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+Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Timothy Turtle, by Arthur Scott Bailey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Tale of Timothy Turtle
+
+Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
+
+Illustrator: Harry L. Smith
+
+Release Date: May 5, 2007 [EBook #20716]
+[This file was first posted on March 1, 2007]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF TIMOTHY TURTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Joe Longo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     THE TALE OF
+                    TIMOTHY TURTLE
+
+
+
+                  _SLEEPY-TIME TALES_
+                 (Trademark Registered)
+
+                          BY
+                  ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
+
+                      AUTHOR OF
+                   _TUCK-ME-IN TALES_
+                 (Trademark Registered)
+
+               THE TALE OF CUFFY BEAR
+               THE TALE OF FRISKY SQUIRREL
+               THE TALE OF TOMMY FOX
+               THE TALE OF FATTY COON
+               THE TALE OF BILLY WOODCHUCK
+               THE TALE OF JIMMY RABBIT
+               THE TALE OF PETER MINK
+               THE TALE OF SANDY CHIPMUNK
+               THE TALE OF BROWNIE BEAVER
+               THE TALE OF PADDY MUSKRAT
+               THE TALE OF FERDINAND FROG
+               THE TALE OF DICKIE DEER MOUSE
+               THE TALE OF TIMOTHY TURTLE
+               THE TALE OF MAJOR MONKEY
+               THE TALE OF BENNY BADGER
+
+[Illustration: Timothy was going through the queerest motions.]
+
+                  _SLEEPY-TIME TALES_
+                 (Trademark Registered)
+
+                      THE TALE OF
+                        TIMOTHY
+                        TURTLE
+
+                          BY
+                  ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
+                       Author of
+                  "_TUCK-ME-IN TALES_"
+                 (Trademark Registered)
+
+                    ILLUSTRATED BY
+                    HARRY L. SMITH
+
+
+                       NEW YORK
+                   GROSSET & DUNLAP
+                      PUBLISHERS
+
+            Made in the United States of America
+
+                   COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY
+                    GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+ CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAPTER
+
+    I     A FAMOUS BITER
+   II     AN OLD-TIMER
+  III     TIMOTHY'S GRUDGE
+   IV     A TIGHT SQUEEZE
+    V     MR. TURTLE'S MISTAKE
+   VI     MR. CROW'S KIND OFFER
+  VII     LEARNING TO FLY
+ VIII     TURNING TURTLE
+   IX     A PLEASURE TRIP
+    X     A WARNING
+   XI     ON THE BEAVER DAM
+  XII     KIND TIMOTHY TURTLE
+ XIII     THE PLOT
+  XIV     CAUGHT!
+   XV     THE REDSKINS' WAY
+  XVI     JOHNNIE GREEN'S INITIALS
+ XVII     TIMOTHY NEEDS HELP
+XVIII     PETER MINK'S PLAN
+  XIX     CAREFUL MR. FROG
+   XX     THE ALMANAC
+  XXI     A QUEER WISH
+ XXII     THE UNWELCOME GUEST
+XXIII     A MERRY SONG
+
+
+ Illustrations
+
+Timothy was going through the queerest motions.
+                                        Frontispiece
+
+"Let Me In!" said Timothy to Mr. Frog.
+
+Timothy began to climb the steep bluff.
+
+"Let me go!" Fatty Coon shrieked.
+
+
+
+
+THE TALE OF TIMOTHY TURTLE
+
+I
+
+A FAMOUS BITER
+
+
+That black rascal, Mr. Crow, was not the oldest dweller in Pleasant
+Valley. There was another elderly gentleman who had spent more
+summers--and a great many more winters--under the shadow of Blue
+Mountain than he.
+
+All the wild folk knew this person by the name of Timothy Turtle. And if
+they didn't see him so often as Mr. Crow it was because he spent much of
+his time on the muddy bottom of Black Creek. Besides, he never flapped
+his way through the air to Farmer Green's cornfield, in plain sight of
+everyone who happened to look up at the sky.
