of pink glass vases that Mr.
'Coon had given him for Christmas and put the flowers in them for the
table, while he asked Jack Rabbit if it was muddy walking and if he had
seen anything of Mr. Turtle.
[Illustration: MR. TURTLE HIMSELF WADDLED IN.]
[Illustration: LEFT THE OTHERS TO SIT AROUND THE TABLE AND TALK.]
Mr. Rabbit said that the ground was rather damp, but that he could pick
his way pretty well, and that he had never seen such a wet spring since
the year that the Wide Blue Water came up over his back garden and
drowned his early pease. He hadn't seen Mr. Turtle, but just then Mr.
Turtle himself waddled in with a basket of nice water salad, which he
had gathered before starting. Then Mr. Crow hurried off to put his
biscuits in the oven and left the others to sit around the table and
talk.
After they had talked about the weather and told the latest things that
had happened to Mr. Dog, who lived with Mr. Man, and whom none of them
liked very well, the 'Possum said all at once that being this was April
First he shouldn't wonder if it was to be a sort of surprise party in
some way.
That made Mr. Turtle and Jack Rabbit curious right away, and they wanted
to know what kind of a surprise he thought it was going to be and if he
thought it would be a pleasant one. Mr. 'Possum said he was sure it
would be pleasant, and then he looked at the three fine pies on the
table and said it was just as apt to be in one of those pies as
anywhere. Then Mr. Turtle said he'd heard of "four and twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie," and how they began to sing when the pie was opened, but
he hoped it wouldn't be that kind of a surprise, for he didn't care
much for blackbirds himself, specially in pies. The 'Possum said there
might be one black bird sing when these pies were opened, but he didn't
b'lieve there'd be any more, which made the 'Coon laugh so he nearly
fell off his chair. Just then they heard the Crow coming, and the
'Possum whispered quick to the Turtle and the Rabbit that they must be
sure and eat their pie all up and ask for more, as Mr. Crow was proud of
his cooking and always felt offended when people didn't eat heartily.
Well, Mr. Crow came in carrying a great pan of fine biscuits and set
them down in the middle of the table, while everybody said, "What lovely
biscuits!" and asked whether they were made with buttermilk or baking
powder, and wanted his recipe. Mr. Crow said he didn't have any recipe,
but just took a pinch of this and a pinch of that, and that there was a
good deal in the knack and in having things come natural, just as it was
natural for Mr. Rabbit to write poetry. Then he said he hoped Mr. Rabbit
hadn't forgotten to think up a few thoughts for this occasion, and Mr.
Rabbit said that he had been too busy with spring work to write much
lately, but that he did have a few lines in his pocket that they might
be willing to listen to. So then he took out the roll he had brought and
put on his glasses and stood up, while all the others sat still and
listened.
[Illustration]
Oh, sweet the month of April,
When birds begin to twitter!
When dewdrops on the clover
And tender grasses glitter!
When every shoot of lettuce
That from the ground arises
Gives promise of a salad--
Oh, month of sweet surprises!
You see Mr. Rabbit is a great gardener, and specially fond of young
clover and tender salad.
Oh, sweet the month of April,
When youthful chicks are hatching,
And gayly in the meadows
Around their ma are scratching!
The finest way to eat them
In dumpling or in pies is--
Oh, here's to you, sweet April,
With all your glad surprises!
Mr. Rabbit knew that the Crow would have chicken either in dumpling or
pies, and anyhow he needed "pies is" to rhyme with "surprises," and when
he came to those lines and sat down the others shouted and laughed and
Mr. Crow pounded on the table and declared he couldn't have done better
if he'd been a poet and written it himself! And the 'Coon and the
'Possum both pounded too and said "That's so! That's so!"
Then Mr. Crow shoved the R. T. pie over between Jack Rabbit and Mr.
Turtle and the pie that was marked P. C. between the 'Coon and the
'Possum. The C. X. pie he pulled up in front of himself, for of course
he never even suspected that the top crust on them had been changed by
the 'Possum.
The finest way to eat them
In dumpling or in pies is--
he said, quoting Mr. Rabbit's poem,
Oh, here's to you, sweet April,
With all your glad surprises!
[Illustration: MR. TURTLE WAS WATCHING HIM PRETTY ANXIOUSLY.]
Then he told them not to be bashful, but to help themselves and remember
there was plenty more where that came from. Just as he said this he
picked up his knife and stuck it down deep into the C. X. pie. Mr.
'Possum picked up his knife and stuck it down deep into the P. C. pie,
and Mr. Rabbit picked up his knife and stuck it into the R. T. pie and
cut it in half. Mr. Turtle was watching him pretty anxiously, for he
remembered what the 'Possum had said about a surprise, but when Jack
Rabbit laid a smoking half with the gravy running out of it on his plate
he forgot all about everything else.
[Illustration: THEN, ALL OF A SUDDEN, HE DIDN'T WANT TO LAUGH ANY MORE.]
Mr. 'Possum didn't divide the P. C. pie just yet, but kept cutting as if
it cut very hard, and talking a good deal while he cut. He said that,
speaking of surprises, it used to be quite a fashion to fool people on
the first of April, and that he'd known lots of the biggest kind of
jokes played on people that day. The biggest jokes, though, he said,
were those that came back on the people who played them, and that he
knew one of that kind once that made him laugh now every time he thought
about it. Then he did laugh some, and sawed away and said he guessed
he'd struck a bone; and the 'Coon laughed, too, and Mr. Crow was nearly
dying with trying to keep from laughing, for he thought Mr. 'Possum was
sawing away on an old stick. He didn't want to let on, though, so he
quit looking and commenced cutting his own pie. He laughed to himself
and cut a minute, and then, all of a sudden, he didn't want to laugh any
more, for he had cut a hole in the top of the C. X. pie and he saw
something and smelled something that made him right sick. He looked over
quick to Mr. 'Possum's plate, and what he saw there made him sicker yet.
For there lay a half of the P. C. pie, and Mr. Crow saw with one look
that it was just as fine a chicken pie as ever came out of an oven.
Mr. 'Coon had a piece on his plate, too, and they were saying what a
fine pie it was, and Mr. Turtle and Mr. Rabbit said so, too, and that
Mr. Crow was certainly the finest cook in those parts.
THE STORY OF THE C. X. PIE
CONTINUED
WHAT HAPPENS TO MR. CROW AND HIS PIE
Poor Mr. Crow! You never saw anybody look as sickly and foolish as he
did. He thought that he had made a dreadful mistake in marking the pies,
and that now he had got to eat or pretend to eat the mess of old leaves
and sticks that filled up the C. X. pie clear to the top. He never
thought of Mr. 'Possum's changing the crust, and even if he had, he
wouldn't have felt any better.
[Illustration: I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU'LL EVER KNOW JUST HOW BAD MR. CROW
DID FEEL.]
I don't suppose you'll ever know just how bad Mr. Crow did feel, unless
you get into a fix like that some time yourself. First he got hot and
then he got cold, and the sweat began to break out on his bill like dew
drops. He began to eat a little of the crust first, and then he was
afraid if he ate the crust away the others would see what was inside of
it, so he put his fork in and got a rolled up leaf with gravy on it and
whisked it into his mouth and chewed and tried to swallow till his eyes
stuck out and the tears ran down in a stream. He was glad that nobody
seemed to be looking at him, for everybody else was too busy eating the
nice pie, and Mr. 'Possum was just saying that he liked Mr. Crow's
surprises, for he always surprised them by having something better than
they expected.
Then he told how once, when they were snowed in, Mr. Crow had kept them
all from starving by making a kind of bread called Johnnie cake, and
some chicken gravy, and how they could never get him to tell where he
got the things to make it of.[1] He said he thought maybe Mr. Crow would
tell pretty soon, though, now. Then they all looked at Mr. Crow and
begged him to tell his great secret, and when they looked they saw he
wasn't eating his pie, but was just sitting there picking at it with his
fork a little. They all told him not to be afraid to eat some of his own
nice pie, for they were sure there'd be plenty, and Mr. Crow said in a
weakly voice that when he cooked he never could eat very much. He said
he guessed he'd take a biscuit and some syrup because he didn't feel
quite well, anyway. So he pushed the C. X. pie away and ate a biscuit
with butter and syrup on it, and felt a good deal better.
But pretty soon Mr. Turtle finished his piece and remembered what Mr.
'Possum had whispered about asking for a second helping. So he said he
guessed he'd take another piece of that fine pie--just a small one to
hold the other down. Mr. Rabbit said he guessed he'd have to ask for
another small piece, too, it was so good, and the Coon and the 'Possum
both said that, although they were home folks and used to Mr. Crow's
good cooking, they certainly would have to take another little piece of
that fine pie.
[Illustration: FAINTED DEAD AWAY.]
Then Mr. Crow knew there were only two things that he could do. He could
either faint, or "holler" "Fire!" And, after studying for about half a
second, he keeled right over and fainted dead away.
Of course that stopped the dinner for a while. Jack Rabbit and Mr.
Turtle jumped up frightened, and the 'Coon and the 'Possum pretended to
be frightened, too. They all ran to Mr. Crow and carried him up stairs
to his room and put him on his bed. Then Mr. 'Coon brought some water
and Mr. Rabbit fanned him and Mr. Turtle unbuttoned his vest to give him
air. Mr. 'Possum he stood still and gave orders, and said pretty soon
that he was sure a good strong hot mustard poultice would help matters.
When he said that Mr. Crow opened his eyes a little pinch and asked
where he was, and then he said he guessed he must have fainted, for he'd
been taken with a dreadful bad turn at the table and didn't remember any
more.
Mr. 'Possum winked at Mr. 'Coon and said yes, that Mr. Crow had even
forgot to give them a second helping of pie, but that he supposed Mr.
Rabbit and Mr. Turtle could go back and help themselves. Then the sweat
broke out on Mr. Crow again, and he said he hoped they wouldn't, for it
would be cold now and they would find the biscuits and syrup much
better. Jack Rabbit said he thought so, too, and the 'Possum, who was
really beginning to feel sorry for the poor Crow, said the same, and so
did the others. So then Mr. Crow got better as quick as anything, and
they all went back down stairs and ate the biscuits and syrup, which
were certainly very fine. Once Mr. Rabbit wondered what that nice, leafy
smell was that he got a whiff of now and then, and Mr. Turtle said he'd
been thinking about that, too. Then Mr. 'Coon helped out and said that
he s'posed it was Mr. Man and Mr. Dog burning brush over on the edge of
the Wide Grass Lands, and he went on to make a little speech that was
kind of a reply to Mr. Rabbit's poem. He said how nice it was to give
one's friends pleasant surprises of good things as Mr. Crow had done,
instead of unpleasant ones such as Mr. 'Possum had mentioned, and all
the others said, "Yes, Yes!" and cheered him, all except Mr. Crow, who
looked down into his plate and didn't say a word, but just seemed to be
thinking and thinking.
And by and by, when Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle said goodby and went
away, he hurried back to the table, and was just going to take the C. X.
pie up to his own part of the house, when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon
grabbed him and said they must have a piece of that pie, after all. And
when Mr. Crow wasn't going to give it to them they both commenced to
laugh and said it was their pie anyway, and that they meant to have it.
And right then Mr. Crow knew just what had happened, and that it was no
use to be an April fool any longer. He stood still a minute, looking
first at Mr. 'Coon and then at Mr. 'Possum. Then he walked to the window
and flung the C. X. pie out as far as he could send it among the leaves
and brush, where it belonged. The 'Coon stood on one side and the
'Possum on the other, and they watched it strike and roll out of sight
before they said anything. Then Mr. 'Coon said that perhaps it would be
a good time now to tell the great secret of the Johnnie cake and gravy,
and Mr. Crow said he would do that and anything else they wanted him to
if they'd promise they wouldn't tell this joke on him to anybody--Mr.
