ground, with his own head lowered in a threatening fashion. And then
Nimble checked his headlong rush and merely clashed his horns pleasantly
against Dodger's.
There was something about the sound that sent a thrill through Nimble
and started his coat to bristling along his backbone with a queer,
creepy feeling.
One day in the fall Nimble's mother came upon them in the woods when
they were having one of their sham fights.
"You'd better stop that!" she said to them severely. "Somebody will get
hurt sooner or later if you're not careful."
Nimble and Dodger paid little heed to her warning, except to stop until
the good lady had gone on and left them. Then, just as they were on the
point of renewing their frolic, somebody spoke in a hoarse voice. It was
old Mr. Crow. He sat on a low branch of a spreading pine, where he had
been watching the contest for some time without being noticed.
"I'd have my fun if I wanted to," he croaked. "Ladies are too finicky.
They don't know what a good time is."
Now, Mr. Crow's remarks pleased Nimble. And they pleased Dodger the
Deer. They didn't know that the old gentleman was a famous trouble
maker.
So Dodger and Nimble drew a little distance apart, as they always did
when they were getting ready to clash.
"Go it!" squalled Mr. Crow.
And they started. And Mr. Crow jumped up and down in his excitement.
"Now there's going to be some real fun," he muttered.
But Dodger the Deer leaped aside just in time to avoid being hit. And
that didn't please Mr. Crow at all.
"You fellows aren't half trying," he cried impatiently. "Anyone would
think you were a pair of Spike Horns."
Now, all Spike Horns were two whole years younger than Dodger and
Nimble. So it was no wonder that Mr. Crow's words stung them.
Nimble charged more fiercely than ever. And Dodger stood his ground.
With his feet planted firmly beneath him he waited for the blow.
There was a crack and a thud.
"Ha!" Mr. Crow squawked. "That's a little more like it. Dodger didn't
dodge that time, to be sure. But he stood still. And only a Spike Horn
would stand and _wait_ for the enemy."
Of course Dodger couldn't help wanting to show Mr. Crow that he knew how
to carry on a mock battle. So the next time Nimble rushed at him Dodger
did not wait. He jumped to meet Nimble. They struck in the air with a
frightful crash and fell sprawling upon the ground.
"Ha! That's more like it!" Mr. Crow applauded. "That's the sort of mock
battle I like to see!"
XVI
MR. CROW LOOKS ON
Nimble and his friend Dodger the Deer picked themselves up off the
ground where they had fallen after their collision in the air. They did
not feel any too pleasant. One of Dodger's sharp tines had given Nimble
a good prick. And one of Nimble's points had stung Dodger like a
hornet's sting.
If only one of them had been pricked the whole affair might have ended
differently. For then perhaps only one of them would have lost his
temper. As they drew apart they were growing more angry every instant.
And when they wheeled and glared at each other old Mr. Crow, who was
watching them from his perch in the pine tree, called out: "Don't stop!
Make it lively, now!"
Nimble gritted his teeth and stamped upon the ground.
"I'll teach you not to prick me!" he muttered.
"I'll make you wish you'd left those new antlers at home!" cried Dodger
the Deer.
"Don't stop!" old Mr. Crow urged them once more as he teetered on his
perch. "Let the fun go on!"
He squalled so loudly that his cousin Jasper Jay heard him half a mile
away and came hurrying up to see what was going on. He arrived just in
time to see Nimble and Dodger stagger back from another mad charge.
"What's this? A mock battle?" Jasper Jay inquired as he settled down
beside Mr. Crow.
"No!" Mr. Crow replied in muffled tones. "It is a real one--but they
don't know it yet."
Next to quarreling himself, old Mr. Crow loved to look on while others
wrangled. And though he had no taste himself for actual fighting, he
liked to see his neighbors pummel and peck and buffet and bounce one
another.
So Mr. Crow enjoyed watching the tilt between Nimble and Dodger the
Deer. Neither Mr. Crow, nor his rowdy cousin Jasper Jay, had ever seen
so furious a fracas as that one soon became. Sometimes Nimble and Dodger
rushed together with such force that it seemed to Mr. Crow their horns
must break off. Sometimes they reared and struck each other with their
front hoofs.
