was using his eyes, and now he discovered that while Prickly Porky was
fully protected on his back and sides by the thousand little spears
carried in his coat, there wasn't a single little spear in his
waistcoat.
“I've got to get him where I can seize him from underneath,” thought he,
and straightway he began to run in a circle around Prickly Porky while
the latter turned slowly round and round, trying to keep his face turned
always towards Old Man Coyote. Faster and faster ran Old Man Coyote, and
faster and faster turned Prickly Porky. In his slow mind he was trying
to understand what it meant, but he couldn't. And for a while the little
meadow and forest people looking on were just as much puzzled. It was a
most surprising thing.
Then suddenly Unc' Billy Possum understood.
“He's trying to make Prickly Porky dizzy,” he whispered to Bobby Coon.
“Let's warn Prickly Porky; he'll never think of it himself until it's
too late,” whispered Bobby Coon.
But before they could do this, the queer performance came to an end.
Prickly Porky hadn't discovered what Old Man Coyote was trying to do,
but he had become tired of such foolishness, and he suddenly decided to
take a rest. So he stopped turning around, and then curled himself up
in a ball on the ground, where he looked like a great chestnut burr.
Everybody held their breath to see what Old Man Coyote would do next.
XV. PRICKLY PORKY'S TAIL
Who on a prickly porcupine
Makes up his mind that he will dine
Must overcome a thousand quills
Before his stomach Porky fills.
And so it is with you and me;
With everybody whom we see;
With Reddy Fox and Billy Mink,
And all the rest of whom we think
On Meadows Green, in Smiling Pool
Or hidden in the Forest cool:
The thing we've set our hearts upon
Must past a thousand spears be won.
|NO one knows this better than did Old Man Coyote as he ran around and
around Prickly Porky. He had never felt one of those little spears which
Prickly Porky rattled so fiercely, and he had no mind to feel one. You
see, he didn't like the look of them. When finally Prickly Porky lay
down and curled up into a great prickly ball, like a huge chestnut burr,
Old Man Coyote sat down just a little way off to study how he was going
to get at Prickly Porky without getting hurt by some of those sharp,
barbed little spears.
For a long time he sat and studied and studied, his tongue hanging out
of one side of his mouth. Once he looked up at Sammy Jay and Blacky the
Crow and winked, but he didn't make a sound. Sammy and Blacky chuckled
to themselves and winked back, and for a wonder they didn't make a
sound. Somehow that wink made them have more of a friendly feeling for
Old Man Coyote. You see, that wink told them that Old Man Coyote was
just the same kind of a sly rogue as themselves, and so right away they
had a fellow feeling for him.
And none of the little meadow and forest people looking on made a sound.
Some of them didn't dare to, and others were so anxious to see what
would happen next that they didn't want to. It was so still that the
little leaves up in the tree-tops could be heard whispering good night
to the Merry Little Breezes, for whom Old Mother West Wind was waiting
with her big bag out on the Green Meadows to take them to their home
behind the Purple Hills. It was so still that after a while Prickly
Porky began to wonder if he were all alone. You see, being curled up
that way, he couldn't see and had to trust to his ears. He waited a
little longer, and then he uncurled just enough to peep out. There sat
Old Man Coyote, and Prickly Porky promptly curled up again.
Now the minute he curled up again something happened. Old Man Coyote
looked up at Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow and winked once more. Then
very softly, so softly that he didn't so much as rustle a leaf, he
tiptoed around to the other side of Prickly Porky and sat down just as
before.
“Now,” thought he, “when he peeps out again, he will think I have gone,
and then perhaps I can catch him by surprise.”
Bobby Coon saw through his plan right away. “Some one ought to warn
Prickly Porky,” he whispered to Unc' Billy Possum.
Unc' Billy shook his head. “No,” he whispered back, “No, Brer Coon! That
wouldn't be fair. It's they-all's quarrel and not ours, and though Ah
done want to see Brer Porky win just as much as yo' do, Ah reckon it
wouldn't be right fo' us to meddle. They-all done got to fight it out
themselves.”
For a long time nothing happened. Then Old Man Coyote grew tired of
waiting. Very carefully he crept nearer and nearer, with his nose
stretched out to sniff at that prickly ball on the ground. Everybody
held his breath, for everybody remembered what had happened to Bowser
the Hound when he came sniffing around Prickly Porky,--how Prickly
Porky's tail had suddenly slapped Bowser full in the face, filling it
with sharp little spears. Now they hoped to see the same thing happen to
Old Man Coyote. So they held their breath as they kept their eyes on Old
Man Coyote and Prickly Porky's tail.
