ran away from the home where he was born. Twice since then he had built
a new home, and now this would be better than either of the others. He
paid no heed to Polly, when she pouted because he did not dig where she
wanted him to. He went from tree to tree, big old apple-trees they were,
and at the very last tree, way down in a corner near a tumbled-down
stone wall, he found what he wanted--two spreading roots gave him a
chance to dig between them.
Polly watched him get ready for work and she pouted some more.
“It would be a lot nicer out in that grassy place, and a lot easier to
dig,” said she.
Johnny Chuck smiled and made the dirt fly. “It certainly would be easier
to dig,” said he, when he stopped for breath, “easier for me and easier
for Bowser the Hound or for old Granny Fox, if either wanted to dig us
out. Now, these old roots are just far enough apart for us to go in
and out. They make a beautiful doorway. But Bowser the Hound cannot get
through if he tries, and he can't make our doorway any larger. Don't you
see how safe it is?”
Polly Chuck had to own up that it was safer than a home in the open
could possibly be, and Johnny went on digging. He made a long hall down
to the snuggest of bedrooms, deep, deep down under ground. Then he made
a long back hall, and all the sand from this he carried out the front
way. By and by he made a back door at the end of the back hall, and
it opened right behind a big stone fallen from the old stone wall. You
would never have guessed that there was a back door there.
His new house was finished now, and Johnny Chuck and Polly Chuck sat on
the door-step and watched jolly, round, red Mr. Sun go to bed behind the
Purple Hills and were happy.
XV. SAMMY JAY FINDS THE NEW HOME
Johnny Chuck was missed from his old home on the Green Meadows. If he
had known how much he was missed, he certainly would have tried to go
back for at least a call on his old neighbors. There had been great
surprise when it had been discovered that Jimmy Skunk was living in
Johnny's old house, and at first some of the little meadow people were
inclined to look at Jimmy a wee bit distrustfully when he told how
Johnny Chuck had given away his house.
When Johnny sent back word by the Merry Little Breezes that it was true,
they believed Jimmy Skunk and forgot the unpleasant things that they
had begun to hint at about him. But they one and all thought that Johnny
Chuck must be crazy. Yes, Sir, they thought that Johnny Chuck must be
crazy. They were sure of it when the Merry Little Breezes brought word
of how Johnny had started out to see the world.
But everybody was so busy about their own affairs in the beautiful
bright spring-time that they couldn't spend much time wondering about
Johnny Chuck. They missed him every time they passed his old house and
then forgot him; that is, most of the little meadow people did.
Peter Rabbit didn't. Peter used to stop every day to gossip with Johnny
Chuck and tell him all the news, and now that Johnny Chuck was no longer
there, Peter missed him greatly. Jimmy Skunk was always asleep or off
somewhere. Besides, he was such a traveler that he knew all the news
almost as soon as Peter himself.
The Merry Little Breezes told Peter that Johnny Chuck was still on the
Green Meadows, hunting for a new home, so Peter made up his mind that
just as soon as Johnny got settled, Peter would hunt him up and call.
You see, he never dreamed that Johnny would leave the Green Meadows, and
he thought that of course the Merry Little Breezes would tell him just
where Johnny Chuck's new house was, whenever it was built. But there is
where Peter made a mistake.
The Merry Little Breezes are the friends of all the little meadow and
forest people, but they wouldn't be very long if they told everything
that they find out.
Their merry tongues they guard full well
And things they shouldn't never tell,
For long ago they learned the way
To keep a secret night and day.
And so when they found Johnny Chuck's new house in the corner of Farmer
Brown's old orchard, they promised Johnny that they wouldn't tell
anybody, and they didn't. So it was a long time before any one else
found out what had become of Johnny Chuck, for no one thought of looking
in the corner of the old orchard.
The Merry Little Breezes used to come every day and bring Johnny Chuck
the news, and he and Polly Chuck would laugh and tickle, as they thought
of Peter Rabbit hunting and hunting and never finding them.