Rabbit and Mr. Turtle especially. Then he went right on and told them
the great secret of the Johnnie cake, and the 'Coon and the 'Possum did
promise, though they didn't intend to tell anyway, for they thought a
great deal of Mr. Crow and they were all good friends.
"But, dear me!" exclaimed the story teller, "I've been telling for three
evenings on this story, and here it is nine o'clock again."
"You'll tell some more to-morrow night won't you?" said the Little Lady,
drowsily.
"We'll have a story about Mr. Jack Rabbit next time," said the story
teller.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Three Friends, page 136.
MR. RABBIT EXPLAINS
AN EASTER STORY
"Now tell me the rabbit story," commanded the Little Lady on the next
evening. "You know you promised to."
"So I did," said the Story Teller, "and it goes this way:--"
[Illustration]
"One afternoon in the early spring Mr. Jack Rabbit and his friends were
out for an airing. The Hollow Tree people were along, and Mr. Turtle, as
usual. By and by they came to a log under a big tree and sat down for a
smoke and talk. They talked about the weather at first and other things,
till somebody mentioned Easter. Then they all had something to say about
that.
"'What I object to,' says Mr. Rabbit, when it came his time to talk, 'is
this thing of people always saying that the Easter eggs belong to me.'
"'Oh, but that's just a joke,' says Mr. 'Coon, laughing.
"'I know it's just a joke, of course, but it's a pretty old joke, and
I'm tired of it,' says Jack Rabbit.
"'How did it get started anyway?' asked Mr. 'Possum.
"Then Mr. Rabbit took his pipe out of his mouth and leaned forward a
little, so he could talk better.
"'I tell you how it got started,' he says, 'and after that I don't want
to hear any more of it. This is how it happened:--
"'Once upon a time, as much as twenty grandmothers back, I should think,
there was a very nice family of Rabbits that lived in a grassy place on
a hillside back of a big farmyard. There was quite a hole in the ground
there, and they had a cosy home in it, and a soft bed for their little
folk."
[Illustration: A FEW LESSONS IN RUNNING AND HIDING.]
"'Now, every bright morning, Father and Mother Rabbit used to take the
children out for a walk, and for a few lessons in running and hiding
from Mr. Dog, who bothered about a good deal, and one day as they were
coming home they heard a great cackling, and when they got to their
house there was a nice fresh egg lying right in the children's bed. Some
old hen from the farmyard had slipped in and laid it while they were
gone. A good many hens, especially old hens, like to hide their nests
that way, and this was one of that kind.
"'Well, of course all the young Rabbits claimed it, and Mother Rabbit at
last gave it to the smallest and weakest one of the children, a little
girl, who was always painting things with the juice of flower petals.
And the very first thing that little girl did was to stain that egg all
over with violet juice, not thinking what trouble it was going to cause
our family forever after."
[Illustration: IT WAS A NICE BLUE EGG WHEN SHE GOT THROUGH.]
"'It was a nice blue egg when she got through with it, and the next day,
when they all came back from their walk again there was another white
egg right by it. The old hen had been there again and laid another while
they were gone. The second little girl claimed that egg, of course, and
she painted it a bright yellow with buttercup juice. Then the next day
there was another egg, and the next day there was another egg, and the
next day there was another egg, until there was one apiece for every one
of the children, and some over."
[Illustration]
"'And they all painted them. Some painted theirs pink or red with
roseleaves or japonica, some painted them yellow with buttercups, and
some blue or purple with violets, as the first little girl had done.
They had so many at last that it crowded them out of their bed, and they
had to sleep on the floor.
"'And then, one Sunday, and it must have been Easter Sunday, they all
went out walking again, and when they came back every one of those
beautiful colored eggs was gone. The children cried and made a great
fuss, but it was no use. Some of Mr. Man's boys out hunting hen's nests
had found them and taken them all home with them.
"'And of course all those colored eggs set Mr. Man to wondering, and he
came with his boys to the place where they had found them; and when they
looked in out jumped the whole Rabbit family, helter skelter in every
direction."
[Illustration: LEANING OVER TO LIGHT HIS PIPE FROM MR. 'POSSUM'S.]
"'And right then,' said Mr. Rabbit, leaning over to light his pipe from
Mr. 'Possum's, 'right then Mr. Man declared those colored eggs were
rabbit eggs, and he's kept on saying so ever since, though he knows
better, and he knows I don't like it. He takes eggs and colors them
himself now, and makes believe they're mine, and he puts my picture all
over things about Easter time. I suppose he thinks I don't care, but I
do, and I wish that little Miss Rabbit twenty grandmothers back had left
that old hen's egg white as she found it.'
"'It's too bad,' says Mr. Crow. 'It's like that story they tell about
the fox making me drop the cheese.'
"'Or like Mr. Man making believe that the combs he uses are really made
out of my shell,' says Mr. Turtle.
"Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum shook their heads. They had their troubles,
too."
MR. TURTLE'S THUNDER STORY
THE WAY OF THE FIRST THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
[Illustration: HAD JACK RABBIT AND MR. TURTLE IN FOR SUPPER.]
Once upon a time, said the Story Teller, when the Crow and the 'Coon and
the 'Possum lived together in three big, hollow branches of a big big,
hollow tree in the big, big, Big Deep Woods, and used to meet and have
good times together in the parlor down stairs, they had Jack Rabbit and
Mr. Turtle in for supper. It was a nice supper, too, for it was just
about strawberry time, and strawberries grow thicker in the Big Deep
Woods than fur on a kitten's back. Mr. Crow, who is a great cook, had
made a nice shortcake, and been over to Mr. Man's pantry, where he gets
some of his best things, and borrowed a pail of sweet cream when Mr. Man
wasn't at home.
"Of course they had fried chicken, too, first, and by the time they were
through their shortcake and had lit their pipes Mr. 'Possum, who likes
good things better than anybody, almost, could hardly open his eyes. He
said he wished he was a poet, like Mr. Jack Rabbit, for he had never
been so full of summer happiness since he was born, and if he could
only make rhymes, he knew that poetry would slip right off his tongue.
Then, of course, Mr. Rabbit wanted to show off, and without stopping a
second he commenced to talk poetry--this way:--
"In the summer time I make a rhyme
For every breeze that passes,
For I can always make it chime
With lassies, grasses, sasses."
"Mr. 'Possum said he couldn't do that if it was to save him from being
hung the next minute, and Mr. Rabbit went right on without catching his
breath:--
"Where e'er I go my verses flow--
I keep it up for hours.
I'm never short of rhymes, you know,
With bowers, flowers, showers."
"Well, that set them all to wondering how Jack Rabbit could do it so
easily, and Mr. Rabbit didn't think to tell them how he'd sat up all the
night before to compose this poetry, so's to have it on hand and ready
for a chance to use it. He said that it was somebody else's turn now,
and that maybe Mr. Turtle would give them a performance of some kind.
Mr. Turtle wanted to change the subject, and got up and walked over to
the window. He said that, speaking of showers, it was so warm and close,
he shouldn't wonder if they had one before morning. He said he believed
there was lightning now, off in the west, and seemed like he could hear
it thunder, too. Then they all talked about thunder and lightning and
what they were. But nobody seemed to know except Mr. Turtle himself.
"'Why,' he said, 'I thought everybody knew that!' Then he went on to say
that he'd known the story ever since he wasn't 'any bigger than a pants
button,' and all the others said he must tell it to them, because it was
his turn, anyway. And Mr. Turtle was glad to do that, for he really
wanted to show off a little, like Jack Rabbit, only he hadn't known
before how to do it. So he filled up his pipe nice and fresh, and lit
it, and began.
"'Well,' he said, 'of course you know my family all live to be pretty
old. I'm only three hundred and sixteen next spring myself, but Uncle
Tom Turtle, who lives up by the forks, is a good deal over nine hundred,
and he isn't nearly as old as Father Storm Turtle and his wife, who live
up in the Big West Hills, and make the thunder and lightning.'
"Mr. Turtle stopped a minute to light his pipe again, and all the others
just looked at him and couldn't say a word. They knew he was pretty old,
but they had never thought much about it before, and what he said about
Father and Mother Storm Turtle they had never even heard of. But Mr.
Turtle just lit his pipe, and puffed, and said:--
"'To tell the truth, I never did hear of any of our family dying of old
age, and I shouldn't wonder if Old Man Turtle Himself would still be
alive, too, if he hadn't tried to swallow a mussel fish with the shell
on and got it stuck in his throat a million and twenty-five years ago
last spring. Anyhow, that's according to the date cut on his shell
overcoat that Uncle Tom Turtle saw once at Father Storm's house up in
the Big West Hills.
"'I don't know how many great grandfathers back Father Storm is from me,
nor how many from Father Storm Old Man Turtle Himself was, but I know
Father Storm got his shell overcoat after the mussel fish wouldn't go
down, and that it was a great deal too big to take in the house, and it
used to set out in the yard on four bricks, for the children to play
under.
"'Father Storm Turtle had a big family then, and they were pretty
troublesome. They had a habit of wandering off in the woods and
forgetting to come back. Every night Mother Storm had to stand in the
door and call and call and not be able to sleep if they didn't come,
especially when it was cloudy and looked like rain. She knew that, if
they got wet they'd all come home with bad colds and sore throats and
make trouble and expense. Three of them--named Slop, Splash and
Paddle--were worse than any of the others, for even when it didn't rain
they were always playing in dirty puddles, and would come home all mud
and with wet feet.'"
MR. TURTLE'S THUNDER STORY
CONTINUED
FATHER STORM'S PLAN AND HOW IT WORKED
[Illustration]
"At last, one day, when Mother Storm Turtle had shouted herself hoarse
and couldn't make any of them hear, she said she wouldn't put up with it
any longer, and that Father Storm had got to fix up some way to call
those children home when she wanted them, especially when it was going
to rain, as it was now. So Father Storm went out into the front yard and
sat down and looked at the clouds and thought and thought."
[Illustration: WENT RIGHT TO WORK AND DUG TWO HOLES.]
"All at once, just as he was about to give it up, he happened to be
looking right at the shell of Old Man Turtle Himself. He jumped up quick
and hit it with his cane, and when it made quite a loud sound he
laughed, for he knew, now, how he could make those children hear when he
wanted them. He didn't say a word to Mother Storm Turtle, but went right
to work and dug two holes and put up two tall posts in the yard and
fastened a stout beam across the top of them. Then he worked until he
had bored a hole in one end of the shell of Old Man Turtle Himself, and
put a chain in it and dragged it over and strung it up between the
posts, so that it swung there and didn't quite touch the ground. That,
of course, made a thing a good deal like Mr. Man's dinner gong, only a
hundred times as big, and about a thousand times as loud. Then Father
Storm went out into the woodhouse to make a club to beat it with,
laughing to himself now and then when he thought how Mother Storm Turtle
would most have a fit when she heard it for the first time.
