_By Mr. Dog, with Sketches_
Once upon a time there was a foolish young duck named Erastus (called
'Rastus, for short). He was an only child, and lived with his mother in
a small house on the bank of a pond at the foot of the farm-yard.
Erastus thought himself a brave duck; he would chase his shadow, and was
not afraid of quite a large worm.
As he grew older he did not tell his mother everything. Once he slipped
away, and went swimming alone. Then a worm larger than any he had ever
seen came up out of the water, and would have swallowed Erastus if he
had not reached the shore just in time, and gone screaming to his
mother.
His mother said the great worm was a water-snake, and she told Erastus
snake-stories which gave him bad dreams.
[Illustration: MR. DOG SAID HE HAD MADE A FEW SKETCHES]
Erastus grew quite fast, and soon thought he was nearly grown up. Once
he tried to smoke with some other young ducks behind the barn. It made
Erastus sick, and his mother found it out. She gave Erastus some
unpleasant medicine, and made him stay in bed a week.
Erastus decided that he would run away. While his mother was taking her
morning bath he packed his things in a little valise she had given him
for Christmas. Then he slipped out the back door and made for the woods
as fast as he could go. He had made up his mind to be a robber, and make
a great deal of money by taking it away from other people.
He had begun by taking a small toy pistol which belonged to Mr. Man's
little boy. He wore it at his side. His mother had read to him about
robbers. Erastus also had on his nice new coat and pretty vest.
He did not rob anybody that day. There was nothing in the woods but
trees and vines. Erastus tripped over the vines and hurt himself, and
lost the toy pistol.
Then it came night, and he was very lonesome. For the first time in his
life Erastus missed his mother. There was a nice full moon, but Erastus
did not care for it. Some of the black shadows about him looked as if
they might be live things. By-and-by he heard a noise near him.
Erastus the Robber Duck started to run; but he was lost, and did not
know which way to go. All at once he was face to face with some large
animal. It wore a long cape and a mask. It also carried a real pistol
which it pointed at Erastus and told him to hold up his wings. Erastus
the Robber Duck held up his wings as high as possible, and tried to get
them higher. It did not seem to Erastus that he could hold them up high
enough. His mother had read to him about robbers.
Then the robber took all the things that Erastus had in his pockets. He
took his new knife and his little watch; also the nice bag which his
mother had given him for Christmas.
Erastus kept his wings up a good while after the robber had gone. He was
afraid the robber had not gone far enough. When he put them down they
were cramped and sore. Then he heard something again, and thought it was
the robber coming back after his clothes.
Erastus fled with great speed, taking off his garments as he ran. At
last he reached the edge of the wood, not far from where he lived. It
was just morning, and his mother saw him coming. She looked sad, and
embraced him.
It was the first time Erastus had been out all night.
Erastus was not allowed to go swimming or even to leave the yard for a
long time. Whenever he remembered that night in the woods he shivered,
and his mother thought he had a chill. Then she would put him to bed
and give him some of the unpleasant medicine.
Erastus did not tell his mother _all_ that had happened that night for a
good while. He was ashamed to do so. But one day when he seemed quite
sick and his mother was frightened, he broke down and told her all about
it. Then his mother forgave him, and he got well right away.
After that Erastus behaved, and grew to be the best and largest duck in
Mr. Man's farm-yard.
* * * * *
While Mr. Dog had been reading his story the Hollow Tree People--the
'Coon and the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow--had been leaning forward
and almost holding their breath, and Mr. Dog felt a good deal flattered
when he noticed how interested they were. When he sat down he saw that
Mr. 'Possum's mouth was open and his tongue fairly hanging out with
being so excited.
[Illustration: MR. 'POSSUM SAID IT MIGHT BE A GOOD ENOUGH STORY, BUT IT
COULDN'T BE TRUE]
Then before any of the others could say a word, Mr. 'Possum said that it
might be a good enough story, but that it couldn't be true. He said that
he wasn't a judge of stories, but that he was a judge of ducks--young
ducks, or old either--and that no young duck could pass the night in the
Big Deep Woods and get home at sunrise or any other time, unless all the
other animals were snowed in or locked up in a menagerie, and that the
animal that had met Erastus might have robbed him, of course, but he
would have eaten him first, and then carried off what was left, unless,
of course, that robber was a rabbit, and he said that he didn't believe
any rabbit would have spunk enough to be in that business.
