“You don’t mean to stand here and let Danny Fox steal Henny Penny and
Cocky Doodle and maybe Ducky Waddles?” almost shouted Mrs. Longtooth
Rat, as Danny Fox’s hind feet threw back the dirt from the tunnel he
was digging under the Henhouse.
“Well, what can I do about it?” asked Mr. Longtooth Rat.
“What can you do?” answered his wife angrily. “You can run into the
farmhouse and tell Old Sic’em.”
You see, the Kind Farmer was away, and his wife was all alone, so she
kept Old Sic’em in the house at night.
“All right,” answered the old rat, and he ran softly across the
barnyard, under the back porch, and through a hole into the kitchen.
As soon as Old Sic’em learned what was the matter, he ran upstairs and
woke up the farmer’s wife.
The very first thing she did was to look out of the window. Of course,
you know what she saw. But if you don’t, I’ll tell you. It was Danny
Fox’s tail sticking out of the hole under the door of the Henhouse.
It didn’t take her a minute to softly open the kitchen door and let
out Old Sic’em, and before Danny Fox could back out from under the
Henhouse, the old watchdog had him by his long bushy tail.
My goodness! What a jump Danny Fox gave. But Old Sic’em held on. Then
Danny Fox gave another jump, and this time he got away, for Old Sic’em
had only a few teeth. But just the same, Danny Fox left the tip of his
beautiful bushy tail behind him.
“You’re a good dog,” said the farmer’s wife, patting Old Sic’em. “If
you had all your teeth that old fox never would have pulled away.”
Then she went into the house, but not back to bed, for Mr. Merry Sun
was just getting up and it was early morning.
“Cock-a-doodle-do,
The grass is wet with dew.
Come, give the Henhouse key a turn
And we will catch the early worm,”
sang Cocky Doodle.
I guess the Kind Farmer’s wife understood him, for she came back and
unlocked the door. Then she sprinkled corn on the ground for the
chickens’ breakfast, and after that she milked Mrs. Cow, who was
waiting at the pasture fence.
“Gracious me!” exclaimed Henny Penny, almost falling into the hole
which Danny Fox had made. And she began to cackle so loudly that Cocky
Doodle forgot all about his breakfast.
“You can thank me that Danny Fox didn’t get in your house,” said Mrs.
Longtooth Rat. “I made Mr. Longtooth tell Old Sic’em just in time. If I
had waited another minute, it would have been too late.”