"But while Father Storm Turtle was doing so much, Mother Storm had been
thinking and doing some herself. She was getting supper, and when she
looked into the fire to put in a stick of wood, she just happened to
think that if she could make a torch big enough and bright enough, when
she stood in the door and waved it, those children would see the light,
especially nights when it was dark just before a heavy rain. So she went
right to work and made one, just as big as she could make it, and put
lots of oil and fat on it, to make it bright. She laughed to think how
Father Storm Turtle would jump when she waved that out the door, and how
the children would come running when they saw the big flash. Then she
noticed that it was getting darker and darker and would rain in a
minute. So she hurried up and lit it and stepped to the door and gave it
a great big swing. And just that second Father Storm hit the shell of
Old Man Turtle Himself with a big hickory club, and there was never such
a light nor such a roar in the world as that was.
"Mother Storm Turtle tumbled over backward and set the house afire
with her torch, and Father Storm was so frightened by the big light that
at first he couldn't help her put the fire out. And just then it began
raining like forty, and all the children came running and screaming out
of the woods, half scared to death by the big light and noise. It made a
terrible commotion there for a few minutes, until they got the fire put
out, and people heard it all over the country, even to Mr. Man's house.
And when they found out what it was, and who started it, everybody
called it a 'storm.' And rain and wind and thunder and lightning, or
most any other kind of a big fuss, is called a 'storm' to this day,
after Father and Mother Storm Turtle."
[Illustration: SLOP AND SPLASH AND PADDLE.]
"And that," said Mr. Turtle, lighting his pipe once more, "was the first
thunder and lightning, and whenever people saw it after that they said,
'We're going to have another storm!' For Father and Mother Storm Turtle
went right on using the big torch and the shell of Old Man Turtle
Himself to call in the children just before a rain, and the children
would come running every time, all except Slop, Splash and Paddle, who
got so at last that they liked the mud and dirty water better than
anything else. They liked the mud so well that Father Storm told them
one day they might go and live in the mud and be named Mud for all he
cared; and so they did, and their names were Mud, and they and all their
families live in dirty water and are called Mud Turtles to this day.
They never went home again, but whenever they hear Father Storm
pounding on the shell, they stop whatever they are doing and listen. And
that's how the saying began that 'a Mud Turtle never lets go till it
thunders.'"
"What makes the noise always get louder and the light brighter just
before it rains?" asked Jack Rabbit.
"Why, you see," said Mr. Turtle, "Father and Mother Storm's
grandchildren and great-grandchildren are a good deal scattered now, and
as the old people run the thunder and lightning mostly on their account,
they try to make it just about bright enough and loud enough to keep up
with the rain wherever it goes."
"It's plenty loud enough," said Mr. 'Coon solemnly.
"And plenty bright enough," said Mr. Crow, blinking.
"What makes it set things on fire sometimes?" asked Mr. 'Possum
sleepily.
"That's when Mother Storm Turtle swings her torch too hard and coals fly
out of it," said Mr. Turtle, as he got up and walked over to the window.
Then the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum and Jack Rabbit got up, too,
and walked over, and they all looked out together. It was dark among the
trees below them, and Mr. Turtle pointed off toward the Big West Hills.
"You see," he said, speaking low, "Mother Storm is beginning to swing
her torch, and you'll hear Father Storm pounding before long on the
shell of Old Man Turtle Himself."
[Illustration]
So the five friends stood very still and listened and pretty soon they
did hear a low far off rumble, sure enough.
"That means it's time to start for home," said Mr. Jack Rabbit, reaching
for his hat and cane.
Mr. Turtle reached for his hat and cane, too, and they felt their way
down the dim stairs, with Mr. 'Coon holding a candle, and Mr. Crow and
Mr. 'Possum looking after them.
"Good night, everybody," said Mr. Turtle.
[Illustration: CALLED TO JACK RABBIT TO PUSH IN THE LATCH.]
"Push the latch string in from the outside," called Mr. Crow. "Then, I
won't have to come down."
"All right!
Good night!"
called back Jack Rabbit.
"Good night! Come again!" called the Crow and the 'Coon and the
'Possum.
A RAIN IN THE NIGHT
A WINDOW THAT WASN'T CLOSED, AND WHO CLOSED IT
The night was warm in the Hollow Tree. Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle, who
had been spending the evening with the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old
Black Crow, had hurried off to their homes, so as to get there before
the rain set in.
They had all stood by an open parlor window and seen it coming over the
Big West Hills, and the visitors knew they'd catch it if they didn't
hurry. Mr. Crow and the others had watched them down stairs, and called
to Jack Rabbit to push in the latch string, which would fasten the door
from the outside. Then Mr. 'Possum had taken his candle, and Mr. 'Coon
had taken his candle, and Mr. Crow had taken his candle, and each had
gone up to his own room and scrambled into bed quick, so's to be able to
cover up his head when it thundered.
Well, they hadn't any more than all gone to bed before Mr. Crow suddenly
happened to remember that, being in such a hurry, none of them had
thought to close the parlor window, and it would rain in as sure as the
world. There was a little table close to the window, with some of his
best things on it, too, and if it rained in they would all get wet and
be spoiled. He thought about this twice, and maybe more than twice, and
the more he thought about it the less he wanted to get up and close that
window. Then, all at once, there came a flash of lightning and low
growling thunder. Down he bobbed under the covers, and this made him
want to get up less than ever. He knew, though, that it would be raining
hard pretty soon, and spoiling his things. He had to do something right
off.
So, after thinking a minute, he sat up in bed and called out:
"Oh, Mr. 'Coon! You forgot to close the parlor window. It will rain in
on your things."
But Mr. 'Coon called back:
"It won't hurt MY things, Mr. Crow. They're over on the other side of
the room."
And Mr. 'Possum, who was sitting up in bed, too, listened and laughed in
the dark.
But just then there was another flash of lightning, and Mr. Crow bobbed
down, and Mr. 'Coon bobbed down, and Mr. 'Possum bobbed down, so's not
to hear the thunder. Then, pretty soon, Mr. Crow sat up in bed again and
called out:
"Oh, Mr. 'Possum! You forgot to close the parlor window. It will rain in
on your things."
But Mr. 'Possum called back:
"It won't hurt MY things, Mr. Crow. They're all over by the stairs."
And Mr. 'Coon, who was sitting up in bed, listened and laughed in the
dark, too.
Then for a minute Mr. Crow didn't know but that he'd have to go down and
shut that window himself, after all. And while he was thinking how much
he didn't want to, there came another flash of lightning, brighter than
ever, and Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum all bobbed down again
and covered up their heads, so's not to hear the thunder. But Mr. Crow
heard it a little, anyway, and it set him to thinking. So when he sat up
again he called out:
"Oh, Mr. 'Coon, did Jack Rabbit push in the latch string down stairs?"
And Mr. 'Coon called back:
"I s'pose so, Mr. Crow. You told him to. Why?"
"Oh, nothing, only he left in a great hurry, and I thought maybe he
didn't get it quite in."
And Mr. 'Possum listened again, but this time he didn't laugh.
Then Mr. Crow called out to him, too:
"Oh, Mr. 'Possum, did Mr. Rabbit push in the latch string when he left?"
And Mr. 'Possum called back:
"I don't know, Mr. Crow. But you told him to. Why?"
"Oh, nothing; only I heard something just now that sounded like Mr. Dog
barking and coming this way."
And Mr. 'Coon listened again, too, but he didn't laugh any this time,
either.
And just then there was another flash of lightning, a good deal brighter
than any of the other flashes, and down went Mr. Crow again, and down
went Mr. 'Coon again, and down went Mr. 'Possum again, so's not to hear
it thunder. But they did hear it, even under the bedclothes, and being
covered up that way, and thinking about Mr. Dog anyhow, made it sound to
them exactly like Mr. Dog's voice barking and growling, and coming
closer and closer and closer.
And when Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum heard that they didn't wait another
minute. They just threw back the covers, both of them, and piled out of
bed and made a rush for that down stairs door, as if Mr. Dog was right
behind them, sure enough. And of course neither one knew the other had
started, and when they got to the head of the stairs they bumped
together in the dark, and down they went, over and over, to the bottom.
There was a little flash of lightning just as they got there, and they
saw that Mr. Rabbit had pushed in the latch string after all.
Then they felt foolish, and each began to blame the other for making him
fall down stairs, and both of them said they knew all the time the door
was fastened, and that they weren't afraid of Mr. Dog, anyway. They'd
only got up, they said, to shut the parlor window, and they did shut
it, both together, as they came back. Then they ran up to their beds
quick, while Mr. Crow, who had been listening all the time, laid down
and rolled over and laughed and laughed in the dark.
And just then there came another big, bright flash, and down under the
covers went all three of them, so's not to hear it thunder. They stayed
under a good while that time, and when they put their heads out again
the shower had commenced, and the thunder was passing over.
So then, pretty soon, the 'Possum and the 'Coon and the Old Black Crow
all dropped off to sleep to the sound of the rain falling among the
leaves and branches of the Hollow Tree.
A DEEP WOODS FISHING PARTY
AN ADVENTURE WITH MR. DOG AND A VERY LARGE FISH
One warm June morning, when the sun was trying to shine and couldn't,
and the air was close and still and sticky, Mr. Jack Rabbit looked out
of the window while he was dressing and thought to himself that it would
be just the very morning for fish to bite.
Jack Rabbit liked to fish better than anything, almost, so right after
breakfast he took an empty tomato can and went out in the back yard and
turned over boards till he had the can about half full of bait, with a
little dirt thrown on top. Then he reached up under the eaves of the
smoke-house and pulled out a long cane pole with a line and hook and
floater on it, all rigged up ready, and flung it over his shoulder and
started.
Mr. Rabbit walked pretty fast--even lazy folks do that when they go
fishing, and Mr. Jack Rabbit wasn't lazy, by a good deal. So pretty soon
he came to the Hollow Tree, and there, looking out of an upstairs
window, he saw the 'Coon, the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow.
"Hello, up there!" he said. "Don't you fellows want to go fishing?"
Mr. 'Possum said he thought fish would bite well on such a morning, and
that he'd like to go first rate. Mr. 'Coon said he knew a place where
you could pull them out as fast as you could throw in your hook, and he
went on and told how he caught a fish there last year that would weigh
more than four pounds, and lost him just as he got him to the top of the
water. Mr. Crow said he'd always noticed that Mr. 'Coon's four pound
fish never got any nearer to him than the top of the water, and that for
his part he didn't care much about fishing. He said, though, that if the
'Coon and the 'Possum wanted to go he'd stay at home and get dinner
while they were gone, so's to have it ready when they all came home
hungry. He told them that he had some nice canned salmon in the cupboard
that he could catch most any time, and that if they really wanted fish
for dinner he s'posed he might as well open it. Then they all laughed,
and in about a minute down came Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum with their
fishing things. Jack Rabbit said he had plenty of bait, so away they
went. Mr. Crow sat up in the window and watched them off, and Mr. Robin,
who happened along just then, laughed and called after them that he'd
take a few pounds of nice bass when they got home. The Robin just said
that to plague them, of course, and Mr. 'Coon called back that they'd
fool him this time, and then he went on to remark to the 'Possum and
the Rabbit that he'd never in his life seen a finer day for fishing.
Jack Rabbit said yes, that it was fine, and that it was a fine day for
Mr. Dog to be out gallivanting over the country, too, and that they'd
better hurry up and get to the lake and out in his boat before anything
happened. That made Mr. 'Possum take a good deal livelier step, though
he commenced to whistle and said he wasn't afraid of Mr. Dog, anyway.
Mr. 'Coon said he'd always noticed that a fellow mostly whistled when he
wasn't afraid, but for his part he couldn't get to that boat any too
soon. And pretty soon they did get to it, and Mr. 'Possum was the first
one to pile in, though Mr. Dog wasn't anywhere in sight.