At first, whenever he felt a hurt Nimble only fought the harder. When
Dodger's horns gouged him and his hoofs cut him Nimble butted and thrust
and struck all the faster. But for every buffet he repaid Dodger, Dodger
gave him another that was heavier than ever.
It was no wonder that in time Nimble began to feel tired. But he didn't
let Dodger the Deer know that.
"This was easy to start," Nimble thought, "but it seems hard to stop. I
wish Dodger would run away."
In the meantime Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay agreed that the battle was
growing tamer every moment.
"Hustle it up!" Mr. Crow called to Nimble and Dodger, while Jasper Jay
jeered at them both and told them they were mollycoddles.
"I shouldn't call this a mock battle now," Mr. Crow told them. "It's
more like a game of tag."
"If only Dodger would run away!" Nimble said under his breath. "I'll
stop a minute and see if he won't." So he stood still, with his nose all
but touching the ground.
Dodger the Deer did not run. But he paused and stood exactly as Nimble
was standing.
So they eyed each other for a while. And neither of them said a word.
"Come!" cried old Mr. Crow. "This will never do. Give us more action!"
And then Dodger the Deer looked up at Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay and spoke.
"If you want more action why don't you two furnish it?" he asked.
"That's a good idea!" Nimble exclaimed. "Let's see a mock battle up in
the tree!"
[Illustration: "Don't Stop!" Said Old Mr. Crow, to Nimble.
_Page 85_]
But Mr. Crow replied hoarsely that he had to meet a friend down the
valley. "I must be flapping along," he said. And off he went.
Jasper Jay grinned and winked at Nimble and Dodger behind Mr. Crow's
back. And then with a loud squall--which might have meant almost
anything--he too flew away.
"That was the liveliest mock battle we ever had," Nimble remarked to his
friend Dodger.
Dodger agreed with what he said.
Nimble's mother gasped when she saw her son a little later.
"You're a terrible sight!" she told him severely. "What have you been
doing?"
"I've been having fun with Dodger the Deer," Nimble explained. "But to
tell the truth, it wasn't as much fun as I had expected."
XVII
WHAT BROWNIE WANTED
Nimble Deer had stopped at Brownie Beaver's pond to get a drink. Just as
he raised his head from the water he spied Brownie a little way off, on
the bank, gnawing at a box alder tree.
"Good evening!" Nimble called to him.
"Good evening!" Brownie Beaver answered.
"I see you're busy, as usual," Nimble remarked.
"Yes!" Brownie replied. "And what are you doing--if I may ask?"
"Oh! I'm just rambling about," Nimble explained.
"Then you're not doing much of anything," said Brownie Beaver.
Nimble admitted that he wasn't.
"Since you're not working, perhaps you'll be willing to help me,"
Brownie suggested.
"Certainly!" Nimble cried. He liked Brownie Beaver. Everybody liked
him--unless it was Timothy Turtle, who had a grudge against the whole
Beaver tribe.
"Maybe I can make arrangements with you to----" Brownie began.
"Of course you can!" Nimble interrupted.
"That's very kind of you," Brownie said. "I'm sure I'm much obliged to
you."
"You're quite welcome," Nimble assured him.
"You're sure you won't mind!" Brownie Beaver inquired.
"Not at all! No, indeed! What is it you want me to do for you? Do you
want me to help you roll a log into the water, when you've finished
cutting down that tree? I might use my horns for a cant hook, such as
the lumbermen have."
"No! It's not that--thank you!" Brownie Beaver mumbled. He had not
stopped working, while he talked. And having some chips in his mouth he
did not speak any too clearly.
"Maybe you'd like me to walk back and forth along the top of your dam
and make it firmer," Nimble suggested.
"No, it's not that," Brownie told him. "The dam is firm. It has been
here a great many years, ever since my great-great-grandfather's
time.... You've noticed my house, I dare say," he went on.