+
+On the contrary, Mr. Timothy Turtle seldom wandered far from the banks
+of the creek--for the best of reasons. He was anything but a fast
+walker. In fact, one might say that he waddled, or even crawled, rather
+than walked. But in the water he was quite a different creature. By
+means of his webbed feet he could swim as easily as Mr. Crow could fly.
+And he could stay at the bottom of Black Creek a surprisingly long time
+before he came up for a breath of air. Indeed, Mr. Crow sometimes
+remarked that _he_ would be just as well pleased if Timothy Turtle
+buried himself in the mud beneath the water _and never_ came up again!
+
+Such a speech was enough to show that Mr. Crow was not fond of Timothy
+Turtle. Perhaps Mr. Crow disliked to have a neighbor who was older than
+he. But Mr. Crow himself always laughed at such a suggestion.
+
+"The trouble is----" he would say--"the trouble is, Timothy Turtle is
+_too grumpy_. Now, _I'm_ old. But I claim that that's no reason why I
+shouldn't be pleasant." And then he would laugh--somewhat harshly--just
+to show that he knew how.
+
+There was a good deal of truth in what Mr. Crow said. Timothy Turtle was
+grumpy. But it was not old age that made him so. He had been like that
+all his life. There never was a time when he Wasn't snappish, when he
+wouldn't rather bite a body than not.
+
+And that was the reason why he had not more friends. To be sure, many
+people knew him. But usually they took good care not to get too near
+him.
+
+For Timothy Turtle had a most unpleasant way of shooting out his long
+neck from under his shell and seizing a person in his powerful jaws. In
+spite of his great age he was quick as a flash. And one had to step
+lively to escape him.
+
+If Timothy had bitten you just for an instant, and then stopped, this
+trick of his wouldn't have been so disagreeable. But he was not content
+with a mere nip. When he had hold of you he never wanted to let you go.
+And it was no joke getting away, once you found yourself caught by him.
+
+As for Timothy Turtle, he never could understand why his neighbors
+objected to this little trick of his. He always said that it was more
+fun than almost anything else he could think of. And it is true that he
+never seemed so happy as he did when he had caught some careless person
+and was biting him without mercy.
+
+"Anybody that wants to may bite _me,"_ Timothy used to declare. But
+perhaps he never stopped to think that one might almost as well bite a
+rock as his hard shell. And anybody might better chew a piece of leather
+than try to take a mouthful out of his legs, or his neck, or his head.
+
+So no one paid any heed to Timothy Turtle's kind offer. Even Peter Mink,
+who was himself overfond of biting people, wisely let Mr. Turtle alone.
+
+There is no doubt that it was the safer way.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+AN OLD-TIMER
+
+
+It was pleasant for Timothy Turtle that he lived in Black Creek, for he
+was very fond of fishing. If he had happened to make his home among the
+rocks on the top of Blue Mountain he would have had to travel a long way
+to find even a trout stream. But in Black Creek there were fish right in
+his dooryard, one may say.
+
+It was lucky for him, too, that he liked fish to eat. And whenever he
+wanted a change of food the creek was a good place in which to find a
+frog, or perhaps a foolish duckling who had not learned to be careful.
+
+It was no wonder that all the mother birds in the neighborhood used to
+warn their children to beware of Timothy Turtle. Did not Long Bill Wren,
+who lived among the reeds on the bank of Black Creek, have a narrow
+escape when he was only a few weeks old?
+
+He had just learned to fly. And although his mother had told him not to
+leave the bank, he disobeyed her. When she was not watching him he
+sailed over the water for the first time in his life and alighted on a
+flat object on top of a rock.
+
+Bill supposed it was a stone that he was sitting on. And he felt so
+proud of what he had done that he cried, "Look! Oh, look!"
+
+His poor mother was dreadfully frightened when she saw him.
+
+"Come back!" she shrieked. "You're in great danger!"