[Illustration]
Well, they pushed off and Jack Rabbit took one oar and Mr. 'Coon the
other, while the 'Possum sat on the back seat and baited his hook so's
to catch the first fish. Then, when they got out to where Mr. 'Coon said
the good place was, they all went to fishing, and Mr. 'Possum did get
the first bite, but he didn't get anything else when he pulled. Mr.
'Coon told him he pulled too quick, and Jack Rabbit told him he didn't
pull quick enough, and asked him if he expected the fish to climb out on
his pole. Then Mr. Rabbit had a bite himself, and pulled and didn't get
anything, either. Of course, that made Mr. 'Possum laugh, and then, all
at once, the 'Coon had a great big bite that took his float away down
out of sight the first grab.
Mr. 'Coon let him go for a minute and then gave a hard pull and
commenced to call out that he had him this time and that he'd show Mr.
Crow now about only getting fish to the top of the water and having
canned salmon for dinner. Then he stood up in the boat and pulled as
hard as ever he could till all of a sudden his line broke, and down he
went backwards, right on top of Mr. 'Possum, while the Rabbit swung his
hook over where the 'Coon's hook had been and the big fish grabbed it
before you could say Jack Robinson.
That was too bad for the 'Coon and the 'Possum, of course, and it wasn't
as much fun for Jack Rabbit as you might suppose, for he couldn't get
the big fish out to save his life, and he had to hold on to the boat to
keep from being pulled into the lake. Then he called to the others to
help him, and they both got up and took hold of the pole and hauled in
hand over hand till they got to the line, and that was as far as they
could get. So Mr. Rabbit gave the line a twist or two around the iron
ring in the front of his boat, and the big fish started straight for
shore, dragging the boat and everybody in it behind him, just as hard as
ever he could go. Then Mr. 'Coon and Jack Rabbit commenced to quarrel
about whose fish it was, and Mr. 'Possum said he didn't care whose it
was, he was getting a free ride, and he laid back and laughed and looked
at the shore, when all of a sudden he happened to spy there, sitting on
the end of a log, fishing and waiting for them, nobody but Mr. Dog
himself.
That wasn't very much, of course, but it was plenty for Mr. 'Possum. He
quit laughing and tumbled down in the bottom of the boat and laid there
calling for Jack Rabbit to cut that fishline or they'd all be chops and
steaks and carried home in a basket in less than five minutes. Jack
Rabbit did try to cut the line, too, but he was so excited he dropped
his knife overboard, and Mr. 'Coon couldn't find his, and Mr. 'Possum
didn't have any. So there they were, and there was Mr. Dog! Then Mr.
Rabbit tried to bite the line off with his teeth, but he couldn't do
that, either, for it was a big, strong line that he'd made himself,
'specially for big fish.
And all the time they were getting closer and closer to the shore, and
Mr. Dog had lifted his line out of the water so it wouldn't be in his
way, and was sitting there waiting, and smiling to see them come.
Then Jack Rabbit knew that something had to be done, and there was no
time to lose. He was just about as scared as he could be, but he knew it
wouldn't do any good to let on, so he sat up straight and smiled some,
too, and looked at Mr. Dog and called out, big and friendly like:
"Hello, Mr. Dog! Here we come! Here we come with a nice dinner, Mr.
Dog!"
Then Mr. Dog laughed and called back:
"That's right, Mr. Rabbit. There's a sure enough nice dinner coming,
this time! Fish for the first course, Mr. Rabbit!"
When Mr. 'Possum heard that he began to groan, and Jack Rabbit and Mr.
'Coon began to shiver, for each thought he knew pretty well what the
next courses of Mr. Dog's dinner would be. But Mr. Rabbit didn't stop
smiling or let on that he knew, and he called out again to Mr. Dog,
quick:
"You'll have to help us if we have fish, Mr. Dog! He's a big one and
you'll have to help us catch him!"
And Mr. Dog called back again:
"Don't worry, Mr. Rabbit! I won't leave! I'll be on hand when you get
here, Mr. Rabbit!"
Then he rolled up his trousers a little and waded out into the shallow
water, thinking he would nab Mr. Fish first and drag him out on shore,
and then pull the boat right in after him.
[Illustration: THE FIGHT BETWEEN MR. DOG AND THE BIG FISH.]
Of course, that was a pretty good plan for Mr. Dog, only like some other
good plans, it didn't work just as he expected it to. You see, he didn't
quite know how big the fish was, nor how hard a big fish is to handle in
shallow water. He made a quick grab at it when it got to him and then,
right away, he had his hands full of business. That fish gave a flop
with his tail that laid Mr. Dog over on his back and then another flop
that set him on his feet again, and a side flop that smacked him against
the water first one way and then the other, and made him breathe hard
and choke and try to let go.
But Mr. Dog couldn't let go, for he'd got the fish line some way tangled
in his teeth. So he began to snap and paw and swallow water, and fall
down and get up again, and sprawl about in the swamp grass, trying to
get back to shore.
And while all this was going on Jack Rabbit and his friends had jumped
out into the shallow water and took a little roundin's to shore, keeping
out of Mr. Dog's way, and made tracks for the top of a hill, where they
would be out of danger and see the fun at the same time. Then they all
stood up there and watched the fight between Mr. Dog and the big fish,
and Jack Rabbit sang out, as loud as ever he could:
"Don't leave, Mr. Dog! Stay with him, Mr. Dog! Hold him to it, Mr. Dog;
you've got him! First course, Mr. Dog!"
And Mr. Dog heard Jack Rabbit and got madder and madder every minute,
till all of a sudden he got a lick on the side of the head from Mr.
Fish's tail that made him see stars and broke the line. And away went
the big fish out into deep water, while Mr. Dog crawled back to shore,
wet and bruised from head to foot, and most dead.
Then Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum and Jack Rabbit, standing on top of the
hill, gave a great big laugh, all together, and Mr. Rabbit called out:
"How did you like the first course, Mr. Dog?"
That made them all laugh again, and then Mr. 'Coon called out:
"Are you ready for the second course, Mr. Dog?"
And pretty soon Mr. 'Possum he called out:
"Are you ready for a nice roast now, Mr. Dog?"
And that, of course, made them all laugh very loud, for Mr. 'Possum used
slang now and then and meant by a "roast" that people would all make fun
of Mr. Dog wherever he went; which they did, for a long time.
Even Mr. Robin, who was good friends with Mr. Dog, couldn't help calling
out to him, now and then, as he went by:
"Are you ready for the next course, Mr. Dog?"
And Mr. Dog would pretend not to hear and go hurrying by very fast, as
if he were out on special and important business for Mr. Man.
THE HOLLOW TREE INN
THE THREE FRIENDS GO INTO BUSINESS
One rainy day when the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow were
rummaging about their house in the Big Hollow Tree where they all lived
together, they found that above each of their rooms there was a good
deal of other room that nobody ever used. That set them to thinking, and
pretty soon Mr. 'Possum said it was too bad to let all that good room go
to waste, and Mr. 'Coon said yes, it was, and that their house was big
enough for a hotel.
Of course he didn't think what he was saying at the time, but it set Mr.
Crow to thinking and walking up and down, whistling, and pretty soon he
stopped still and looked at the 'Coon and 'Possum.
"I'll do the cookin'," he said, "if you'll get the things to cook."
And right then and there they made up their minds to do it, and early
the next morning, while the Old Black Crow was hurrying about inside,
getting things ready for business, the 'Coon and the 'Possum nailed up
a sign outside, and this is what was on it:
THE HOLLOW TREE INN.
BOARD BY THE DAY OR WEEK.
Then they went inside to help Mr. Crow get ready, and by and by they all
sat down and waited for people to come. Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum felt
pretty well, too, for they thought they would have the easiest time. You
see, they had always depended on Mr. Crow a good deal, for, besides
being a good cook, he was a great hand to provide, and knew more about
where to get the best things, and the best time of day or night to get
them, than both of the others put together. So he didn't say anything,
but dressed up nice and spruce in a clean apron and cooking cap and
leaned out of the window, as cooks always do, with his arms folded. By
and by along came Mr. Jack Rabbit.
[Illustration: "HELLO!" HE SAID, "WHAT'S THIS?"]
"Hello!" he said. "What's this?"
Then he read the sign over and looked at Mr. Crow and asked him if it
was a joke. And Mr. Crow said:
"Not much! Come up and see."
So then Mr. Rabbit went up stairs and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum showed
him through, and Jack Rabbit said that he didn't feel very well this
summer, any way, and he believed he'd just shut up his house and come
and board a while for a change. He said he guessed he'd take the room
above Mr. 'Coon's, because it had a nice south window and a tall
looking glass, and that he'd pack up a few things that he needed and
come over right away. Then he went home and the 'Coon and 'Possum and
the Old Black Crow all shook hands and danced around in a circle to
think how well they were going to do, for if Mr. Jack Rabbit came they
were sure of having as many others as their house would hold.
And while they were dancing along came Mr. Robin. He read the sign, too,
and laughed, and then knocked at the door till Mr. 'Coon came down and
let him in. He thought it was a joke at first, like the Rabbit, but when
he heard that Jack Rabbit was coming to board he spoke up just as quick
as anything and said he'd come, too, and that he'd have his things there
before supper time. He took the room over Mr. Crow, because he said he
didn't mind the smell of the cooking, and then maybe he'd learn some new
receipts. You see, Mr. Crow and Mr. Robin are sort of kinsfolk, and when
they have time they often get together and trace back to find out just
what relation they are to each other, and that makes them good friends.
Well, Mr. Robin hadn't more'n got out of the house when who should walk
in but Mr. Squirrel.
"What's all this about boarders?" said Mr. Squirrel. "I'm looking for a
place to spend a month or two myself."
So then they showed him the room above Mr. 'Possum's, and he was so
pleased with the view and everything that he paid a week's board in
advance to be sure of keeping anybody else from getting it. When he was
gone the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow did another dance, and
kept saying over and over how rich they'd be and what they would do with
all the money. Then they heard somebody laughing outside, and when they
looked out there was Mr. Turtle laughing and reading the sign.
"Hello!" he said. "This isn't the first of April."
"No," said Mr. Crow, "it's a boarding house, and a good one. All the
best people in the country stop here. Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Robin and Mr.
Squirrel. Sorry, Mr. Turtle, but our rooms are all full."
Then Mr. Turtle did look cheap, for he thought he couldn't be in the
crowd, and it was the very crowd he liked to associate with. But just
then Mr. 'Coon happened to think that they might fit up the big room
below the other big room where they all gathered to eat and talk, and
Mr. Turtle said that would suit him, exactly, because he was large and
heavy and didn't care much about climbing any way. So he hurried off
after his things, too, and he wasn't out of sight before here comes Mr.
Dog!
Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum were both looking out the window when he came
up, and they jumped back like lightning. You see, they didn't like Mr.
Dog worth a cent. Then Mr. Crow came and looked out the window and
talked to him. Mr. Dog was just as polite as a basket of chips, and of
course that's the politest thing in the world.
"I've just seen Mr. Robin," said Mr. Dog, "and I came to get a room,
too."
"Awfully sorry, Mr. Dog, but our rooms are all full," said Mr. Crow.
"Why don't you take down your sign, then?" said Mr. Dog.
"Hotels never take down their signs," said Mr. Crow.
"Hotels are never too full for one more, either," said Mr. Dog. "If you
don't let me come in I think I'll wait around here and make a vacancy."
THE HOLLOW TREE INN
CONTINUED
WHAT HAPPENS TO MR. DOG
[Illustration]
[Illustration: AND UP HE CAME.]