"I have," Nimble answered. "It's a good one, though the chimney looks a
bit lopsided, to me. Shall I give it a push and see if I can straighten
it?"
"No, indeed--thank you!" said Brownie hurriedly. "For mercy's sake,
don't touch my chimney! I worked a long time to make it. And if I do say
so, it's the best one in the whole village."
Well, Nimble Deer couldn't guess what it was that Brownie Beaver wanted
him to do. He couldn't think of any other way in which he might help.
"Then what--" he demanded--"what is it you want?"
"There's something I need for my house," Brownie explained.
"Shingles!" Nimble cried.
"No!" Brownie said, as he shook his head.
"I hope you don't want a pair of antlers to fasten over your chimney
piece!" Nimble exclaimed. "I shouldn't care to part with my
antlers--not just at present!"
"No!" Brownie said once more.
"I'm glad of that," Nimble replied. For a moment he had been worried.
And then Brownie Beaver told him what he had in mind: "I need a flag to
fly over my house."
"That would be fine," Nimble observed. "But I don't see how I could help
you with that."
"I've heard that you have a flag. I thought perhaps you'd let me have
it--or borrow it, at least," Brownie Beaver told him.
Nimble Deer looked puzzled.
"I haven't any flag," he said. And then he cried, "Yes! Yes, I have
one!"
"Ah! I was told you had," said Brownie Beaver.
"Who told you?"
"Old Mr. Crow!" Brownie Beaver said.
"I might have known it," Nimble muttered. "He has played a joke on you.
It's true that I have a flag; but it's not the kind of flag you want.
Some people call my tail a flag, on account of the way I wave it in the
air when I'm startled. Of course you wouldn't care to have my tail on
the top of your house."
And Brownie Beaver admitted that he shouldn't.
"But I can't help being disappointed," he confessed.
XVIII
THE MULEY COW
Nimble Deer was a famous jumper. And so was the Muley Cow. In Farmer
Green's herd there was no other that could match her.
Living as he did in the pasture, Billy Woodchuck had often seen and
admired the Muley Cow as she jumped the fence in order to get into the
clover patch, or the cornfield, or the orchard.
And Jimmy Rabbit, who lived in the woods, had come to believe--and even
boast--that there wasn't anyone that could jump higher than Nimble Deer.
So Billy Woodchuck and Jimmy Rabbit could never agree upon this question
of the best jumper in Pleasant Valley. And there was only one way to
settle their difference of opinion. Old Mr. Crow told them that.
"You must have a contest," he declared.
And everybody was willing. The Muley Cow said (when asked) that she
would be delighted. And when Nimble Deer heard of the plan he ran all
the way to the back pasture at once. For that was where Mr. Crow said
the contest ought to take place.
Nimble reached the back pasture just in time to see the Muley Cow arrive
there. She leaped the fence. And at the same time she grazed the top
rail.
"Good morning, madam!" Nimble said to the Muley Cow. And while she was
answering him Nimble jumped the fence into the pasture from which the
Muley Cow had come; and then he jumped back again, into the back
pasture. And he didn't touch the fence by so much as a single hair.
Then Billy Woodchuck crawled under the fence and came hurrying up.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm just stretching my legs a bit," Nimble explained. At that answer
Billy Woodchuck set up a loud clamor. "It's not fair!" he howled. "I
expected the Muley Cow to win the contest. But if you're going to
stretch your legs she'll certainly be beaten unless she stretches hers
too."
Now, old Mr. Crow was on hand to see the fun. And not being very
friendly with the Muley Cow he didn't want her to win the contest. So he
began to squall.
"She mustn't stretch her legs any more than Nimble stretches his," he
objected in his hoarse croak. "Nimble jumped the fence twice to stretch
his legs. She has jumped once already. Let her jump the fence once more
and then they'll be even and the real contest can begin."
"That's fair enough," said Jimmy Rabbit. But Billy Woodchuck began to
chatter and scold.
"It's a trick--a trick of Mr. Crow's!" he cried. "If the Muley Cow jumps
once more to stretch her legs she'll be on the wrong side of the fence.