Then one morning, as Johnny Chuck sat on his door-step, half dozing in
the sun with his heart filled with contentment, he happened to look up
straight into two sharp eyes peering down at him from among the leaves
of the apple-tree under which he had built his house. He knew those
eyes. They were such sharp eyes that they were unpleasant. He didn't
even have to look for the blue and white coat of the owner to know who
had found his snug home. But he pretended to keep right on dozing, and
pretty soon the owner of the eyes disappeared without making a sound.
“Oh, dear,” sighed Johnny Chuck, “now the whole world will know where
we live, for that was Sammy Jay.” Then his face brightened as he added:
“Anyway, he didn't see Polly Chuck, and he doesn't know anything about
her, so I'll keep twice as sharp a watch as before.”
XVI. SAMMY JAY PLANS MISCHIEF
Mischief may not mean to be really truly bad,
But somehow it seems to make other people sad;
Does a mean unpleasant thing and tries to think it fun;
Then, alas, it runs away when trouble has begun.
Of all the little people who live in the Green Forest and on the Green
Meadows, none is more mischievous than Sammy Jay. It seems sometimes as
if there was more mischief under that pert little cap Sammy Jay wears
than in the heads of all the other little meadow and forest people put
together. When he isn't actually in mischief, Sammy Jay is planning
mischief. You see it has grown to be a habit with Sammy Jay, and habits,
especially bad habits, have a way of growing and growing.
Now Sammy Jay had no quarrel with Johnny Chuck. Oh, my, no! He would
have told you that he liked Johnny Chuck. Everybody likes Johnny Chuck.
But just as soon as Sammy Jay found Johnny Chuck's new house, he began
to plan mischief. He didn't really want any harm to come to Johnny
Chuck, but he wanted to make Johnny uncomfortable. That is Sammy Jay's
idea of fun--seeing somebody else uncomfortable. So he slipped away to
a thick hemlock-tree in the Green Forest to try to think of some plan to
tease Johnny Chuck and make him uncomfortable.
Of course he knew that Johnny had hidden his new house in the corner
of Farmer Brown's old orchard because he wanted it to be a secret. He
didn't know why Johnny wanted it a secret and he didn't care. If Johnny
wanted it a secret, it would be fun to tell everybody about it. As he
sat wondering who he should tell first; he saw Reddy Fox trotting down
the Lone Little Path.
“Hi, Reddy Fox!” he shouted.
Reddy looked up. “Hello, Sammy Jay! What have you got on your mind this
morning?” said Reddy.
“Nothing much,” replied Sammy Jay. “What's the news?”
Reddy grinned. “There isn't any news,” said he. “I was just going to ask
you the same thing.”
It was Sammy Jay's turn to grin, “Just as if I could tell you any news,
Reddy Fox! Just as if I could tell you any news!” he exclaimed. “Why,
everybody knows that you are so smart that you find out everything as
soon as it happens.”
Reddy Fox felt flattered. You know people who do a great deal of
flattering themselves are often the very easiest to flatter if you know
how. Reddy pretended to be very modest; but no one likes to be thought
smart and important more than Reddy Fox does, and it pleased him greatly
that Sammy Jay should think him so smart that no one could tell him any
news. Sammy knew this perfectly well, and he chuckled to himself as he
watched Reddy Fox pretending to be so modest.
“Have you called on Johnny Chuck at his new home yet?” asked Sammy Jay,
in the most matter-of-fact way.
“No,” replied Reddy, “but I mean to, soon.” He said this just as if he
knew all about Johnny Chuck's new home, when all the time he hadn't
the remotest idea in the world where it was. In fact he had hunted and
hunted for it, but hadn't found a trace of it. And all the time Sammy
Jay knew that Reddy didn't know where it was. But Sammy didn't let on
that he knew.