+
+So Bill flew back to the bank as fast as he could go.
+
+"What have I told you about Timothy Turtle?" his mother asked him
+sharply.
+
+"You've said to keep away from him, or he might eat me," young Bill
+faltered.
+
+"Exactly!" his mother cried. "And the moment I glance away, here you go
+and sit right on his back! It's a wonder you're alive."
+
+Her son hung his head. And never again did he pick out a perch until he
+was sure it wasn't old Mr. Turtle.
+
+When he was older, and had children of his own, Long Bill often remarked
+that it was too bad Mr. Turtle didn't live in some other place. "He
+makes my wife so nervous!" he used to exclaim. "With a new brood of at
+least a half-dozen youngsters to take care of every summer one has to
+watch sharp for Mr. Turtle whenever the children play near the water."
+And Long Bill always took pains to tell his children of his own
+adventure with Timothy Turtle and warn them not to make such a mistake.
+
+"Luckily I sat exactly in the center of Mr. Turtle's shell, so he
+couldn't reach me," Long Bill was explaining to his family one day. "But
+if I had happened to perch on his head I certainly wouldn't be here
+now."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Turtle is too slow to catch me," one of the youngsters boasted.
+"I saw him on the bank to-day; and he only _crawled_."
+
+"Ah! You don't know him," Long Bill Wren replied. "When he wants to, he
+can stand up on his hind legs as quick as a wink. And he can dart his
+head out just like a snake."
+
+"Ugh!" Long Bill's small son shivered as he spoke. "I wish Mr. Turtle
+would go away from our creek."
+
+"_He_ thinks it's _his_ creek," Long Bill Wren observed. "He has lived
+in it years and years and years. We'll have to get on with him as best
+we can, for there's no doubt that Timothy Turtle is here to stay."
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+TIMOTHY'S GRUDGE
+
+
+Sometimes Fatty Coon liked a taste of fresh fish, just by way of a
+change from Farmer Green's corn, and blackberries, wild grapes,
+bugs--and all the other dainties on which he dined.
+
+So it happened that one day he visited Black Creek, where he crouched
+near the water with the hope that some silly fish would swim within
+reach of his sharp claws.
+
+For a long time he waited patiently. And at last, to his great joy, a
+young pickerel nosed his way through the shallow water in front of him.
+
+The newcomer was hunting flies. And he did not notice the eager
+fisherman.
+
+Fatty Coon waited until just the right moment. And then one of his paws
+darted suddenly into the water.
+
+But instead of Fatty Coon catching the pickerel, someone else caught
+Fatty Coon.
+
+His captor was no less a person than Timothy Turtle himself, who had
+been buried all this time in the mud almost under Fatty Coon's nose.
+That is, his body was buried. His head and neck he had left free, so
+that he might strike at a fish when one came his way. But he had seen
+something else that took his fancy. When Fatty's paw scooped into the
+water Timothy Turtle just _had_ to grab it.
+
+"Let me go!" Fatty Coon shrieked, for Mr. Turtle's cruel jaws hurt him
+terribly.
+
+"Why, this is fun!" Timothy Turtle muttered thickly, as he took a firmer
+hold on Fatty's paw. "Besides, I've been wanting to talk with you for a
+long time."
+
+"Then you'd better let me go," Fatty groaned, "because you can't talk
+well with your mouth full."
+
+"I can say all I need to," Timothy Turtle grunted. "And I know that if I
+dropped your paw you'd run off."
+
+"Hurry, then!" Fatty Coon begged him piteously. "Hurry and tell me what
+you have to say. And please talk fast!"
+
+Timothy Turtle almost smiled.
+
+"Am I hurting you?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes, you are!" cried Fatty Coon.
+
+"Good!" Mr. Turtle snorted. "I meant to, because I've a grudge against
+you."
+
+Fatty Coon couldn't think what he meant.
+
+"I've never done a thing to you," he declared.
+
+"Perhaps not!" Timothy Turtle admitted.