Mr. Rabbit was about to say something just then, but Mr. Crow and Mr.
'Coon both interrupted and said they thought Mr. 'Possum was right for
once, except about Mr. Rabbit, who was plenty brave enough, but too much
of a gentleman to be out robbing people at night when he could be at
home in bed asleep. Then Mr. Dog said:
"I don't know whether the story is true or not. I wrote it down as I
heard it among Mr. Man's fowls, and I know the duck that they still call
Erastus, and he's the finest, fattest--"
But Mr. Dog didn't get any further. For the Hollow Tree People broke in
and said, all together:
"Oh, take us to see him, Mr. Dog! Or perhaps you could bring him to see
us. Invite him to spend an evening with us in the Hollow Tree. Tell him
we will have him for dinner and invite our friends. Oh, do, Mr. Dog!"
But Mr. Dog knew what they meant by having him for dinner, and he said
he guessed Mr. Man would not be willing to have Erastus go out on an
invitation like that, and that if Erastus came, Mr. Man might take a
notion to visit the Hollow Tree himself. Then the Hollow Tree People
all said, "Oh, never mind about Erastus! He's probably old and
disagreeable anyway. We don't think we would care for him. But it was a
nice story--very nice, indeed."
And pretty soon Mr. Dog said he'd been thinking about the robber animal,
too, and had made up his mind that it might have been one of Mr. Cat's
family--for Mr. Man's little boy and girl had a book with a nice poem in
it about a robber cat, and a robber dog, too, though he didn't think
that the dog could have been any of _his_ family. Mr. Cat, he said,
would not be likely to care for Erastus, feathers and all, that way, and
no doubt it really was Mr. Cat who robbed him. Mr. Dog said that he had
once heard of a Mr. Cat who wanted to be king--perhaps after Mr. Lion
had gone out of the king business, and that there was an old poem about
it that Mr. Dog's mother used to sing to him, but he didn't think it had
ever been put into a book. He said there were a good many things in it
he didn't suppose the Hollow Tree People would understand because it was
about a different kind of a country--where his mother had been born--but
that if they really would like to hear it he would try to remember it
for them, as it would be something different from anything they had been
used to. Then the Hollow Tree People and their friends all said how glad
they would be to hear it, for they always liked to hear about new
things and new parts of the country; so Mr. Dog said that if some of the
others would read or sing or dance their jigs first, perhaps it would
come to him and he would sing it for them by and by.
Then Mr. Robin spoke up and said that he thought Mr. Dog's story had a
good moral in it, and he said that _his_ story (Mr. Robin's, of course)
was that kind of a story, too. Perhaps he'd better tell it now, he said,
while their minds were running that way, though as for Mr. 'Possum's
mind it seemed to be more on how good Erastus might be cooked than how
good he had become in his behavior. He was sorry, he said, that his
story didn't have any ducks in it, young or old, but that perhaps Mr.
'Possum and the others would be willing to wait for the nice pair of
cooked ones now hanging in Mr. Crow's pantry, to be served at the end of
the literary exercises.
But Mr. 'Possum said "No," he wasn't willing to wait any longer--that
Mr. Dog's story and the mention of those nice cooked fowls was more than
he could bear, and that if it was all the same to Mr. Robin and the
others he voted to have supper first, and then he'd be better able to
stand a strictly moral story on a full stomach.
Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon said that was a good idea, and Mr. Rabbit said he
thought they'd better postpone Mr. Robin's story until the next evening,
as Mr. 'Possum had taken up so much time with his arguments that he
must be hungrier than usual, and if he put in as much more time eating,
it would be morning before they were ready to go on with the literary
programme.
Then they all looked at the clock and saw that it really was getting
late, though that was the only way they could tell, for the snow covered
all the windows and made no difference between day and night in the
Hollow Tree.