“I just happened to be up in Farmer Brown's old orchard this morning, so
I thought I'd pay Johnny Chuck a call,” said Sammy, and chuckled as he
saw Reddy's ears prick up. “By the way, he thinks you don't know where
he lives now.”
“Huh!” said Reddy Fox. “As if Johnny Chuck could fool me! Well, I must
be moving along. Good-by, Sammy Jay.”
Reddy trotted off towards the Green Meadows, but the minute he was out
of sight of Sammy Jay, he turned towards Farmer Brown's old orchard,
just as Sammy Jay had known he would.
“I guess Johnny Chuck will have a visitor,” chuckled Sammy Jay, as he
started to look for Jimmy Skunk.
XVII. MORE MISCHIEF
Mischief's like a snowball
Sent rolling down a hill;
With every turn it bigger grows
And bigger, bigger still.
Sammy Jay had started mischief by telling Reddy Fox where Johnny Chuck's
new house was. If you had asked him, Sammy Jay would have said that he
hadn't told. All he had said was that he had happened to be up in Farmer
Brown's old orchard and so had called on Johnny Chuck in his new house.
Now Reddy Fox is very sly, oh, very sly. He had pretended to Sammy Jay
that he knew all the time where Johnny Chuck was living. When he left
Sammy Jay, he had started in the direction of the Green Meadows, just as
if he had no thought of going over to Farmer Brown's old orchard.
But Sammy Jay is just as sly as Reddy Fox. He wasn't fooled for one
minute, not one little minute. He chuckled to himself as he started to
look for Jimmy Skunk. Then he changed his mind.
“I think I'll go up to the old orchard myself!” said Sammy Jay, and away
he flew.
He got there first and hid in the top of a big apple-tree, where he
could see all that went on. It wasn't long before he saw Reddy Fox
steal out from the Green Forest and over to the old orchard. Reddy
was nervous, very nervous. You see, it was broad daylight, and the old
orchard was very near Farmer Brown's house. Reddy knew that he ought
to have waited until night, but he knew that then Johnny Chuck would be
fast asleep, Now, perhaps, Johnny Chuck, thinking that no one knew where
he lived, would not be on watch, and he might be able to catch Johnny.
So Reddy, with one eye on Farmer Brown's house and one eye on the watch
for some sign of Johnny Chuck, stole into the old orchard. Every few
steps he would stop and look and listen. At every little noise he would
start nervously. Then Sammy Jay would chuckle under his breath.
So Reddy Fox crept and tiptoed about through the old orchard. Every
minute he grew more nervous, and every minute he grew more disappointed,
for he could find no sign of Johnny Chuck's house. He began to think
that Sammy Jay had fooled him, and the very thought made him grind his
teeth. At last he decided to give it up.
He was down in the far corner of the old orchard, close by the old stone
wall now, and he got all ready to jump over the old stone wall, when
he just happened to look on the other side of the big apple-tree he was
under, and there was what he was looking for--Johnny Chuck's new house!
Johnny Chuck wasn't in sight, but there was the new house, and Johnny
must be either inside or not far away. Reddy grinned. It was a sly,
wicked, hungry grin. He flattened himself out in the grass behind the
big apple-tree.
“I'll give Johnny Chuck the surprise of his life!” muttered Reddy Fox
under his breath.
Now Sammy Jay had been watching all this time. He knew that Johnny Chuck
was safely inside his house, for Johnny had seen Reddy when he first
came into the old orchard. And Sammy knew that Johnny Chuck knew that
when Reddy found that new house, he would hide just as he had done.
“Johnny Chuck won't come out again to-day, and there won't be any
excitement at all,” thought Sammy Jay in disappointment, for he had
hoped to see a fight between Reddy Fox and Johnny Chuck. Just then Sammy
looked over to Farmer Brown's house, and there was Farmer Brown's boy
getting ready to saw wood. The imp of mischief under Sammy's pert cap
gave him an idea. He flew over to the old apple-tree, just over Reddy's
head, and began to scream at the top of his lungs.