+
+"But you stole Mrs. Turtle's eggs--twenty-seven of them--and you can't
+deny it."
+
+Now, it was true--what Timothy Turtle said. Hidden among the reeds one
+day, Fatty Coon had watched Mrs. Turtle bury her eggs in the sand, to
+hatch. And when she had gone he had crept out from his hiding-place, dug
+up her precious, round, white treasures, and eaten them, every one.
+
+Well, Fatty Coon dropped his head in front of Mr. Turtle. He was
+somewhat ashamed, and frightened, too. And he did not like to look into
+Timothy Turtle's blinking eyes. "How did you know?" he asked Mr. Turtle.
+
+"Mrs. Turtle told me," said Timothy, shifting his hold slightly, for a
+better one.
+
+"How did the old lady know who took her eggs?" Fatty persisted.
+
+"Mr. Crow saw everything that happened--and don't you call my wife an
+old lady!" Timothy Turtle spluttered.
+
+"Very well! She's a _young_ one, of course," Fatty said hastily. "But I
+don't know how I've harmed you."
+
+"You don't, eh?" Timothy Turtle snarled. "Then I'll explain. I meant to
+have those eggs myself, young man!"
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+A TIGHT SQUEEZE
+
+
+Timothy Turtle's remark was most surprising. It almost took Fatty Coon's
+breath away. And for a moment or two he even forgot the pain in his paw.
+
+"Do you mean to say," he asked, "that you like turtles' eggs!"
+
+"Do I?" said Timothy. "There's no better treat, in my opinion, than a
+tender young egg, especially if it's well mixed with sand. And, of
+course, twenty-seven of them are twenty-seven times as good."
+
+"I'm sorry----" Fatty told him--"I'm sorry that I ever touched the
+old--I mean the _young_--lady's eggs. And now that you've almost bitten
+my paw in two, please--good Mr. Turtle--let me go!"
+
+But good Mr. Turtle had no notion of freeing his prisoner.
+
+"Not yet!" he snapped. "I'm going to bite you twenty-seven times as
+long, and twenty-seven times as hard--if I can."
+
+"But it was only a mistake!" Fatty Coon moaned. "I never knew you wanted
+those eggs yourself."
+
+"Take care----" said Timothy Turtle sternly--"take care that you never
+make such a mistake again."
+
+"Don't do that!" Fatty Coon suddenly cried.
+
+"Don't do _what_?" was Mr. Turtle's testy reply.
+
+"Don't pull on my leg!" Fatty Coon pleaded. "You'll have me in the water
+in another moment, and I'll get wet, and my mother won't like it a
+bit."
+
+But Timothy Turtle paid no heed to Fatty Coon's objections.
+
+"Certainly I'll pull you into the creek," he declared. "I'm going to
+take you out where the water's deep, and drag you down, down, down to
+the very bottom. We'll have lots of fun burying ourselves in the mud.
+And I venture to say that you'll like it so well down there that you'll
+never want to come up again."
+
+If Fatty Coon was frightened before, now he was terrified almost out of
+his wits. And he began to claw frantically at Timothy Turtle's head.
+
+Luckily he had three free paws. And of these he made good use. In the
+shallows near the bank he struggled with all his might and main. And
+soon the water was churned into a muddy pool.
+
+[Illustration: "Let Me In!" said Timothy to Mr. Frog.]
+
+Fatty never knew exactly how he succeeded in breaking loose from Mr.
+Turtle. Anyhow, he found himself free at last; and he lost no time in
+scrambling up the bank to safety.
+
+Afterward Timothy Turtle always complained that Fatty Coon didn't "fight
+fair."
+
+"He gouges," Timothy would explain. "He'd just as soon stick one of his
+claws into your eye as not. And I claim that's something no real
+gentleman will do."
+
+Now, Fatty did not leave Black Creek at once, after his adventure with
+Timothy Turtle. He paused for a time, to squat on the bank and nurse his
+injured paw.
