ANYBODY can tell by her face that the Little Lady has some plan of her
own when the Story Teller is ready next evening to "sit by the fire and
spin."
"I want you to tell me," she says, climbing up into her place, "how the
'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow ever got to living together in
the Hollow Tree."
That frightens the Story Teller. He is all ready with something
different.
"Good gracious!" he says, "that is an old story that all the Deep Woods
People have known ever so long."
"But I don't know it," says the Little Lady, "and I'd like to know that
before you tell anything else. Rock, and tell it."
So the Story Teller rocks slowly, and smokes, and almost forgets the
Little Lady in remembering that far-away time, and presently he begins.
Well, it was all so long ago that perhaps I can't remember it very well.
Mr. 'Possum was a young man in those days--a nice spry young fellow; and
he used to think it was a good deal of fun to let Mr. Dog--who wasn't
friendly then, of course--try to catch him; and when Mr. Dog would get
pretty close and come panting up behind him, Mr. 'Possum would scramble
up a tree, and run out on to the longest limb and swing from it, head
down, and laugh, and say:
"Come right up, Mr. Dog! Always at home to you, Mr. Dog! Don't stop to
knock!"
And then Mr. Dog would race around under the tree and make a great to
do, and sometimes Mr. 'Possum would swing back and forth, and pretty
soon give a great big swing and let go, and Mr. Dog would think surely
he had him then, and bark and run to the place where he thought he was
going to drop. Only Mr. 'Possum didn't drop--not far; for he had his
limb all picked out, and he would catch it with his tail as he went by,
and it would bend and sway with him, and he would laugh, and call again:
"Don't go, Mr. Dog! Mr. Man can get up the cows alone to-night!"
[Illustration: CAME CLATTERING DOWN RIGHT IN FRONT OF MR. DOG]
And then Mr. Dog would remember that he was a good ways from home, and
that if he wasn't there in time to help Mr. Man get up the cows there
might be trouble; and he would set out lickety-split for home, with Mr.
'Possum calling to him as he ran.
But one time Mr. 'Possum made a mistake. He didn't know it, but he was
getting older and a good deal fatter than he had been at first, and when
he swung out for another limb that way, and let go, he missed the limb
and came clattering down right in front of Mr. Dog. He wasn't hurt much,
for the ground was soft, and there was a nice thick bed of leaves; but I
tell you he was scared, and when Mr. Dog jumped right on top of him, and
grabbed him, he gave himself up for lost, sure enough.
But Mr. 'Possum is smart in some ways, and he knows how to play "dead"
better than any other animal there is. He knew that Mr. Dog would want
to show him to Mr. Man, and that he was too heavy for Mr. Dog to carry.
He had thought about all that, and decided what to do just in that
little second between the limb and the ground, for Mr. 'Possum can think
quick enough when anything like that happens.
So when he struck the ground he just gave one little kick with his hind
foot and a kind of a sigh, as if he was drawing his last breath, and
laid there: and even when Mr. Dog grabbed him and shook him he never let
on, but acted almost deader than if he had been really dead and no
mistake.
Then Mr. Dog stood with his paws out and his nose down close, listening,
and barking once in a while, and thinking maybe he would come to pretty
soon, but Mr. 'Possum still never let on, or breathed the least little
bit, and directly Mr. Dog started to drag him toward Mr. Man's house.
That was a hard job, and every little way Mr. Dog would stop and shake
Mr. 'Possum and bark and listen to see if he was really dead, and after
a while he decided that he was, and started to get Mr. Man to come and
fetch Mr. 'Possum home. But he only went a few steps, the first time,
and just as Mr. 'Possum was about to jump up and run he came hurrying
back, and stood over him and barked and barked as loud as ever he could
for Mr. Man to come and see what he had for him. But Mr. Man was too far
away, and even if he heard Mr. Dog he didn't think it worth while to
come.
So then Mr. Dog tried to get Mr. 'Possum on his shoulder, to carry him
that way; but Mr. 'Possum made himself so limp and loose and heavy that
every time Mr. Dog would get him nearly up he would slide off again and
fall all in a heap on the leaves; and Mr. Dog couldn't help believing
that he was dead, to see him lying there all doubled up, just as he
happened to drop.
[Illustration: SO THEN MR. DOG TRIED TO GET MR. 'POSSUM ON HIS SHOULDER]
So, then, by-and-by Mr. Dog really did start for Mr. Man's, and Mr.