Now, when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon heard that their hair stood up
straight, for they knew very well that there'd be two vacant rooms any
way if Mr. Dog ever got inside, and two if he stayed where he was, for
they happened to think that Mr. Rabbit would be coming along presently,
and Mr. Squirrel wouldn't be far behind. So they hurried to the back
window and looked out, and sure enough there was Mr. Rabbit coming with
his trunk on his shoulder and almost there. At first they were
frightened most to death for Mr. Rabbit, and then the 'Coon slipped over
and whispered to the Crow to keep Mr. Dog talking as hard as he could,
so he wouldn't notice anything. All the time he was doing this the
'Possum was motioning to Jack Rabbit to slip up easy-like with his
trunk.
So Mr. Rabbit slipped up softly on the other side of the house from Mr.
Dog and set his trunk down, and the 'Possum let out a long rope with a
hook on it. Jack Rabbit stood up on his trunk and grabbed the hook as
soon as he could reach it and hooked it under his arms. Then the 'Coon
and the 'Possum pulled and pulled and up he came, and as soon as he was
safe they let down the rope and caught the hook in the trunk handle.
That was a load for all three of them, and even then they couldn't get
it up, and called across to the Crow to come quick and help. So he had
to leave Mr. Dog a minute, and when he did that Mr. Dog walked around
the tree, and there was the trunk just a few feet from the ground, going
up very slowly. That was enough for Mr. Dog. He knew then he'd been
fooled, and he was so mad he didn't know what to do.
He took one look at that trunk and made up his mind he wouldn't stand
it. So he stepped back a little and made a short run and gave a jump for
the trunk, just as high as ever he could.
[Illustration: HE CAUGHT IT AS HE WENT BY.]
But Mr. Dog wasn't very lucky, for instead of landing on the trunk he
landed his nose right against one corner of it, and that made him madder
than ever. He ran and jumped again harder than before, but this time the
trunk was a little higher and Mr. Dog didn't quite hit it. There was a
strap hanging down, though, and he caught it as he went by. He caught it
with his teeth, and two of his teeth went right through two of the holes
where the buckle catches, and there they stayed. He had the trunk all
right enough, but the trunk had him, too.
[Illustration: THE ARRIVAL OF THE OTHER GUESTS.]
There he was. His feet didn't quite touch the ground, and he couldn't
get up any higher either. Then all at once the people up stairs saw how
it was, and they commenced to laugh in spite of themselves, and hitched
the rope around a peg under the sill so they could rest a minute. That
was fun for them, but it wasn't for Mr. Dog, by a good deal. He couldn't
laugh, and he couldn't rest, either. And just then Mr. Squirrel came
with his trunk, and Mr. Robin with his satchel and a hand bag, and Mr.
Turtle with his things in a big sack. Mr. 'Coon ran down and let them
all in and locked the door. Then he ran back to the window where Mr. Dog
was.
"If we'll let you down will you go home and not come around this hotel
interfering with our business?" says Mr. 'Possum.
"Yes; will you promise not to try to get any of our guests away from
us?" says Mr. 'Coon.
Mr. Dog couldn't talk much in the fix he was in, but he did the best he
could, and promised yes to everything, so pretty soon, they let the
trunk down till his feet touched the ground, and he could get his teeth
out of the strap. Then he put out for home just about as fast as he
could go, without so much as thanking them for letting him down, and up
went Mr. Rabbit's trunk pretty quick, now that there were plenty to
help.
Then the guests all hurried to their rooms to unpack, and Mr. Crow
bustled around to get supper with what he had in the house, for Mr.
'Possum and Mr. 'Coon hadn't time yet to bring in anything. It was a
pretty good supper, though, and all the guests said so, and said they
knew what a good cook Mr. Crow was if he had things to work with, and
the Crow said he guessed he could do his part if the 'Coon and 'Possum
would do theirs.
Well, it makes a good deal of difference whether you're company at a
house or a boarder. They all felt a good deal like company at first, but
by the next evening at supper time they felt different. Mr. 'Coon and
Mr. 'Possum had been out all day bringing in things, too, and Mr. Crow
had been cooking harder than ever. Mr. Robin was first to make remarks.
He said that the cherries were canned, and not very good ones at that.
"That's what I said," put in Mr. 'Coon, "but Mr. 'Possum said you
wouldn't know the difference."
[Illustration]
"Oh, he did, did he?" says Mr. Robin. "Well, I've got better cherries
than these at home," and he got up from the table with a disgusted air.
Then Mr. Squirrel picked up some roasted nuts that the Crow had just
brought in.
"Where'd you get these nuts?" he says, after he'd cracked one or two of
them.
"Down on the slope of Green Bushes," says Mr. 'Coon. "Why, aren't they
good ones?"
"I suppose they were once," says Mr. Squirrel--"two or three years ago.
Nuts have to be fresh to be good."
"That's what I told him," says Mr. 'Possum; "but he said you wouldn't
know the difference."
"Oh, he did, did he?" says Mr. Squirrel. "Well, I've got better nuts
than these at home," and Mr. Squirrel he got up and left the table.
Then Jack Rabbit began.
"Where'd you get this salad?" he says, turning up his nose.
"Out by Mr. Man's back gate," says Mr. 'Possum. "Why, isn't it good?"
"Might have been once," says Mr. Rabbit. "I s'pose it's some Mr. Man
threw out because it was wilted."
"That's what I told him," says Mr. 'Coon, "but he said you wouldn't know
the difference."
"Oh, he did, did he? Well, I've got better salad than this at home," and
Jack Rabbit he got up and he left the table.
And then, pretty soon, Mr. Turtle made a face over the fish because they
were salt mackerel and not nice fresh fish, such as he was used to at
home. So he got up and left the table, too, and there sat the 'Coon and
'Possum and the Old Black Crow all by themselves and looking cheap
enough to fall through the floor. Mr. Crow said it wasn't his fault, and
then Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum commenced to blame it on each other, and
nearly got into a fight. They were just about to fight when Mr. Crow
happened to think of something. Mr. Crow always did think of things.
"I'll tell you!" he says. "We'll just rent rooms."
"Do what?" says Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon together.
"Why, just rent each of our guests his room and let him take his meals
out. Then we won't have any work."
"Whoo-ee!" says Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon both together, as loud as ever
they could. That made all the guests come running back, and when they
heard the new plan they all cheered, too, and said it was just the
thing.
So then Mr. 'Possum went down and got the sign and brought it up and
changed it to read:
THE HOLLOW TREE INN.
FURNISHED ROOMS ONLY.
And that was how business began at last in the Hollow Tree.
MR. 'POSSUM EXPLAINS
HOW UNCLE SILAS TRIED TO PLEASE AUNT MELISSY
Well, you remember that the Hollow Tree people took four of their
friends to live with them and called it the Hollow Tree Inn. Mr. Robin
came, and Mr. Turtle, also Jack Rabbit and Mr. Squirrel, and they made a
jolly crowd after they got settled and knew about each getting his own
things to eat, because the Hollow Tree people--the 'Coon and 'Possum and
the old black Crow--found they couldn't suit their guests exactly when
it came to a steady diet. So they all kept house together, and used to
go out days (and nights, too, sometimes, when Mr. Man and Mr. Dog were
tired and asleep and didn't want to be disturbed) and get nice things.
Then they'd bring them in and fix them to suit themselves, and have them
all on the big table down stairs, nice and comfortable, where they could
sit and talk as long as they pleased.
It was a good deal like a big family when they were all together that
way, and they used to say how nice it was, and once Mr. 'Possum said he
always did think a big family was nice, anyway. Then Jack Rabbit laughed
and said he should think Mr. 'Possum was just the kind of a man for a
big family, being fond of good things to eat and not very fond of
getting them for himself, and mostly fat and sleepy like. He said if
there was just a nice, spry Mrs. 'Possum, now, to keep house and look
after things he should think it would be ever so much better than living
in bachelor quarters, or, rather, thirds, with Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow,
and not having things very orderly. Of course, with himself, Jack Rabbit
said, it was different, but even at his house it got lonesome, too, now
and then.
Well, Mr. 'Possum thought a minute, and then he said that there was such
a thing as folks being too spry, and that it was because he had always
been afraid of getting that kind that he had been pretty well satisfied
to live in the Hollow Tree just as he was. He said that he had once had
an uncle that something happened to in that line, and whenever he
thought about poor Uncle Lovejoy he didn't seem to care much about
trying anything he wasn't used to. Then they all wanted him to tell
about Uncle Lovejoy and what happened to him. So Mr. 'Possum did tell,
and it went this way:
"Once upon a time," he said, "Uncle Lovejoy--we always called him Uncle
Silas then, and he was uncle on my mother's side, and lived with Aunt
Melissy in a nice place just beyond the Wide Pawpaw Hollows--once upon a
time, as I was saying, he had to go to town on some business, and that
was something that never happened to Uncle Lovejoy before."
[Illustration]
"Well, Aunt Melissy was always a spry woman, as I said, and
stirring--very stirring, and primpy, too. But she was never as stirring
and spry and primpy as she was the day that Uncle Silas started for
town. She dressed him all up neat and proper in his very best things,
and tied his tie for him, and while she was tying it she says:
"'Now, Silas,' she says, 'when you get to town you buy a few little
articles right away and put them on. You don't want folks to see that
you come from the country, you know, and you don't want Cousin Glenwood
to be ashamed of you before folks. Cousin Glen will know just what
things you need and where to get them.' Then she told him not to get run
over by anything, or blow out the gas, or let anybody see that he wasn't
used to things, because, you see, Aunt Melissy was proud, being a
Glenwood herself. Then Uncle Lovejoy promised all those things, and that
he would use his napkin and not eat pie out of his hand or drink out of
his finger bowl, and a lot more things that Aunt Melissy remembered at
the last minute. So you see by the time he got on the train he had a
good deal to think about, and he kept thinking about it until by the
time he got to the city he'd made up his mind he'd try to do for once
everything she told him to and give her a pleasant surprise with the
way he had fixed up and improved his manners when he got back. Uncle
Lovejoy was good natured and always anxious to please folks, especially
Aunt Melissy."
[Illustration]
"Well, Cousin Glenwood met him at the station, and about the first thing
Uncle Silas said was to ask him where he got his clothes, and to tell
him that Aunt Melissy had said he was to fix up, so's folks wouldn't
think he came from the country, which, of course, she had. That just
suited Cousin Glenwood, for he liked to spend money and show off what he
knew about the city; so he took Uncle Lovejoy 'most everywhere, and
told him to buy 'most everything he saw. And of course Uncle Silas did
it, because he wanted to surprise Aunt Melissy when he got back and make
her feel happy for once in her life."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"Cousin Glen took Uncle Lovejoy to the stores first, and then to a good
many different kinds of places afterward, and every place where there
was a mirror Uncle Lovejoy would stand before it and admire himself and
wonder what Aunt Melissy would say when he got home. He kept buying new
things every day, because every day he'd see somebody with something on
or carrying or leading something, and when he remembered what Aunt
Melissy said, he made up his mind he'd have to have all the things to
please her, and he got them as far as he could. Even Cousin Glenwood
had to commence buying things pretty soon to keep up, and before long
people used to stop on the street and look at them when they went by.
Uncle Silas didn't want to go home, either, when the time came, but of
course he had to, and he put on his best clothes for the trip, and took
a young man he'd hired to wait on him, and started.