Farmer Brown's boy stopped work and looked over towards the old orchard.
“When a jay screams like that there is usually a fox around,” he
muttered, as he unfastened Bowser the Hound.
XVIII. FARMER BROWN'S BOY MAKES A DISCOVERY
Reddy Fox glared up at Sammy Jay. “What's the matter with you?” snarled
Reddy Fox. “Why don't you mind your own affairs, instead of making
trouble for other people?” You see, Reddy was afraid that Johnny Chuck
would hear Sammy Jay and take warning.
“Hello, Reddy Fox! I thought you had gone down to the Green Meadows!”
Sammy said this as if he was very much surprised to see Reddy there. He
wasn't, for you know he had been watching Reddy hunt for Johnny Chuck's
new house, but Reddy had pretended that he was going down to the Green
Meadows early that morning, and so now Sammy pretended that he had
thought that Reddy really had gone.
“I changed my mind!” he snapped. “What are you screaming so for?”
“Just to exercise my lungs, so as to be sure that I can scream when I
want to,” replied Sammy, screaming still louder.
“Well, go somewhere else and scream; I want to sleep,” said Reddy
crossly.
Now Sammy Jay knew perfectly well that Reddy Fox had no thought of
taking a nap but was hiding there to try to catch Johnny Chuck. And
Sammy knew that Farmer Brown's boy could hear him scream, and that he
knew that when Sammy screamed that way it meant there was a fox about.
Sitting in the top of the apple-tree, Sammy could see Farmer Brown's
boy starting for the old orchard, with Bowser the Hound running ahead of
him.
Farmer Brown's boy had no gun, so Sammy knew that no harm would come to
Reddy, but that Reddy would get a dreadful scare; and that is what Sammy
wanted, just out of pure mischief. So he screamed louder than ever.
Reddy Fox lost his temper. He sat up and called Sammy Jay all the bad
names he could think of. He forgot where he was. He told Sammy Jay what
he thought of him and what he would do to him if ever he caught him.
Sammy Jay kept right on screaming. He made such a noise that Reddy
didn't hear footsteps coming nearer and nearer. Suddenly there was a
great roar right behind him. “Bow, wow, wow! Bow, wow, wow, wow!”--just
like that.
Reddy was so frightened that he didn't even look to see where he was
jumping, and bumped his head against the apple-tree. Then he started for
the Green Forest, with Bowser the Hound at his heels.
Sammy Jay laughed till he lost his breath and nearly tumbled off his
perch. Then he flew away, still laughing. He thought it the greatest
joke ever.
Farmer Brown's boy had followed Bowser the Hound into the old orchard.
“I wonder what a fox was doing up here in broad daylight,” said he,
talking to himself. “Perhaps one of my hens has stolen her nest down
here, and he has found it. I'll have a look, anyway.”
So he walked on down to the far corner of the old orchard, straight to
the place from which he had seen Reddy Fox jump. When he got there, of
course he saw Johnny Chuck's new house right away.
“Ho!” cried Farmer Brown's boy. “Brer Fox was hunting Chucks. I'll keep
my eye on this, and if Mr. Chuck makes any trouble in my garden, I'll
know where to catch him.”
XIX. JOHNNY CHUCK'S PRIDE
Ever since Farmer Brown's boy and Reddy Fox had found his new house in
the far corner of the old orchard, Johnny Chuck had been worried. It
was not that he was afraid for himself. Oh, my, no! Johnny Chuck felt
perfectly able to take care of himself. But there was Polly Chuck! He
was terribly afraid that something might happen to Polly Chuck. You see
she was not big and strong like him, and then Polly Chuck was apt to be
careless. So for a while Johnny Chuck worried a great deal.