XVI. OLD MAN COYOTE'S SMARTNESS
When you meet an adversary
Bold and brave be, also wary.
If the weapons you may hear of,
Teeth and claws, you have no fear of,
Don't be heedless and rush blindly
Lest you be received unkindly,
And, like Prickly Porky, find him
With a dangerous tail behind him.
|NOW Old Man Coyote knew nothing about that dangerous tail. He had never
heard how Bowser the Hound had been sent yelping home with his face
stuck full of those sharp little spears. But Old Man Coyote is wary. Oh,
my, yes! He certainly is wary. To be wary, you know, is to be very, very
careful where you go and what you do until you know for sure that
there is no possible danger. And there is no one more wary than Old Man
Coyote, not even wise, sly, old Granny Fox.
So now, though Prickly Porky, curled up in a ball in front of him,
looked harmless enough except for the thousand little spears sticking
out all over him, Old Man Coyote was too wary--too smart and too
careful--to take any chances as Bowser the Hound had rashly done. And
this is why, as he stole forward with his nose stretched out as if to
sniff of Prickly Porky, he suddenly stopped just when the little meadow
and forest people looking on were holding their breath and hugging
themselves with joy and excitement because they expected to see the same
thing happen to Old Man Coyote that had happened to Bowser.
Yes, Sir, Old Man Coyote stopped. He studied Prickly Porky a few
minutes. Then slowly he walked around him, just studying and studying.
[Illustration: 0102]
“It looks safe enough to go closer and sniff at him,” thought Old Man
Coyote, “but I learned a long time ago that you cannot always tell just
by looks, and that the most harmless looking thing is sometimes the most
dangerous. Now it looks to me as if this stupid Porcupine couldn't hurt
a flee so long as he keeps curled up this way, but I don't _know_, and
I'm not going any nearer until I do know.”
He scratched his head thoughtfully, and then he had an idea. He began to
dig in the soft earth.
“What under the sun is he doing that for?” whispered Happy Jack Squirrel
to his cousin, Chatterer the Bed Squirrel.
“I don't know,” replied Chatterer, also in a whisper. “We'll probably
know in a few minutes.”
He had hardly finished when Old Man Coyote threw a little lump of earth
so that it hit Prickly Porky. Now, Of course Prickly Porky couldn't see
what was going on, because, you know, he was curled up with his head
tucked down in his waistcoat. But he had been listening as hard as ever
he could, and he had heard Old Man Coyote's footsteps very close to
him. When the little lump of earth struck him, he thought it was Old
Man Coyote himself, and like a flash he slapped that queer tail of his
around. Of course it didn't hit anybody, because there was nobody within
reach. But it told Old Man Coyote all that he wanted to know.
“Ha, ha, ha!” he laughed. “That's the time I fooled you instead of you
fooling me! You've got to get up early to fool me with a trick like
that, Mr. Smarty!”
Then what do you think he did? Why, he just scooped earth on to Prickly
Porky as fast as he could dig. Prickly Porky stood it for a few minutes,
but he didn't want to be buried alive. Besides, now that his trick
was found out by the smartness of Old Man Coyote, there was no use
in keeping still any longer. So, with a grunt of anger, Prickly Porky
scrambled to his feet, and rattling his thousand little spears, rushed
at Old Man Coyote, who just jumped to one side, laughing fit to kill
himself.
XVII. GRANNY FOX IS FOUND OUT
Granny Fox is sly and wise
And seldom taken by surprise,
But wisdom wrongly put to use
Can never find a good excuse.
It ceases then to wisdom be,
But foolishness, as we shall see.
|NOW, with all her smartness and all her cleverness, old Granny Fox
had made one great mistake. Yes, Sir, old Granny Fox had made one great
mistake. You see, she had become so used to being thought the smartest
and cleverest of all the little people who lived on the Green Meadows
and around the Smiling Pool and in the Green Forest, that she had come
to believe that there couldn't be anybody anywhere as smart and clever
as she. That was because she didn't know Old Man Coyote. And now, as she
and Reddy Fox watched from their hiding place the meeting between Old
Man Coyote and Prickly Porky, she felt a sudden sharp sting in her
pride. Old Man Coyote had proved himself too smart for Prickly Porky.
She ground her teeth as she heard him laughing fit to kill himself as he
kept out of Prickly Porky's reach, and she ground them still more as she
heard him say:
“You will boast that you will drive me out of the Green Forest, will
you, Mr. Porcupine? The time to brag will be when you have done it.”
Prickly Porky stopped short in the middle of one of his clumsy rushes.
“Boaster and bragger yourself!” he grunted. “You don't seem to be dining
on Porcupine the first time we meet. Why don't you? Why don't you make
your own boast good?”
