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.