LITTLE MISS PTARMIGAN FOOLS HIM
When Little White Fox saw that he had really found out about Tdariuk,
the reindeer, all by himself, he became very wise. The next time one of
his friends disappeared from the tundra, he didn't say a word about it
to his mother, but went searching, searching, everywhere, every day.
This time it was Little Miss Ptarmigan who had disappeared. Probably you
don't know Miss Ptarmigan, for she lives only in cold lands where there
is plenty of snow. But she is a very interesting young person. She is a
bit larger than Madam Partridge and not quite so large as Madam Prairie
Hen. And a very dainty little lady she is, too, for all winter--and
that's just the time Little White Fox had known her--she had worn a
perfectly white gown, quite as white as the coat he wore himself. And if
she hadn't worn pink shoes and stockings, he probably would never have
been able to find her in the snow at all.
Now, if Little White Fox had been as old as his mother, he would have
been trying all the time to catch Little Miss Ptarmigan and carry her
off to his home for mincemeat. That is what grown-up foxes do to the
Ptarmigan folks when they get a chance. But Little White Fox was a very
small chap, and didn't give much thought to mincemeat. All he thought
about was having a good time, so almost every day he hunted up Miss
Ptarmigan, and they had a grand game of hide and seek. It was always an
exciting game, too, on account of Miss Ptarmigan's white dress, and the
only way Little White Fox could find her was by watching for her pink
shoes and stockings as she hid away in a snow bank. And when she sat on
her feet, he could almost never find her at all.
"You just wait, Miss," cried Little White Fox one day. "When summer
comes, I'll get you!"
"You will, will you!" replied Miss Ptarmigan. "How will you do it?"
"Why, in the summer the snow will be gone, and the ground will be all
brown. Then I will be able to find you anywhere!" Little White Fox gave
a hop, skip and jump that ended in a somersault, so tickled was he with
his own smartness.
"Oh, indeed!" said Miss Ptarmigan, looking very wise and mysterious.
That was all she said, but Little White Fox wasn't fussed. He hadn't
lain curled up on the grass mat in his home thinking about it night
after night for nothing.
One day when the snow was nearly all gone, Little Miss Ptarmigan
suddenly disappeared. Little White Fox didn't believe she was dead. He
remembered how he had been fooled by Tdariuk, and he remembered, too,
how she had looked when he talked about catching her. Also, he
remembered how he had found out the truth about Tdariuk. Therefore,
being a wise youngster, as I have said, he didn't say a word about it
to his mother. He just went quietly about, looking, looking everywhere
for Miss Ptarmigan.
In the meantime, Miss Ptarmigan had been making trouble for herself.
Silly old Mrs. White Owl had been telling her all winter how very well
white suited her complexion. And now summer had come, and Mother
Ptarmigan had forbidden her to go outdoors at all till her new brown
summer suit was finished. Miss Ptarmigan hated indoors, and she couldn't
understand what difference her dress made, anyway. But she never thought
of disobeying till one fine, warm day when her mother was away from
home, Little Miss Ptarmigan grew very lonesome.
"I want to go out in the sunshine," she kept saying to herself. "There
can't be a bit of harm in it. I am sure I would see Old Mrs. White Owl,
and she would say something nice about my white dress."
Down at the foot of the mountain was some one else, a some one who
didn't think much about the sunshine and the flowers. It was Master
Black Fox. He was thinking of his sausage grinder. It hadn't been used
much of late, and he was afraid it might get lazy. "A plump chub of a
Ptarmigan would grind nicely," he said to himself, smacking his lips,
"but they all wear brown dresses these days, and one cannot tell them
from the weeds and grass."
Just then his eyes opened wide. "Can I believe it?" he whispered. "Is
that one of them going down the mountain this minute--and with a white
dress on? Yes, sir, it is!"
Then Mr. Fox looked all about him very sharply, this way and that, for
his own coat was black as coal, and could be seen quite well against the
brown grass when he moved. But when he lay quite still, you couldn't
tell him from a stone. He was not afraid that Little Miss Ptarmigan
would see him. He knew where she was, and could hide behind rocks until
he came close to her.
After Mr. Fox had looked all about him very sharply, this way and that,
he began to creep around this rock and that one, all the time drawing
closer to innocent, foolish Little Miss Ptarmigan, whose white dress
showed plain as day against the brown earth. And presently he was right
behind a big rock she must pass in just another minute. And then he was
so close that it seemed almost as if she could hear him breathe.
But she didn't. She just walked along, thinking about the fine things
Madam White Owl had said to her, till zing! something sprang at her. She
gave a frightened scream and flew to one side, but she was too late.
Something sharp and cruel closed down on the toe of her pink shoes. It
was the teeth of Mr. Black Fox's sausage grinder. But he closed them
down a little too hard, for it cut the toe right off the pink shoe, and
the tips of Little Miss Ptarmigan's pink toes besides, and away she
flew, screaming with pain, toward a white snow bank in the valley.
There each little hurt toe left a red spot on the white snow, and my,
how they did ache!
One day quite a while later, when Little White Fox was over among the
brown rocks at the foot of Saw Tooth Mountain, he heard a scratch,
scratch! among the dry grasses behind him. He turned around, and there
stood a little stranger dressed all in brown. She looked wonderfully
like Miss Ptarmigan. She was just about the same size, and her shoes and
stockings were just the same shade of pink.
"Hello, Little White Fox!" she cried. "I thought you said you could find
me when summer came and the ground was all brown. You have been looking
for me a whole week, and I have been out here all the time. You saw me
yesterday, but you didn't know me, because I had put on my summer
clothes. Oh, Little White Fox, you are a very wise fellow! A very wise
fellow, indeed!"
It was Miss Ptarmigan. She had changed her white gown for a brown one!