But Reddy Fox didn't come again in daytime. You see Bowser the Hound
had given him such a scare that he didn't dare to. He sometimes came
at night and sniffed hungrily at Johnny Chuck's doorway, but Johnny and
Polly were safe inside, and this didn't trouble them a bit. And Farmer
Brown's boy seemed to have forgotten all about the new house. So after
a while Johnny Chuck stopped worrying so much. The fact is Johnny Chuck
had something else to think about. He had a secret. Yes, Sir, Johnny
Chuck had a secret.
Sammy Jay came up to the old orchard almost every morning. His sharp
eyes were not long in finding out that Johnny Chuck had a secret, but
try as he would he could not find out what that secret was. Whatever it
was, it made Johnny Chuck very happy. He would come out on his doorstep
and smile and sometimes give a funny little whistle of pure joy.
It puzzled Sammy Jay a great deal. He couldn't see why Johnny Chuck
should be any happier than he ever was. To be sure it was a happy time
of year. Everybody was happy, for it was spring-time, and the Green
Forest and the Green Meadows, even the Old Pasture, were very lovely.
But somehow Sammy Jay felt sure that it was something more than this, a
secret that Johnny Chuck was keeping all to himself, that was making him
so happy. But what it was, Sammy Jay couldn't imagine. He spent so much
time thinking about it and wondering what it could be, that it actually
kept him out of mischief.
One morning Johnny Chuck came out, looking happier than ever. He
chuckled and chuckled as only a happy Chuck can. Then he did foolish
things. He kicked up his heels. He rolled over and over in the grass. He
whistled. He even tried to sing, which is something no Chuck can do or
should ever try to do. Then suddenly he scrambled to his feet, carefully
brushed his coat, and tried to look very dignified. He strutted back
and forth in front of his doorway, as if he was very proud of something.
There was pride in the very way in which he took each step. There was
pride in the very way in which he held his head. It was too much for
Sammy Jay.
“What are you so proud about, Johnny Chuck?” he demanded, in his harsh
voice, “If I didn't have a better looking coat than you've got, I
wouldn't put on airs!”
You know Sammy Jay is very proud of his own handsome blue and white coat
and dearly loves to show it off.
“It isn't that,” said Johnny Chuck.
“Well, if it is because you think yourself so smart to hide yourself up
here in the old orchard, let me tell you that I found you out long ago,
and so did Reddy Fox, and Bowser the Hound, and Farmer Brown's boy,”
sneered Sammy Jay in the most disagreeable way.
“It isn't that,” said Johnny Chuck.
“Well, what is it, then?” snapped Sammy Jay.
“That's for you to find out,” replied Johnny Chuck.
“There's foolish pride and silly pride and pride of low degree;
A better pride is honest pride, and that's the pride for me.”
And with that, Johnny Chuck disappeared in his new house.
XX. SAMMY JAY UNDERSTANDS
It was a beautiful morning. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had thrown his
bedclothes off very early and started to climb up the sky, smiling his
broadest. Old Mother West Wind had swept his path clear of clouds. The
Merry Little Breezes, who, you know, are Mother West Wind's children,
had danced across the Green Meadows up to the old orchard, where they
pelted each other with white and pink petals of apple blossoms until
the ground was covered. Each apple-tree was like a huge bouquet of
loveliness. Yes, indeed, it was very beautiful that spring morning.
Sammy Jay had gotten up almost as early as Mr. Sun and Old Mother West
Wind. As soon as he had swallowed his breakfast, he flew up to the old
orchard and hid among the white and pink apple blossoms to watch for
Johnny Chuck. You see, he knew that Johnny Chuck had some sort of a
secret which filled Johnny with very great pride; but what it was Sammy
Jay couldn't even guess, and nothing troubles Sammy Jay quite so much as
the feeling that he cannot find out the secrets of other people. So he
sat very, very still among the apple blossoms and waited and watched.