+
+While he lingered there he happened to glance up. And whom should he
+see, sitting motionless in a tree near-by, but that old rascal, Mr.
+Crow!
+
+"Oh! Naughty, naughty!" Mr. Crow cawed in a mocking voice. "You've been
+fighting."
+
+"It's all your fault," Fatty growled. "If you'd minded your own affairs
+Timothy Turtle would never have known anything about those eggs."
+
+"Bless your heart!" old Mr. Crow cried. "Timothy Turtle would have
+seized you just the same, if you'd never touched his wife's eggs. You
+don't know him as well as I do."
+
+"Perhaps not!" Fatty Coon replied. "And what's more, I don't want to. I
+never want to see Timothy Turtle again."
+
+Old Mr. Crow laughed merrily at that speech. But Fatty Coon only turned
+his back on him.
+
+_He_ was in no mood for laughter.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+MR. TURTLE'S MISTAKE
+
+
+Mr. Crow was in no hurry to leave Black Creek. And after Fatty Coon had
+limped away the old gentleman still sat in the tree which hung over the
+water. He hoped that Timothy Turtle would crawl out upon the bank and
+growl about Fatty.
+
+The old black rascal was not disappointed. Fatty Coon had not been gone
+long when Timothy Turtle dragged himself out of the creek and stretched
+himself upon the sand in the warm sunshine.
+
+"How's your eye?" Mr. Crow asked him hoarsely.
+
+"It's feeling better; but it's a wonder that I can see with it at all,"
+Timothy Turtle grumbled. "If I ever get hold of that fat young fellow
+again I'll pull him under the water before he knows what's happened to
+him. He doesn't fight _fair_."
+
+Old Mr. Crow chuckled.
+
+"You'll never have another chance to show him the right way," he
+remarked. "He won't come near this creek, or my name's not--ahem--Mr.
+Crow."
+
+"What's your first name?" Timothy Turtle inquired, as he stared
+unpleasantly at the speaker.
+
+"Never mind!" said the other. "Mr. Crow will do, if you want to attract
+my attention."
+
+Timothy Turtle frowned.
+
+"I don't want to," he retorted. "The fact is, I'd rather be alone. I
+don't care to have strangers peeping down at me when I'm enjoying a
+sun-bath."
+
+"But I like to look at you," old Mr. Crow assured him solemnly. "You
+make me think of somebody I've known for a good many years."
+
+"Ah! An old friend!" Timothy exclaimed.
+
+"Well--not a _friend_, exactly," Mr. Crow explained. "He lives in the
+South, where I spend the winters. You look like him, in many ways."
+
+"And his name?" Timothy Turtle said.
+
+"Mr. Alligator!"
+
+Timothy Turtle grunted.
+
+"Humph!" he said. "I've never heard of him."
+
+"That's not strange," old Mr. Crow told him. "He stays all the time in
+the South and you stay all the time in the North. You couldn't very well
+meet, you see."
+
+"Your tail is a good deal like his," Mr. Crow continued. "And when you
+walk you have a trick of raising yourself sometimes on your hind legs,
+with your head and tail stretched out--a trick that reminds me of him."
+
+For once Timothy seemed pleased.
+
+"Anything else?" he demanded, with something that was almost like a
+smile. Unfortunately, he had passed so many years with a constant frown
+on his face that smiling actually hurt him.
+
+"Why, yes! There is something else," old Mr. Crow went on. "You and he
+have the same way of _snapping_ at things."
+
+There was no doubt, now, that Timothy Turtle was gratified.
+
+"He must be a fine bird--this Mr. Alligator!" he exclaimed.
+
+Old Mr. Crow spluttered. And he had to hang on tight to save himself
+from tumbling off his perch.
+
+A bird! Timothy Turtle thought that Mr. Alligator was a bird!
+
+The mistake was so amusing that Mr. Crow wanted to laugh. But he knew
+that would never do--if he wanted any more fun with Timothy Turtle.