"He didn't tell Aunt Melissy just what time he'd be there, so it was a
surprise sure enough. He walked right into the yard, and behind was the
young man he'd hired, carrying his things. Aunt Melissy was getting
dinner, and had just come to the door a minute to see what time it was
by the sun, when all of a sudden, as she looked up, there he was! He had
his hat in one hand and a cane in the other, and was leading a game
chicken by a string. All his boxes and bundles and the young man were
behind him. Uncle Lovejoy wore an eyeglass, too, and smoked a paper
thing he said was a cigarette. My little cousins, who were there, told
me afterward that their pa had never looked so fine in his life before
or since. They didn't know him at all, and neither did Aunt Melissy. She
thought he was somebody with something to sell at first, and when he
said:"
[Illustration]
"'Aw, there, Melissah!' she threw up her hands and was just about to
call for help, when just that minute she saw it was Uncle Silas.
"Poor Uncle Silas! He meant to surprise her, and he did it sure enough.
He meant to please her, though, and he didn't do that worth a cent. It
seemed funny, but she was mad. That's just the trouble about women
folks; you never know when you're going to please them. My little
cousins said they never saw their ma so mad before or since. She made
Uncle Lovejoy take off all his nice clothes, and the young man, too, and
she cooked the game chicken for dinner. Then, right after dinner, she
picked up a bag of shinney sticks that Uncle Lovejoy had brought home,
and she says to him and the young man:"
[Illustration]
"'Now you get out in the garden,' she says, 'both of you, and try to
earn back some of this money you've been spending.' And Uncle Lovejoy
didn't feel very much like it, but he went, and so did the young man.
So did Aunt Melissy, and she used up most of those shinney sticks on
Uncle Silas and the young man before fall, and Uncle Silas never saw any
of his nice clothes again, though they had the best garden they ever did
have, so my little cousins said.
"And that," said Mr. 'Possum, leaning back in his chair to smoke,
"that's why I've always been afraid to try family life. It's easier to
please one than two, especially when the other one is a spry, stirring
person like Aunt Melissy Lovejoy."
"What became of all the good clothes?" asked Jack Rabbit, who was always
very stylish.
"Why, I've heard," said Mr. 'Possum, "that Aunt Melissy made some of
them over for my little cousins, and that she traded off the rest of
them to a pedler for patent medicine to give Uncle Silas for a weak
mind, and I think he needed it some myself for trying to please her in
the first place."
Mr. Rabbit nodded.
"It takes all kind of people to make a world," he said.
Mr. 'Coon yawned and rubbed his eyes. The others were fast asleep.
THE HOLLOW TREE POETRY CLUB
MR. CROW PLANS AN ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE FOREST PEOPLE
[Illustration: HAD TO SCRATCH HIS HEAD AND THINK PRETTY HARD.]
Once upon a time, when it was getting along toward fall in the Hollow
Tree where Jack Rabbit and Mr. Robin and the others had come to live
with the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow, there began to be
long evenings, and the Hollow Tree people used to think of new ways to
pass the time. They tried games at first, and sleight of hand tricks.
Then they tried doing things, and Mr. Turtle carried them all together
twice around the big parlor room on his back. But even that wasn't so
funny after the first evening, and Mr. Crow, who did most of the
thinking, had to scratch his head and think pretty hard what to do next.
All at once he happened to remember that Jack Rabbit, who was the big
man of the party, was also a first rate poet, and liked to read his own
poetry better than anything. So, when he thought of that, he said:
"I'll tell you. We'll have a poetry club."
And of course that made Mr. Rabbit wake up right away.
"What's that?" he said. "What kind of a thing is a poetry club?"
"Why," said Mr. Crow, "it's a place where the members each write a poem
and read it at the next meeting. You're the only real, sure enough poet,
of course, and will be president, and write the best poem, but the rest
of us can try, and you can tell us our mistakes. I've heard that Mr. Man
has them, and they're ever so much fun."
Jack Rabbit thought so, too, and all the others liked the plan. So they
elected Mr. Rabbit president and then went to work on their poems. They
couldn't have the first meeting very soon, for it took longer to write
poems in those days than it does now, so before they got half ready the
news got out some way, and even Mr. Dog had heard of it.
[Illustration: POOR MR. DOG.]
Poor Mr. Dog! It made him really quite ill to think he wasn't on very
good terms with the Hollow Tree people, for he thought he could write
pretty nice poetry, too, and he wanted to belong to that club worse than
anything he could think of. He wanted to so bad that at last he told Mr.
Robin that if they'd just let him come he'd promise anything they asked.
They didn't want to let him, though, until Mr. Crow, who always felt
kind of sorry for Mr. Dog, said he didn't see why Mr. Dog shouldn't come
and look in through the window shutters, and that they could nail a seat
for him on a limb just outside. They could pull him up to it with a rope
and he could sit there and listen and applaud the poems all through
without being able to do any damage to the poets, and he would be glad
enough to be let down by the time they got done reciting.
So they sent him an invitation, and Mr. Dog was as happy as a king. He
went right to work on his poem, and he worked all night and walked up
and down the yard all day trying to think up rhymes for "joyful" and
"meeting," and a lot of other nice words. Even when he was asleep he
dreamed about it, and said over some of the lines out loud and jerked
his paws about as if he were reciting it and making motions. You see,
Mr. Dog hadn't always done just right by the Hollow Tree people, and he
was anxious to make a good impression and fix up things. He fixed
himself all up, too, when the night came for the meeting, and took his
poem under his arm and lit a cigar that he'd borrowed of Mr. Man for the
occasion, and away he went.
The Hollow Tree people were on the lookout for him and had the rope down
and ready. So Mr. Dog tied it around under his arms, and they pulled and
pulled, and up he came. Then, when he got pretty close to the window,
they closed the shutter and put the rope through and pulled him up still
a little higher, so that he could reach the seat on the limb, which was
fixed just right for him to sit there and lean on the window sill while
he listened and looked in.
Of course, Mr. Dog wished he was inside, like the others, but he knew
why he wasn't, and he was glad enough to be there at all. He peeked
through the slats at the big room and smiled and said some nice things
about how pretty the room looked, till they all got real sociable with
him. Then Jack Rabbit called the meeting to order and made a few
remarks.
[Illustration: MR. RABBIT BOWED.]
He said the duties of his office had kept him from writing quite as long
and as good a poem as he would have liked to write, but that he hoped
they might be willing to hear what he had done. Then they all shouted,
"Yes, yes!" and "Hear, hear!" and Mr. Rabbit bowed first to the ones
inside and then to Mr. Dog outside, and began:
THE JOYS OF POETRY.
BY J. RABBIT.
Oh, sweet the joys of poetry
In the merry days of spring,
When the dew is on the meadow
And the duck is on the wing!
For 'tis then, from Dan to Dover,
I'm a rover 'mid the clover,
Seeking rhymes the country over
With a ring, sing, swing--
With a ding, dong, ding,
And a ting a ling a ling--
For I'm the rhyming rover of the spring.
Oh, sweet the joys of poetry
In the pleasant summer time!
For 'tis then I have no trouble
To compose my gentle rhyme;
In a nooklet by the brooklet
I can think up quite a booklet,
As with fishing line and hooklet
I assist the fish to climb
To the music of my chime,
For with rollick and with rhyme
I'm the poet of the pleasant summer time.
Oh, sweet the joys of poetry
When any days have come,
When the autumn zephyrs whisper
Or the winter breezes hum!
For 'tis then my thoughts unfurling,
While the smoke goes upward curling,
Come a whirling, swirling, twirling,
With a rumty, tumty, turn,
Come a twirling, swirling, whirling,
Like the rattle of a drum.
Come a whirling, come a swirling;
For in spring or in the summer,
In the autumn or the winter
I'm the rumty, tumty, tummer
That rejoices in the seasons as they come.
Well, when Mr. Rabbit got through everybody sat still for a minute, till
Mr. Dog called out for somebody to come and unwind him so he could get
his breath again. Then they all commenced to laugh and shout and pound
on the table. And Mr. Rabbit coughed and looked pleased and said it was
easy enough to do when you knew how.
[Illustration: LOOKED FOOLISH AND SWALLOWED TWO OR THREE TIMES.]
Then Mr. 'Possum, who was next on the program, said he hoped they'd let
him off this time because he could only think of four lines, and that he
was a better hand at the dinner table than he was at poetry, anyway. But
they wouldn't do it, so he got up and looked foolish and swallowed two
or three times before he could get started.
WHAT I LOVE.
BY A. PUFFINGTON 'POSSUM.
I love the fragrant chicken pie
That blooms in early spring;
I love a chicken stew or fry,
Or any old thing.
Mr. 'Possum's poem was short, but it went right to the spot, and the way
they applauded almost made Jack Rabbit jealous. He said that it was
'most too true to be good poetry, but that it was good for a first
effort, and that being short helped it. Then Mr. Robin spoke his piece:
MOTHER AND ME.
BY C. ROBIN.
When the bud breaks out on the maple bough
Mother and me we build our nest--
A twig from the yard and a wisp from the mow
And four blue eggs 'neath the mother breast.
Up in the tree, mother and me,
Happy and blithe and contented are we.
When the daisies fall and the roses die,
An empty nest in the boughs to swing--
Four young robins that learn to fly
And a sweet adieu till another spring.
Then up in the tree, mother and me,
Happy once more and contented we'll be.
The applause wasn't so loud after Mr. Robin's poem, but they all said it
was very pretty, and Mr. 'Possum even wiped his eyes with his
handkerchief, because it made him remember something sad. Mr. Rabbit
said that it ought to be "Mother and I," but that it didn't make much
difference, he supposed, about grammar, so long as it rhymed and sounded
nice. Then Mr. Crow got up.
JUST NOTHING.
BY J. CROW.
While others may sing of the pleasures of spring,
Or winter or summer or fall,
I'll sing not of these, because, if you please,
I'll sing of just nothing at all.
Just nothing at all, because, oh, ho!
I'll sing of myself, an old black crow.
As black as a coal and as homely as sin--
What more can I tell you, I pray?
For when you have nothing to sing of, why, then,
Of course there is nothing to say.
Nothing to say at all, oh, ho!
Except goodby to the old black crow--
The rollicking old black crow!
They made a good deal of fuss over Mr. Crow's poem. They applauded, of
course, but they said it wasn't so at all, and that Mr. Crow was a good
deal more than "just nothing." They said that it was he who had got up
this party, and that he was the best man to plan and cook anywhere. Mr.
'Possum said he even liked Mr. Crow's April fool chicken pies, and then
they all remembered and laughed, even to Mr. Crow himself. After that it
was Mr. Squirrel's turn. Mr. Squirrel coughed twice and straightened
his vest before he began, so they knew his poem wasn't to be funny.
THE FOOLISH LITTLE LAD.
BY MR. GRAY SQUIRREL.
Once on a time, the story goes,
A silly squirrel lad
One summer day did run away--
Which made his ma feel bad.
She hunted for him up and down
And round and round she ran--
Alas, that foolish squirrel boy
Was caught by Mr. Man.
For he had tried to climb a tree
As Mr. Man came past.
"I'll make you climb!" said Mr. Man,
And walked home pretty fast.
When he got there a boy came out
As Mr. Man went in.
That silly squirrel soon was put
Into a house of tin.
"Now you can climb!" said Mr. Man,
But when he did he found
That nice tin house, so bright and new,
Turned round and round and round.
And there he climbs and climbs all day
And never seems to stop,
And I have heard my mother say
He'll never reach the top.