'Possum lay still, and just opened one eye the least bit to see how
far Mr. Dog had gone, and when he had gone far enough Mr. 'Possum jumped
up quick as a wink and scampered up a tree, and ran out on a limb and
swung with his head down, and called out:
"Don't go away, Mr. Dog! We've had such a nice visit together! Don't go
off mad, Mr. Dog! Come back and stay till the cows come home!"
Then Mr. Dog was mad, I _tell_ you, and told him what he'd do next time;
and he set out for home fast as he could travel, and went in the back
way and hid, for Mr. Man was already getting up the cows when he got
there.
Well, Mr. 'Possum didn't try that swinging trick on Mr. Dog any more. He
found out that it was dangerous, the way he was getting, and that made
him think he ought to change his habits in other ways too. For one
thing, he decided he ought to have some regular place to stay where he
could eat and sleep and feel at home, instead of just travelling about
and putting up for the night wherever he happened to be.
Mr. 'Possum was always quite stylish, too, and had a good many nice
clothes, and it wasn't good for them to be packed about all the time;
and once some of his best things got rained on and he had to sleep on
them for a long time to get them pressed out smooth again.
So Mr. 'Possum made up his mind to find a home. He was an old bachelor
and never wanted to be anything else, because he liked to have his own
way, and go out all times of the night, and sleep late if he wanted to.
So he made up his mind to look up a good place to board--some place that
would be like a home to him--perhaps in a private family.
One day when he was walking through the woods thinking about it, and
wondering how he ought to begin to find a place like that, he met Mr. Z.
'Coon, who was one of his oldest friends in the Big Deep Woods. They had
often been hunting together, especially nights, for Mr. 'Coon and Mr.
'Possum always like that time best for hunting, and have better luck in
the dark than any other time. Mr. 'Coon had had his troubles with Mr.
Dog, too, and had come very near getting caught one night when Mr. Man
and some of his friends were out with Mr. Dog and his relatives and
several guns looking for a good Sunday dinner. Mr. 'Coon _would_ have
got caught that time, only when Mr. Man cut the tree down that he was in
he gave a big jump as the tree was falling and landed in another tree,
and then ran out on a limb and jumped to another tree that wasn't so far
away, and then to another, so that Mr. Man and his friends and all the
dog family lost track of him entirely.
[Illustration: HE WAS AN OLD BACHELOR AND LIKED TO HAVE HIS OWN WAY]
But Mr. 'Coon was tired of that kind of thing too, and wanted some
place where he could be comfortable, and where he could lock the door
nights and feel safe. Mr. 'Coon was a bachelor, like Mr. 'Possum, though
he had once been disappointed in love, and told about it sometimes, and
looked sad, and even shed tears.
So when he met Mr. 'Possum that day they walked along and talked about
finding a place to live, and just as they were wondering what they ought
to do they happened to notice, right in front of them, a little piece of
birch bark tacked up on a tree, and when they read it, it said:
MRS. WIDOW CROW.
WILL TAKE A FEW GUESTS.
SINGLE GENTLEMEN PREFERRED;
PLEASANT LOCATION NEAR
RACE-TRACK.
Then Mr. 'Possum scratched his head and tried to think, and Mr. 'Coon
scratched _his_ head and tried to think, and pretty soon Mr. 'Coon said:
[Illustration: THEY SAW MR. CROW OUT IN THE YARD CUTTING WOOD FOR HIS
MOTHER-IN-LAW]
"Oh yes, I know about that. That's Mr. Crow's mother-in-law. He had a
wife until last year, and his mother-in-law used to live with them. I
believe she was pretty cross, but I've heard Mr. Crow say she was a good
cook, and that he had learned to cook a great many things himself. I
heard some time ago that she had moved over by the race-track, and
perhaps Mr. Crow is boarding with her. Let's go over and see."
So away they went, saying how nice it would be to be really settled, and
pretty soon they got over to Mrs. Widow Crow's, and there, sure enough,
they saw Mr. Crow out in the yard cutting wood for his mother-in-law;
and when they asked him about the advertisement, he said he was helping
her to get started, and she had two nice rooms, and that Mr. 'Possum and
Mr. 'Coon would be just the ones to fill them.
So they went right in and saw Mrs. Widow Crow about it, and by night
they had their things moved and were all settled, and Widow Crow got a
nice supper for them, and Mr. Crow helped her, and worked as hard as if
he were a hired man instead of a boarder like the others, which he was,
because he paid for his room as much as anybody, and got scolded besides
when he didn't do things to suit his mother-in-law.