HAPPY JACK DARES TOMMY TIT
A wise philosopher is he
Who takes things as they chance to be,
And in them sees that which is best
While trying to forget the rest.
_Happy Jack._
Somehow Happy Jack's day had been spoiled. He knew that he had no
business to allow it to be spoiled, but it was, just the same. You see,
he had been all puffed up with pride because he thought himself a very
bold fellow because he had really been inside Farmer Brown's house. He
couldn't help feeling quite puffed up about it. But when he told Tommy
Tit the Chickadee about it, Tommy had said, "Pooh! I've done that
often."
That was what had spoiled the day for Happy Jack. He knew that if Tommy
Tit said that he had done a thing, he had, for Tommy always tells the
truth and nothing but the truth. So Happy Jack hadn't been so dreadfully
bold, after all, and had nothing to brag about. It made him feel quite
put out. He actually tried to make himself feel that it was all the
fault of Tommy Tit, and that he wanted to get even with him. He thought
about it all the rest of the day, and just before he fell asleep that
night an idea came to him.
"I know what I'll do! I'll dare Tommy to go as far inside Farmer
Brown's house as I do!" he exclaimed, and went to sleep to dream that he
was the boldest, bravest squirrel that ever lived.
The next morning when he reached the tree close by Farmer Brown's house,
he found Tommy Tit already there, flitting about impatiently and calling
his loudest, which wasn't very loud, for you know Tommy is a very little
fellow, and his voice is not very loud. But he was doing his best to
call Farmer Brown's boy. You see, there wasn't a single nut on the
window-sill, and the window was closed. Pretty soon Farmer Brown's boy
came to the window and opened it. But he didn't put out any nuts. Tommy
Tit at once flew over to the sill, and to show that he was just as
bold, Happy Jack followed. Looking inside, they saw Farmer Brown's boy
standing in the middle of the room, holding out a dish of nuts and
smiling at them. This was the chance Happy Jack wanted to try the plan
he had thought of the night before.
"I dare you to go way in there and get a nut," said he to Tommy Tit. He
hoped that Tommy would be afraid.
But Tommy wasn't anything of the kind. "Dee, dee, dee! Come on!" he
cried, and flitted over and helped himself to a cracked nut and was back
with it before Happy Jack could make up his mind to jump down inside.
Of course now that he had dared Tommy Tit, and Tommy had taken the dare,
he just had to do it too. It looked a long way in to where Farmer
Brown's boy was standing. Twice he started and turned back. Then he
heard Tommy Tit chuckle. That was too much. He wouldn't be laughed at.
He just wouldn't. He scampered across, grabbed a nut, and rushed back to
the window-sill, where he ate the nut. It was easier to go after the
second nut, and when he went for the third, he had made up his mind that
it was perfectly safe in there, and so he sat up on a chair and ate it.
Presently he felt quite at home, and when he had eaten all the nuts he
wanted, he ran all around the room, examining all the strange things
there.
This was a little more than Tommy Tit could make up his mind to do. He
wasn't afraid to fly in for a nut and then fly out again, but he
couldn't feel easy inside a house like that. Of course, this made Happy
Jack feel good all over. You see, he felt that now he really did have
something to boast about. No one else in all the Green Forest or on the
Green Meadows could say that they had been all over Farmer Brown's boy's
room as he had. Happy Jack swelled himself out at the thought. Now
everybody would say, "What a bold fellow!"