She won't be in the back pasture then. And how could she have the
contest with Nimble Deer?"
Old Mr. Crow gave a loud haw-haw. But he still insisted that the Muley
Cow might have only one more leg-stretching jump, when Jimmy Rabbit
hurried up to him and said something nobody else could hear. And Mr.
Crow listened and then nodded his head.
"It's all right," the old gentleman told Billy Woodchuck. "Let the Muley
Cow stretch her legs all she likes."
XIX
THE JUMPING CONTEST
Having had Mr. Crow's permission, the Muley Cow went on stretching her
legs as much as she pleased. She jumped the pasture fence; and she
jumped it back again. And when she seemed about to stop Billy Woodchuck
whispered to her, "You may as well keep a-stretching them. Keep
a-jumping! And when the time for the real contest with Nimble Deer comes
your legs will be stretched so long that you'll beat Nimble without the
slightest trouble."
So the Muley Cow jumped over the fence and back, over the fence and
back. And when at last she said she was ready for the contest Billy
Woodchuck still urged her to stretch her legs a bit more.
By the time he was willing to let her stop the Muley Cow's sides were
heaving.
Meanwhile Jimmy Rabbit and Billy Woodchuck, with Mr. Crow's help, had
picked out a clump of young hawthorns for the first test. And now that
everybody was ready for the contest Nimble Deer cleared the clump
gracefully, with a foot to spare.
Then came the Muley Cow's turn. She looked worried as she fell into a
lumbering gallop and ran towards the prickly young trees. And with a
mighty effort she tried to fling herself over them.
As she rose into the air she gave a bellow of dismay, to fall
floundering the next instant into the thorny thicket.
Jimmy Rabbit began to hop about in circles. He knew that Nimble had won
the contest and Jimmy was very happy.
Old Mr. Crow haw-hawed. The Muley Cow had lost the contest and he was
glad.
Nimble watched the Muley Cow as she struggled amid the hawthorns, trying
to scramble out of the tangle.
"Can I help you, madam?" he asked.
But she never even thanked him. She was so upset that she neither wanted
anybody to speak to her nor did she wish to speak to anybody else.
As for Billy Woodchuck, he looked frightfully disappointed. He had
expected the Muley Cow to win the jumping contest. And there she was,
beaten at the very first jump!
He stole up to her; and standing on his hind legs, to get as near her as
he could, he said, "It's a pity you lost! I don't believe you stretched
your legs enough."
The Muley Cow snorted.
"That's not the reason why," she snapped. "I stretched my legs _too
much_. I jumped the fence until I was so tired I could scarcely stand.
It's no wonder that Nimble beat me."
Nimble Deer could see that the Muley Cow was feeling quite glum. After
she had struggled free of the thorns he went up to her and bowed in his
most polite manner. "Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked her.
"Yes! Do let down the bars for me!" she gasped. "I want to go home. And
I couldn't jump that fence again. It would be dangerous for me to try. I
might fall and break a leg off. And then I'd have a short leg the rest
of my life."
"You could stretch it," old Mr. Crow suggested.
But the Muley Cow turned her back on him and walked away.
XX
SOLVING A PROBLEM
Jimmy Rabbit was going to give a party. Up and down Pleasant Valley and
all about Blue Mountain the field and forest people were talking about
it.
Almost everybody had an invitation. There were only a few that weren't
asked. Jimmy Rabbit didn't intend to invite Grumpy Weasel because he was
a rascal. And Timothy Turtle wasn't to be one of the guests because he
would be sure to grumble at everybody and everything.
And then there was Nimble Deer. Jimmy Rabbit said that Nimble was _too
big_ to come to his party. And every one told Jimmy Rabbit that it was
a pity. All the neighbors said so much that Jimmy Rabbit didn't know
what to do.
"If I don't ask Nimble you won't be pleased," Jimmy complained to Billy
Woodchuck. "And if I do ask him and he should happen to step on you
during a dance you wouldn't like that."
"Invite him; but keep him away from the crowd!" Billy Woodchuck
suggested.
