A Twice Stolen Dinner
No one ever is so smart that some one else may not prove to be smarter
still.
—_Old Granny Fox_.
Listen and you shall hear all about three rogues. Two were in red and
were Granny and Reddy Fox. And one was in gray and was Old Man Coyote.
They were the slyest, smartest rogues on all the Green Meadows or in
all the Green Forest. All three had started out to steal the same
dinner, but the funny part is they didn’t intend to steal it from the
same person. And still funnier is it that one of them didn’t even know
where that dinner was or what kind of a dinner it would be.
True to his resolve to know what Granny and Reddy Fox were getting to
eat, and where they were getting it, Old Man Coyote hid where he could
see what was going on about Farmer Brown’s, for it was there he felt
sure that Granny and Reddy were getting food. He had waited only a
little while when along came Granny and Reddy Fox past the place where
Old Man Coyote was hiding. They didn’t see him. Of course not. He took
care that they should have no chance. But anyway, they were not
thinking of him. Their thoughts were all of that dinner they intended
to have, and the smart trick by which they would get it.
So with their thoughts all on that dinner they slipped up behind the
barn and prepared to work the trick which had been so successful
before. Old Man Coyote crept after them. He saw Reddy Fox lie down
where he could peep around the corner of the barn to watch Bowser the
Hound and to see that no one else was about. He saw Granny leave Reddy
there and hurry away. Old Man Coyote’s wits worked fast.
“I can’t be in two places at once,” thought he, “so I can’t watch both
Granny and Reddy. As I can watch but one, which one shall it be?
Granny, of course. Granny is the smartest of the two, and whatever they
are up to, she is at the bottom of it. Granny is the one to follow.”
So, like a gray shadow, crafty Old Man Coyote stole after Granny Fox
and saw her hide behind the corner of the shed at the end of which was
the little house of Bowser the Hound. He crept as near as he dared and
then lay flat down behind a little bunch of dead grass close to the
shed. For some time nothing happened, and Old Man Coyote was puzzled.
Every once in a while Granny Fox would look behind and all about to be
sure that no danger was near, but she didn’t see Old Man Coyote. After
what seemed to him a long time, he heard a door open on the other side
of the shed. It was Mrs. Brown carrying Bowser’s dinner out to him. Of
course, Old Man Coyote didn’t know this. He knew by the sounds that
some one had come out of the house, and it made him nervous. He didn’t
like being so close to Farmer Brown’s house in broad daylight. But he
kept his eyes on Granny Fox, and he saw her ears prick up in a way that
he knew meant that those sounds were just what she had been waiting
for.
“If she isn’t afraid, I don’t need to be,” thought he craftily. After a
few minutes he heard a door close and knew that whoever had come out
had gone back into the house. Almost at once Bowser the Hound began to
yelp and whine. Swiftly Granny Fox disappeared around the corner of the
shed. Just as swiftly Old Man Coyote ran forward and peeped around the
corner. There was Bowser the Hound tugging at his chain, and just
beyond his reach was Reddy Fox, grinning in the most provoking manner.
And there was Granny Fox, backing and dragging after her Bowser’s
dinner. In a flash Old Man Coyote understood the plan, and he almost
chuckled aloud at the cleverness of it. Then he hastily backed behind
the shed and waited. In a minute Granny Fox appeared, dragging Bowser’s
dinner. She was so intent on getting that dinner that she almost backed
into Old Man Coyote without suspecting that he was anywhere about.
“Thank you, Granny. You needn’t bother about it any longer; I’ll take
it now,” growled Old Man Coyote in Granny’s ear.
Granny let go of that dinner as if it burned her tongue, and with a
frightened little yelp leaped to one side. A minute later Reddy came
racing around from behind the barn eager for his share. What he saw was
Old Man Coyote bolting down that twice-stolen dinner while Granny Fox
fairly danced with rage.