Old Man Coyote stopped laughing and pricked up his ears. “What's that?”
he demanded. “What's that? Somebody has been filling your ears with
something that is very like a lie, Mr. Porcupine.”
“No more than they have yours, Mr. Coyote,” replied Prickly Porky,
letting his thousand little spears drop part way back into his coat.
“But old Granny Fox told me.”
“Ha! So it was Granny Fox!” interrupted Old Man Coyote. “So it was
old Granny Fox! Well, it was that same old mischief-maker who told me
that--” He stopped and suddenly looked very hard at the very place
where Granny and Reddy were hiding. Then he made, a long jump in that
direction. Granny and Reddy didn't wait for him.
They started for home so fast that they looked like nothing but two
little red streaks disappearing among the trees.
“Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! Hee, hee, hee! Ha, ho, he, ho!” laughed Old
Man Coyote, and all the little meadow and forest people who were looking
on laughed with him. Then he turned to Prickly Porky.
[Illustration: 0110]
“I guess you and I are going to be friends,” said he.
“I guess we are,” replied Prickly Porky, and all his little spears
dropped out of sight.
XVIII. THE CUNNING OF OLD GRANNY FOX
You must get up very early,
You must lie awake at night,
You must have your wits well sharpened
And your eyes must be so bright
That there's nothing can escape them,
Nothing that you do not see,
If ahead of Granny Fox you
Ever get, or hope to be.
|Happy Jack squirrel made up that verse one day after he had had oh,
such a narrow escape from old Granny Fox. It had made Happy Jack very
sober for a while, for Granny had so nearly caught him that she actually
had pulled some hair from Happy Jack's tail. All the other little forest
and meadow people agreed that Happy Jack was quite right.
Most of them had had just such narrow escapes from old Granny Fox.
You see, it is this way: Old Granny Fox is very, very cunning. To be
cunning, you know, is to be sly and smart in doing things in such a way
as no one else will think of doing them. Just now, the thing that Granny
wanted most of anything in the world was to drive Old Man Coyote away
from the Green Meadows and the Green Forest. She couldn't do it openly,
because he was bigger and stronger than she, so she had thought and
thought and thought, trying to find some plan which might get Old Man
Coyote into trouble, so that he would go away and stay away.
Then Reddy Fox told her that he had found the place where Old Man Coyote
took a sun-nap every day and a splendid plan came to Granny. At least,
it seemed like a splendid plan. The more she thought about it, the
better it seemed.
But Granny Fox never acts hastily. She is too wise for that. So she
studied and studied this plan that she had thought of to make trouble
for Old Man Coyote. Finally she was satisfied.
“I believe it will work. I certainly do believe it will work,” said she,
and called Reddy Fox over to her.
“I want you to make sure that Old Man Coyote takes his sun-nap in the
same place every day,” said she. “You must see him there yourself. It
won't do to take the word of any one else for it. I want you to steal
up every day and make sure that he is there. Be sure you don't tell any
one, not any one at all, what you are doing, and above all things, don't
let _him_ get so much as a glimpse of you.”
Reddy promised that he would take the greatest care, and so for a week
every day he crept to a snug hiding-place behind a thick clump of grass
where he could peep through and see Old Man Coyote taking his sun-nap.
Then he would tiptoe softly away and hurry to report to old Granny Fox.
“Good!” she would say. “Go again, to-morrow and make sure that he is.
there.”
“But what do you want to know for?” Reddy asked one day, for he was
becoming very, very curious.
“Never mind what I want to know for,” replied Granny severely. “Do as I
tell you, and you will find out soon enough.”
You see, Granny Fox was too cunning to let even Reddy know of her plan,
for if no one but herself knew it, it couldn't possibly leak out, and
that, you know, is the only way to keep a secret.
XIX. BOWSER THE HOUND HAS A VISITOR
|BOWSER the Hound lay in Fanner Brown's dooryard dozing in the sun.
Bowser was dreaming. Yes, Sir, Bowser was dreaming. Farmer Brown's boy,
passing through the yard on his way to the cornfield, laughed.
“Sic him, Bowser! Sic him! That's the dog! Don't let him fool you this
time,” said he.
You see, Bowser was talking in his sleep. He was whining eagerly, and
every once in a while breaking out into excited little yelps, and so
Farmer Brown's boy knew that he was dreaming that he was hunting, that
he was on the trail of Reddy Fox or sly old Granny Fox. His eyes were
shut, and he didn't; hear what Fanner Brown's boy said. The latter went
off laughing, his hoe on his shoulder, for there was work for him down
in the cornfield.