"How can I do that?" Jimmy Rabbit demanded.
"I don't know," Billy replied. "But I am sure you can find a way, if
anybody can."
Well, after that remark there was nothing Jimmy Rabbit could do except
to put on his thinking cap. But try as he would, he couldn't hit upon a
single plan.
Now, Nimble Deer had no idea of all the trouble he was causing Jimmy
Rabbit. To be sure, he knew that he was not invited to Jimmy Rabbit's
party. But he was no person to sulk or feel hurt over such a matter.
However, there was one thing that he thought was odd. Wherever he went
he was sure to come upon Jimmy Rabbit. Sometimes Nimble would hear a
faint rustle. And when he looked around he would catch a glimpse of
Jimmy Rabbit ducking out of sight behind a tree. Sometimes Nimble would
be taking a nap under the shelter of a clump of evergreens. And he would
wake up suddenly with a strange feeling that somebody was watching him.
And almost always he would discover Jimmy Rabbit crouching near-by and
staring at him.
At first, at such times, Nimble only spoke pleasantly to Jimmy Rabbit.
Still he couldn't help noticing that Jimmy Rabbit always acted queerly.
He seemed to be absent minded. If Nimble bade him a cheerful good
morning Jimmy Rabbit was likely to reply with a good evening. If Nimble
said, "It's a fine day," Jimmy would say, "Yes! It does look like rain."
At last, one day, Jimmy Rabbit made the oddest answer of all. When
Nimble spied him peering from behind a stump he called, "Hullo! I'm
glad to see you." To which remark Jimmy Rabbit said, "I hope to see
you later."
"Now, I wonder--" Nimble mused--"I wonder what he means." And then
Nimble asked Jimmy Rabbit a question: "Are you feeling well?"
"As well as could be expected!" Jimmy Rabbit told him.
"You don't seem like yourself," said Nimble. "I haven't seen you smile
for over a week."
Then, strangely enough, Jimmy Rabbit jumped into the air and kicked and
smiled.
"At last," he cried, "I feel better. I have solved the problem. Will you
come to my party and help me a week from to-night?"
Nimble Deer thanked him and said that he would.
XXI
AN UNTOLD SECRET
All the field and forest people soon knew that at last Jimmy Rabbit had
invited Nimble Deer to his party. And everybody was pleased--that is,
everybody except Grumpy Weasel and old Timothy Turtle, who were left out
in the cold, so to speak. Grumpy Weasel, when he heard the news, said,
"Humph!" And Timothy Turtle, when he heard it, said, "Ho!" And they both
declared that they were _glad_ they were not going to the party.
Old Mr. Crow carried the news far and wide. It was he that told Billy
Woodchuck, in Farmer Green's clover patch. And Billy Woodchuck almost
choked over a clover top, he was so excited.
"Where's Jimmy Rabbit?" he asked Mr. Crow. "I want to ask him
something."
"I couldn't say where he is," said Mr. Crow. "I don't think he'd want me
to tell. But I'll find him for you and I'll ask him your question--if
you'll tell me what it is." That was Mr. Crow's way. He was so curious.
"Thank you!" said Billy Woodchuck. "I don't want to trouble you, Mr.
Crow."
And though Mr. Crow tried to learn what the question was, Billy
Woodchuck wouldn't tell him.
Later Billy was almost sorry he hadn't accepted Mr. Crow's help. For he
couldn't find Jimmy Rabbit anywhere. And then Billy happened to meet
Nimble Deer.
"I hear you're going to the party," Billy said to him. "How are you
going to keep out of the crowd?" That was the question he had wanted to
ask Jimmy Rabbit.
"Keep out of the crowd!" Nimble exclaimed. "I don't expect to keep out
of it. The crowd at a party is more than half the fun. Since I'm to help
Jimmy Rabbit I'll have to be where the people are."
"Oh!" said Billy Woodchuck. He had been a bit worried, for he didn't
want Nimble Deer to step on him at the party. Even though it might be an
accident, being stepped on by so big a chap as Nimble would be no joke.
Everybody knew that Nimble's hoofs were sharp.