When Mr. Squirrel sat down there wasn't a dry eye in the room, and even
Mr. Dog outside was affected. He said he'd seen that poor little
squirrel at Mr. Man's house turning and turning away in his tin wheel,
and felt so sorry for him that two or three times he'd tried to get him
out. He said, though, that Mr. Man had always caught him at it and that
then they didn't get on well for a day or two. He was so tender-hearted,
though, he said, that he couldn't help pitying the little fellow,
climbing and climbing all day long and never getting anywhere. Mr.
'Possum shivered, and said it reminded him of bad dreams he'd had
sometimes, when he'd eaten too much supper, and dreamed of climbing the
rainbow. Then they all sat still and waited for Mr. Turtle, who came
next.
MY SNUG HOUSE.
BY D'LAND TURTLE.
Oh, what do I care for your houses of wood,
Your houses of brick or of stone,
When I have a house that is cosy and good--
A beautiful house of my own?
And the doors will not sag and the roof will not crack
Of the house that I carry about on my back.
It is never too large and 'tis never too small,
It is with me wherever I roam.
In spring or in summer, in winter or fall,
I always can find my way home.
For it isn't so hard to remember the track
To the house that you carry about on your back.
Well, of course, everybody applauded that, and then it was Mr. 'Coon's
time. Mr. 'Coon said he was like Mr. 'Possum. He wasn't much on poetry,
and only had four lines. He said they were some like Mr. 'Possum's,
too.
THE BEST THINGS.
BY Z. COON.
I like the spring, I like the fall,
I like the cold and heat,
And poems, too, but best of all
I like good things to eat.
[Illustration: LEANED OVER CLOSE TO THE BLINDS AND COMMENCED TO READ.]
That brought the house down, and the Hollow Tree people thought the
entertainment was over. They were going to have supper right away, but
Mr. Dog called out to wait a minute. He said he had a little poem
himself that he wanted to read. So out of politeness they all sat still,
though they didn't expect very much. Then Mr. Dog unrolled his poem and
leaned over close to the blinds and commenced to read.
MY FOREST FRIENDS.
BY MR. DOG.
Oh, dear to me my forest friends,
Especially Mr. Rabbit--
I love his poetry very much,
And every gentle habit.
And dear to me is Mr. 'Coon,
And also Mr. 'Possum;
I hope to win their friendship soon--
'Twill be a precious blossom.
And Mr. Crow and Robin, too,
With fancy sweet and fertile,
And Mr. Squirrel, kind and true,
And likewise Mr. Turtle.
Oh, dear to me my forest friends,
Especially Mr. Rabbit--
I love his poetry very much
And every gentle habit.
Before Mr. Dog was half through reading the Hollow Tree people had
gathered around the window to listen. By the time he got to the end of
the third stanza he had to stop for them to cheer, and when he read the
last one, Jack Rabbit pounded on the shutter with his fist and shouted,
"Hurrah for Mr. Dog! Hurrah for Mr. Dog!" just as loud as ever he could,
while all the others crowded up and shouted and tried to pound, too.
Well, maybe the shutter wasn't very strong, or maybe they crowded and
pounded too hard in their excitement over Mr. Dog's nice poem, for all
at once there was a loud crack and the shutter flew open and out went
Mr. Rabbit right smack into the arms of Mr. Dog!
[Illustration]
I tell you that was pretty sudden and--Mr. Rabbit was scared. So were
all the others and they were going to grab the shutter and close it
again and leave Mr. Rabbit out there. But Jack Rabbit thinks quick.
"Oh Mr. Dog," he said, "that was the nicest poem I ever heard. Let me
embrace you, Mr. Dog, and be your friend forever after!"
Then he hugged Mr. Dog just as tight as he could, and Mr. Dog hugged
him, too, and shed tears, he was that happy. He had been wanting to make
up with the forest people for a long time, but he hadn't expected this.
Then the others all saw how it was and they shouted, "Hurrah for Mr.
Dog!" again and invited him in. And Mr. Dog went in and they had the
biggest supper and the biggest time that ever was known in the Hollow
Tree.
And that's how Mr. Dog got to be friends with all the Hollow Tree people
at last. And he stayed friends with them ever and ever so long--and
longer--just as long as he lived, for the Mr. Dog that isn't good
friends with them now isn't the same Mr. Dog. And he isn't as smart,
either, for he can't write poetry, and he's never even been able to find
the Hollow Tree, where the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow live
together and every summer keep open house for their friends.
AROUND THE WORLD AND BACK AGAIN
Once upon a time, when Mr. Dog was over spending the evening with the
Hollow Tree people, he told them that Mr. Man had said the world was
round, like a ball. Of course this was after Mr. Dog got to be good
friends with the 'Possum and the 'Coon and the old black Crow, and he
often used to come over to the Hollow Tree, where they lived, for a
quiet talk and smoke, and to tell the things that Mr. Man said, and did,
and what he had on his table for dinner.
The Hollow Tree people liked to hear about Mr. Man, too; but when they
heard what he said about the world being round they thought there must
be some mistake in the way Mr. Dog had understood it. Mr. 'Coon said
that it couldn't be so, for the edge of the world was just beyond the
last trees of the big deep woods, and that he'd often sat there and hung
his feet over and watched the moon come up. Mr. 'Possum said so, too;
and Mr. Crow said that the other edge was over along the wide, blue
water, where Mr. Turtle lived, and that of course the water was flat,
as everybody could see. Anyway, it would spill out if it wasn't.
But Mr. Dog stuck to it that Mr. Man had said just what Mr. Dog had said
he said, and that, what was more, Mr. Man had said that the world turned
over every day, and that the sun and moon and stars all went round it.
And Mr. Man had said, too, that people sometimes went around the world,
and didn't turn over or fall off into the sky when they were underneath,
but kept on, and came up on the other side, right back to the very place
they started from.
Well, that made them all wonder a good deal more than ever; and Mr. Jack
Rabbit, who came in just then for the evening, said he shouldn't be a
bit surprised if it were true, for he'd often noticed how the seasons
went round and round, and he thought, now, they must travel around the
world some way, too. He said he'd composed some poetry on Spring as he
came along, and that now he understood some lines of it better than he
had at the start; for, of course, when poetry just comes to anybody, as
it does to Mr. Rabbit, it isn't expected that even the poet himself will
understand it very well at first.
Then they all wanted to hear Jack Rabbit's poem, and Mr. Rabbit said
that it really wasn't just as he wanted it yet, but that if they
wouldn't expect too much, he'd let them hear how it went, anyway.
WHICH WAY, SPRING?
By J. Rabbit.
O Spring,
Ho, Spring!
Whither do you go, Spring?
If I did but know. Spring,
I would go there, too.
Pray, Spring,
Say, Spring,
Whither and away, Spring?
I would start to-day, Spring,
If I go with you.
And Spring answers:--
"Why, sir,
I, sir,
Just go tripping by, sir--
If you did but try, sir,
You could go with me.
Follow,
Follow,
Over hill and hollow--
Where the bluebirds call, O,
I am sure to be."
Well, everybody applauded that, of course; and Mr. 'Coon said that for
his part he was tired of cold weather, and that if to-morrow was a
bright day, and anybody'd go with him, he'd start out at sunrise and
follow Spring clear around the world. Then Mr. 'Possum said he'd go just
to see whether Mr. Man was right or not, and Mr. Crow said he'd go, too.
Mr. Rabbit wanted to go to prove some things in his poem, but he had to
make a garden if it was a good day, and Mr. Dog had an engagement to dig
moles for Mr. Man.
[Illustration: SET OUT IN HIGH SPIRITS.]
So the next morning, bright and early, the three Hollow Tree people got
up and started. They packed some lunch in a basket, so they wouldn't get
hungry, in case they were gone all day, and set out in high spirits; for
it was a beautiful morning in April, and they knew Spring had come at
last.
They saw a bluebird up in a tree not far away, and they remembered what
Mr. Rabbit's poem had said about following him over hill and hollow; so
they went along in that direction, talking and whistling and singing,
because they felt so good in the fresh morning sunlight.
And Mr. Bluebird hopped and whistled and flew along ahead, until,
by-and-by, they came to where Mr. Fox lived.
"Where are you fellows going, so early?" called Mr. Fox.
"We're following Spring around the world," called back Mr. Crow; and
then they told him all that Mr. Dog had said.
[Illustration]
Then Mr. Fox looked very wise, for he didn't know if Mr. Dog was playing
a trick on them, or if it were really true that the world was round and
he hadn't heard of it. Anyway, he wasn't going to let on, so he said,
"Why, of course! I knew that all the time. You just keep right on until
you come to that big elm over yonder, and turn to the right. Anybody
over there can show you the way." Then Mr. Fox coughed and went back
into the house, but he made up his mind he wouldn't laugh until he had
seen Mr. Dog and was sure it was all a joke. And the Hollow Tree people
kept on to the elm tree, and, sure enough, there was Mr. Bluebird,
hopping and whistling and flying on ahead, for he'd been listening to
what Mr. Fox had told them.
So they hurried right along after him till they came to Mr. Wolf's
place. Mr. Wolf was looking out of his door as they came by.
"Hello, you early birds!" he called. "Whose hen-roost you been after?"
Then they told him they weren't thinking of such things as that on a
beautiful morning like this, but that they were following Spring around
the world. And they told him all that Mr. Man had said to Mr. Dog, and
what Mr. Fox had said, and about Jack Rabbit's poem. Mr. Wolf thought
he'd better be wise, too, until he found out just how things were, so he
said:--"Sure enough! That's a good plan. I'd go along if I had time. I
know the way well. You just keep on till you come to that creek yonder,
then cross and turn to the right, and after that any one can show you
the way."
So away went the Hollow Tree people, and when they got to the creek, and
crossed, and turned to the right, there was the bluebird again, hopping
and whistling and dancing on ahead, just in the direction that Mr. Wolf
had said to go. Then, pretty soon, Mr. 'Possum said he was hungry, so
they sat down on some moss and ate their lunch, and Mr. Bluebird came up
close and sang to them till Mr. 'Possum went to sleep in the sun and
took a little nap, while the 'Coon and the Crow put what was left back
into the basket and got ready to go. Then Mr. 'Possum woke up and said
he was sure they must be nearly around the world, for he'd just had a
dream about catching a chicken with four legs and two heads, and he knew
that must mean something good. So then they went on and the bluebird
went ahead, until they came to a fine, big cave, where Mr. Bear lived.
[Illustration]
Now Mr. Bear is very big and wise--at least he thinks he is--and he knew
right away that Mr. Dog was just playing a joke on them, or at least he
thought he did, so he said:--"Well, well! I supposed you fellows knew
all that long ago. You don't mean to say, do you, that this is really
your first time round? Why, I go round the world every spring and fall,
and buy most of my things on the other side. You just follow this path
till you come to a big black rock, and then turn to the right and keep
straight ahead. You can't miss the way."
Then Mr. Bear went back in his cave, and laid down and rolled over and
laughed to think what a big joke everybody was playing on the Hollow
Tree people. But the Hollow Tree people kept right on, for they saw Mr.
Bluebird still whistling and dancing on ahead; and by-and-by they came
to the big black rock that Mr. Bear had mentioned, and turned to the
right again as he had told them, to do. Then they walked and walked, and
Mr. Bluebird hopped and skipped and whistled, until at last, just as
they were all getting very tired and it was most night, they came to a
big hollow tree in a deep woods; and Mr. 'Possum looked up and says,
"Why," he says, "this tree looks a good deal like our tree!"
And Mr. 'Coon he says, "Why, it's just like our tree!"
