As soon as Mr. Longtooth Rat had finished his supper he went over to
the Henhouse. You see, he was going to keep his promise to Danny Fox to
gnaw off the wooden latch.
Mr. Longtooth Rat was not a very nice sort of a person, although he was
going to do a favor for Danny Fox. The truth of the matter is that Mr.
Longtooth Rat was very willing to have Danny Fox steal the chickens,
for then more corn would be left for Mrs. Rat and himself. So you see
he wasn’t really doing Danny Fox a favor at all.
But when Mr. Longtooth Rat reached the Henhouse, to his surprise he
found that instead of the old wooden latch there was a bright new iron
one on the door.
“Who could have put it there?” he asked himself. “I don’t understand it
at all. It wasn’t on yesterday.”
There was nothing to do about it, so Mr. Longtooth Rat went back to the
barn. Perhaps he might think of a way to get into the Henhouse before
Danny Fox came the next evening.
Of course, Henny Penny and Cocky Doodle knew nothing of all this. Oh,
my, no! If they had they would have been dreadfully worried. But the
next morning while standing in the sun close to the High Haystack the
Kind Farmer gave a loud whistle.
“Whew! There’s been a fox around here. Look at his footprints!”
“Dear me,” clucked little Henny Penny.
“We must all be careful,” crowed Cocky Doodle.
Just then the Farmer’s Wife came out of the kitchen door.
“Sure enough,” she said, walking around to the rear of the Big Red Barn
where Danny Fox had been the night before.
“He tried to get in there,” said the Farmer, pointing to the hole in
the boards which led to Mr. Longtooth’s house. “I guess I’ll nail a
board over it,” and he went over to the Toolhouse for a hammer and
nails.
“I wish Danny Fox had stayed away,” said Mr. Longtooth Rat when he
heard what the Farmer meant to do. “I won’t have any front door in a
few minutes just on account of that thieving old fox.”
Then Mr. Longtooth Rat scowled and grumbled some more, forgetting what
a thief he was and how willing he had been to open the Henhouse door
for Danny Fox.
Yes, sir! When people are willing to help others steal it is because
they are stealing things for themselves.
It is a sin to steal a pin,
A chicken or a goose.
So keep that fox home in his box.
Oh, pray, don’t let him loose.