But now Billy had learned something that set his fears at rest. Nimble
Deer was going to _help_ Jimmy at the party.
"Ah!" Billy Woodchuck murmured to himself. "That means that Jimmy
Rabbit has a plan. And it must be a good one; for his plans are always
fine."
"What are you going to do to help?" he asked Nimble.
"Jimmy Rabbit didn't tell me," Nimble replied. "Maybe I'm to entertain
the company by having a mock battle with somebody. How would you like to
have a mock battle with me?"
"I shouldn't care for it at all!"
"Well, I dare say _somebody_ would enjoy a sham fight," said Nimble. "I
must ask Jimmy Rabbit who it will be."
So the next time Nimble found Jimmy Rabbit he asked him that very
question.
But Jimmy Rabbit said there were to be no battles of any kind at his
party.
"Then how am I going to help you?"
"You're going to use your horns--but not to fight," Jimmy Rabbit
explained.
And he wouldn't say another word.
XXII
THE NEW HAT-RACK
The night of Jimmy Rabbit's party arrived at last. The time was an hour
after sunset. The place was Farmer Green's back pasture. And Jimmy
Rabbit was waiting eagerly. He had told Nimble Deer to come early,
before the other guests, because Nimble was going to help him.
Jimmy Rabbit hadn't waited long when he heard a muffled thud, followed
by a swift patter.
"There's Nimble now!" he exclaimed. "He just jumped the stone wall and
he's coming this way."
Jimmy Rabbit was right. In a few seconds more Nimble Deer stood before
him.
"Here I am!" Nimble cried. "I've come early and I'm ready to help you."
"Good!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "Step this way, please!" And he hopped over
to a clump of evergreens. Nimble followed him.
"Now," Jimmy Rabbit went on, "step inside this thicket and let only your
head and neck stick out!"
"What shall I do with my antlers?" Nimble asked him. "They won't come
off, because it's the wrong time of year to shed them."
"Oh! I want your antlers to show too," Jimmy Rabbit assured him.
So Nimble did exactly as Jimmy Rabbit had told him.
Then Jimmy sat up a little way off, cocked his head on one side, and
looked at Nimble. "That's fine!" he declared. "When the moon comes up
everybody will be able to see you--except what's hidden by the
evergreens."
"What am I going to do here?" Nimble inquired.
"You're to stand perfectly still," Jimmy explained.
"And what else?"
"Nothing!" Jimmy Rabbit answered. "The other guests will do the rest....
And now, if you don't mind, I'll leave you here; for I hear somebody
coming."
He scampered away then. But soon he came hurrying back.
"There's something I forgot to say," he told Nimble hurriedly. "You
mustn't talk. You mustn't even open your mouth. You mustn't even chew
your cud."
"I suppose I can wink if I want to," said Nimble Deer.
"No, indeed!" Jimmy Rabbit cried. "That would spoil everything."
"It's going to be hard," Nimble complained, "to keep so still."
"Oh, no!" Jimmy Rabbit assured him. "It will be easy. Just act as if you
were stuffed!"
"Stuffed!" Nimble exclaimed. "I've never been stuffed. I hope I never
shall be. And I don't know how to act as if I were."
Jimmy Rabbit didn't even wait to hear what Nimble said, but whisked away
again.
"Dear me!" Nimble muttered. "I wish I hadn't said I'd come to the party
and help. For it certainly won't be any fun to stand still in this
thicket, with only my head and neck sticking out."
However, he had promised to help. So there was nothing to be done except
to follow Jimmy Rabbit's orders. And at once Nimble could hear Jimmy
Rabbit welcoming some early guests.
"Come this way and leave your hats and coats!" Jimmy Rabbit was saying.
And soon he returned with Billy Woodchuck and Fatty Coon at his heels.
Jimmy led them straight to the place where Nimble stood.
"Hang your things on my new hat-rack!" Jimmy Rabbit told them as he
waved a paw toward Nimble's antlers.
And to Nimble's amazement they reached up to do as they were told.
But Nimble's antlers were too high for them.