By and by Johnny Chuck appeared on his doorstep. He seemed very much
excited, did Johnny Chuck. He sat up very straight and looked this way
and looked that way. He looked up in the apple-trees, and Sammy Jay held
his breath, for fear that Johnny would see him. But Sammy was so well
hidden that, bright as Johnny Chuck's eyes are, they failed to see him.
Then Johnny Chuck actually climbed up on the old stone wall so as to see
better, and he sat there a long time, looking and looking.
Sammy Jay grew impatient. “He seems to be terribly watchful this
morning. I never knew him to be so watchful before. I don't understand
it,” muttered Sammy to himself.
After a while Johnny Chuck seemed quite satisfied that there was no one
about. He hopped down from the old stone wall and scampered over to
the doorway of his new house, and there he began to chatter. Sammy Jay
stretched his neck until it ached, trying to hear what Johnny Chuck was
saying, but he couldn't because Johnny's head was inside his doorway.
Pretty soon Johnny Chuck backed out and sat up, and he looked very proud
and important. Then Sammy Jay saw something that nearly took his breath
away. It was the head of Polly Chuck peeping out of the doorway. It was
the first time that he had seen Polly Chuck.
“Why,” gasped Sammy Jay, “it must be that Johnny Chuck has a mate, and I
didn't know a thing about it! So that's his secret and the reason he has
appeared so proud lately!”
Polly Chuck came out on the doorstep. She looked just as proud as Johnny
Chuck, and at the same time she seemed terribly anxious. She sat up
beside Johnny Chuck, and she looked this way and that way, just as
Johnny had. Then she put her head in at the doorway and began to call in
the softest voice.
In a minute Sammy Jay saw something more. It surprised him so that he
nearly lost his balance. It was another head peeping out of the doorway,
a head just like Johnny Chuck's, only it was a teeny-weeny one. Then
there was another and another! Polly kept talking and talking in the
softest voice, while Johnny Chuck swelled himself up until he looked as
if he would burst with pride.
Sammy Jay understood now why Johnny Chuck had been so proud for the last
few days. It was because he had a family! Sammy looked down at the three
little Chucks sitting on the doorstep, trying to sit up the way Johnny
Chuck sat, and they looked so funny that Sammy forgot himself and
laughed right out loud. In a flash the three little Chucks and Polly
Chuck had disappeared inside the house, while Johnny Chuck looked up
angrily. He knew that his secret was a secret no longer.
XXI. SAMMY JAY HAS A CHANGE OF HEART
There's no one ever quite so bad
That somewhere way down deep inside
A little goodness does not find
A place wherein to creep and hide.
It is so with Sammy Jay. Yes, Sir, it is so with Sammy Jay. You may
think that because Sammy Jay is vain, a trouble-maker and a thief, he
is all bad. He isn't. There is some good in Sammy Jay, just as there is
some good in everybody. If there wasn't, Old Mother Nature never,
never would allow Sammy Jay to go his mischievous way through the Green
Forest. He dearly loves to get other people into all kinds of trouble,
and this is one reason why nobody loves him. But if you watch out sharp
enough, you will find that hidden under that beautiful blue and white
coat of his there really is some good. You may have to look a long time
for it, but sooner or later you will find it. Johnny Chuck did.
Sammy Jay had already made a lot of trouble for Johnny Chuck. You see he
had been the first of the little forest and meadow people to find Johnny
Chuck's new house. And then, just to make trouble for Johnny Chuck, he
had told Reddy Fox about it, and after that he had called Bowser the
Hound and Farmer Brown's boy over to it. Now he had discovered Johnny
Chuck's greatest secret--that Johnny had a family. What a chance to make
trouble now!
Sammy started for the Green Forest as fast as his wings could take him.
He would tell Reddy Fox and Redtail the Hawk. They were very fond of
young Chucks. It would be great fun to see the fright of Johnny Chuck
and his family when Reddy Fox or Redtail the Hawk appeared.