Bowser kept right on getting more and more excited. It was a splendid
hunt he was having there in dreamland. Across the Green Meadows, along
the edge of the Green Forest, and up through the Old Pasture he ran, all
in his dream, you know, and just ahead of him ran old Granny Fox. Not
once was he fooled by her tricks, and she tried every one she knew.
For once he was too smart for her, and it made him tingle all over with
delight, for he was sure that this time he would catch her.
And then something queer happened. Yes, Sir, it was something very queer
indeed. He saw Granny Fox stop just a little way ahead of him. She sat
down facing him and began to laugh at him. She laughed and laughed fit
to kill herself. It made Bowser very angry. Oh, very angry indeed. No
one likes to be laughed at, you know, and to be laughed at by Granny Fox
of all people was more than Bowser could stand. He opened his mouth to
give a great roar as he sprang at her and then--why, Bowser waked up.
Yes, Sir, he really had given a great roar, and had waked himself up
with his own voice.
For a few minutes Bowser winked and blinked, for the sun was shining in
his eyes. Then he winked and blinked some more, but not because of the
sun. Oh, my, no! it wasn't because of the sun that he winked and blinked
now. It was because--what do you think? Why, it was because Bowser the
Hound couldn't tell whether he was awake or asleep. He thought that he
was awake. He was sure that he was awake, and yet--well, there sat old
Granny Fox laughing at him, just as he had seen her in his dream. Yes,
Sir, there she sat, laughing at him. Poor Bowser! He just didn't know
what to think. He rubbed both eyes and looked. There she sat, laughing
just as before. Bowser closed his eyes tight and kept them closed for a
whole minute. Perhaps when he opened them again, she would be gone. Then
he would know that she was only a dream fox, after all.
But no, Sir! When he opened his eyes again, there she sat, laughing
harder than ever. Just then a hen came around a corner of the house.
Granny Fox stopped laughing. Like a flash she caught the hen, slung
her over her shoulder and trotted away, all the time keeping one eye on
Bowser.
Then Bowser knew that this was no dream fox, but old Granny Fox herself,
and that she had had the impudence and boldness to steal a hen right
under his very nose! He was awake now, was Bowser, very much awake. With
a great roar of anger, he sprang to his feet, and started after Granny,
and startled the Merry Little Breezes at play on the Green Meadows.
XX. THE CLEVER PLAN OF GRANNY FOX
|THE bold visit of old Granny Fox to Bowser the Hound in Farmer Brown's
dooryard right in broad daylight was all a part of the clever plan
Granny had worked out to make trouble for Old Man Coyote. First she had
sent Reddy Fox to make sure that Old Man Coyote was taking his usual
sun-nap in his usual place. If he were, Reddy was to softly steal away
and then hurry to the top of the Crooked Little Path where it comes down
the hill. When he got there, he was to bark three times. Granny was
to be hidden behind the old stone wall on the edge of Farmer Brown's
orchard, and when she heard Reddy bark, she was to do her part, while
Reddy was to hide in a secret place on the edge of the Green Forest and
watch what would happen.
It all turned out just as Granny had planned. She had been in hiding
behind the old stone wall only a few minutes when she heard Reddy
bark three times. Granny grinned. Then she stole up to Farmer Brown's
dooryard, and there she found Bowser the Hound fast asleep and dreaming.
She was just getting ready to bark to waken him, when he waked himself
with his own voice. It was just then that a hen happened to walk around
the corner of the house. Granny's eyes sparkled. “Good,” said she to
herself. “I'll take this hen along with me, and Reddy and I will have a
good dinner after I have set Bowser to chasing Old Man Coyote,”--for that
was what Granny was planning to do. So she caught the hen, threw it over
her shoulder, and started off with Bowser the Hound after her, making a
great noise with his big voice.
Now, of course Granny knew that she couldn't carry that hen very far and
keep ahead of Bowser, so she ran straight across the Old Orchard towards
the secret place on the edge of the Green Forest where she knew that
Reddy Fox was hiding. When she was sure that Reddy could see her, she
gave the hen a toss over into the grass and then raced away towards the
Green Meadows. You see, she knew that Bowser would keep on right after
her, and when it was safe for him to do so, Reddy would steal out from
his hiding place and get the hen, and that is just what did happen.
Away ran Granny, and after her ran Bowser, and all the little meadow and
forest people heard his great voice and were glad that he was not after
them. But Granny Fox was not worried. You see, she had fooled him so
many times that she knew she could do it again. So she kept just a
little way ahead of him and gradually led him towards the place where
Old Man Coyote took his sun-nap every day. But she was too smart to run
straight towards it, “For,” said she to herself, “if I do that, he will
become alarmed and run away before Bowser is near enough to see him.”
