A PRISONER WITHOUT FEAR
A bad name is easy to get but hard to live down.
_Happy Jack._
Shadow the Weasel was a prisoner. He who always had been free to go and
come as he pleased and to do as he pleased was now in a little narrow
cage and quite helpless. For once he had been careless, and this was the
result. Farmer Brown's boy had caught him in a trap. Of course, he
should have known better than to have visited the henhouse a second time
after killing three of the best pullets there. He should have known
that Farmer Brown's boy would be sure to do something about it. The
truth is, he had yielded to temptation when common sense had warned him
not to. So he had no one to blame for his present difficulty but
himself, and he knew it.
At first he had been in a terrible rage and had bitten at the wires
until he had made his mouth sore. When he had made sure that the wires
were stouter than his teeth, he wisely stopped trying to get out in that
way, and made up his mind that the only thing to do was to watch for a
chance to slip out, if the door of the cage should happen to be left
unfastened.
Of course it hurt his pride terribly to be made fun of by those who
always had feared him. Happy Jack Squirrel was the first one of these to
see him. Farmer Brown's boy had put the cage down near the foot of the
big maple tree in which Happy Jack was living, because Shadow had driven
him out of the Green Forest. As soon as Happy Jack had made sure that
Shadow really and truly was a prisoner and so quite harmless, he had
acted as if he were crazy. Perhaps he was--crazy with joy. You see, he
no longer had anything to be really afraid of, for there was no one but
Shadow from whom he could not get away by running into his house. Billy
Mink was the only other one who could follow him there, and Billy was
not likely to come climbing up a tree so close to Farmer Brown's house.
So Happy Jack raced up and down the tree in the very greatest
excitement, and his tongue went quite as fast as his legs. He wanted
everybody to know that Shadow was a prisoner at last. At first he did
not dare go very close to the cage. You see, he had so long feared
Shadow that he was still afraid of him even though he was so helpless.
But little by little Happy Jack grew bolder and came very close. And
then he began doing something not at all nice. He began calling Shadow
names and making fun of him, and telling him how he wasn't afraid of
him. It was all very foolish and worse--it was like hitting a foe who
was helpless.
Of course Happy Jack hastened to tell everybody he met all about Shadow,
so it wasn't long before Shadow began to receive many visitors. Whenever
Farmer Brown's boy was not around there was sure to be one or more of
the little people who had feared Shadow to taunt him and make fun of
him. Somehow it seems as if always it is that way when people get into
trouble. You know it is very easy to appear to be bold and brave when
there is nothing to be afraid of. Of course that isn't bravery at all,
though many seem to think it is.
[Illustration: IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE SHADOW BEGAN TO RECEIVE MANY
VISITORS.]
Now what do you think that right down in their hearts all these little
people who came to jeer at Shadow the Weasel hoped they would see? Why,
they hoped they would see Shadow afraid. Yes, Sir, that is just what
they hoped. But they didn't. That is where they were disappointed. Not
once did Shadow show the least sign of fear. He didn't know what Farmer
Brown's boy would do with him, and he had every reason to fear that if
he was not to be kept a prisoner for the rest of his natural life,
something dreadful would be the end. But he was too proud and too brave
to let any one know that any such fear ever entered his mind. Whatever
his faults, Shadow is no coward. He boldly took bits of meat which
Farmer Brown's boy brought to him, and not once appeared in the least
afraid, so that, much as he disliked him, Farmer Brown's boy actually
had to admire him. He was a prisoner, but he kept just as stout a heart
as ever.