[Illustration: AND MR. CROW, HE SAYS, "WHY, IT _IS_ OUR TREE!"]
And Mr. Crow, he says, "Why, it is our tree!" for of course they'd
turned to the right three times, which brought them right back where
they started from, though they did not know it.
So then all at once they commenced to laugh and shout:--"We've done it!
We've done it!
"We've followed Spring around the world,
According to the plan!
Hurrah for Mr. Rabbit!
And hurrah for Mr. Man!"
And the bluebird up in the branches whistled and danced and shouted,
too; and Jack Rabbit and Mr. Dog came over pretty soon to see if they'd
got home yet. And of course Mr. Rabbit was proud about the way his poem
had turned out; and Mr. Dog he was proud, too, on Mr. Man's account.
Then they all had a big supper, to celebrate, and by-and-by Mr. Rabbit
and Mr. Dog went away arm in arm, singing Mr. Rabbit's poem to the moon;
while the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow went to bed happy
because they had followed Spring clear around the world, and hadn't got
lost or tumbled off into the sky, but were home again safe and sound in
the Hollow Tree.
CHRISTMAS AT THE HOLLOW TREE INN
THE STORY TELLER TOLD THE LAST HOLLOW TREE STORY ON CHRISTMAS EVE. IT
WAS SNOWING OUTSIDE, AND THE LITTLE LADY WAS WONDERING HOW IT WAS IN THE
FAR DEEP WOODS
Once upon a time, he said, when the Robin, and Turtle, and Squirrel, and
Jack Rabbit had all gone home for the winter, nobody was left in the
Hollow Tree except the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow. Of
course the others used to come back and visit them pretty often, and Mr.
Dog, too, now that he had got to be good friends with all the Deep Woods
people, and they thought a great deal of him when they got to know him
better. Mr. Dog told them a lot of things they had never heard of
before, things that he'd learned at Mr. Man's house, and maybe that's
one reason why they got to liking him so well.
[Illustration: HE TOLD THEM ALL ABOUT SANTA CLAUS.]
He told them about Santa Claus, for one thing, and how the old fellow
came down the chimney on Christmas Eve to bring presents to Mr. Man and
his children, who always hung up their stockings for them, and Mr. Dog
said that once he had hung up his stocking, too, and got a nice bone in
it, that was so good he had buried and dug it up again as much as six
times before spring. He said that Santa Claus always came to Mr. Man's
house, and that whenever the children hung up their stockings they were
always sure to get something in them.
[Illustration: MR. CROW HE MADE HIMSELF A NEW PAIR ON PURPOSE.]
Well, the Hollow Tree people had never heard of Santa Claus. They knew
about Christmas, of course, because everybody, even the cows and sheep,
know about that, but they had never heard of Santa Claus. You see, Santa
Claus only comes to Mr. Man's house, but they didn't know that, either,
so they thought if they just hung up their stockings he'd come there,
too, and that's what they made up their minds to do. They talked about
it a great deal together, and Mr. 'Possum looked over all his stockings
to pick out the biggest one he had, and Mr. Crow he made himself a new
pair on purpose. Mr. 'Coon said he never knew Mr. Crow to make himself
such big stockings before, but Mr. Crow said he was getting old and
needed things bigger, and when he loaned one of his new stockings to Mr.
'Coon, Mr. 'Coon said, "That's so," and that he guessed they were about
right after all. They didn't tell anybody about it at first, but by and
by they told Mr. Dog what they were going to do, and when Mr. Dog heard
it he wanted to laugh right out. You see, he knew Santa Claus never went
anywhere except to Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would be a great
joke on the Hollow Tree people when they hung up their stockings and
didn't get anything.
But by and by Mr. Dog thought about something else. He thought it would
be too bad, too, for them to be disappointed that way. You see, Mr. Dog
liked them all now, and when he had thought about that a minute he made
up his mind to do something. And this is what it was--he made up his
mind to play Santa Claus!
He knew just how Santa Claus looked, 'cause he'd seen lots of his
pictures at Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would be great fun to
dress up that way and take a bag of presents to the Hollow Tree while
they were all asleep and fill up the stockings of the 'Coon and 'Possum
and the old black Crow. But first he had to be sure of some way of
getting in, so he said to them he didn't see how they could expect Santa
Claus, their chimneys were so small, and Mr. Crow said they could leave
their latch string out down stairs, which was just what Mr. Dog wanted.
Then they said they were going to have all the folks that had spent the
summer with them over for Christmas dinner and to see the presents they
had got in their stockings. They told Mr. Dog to drop over, too, if he
could get away, and Mr. Dog said he would, and went off laughing to
himself and ran all the way home because he felt so pleased at what he
was going to do.
Well, he had to work pretty hard, I tell you, to get things ready. It
wasn't so hard to get the presents as it was to rig up his Santa Claus
dress. He found some long wool out in Mr. Man's barn for his white
whiskers, and he put some that wasn't so long on the edges of his
overcoat and boot tops and around an old hat he had. Then he borrowed a
big sack he found out there, too, and fixed it up to swing over his
back, just as he had seen Santa Claus do in the pictures. He had a lot
of nice things to take along. Three tender young chickens he'd borrowed
from Mr. Man, for one thing, and then he bought some new neckties for
the Hollow Tree folks all around, and a big, striped candy cane for each
one, because candy canes always looked well sticking out of a stocking.
Besides all that, he had a new pipe for each, and a package of tobacco.
You see, Mr. Dog lived with Mr. Man, and didn't ever have to buy much
for himself, so he had always saved his money. He had even more things
than that, but I can't remember just now what they were; and when he
started out, all dressed up like Santa Claus, I tell you his bag was
pretty heavy, and he almost wished before he got there that he hadn't
started with quite so much.
[Illustration: IT GOT HEAVIER AND HEAVIER.]
[Illustration: HE ALMOST HAD TO LAUGH RIGHT OUT LOUD.]
It got heavier and heavier all the way, and he was glad enough to get
there and find the latch string out. He set his bag down to rest a
minute before climbing the stairs, and then opened the doors softly and
listened. He didn't hear a thing except Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon and Mr.
'Possum breathing pretty low, and he knew they might wake up any minute,
and he wouldn't have been caught there in the midst of things for a
good deal. So he slipped up just as easy as anything, and when he got up
in the big parlor room he almost had to laugh right out loud, for there
were the stockings sure enough, all hung up in a row, and a card with a
name on it over each one telling who it belonged to.
Then he listened again, and all at once he jumped and held his breath,
for he heard Mr. 'Possum say something. But Mr. 'Possum was only talking
in his sleep, and saying, "I'll take another piece, please," and Mr. Dog
knew he was dreaming about the mince pie he'd had for supper.
So, then he opened his bag and filled the stockings. He put in mixed
candy and nuts and little things first, and then the pipes and tobacco
and candy canes, so they'd show at the top, and hung a nice dressed
chicken outside. I tell you, they looked fine! It almost made Mr. Dog
wish he had a stocking of his own there to fill, and he forgot all about
them waking up, and sat down in a chair to look at the stockings. It was
a nice rocking chair, and over in a dark corner where they wouldn't be
apt to see him, even if one of them did wake up and stick his head out
of his room, so Mr. Dog felt pretty safe now, anyway. He rocked softly,
and looked and looked at the nice stockings, and thought how pleased
they'd be in the morning, and how tired he was. You've heard about
people being as tired as a dog; and that's just how Mr. Dog felt. He was
so tired he didn't feel a bit like starting home, and by and by--he
never did know how it happened--but by and by Mr. Dog went sound
asleep right there in his chair, with all his Santa Claus clothes on.
And there he sat, with his empty bag in his hand and the nice full
stockings in front of him, all night long. Even when it came morning and
began to get light Mr. Dog didn't know it; he just slept right on, he
was that tired. Then pretty soon the door of Mr. 'Possum's room opened
and he poked out his head. And just then the door of Mr. 'Coon's room
opened and he poked out his head. Then the door of the old black Crow
opened and out poked his head. They all looked toward the stockings, and
they didn't see Mr. Dog, or even each other, at all. They saw their
stockings, though, and Mr. 'Coon said all at once:--
"Oh, there's something in my stocking!"
And then Mr. Crow says:--"Oh, there's something in my stocking, too!"
And Mr. 'Possum says:--"Oh, there's something in all our stockings!"
[Illustration: TO SEE MR. DOG JUMP RIGHT STRAIGHT OUT OF HIS CHAIR.]
And with that they gave a great hurrah all together, and rushed out and
grabbed their stockings and turned around just in time to see Mr. Dog
jump right straight up out of his chair, for he did not know where he
was the least bit in the world.
"Oh, there's Santa Claus himself!" they all shouted together, and made a
rush for their rooms, for they were scared almost to death. But it all
dawned on Mr. Dog in a second, and he commenced to laugh and hurrah to
think what a joke it was on everybody. And when they heard Mr. Dog laugh
they knew him right away, and they all came up and looked at him, and he
had to tell just what he'd done and everything; so they emptied out
their stockings on the floor and ate some of the presents and looked at
the others, until they almost forgot about breakfast, just as children
do on Christmas morning.
Then Mr. Crow said, all at once, that he'd make a little coffee, and
that Mr. Dog must stay and have some, and by and by they made him
promise to spend the day with them and be there when the Robin and the
Squirrel and Mr. Turtle and Jack Rabbit came, which he did.
[Illustration]
And it was snowing hard outside, which made it a nicer Christmas than if
it hadn't been, and when all the others came they brought presents, too.
And when they saw Mr. Dog dressed up as Santa Claus and heard how he'd
gone to sleep and been caught, they laughed and laughed. And it snowed
so hard that they had to stay all night, and after dinner they sat
around the fire and told stories. And they had to stay the next night,
too, and all that Christmas week. And I wish I could tell you all that
happened that week, but I can't, because I haven't time. But it was the
very nicest Christmas that ever was in the Hollow Tree, or in the Big
Deep Woods anywhere.
And this, said the Story Teller, is the very last Hollow Tree story, and
there will be no more, for they all came out through Mr. Dog, and Mr.
Dog has gone away now into that Far Land of Evening where all good dogs
go to when they get very, very old. He was friends with the Hollow Tree
people to the last, and when he got too old to visit them, they used to
come to see him, sometimes at night, when Mr. Man was asleep. And when
Mr. Dog went away on his long journey beyond the sunset they were all so
sorry, for they knew that no other Mr. Dog would ever be friends with
them, and they were very sad in the Hollow Tree for a long time.
Then here's goodby to the old black Crow,
And the rest, with a one, two, three!
And here's goodby to the Hollow, Hollow, Hollow--
Good-by to the Hollow Tree.
GOOD-BYE TO THE LITTLE LADY
WHAT SHE WISHES AND WHAT THE STORY TELLER SAYS
The Little Lady looks into the fire thoughtfully.
"And isn't there any more about the Hollow Tree?" she says at last.
The Story Teller looks into the fire, too.
"I'm afraid not," he answers.
"And won't you never know any more? Not ever--in a thousand days?"
"I--no, I'm afraid not."
"I wish we lived in a Hollow Tree," says the Little Lady.
From the House of Many Windows the Story Teller looks down on the
dazzling lights and the clatter and jangle of the street. Then he
remembers cool, musky ways in the dim woods, down which the padded feet
of the forest people pass silently to hidden homes of peace. The Story
Teller sighs.
"Yes, sweetheart," he says, "I have wished that sometimes, too."
THE END
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book - being a new edition in one volume of "The Hollow Tree" and - "In The Deep Woods" with several new stories and pictures - added" ***
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