So she ran in a big circle around the place, feeling sure that Old Man
Coyote would lie perfectly still so as not to be seen.
Round and round ran Granny Fox with Bowser after her, and all the time
she was making the circles smaller and smaller so as to get nearer and
nearer to the napping-place of Old Man Coyote. When she thought that she
was near enough, she suddenly started straight for it.
“Now,” thought she, “he'll jump and run, and when Bowser sees him, he
will forget all about me. He will follow Old Man Coyote, and perhaps he
will drive him away from the Green Meadows forever.”
Nearer and nearer to the napping place Granny drew. She was almost
there. Why didn't Old Man Coyote jump and run? At last she was right to
it. She could see just where he had been stretched out, but he wasn't
there now. There wasn't a sign of him anywhere! What did it mean? Just
then she heard a sound over in the Green Forest that made her grind her
teeth with rage.
“Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! Hee, hee, nee! Ha, ho, hee, ho!” It was the
laughter of Old Man Coyote.
XXI. HOW PETER RABBIT HELPED OLD MAN COYOTE
A kindly word, a kindly deed,
Is like the planting of a seed;
It first sends forth a little root
And by and by bears splendid fruit.
|WHEN Old Man Coyote first came to the Green Meadows, to live, he chased
Peter Rabbit and gave Peter a terrible fright. After that for some time
Peter kept very close to the dear Old Briar-patch, where he always felt
perfectly safe. But Peter dearly loves to roam, and Peter is very, very
curious, so it wasn't long before he began to grow tired of the Old
Briar-patch and long to go abroad on the Green Meadows and in the Green
Forest as he always had done, and find out all that was going on among
his neighbors.
Of course Peter heard a great deal, for Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow
would stop almost every day to tell him the latest news about Old Man
Coyote. They told him all about how Granny Fox had tried to make trouble
between him and Prickly Porky the Porcupine, and how she had been found
out. After they had gone, Peter sat very still for a long time, thinking
it all over.
“H-m-m,” said Peter to himself, “it is very plain to me that Old Man
Coyote is smarter than Granny Fox, and that means a great deal to me.
Y es, Sir, that means a great deal to me. It means that I have got to
watch out for him even sharper than I have to watch out for Granny and
Reddy Fox. Dear me, dear me, just as if I didn't have troubles enough as
it is!”
As he talked, Peter was sitting on the very edge of the Old Briar-patch,
looking towards the place where Sammy Jay had told him that Old Man
Coyote took his sun-nap every day. Suddenly he saw something that made
him stop thinking about his troubles and sit up a little straighter and
open his big eyes a little wider. It was Reddy Fox, creeping very, very
slowly and carefully towards the napping place of Old Man Coyote. When
he was near enough to see, Reddy lay down in the grass and watched.
After a little while he tiptoed back to the Green Forest.
Peter scratched his long left ear with his long right hind foot. “Now
what did Reddy Fox do that for?” he said, thoughtfully.
The next day and the next day and the day after that, Peter saw Reddy
Fox do the same thing, and all the time Peter's curiosity grew and grew
and grew. He didn't say anything about it to any one, but just puzzled
and puzzled over it.
Late that afternoon Peter beard footsteps just outside the Old
Briar-patch. Peeping out, he saw Old Man Coyote passing. Peter's
curiosity could be kept down no longer.
“How do you do, Mr. Coyote?” said Peter in a very small and frightened
sounding voice, but in a very polite manner.
Old Man Coyote stopped and peeped through the brambles. “Hello, Peter
Rabbit,” said he. “I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you outside of
the Old Briar-patch for some time.” He grinned when he said this in a
way that showed all his long sharp teeth.
“No,” replied Peter, “I--I--well, you see, I'm afraid of Old Granny and
Reddy Fox.”
Old Man Coyote grinned again, for he knew that it was himself Peter
really feared. “Pooh, Peter Rabbit! You shouldn't be afraid of them!”
said he. “They're not very smart. You ought to be able to keep out of
their way.”
Peter hopped a little nearer to the edge of the Old Briar-patch. “Tell
me, Mr. Coyote, what is Reddy Fox watching you for every day when you
take your sun-nap?”
“What's that?” demanded Old Man Coyote sharply.
He listened gravely while Peter told him what he had seen. When Peter
had finished, Mr. Coyote smiled, and somehow this time he didn't show
all those dreadful teeth.
“Thank you, Peter Rabbit,” said he. “You have done me a great favor,
and I hope I can return it some time. Do you know, I believe that we are
going to be friends.”