+
+So he pretended to cough. And he wrapped his muffler more snugly about
+his neck, remarking that there was a cold wind that day, even though the
+sun _was_ warm.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+MR. CROW'S KIND OFFER
+
+
+"I suppose----" Timothy Turtle said to his young friend, old Mr.
+Crow--"I suppose Mr. Alligator is a fine flier."
+
+"He's a very powerful fellow," old Mr. Crow replied with a sly smile.
+
+"Did you ever try to follow him?" Timothy wanted to know.
+
+Mr. Crow shook his head.
+
+"No!" he answered. "I shouldn't want to do that, because one never could
+tell when he might take a notion to jump into the water."
+
+"Oh! Then he can swim, can he?"
+
+"Certainly!" Mr. Crow assured him.
+
+"Then that's another way in which he's like me!" Timothy Turtle cried.
+"And if I could only fly, I'd be still more like him."
+
+"Why don't you learn?" Mr. Crow suggested wickedly.
+
+"I'm too old," Timothy sighed.
+
+"Not at all!" Mr. Crow hastened to assure him. "One can never be too old
+to _try_ a thing."
+
+But Timothy Turtle replied that even if he was young enough to attempt
+such a feat as flying, he hadn't the least idea of the way to go about
+it.
+
+Old Mr. Crow was most helpful.
+
+"I'll tell you what you ought to do," he advised. "You swim down the
+creek as far as the big bluff. And it will be a simple matter for you to
+climb up to the top of the bluff and jump off the rock that hangs high
+up over the water."
+
+Timothy Turtle looked far from happy at that suggestion.
+
+"I shouldn't care to do that," he said.
+
+"Why not?" Mr. Crow asked him. "You know there's only one way of flying,
+and that's through the air."
+
+"I might fall," Timothy objected.
+
+"What if you did?" said Mr. Crow glibly. "You'd only fall into the
+water. And everybody agrees that you're a fine swimmer.... You aren't
+afraid of getting your feet wet, are you?" And he laughed loudly at his
+own joke.
+
+For some reason Timothy lost his temper. Perhaps he thought Mr. Crow was
+disrespectful to his elders.
+
+"Look here, young man!" he snapped, glaring angrily at old Mr. Crow. "If
+you're laughing at me, I'll invite you to drop down here and stand on
+the end of my nose."
+
+Old Mr. Crow grew sober at once. The mere thought of perching himself in
+so dangerous a place was enough to put a quick end to his noisy
+_haw-haws_.
+
+"My dear sir!" he cried. "I wouldn't _dream_ of standing on the nose of
+a fine old gentleman like you. No indeedy! My manners are too good for
+that."
+
+Timothy Turtle said bluntly that he had always been told that Mr. Crow
+was the rudest person in all Pleasant Valley--unless it was Mr. Crow's
+boisterous cousin, Jasper Jay.
+
+When he heard that, Mr. Crow pretended to wipe a tear away from each of
+his eyes.
+
+"I've always been misunderstood," he declared mournfully. "I'm really a
+kind-hearted soul. And just to prove to you that I want to be helpful,
+I'll meet you at the bluff any time you say, and tell you exactly what
+to do if you want to learn to fly."
+
+Timothy Turtle seemed to think that the chance was too good a one to
+lose.
+
+"I accept your offer," he shouted. "And I'll start downstream this very
+moment."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+LEARNING TO FLY
+
+
+Timothy Turtle reached the overhanging bluff in a surprisingly short
+time. But it must be remembered that he did not walk there on land, but
+swam down Black Creek with the current. When he crawled out upon the
+bank he was glad to see that old Mr. Crow was waiting for him, on a pine
+stump that stood near the water.
+
+He failed utterly to notice that Mr. Crow was not alone. Hidden in all
+sorts of places were as many as a dozen of Mr. Crow's friends. For the
+old gentleman had invited his cousin, Jasper Jay, to come to the bluff
+"to enjoy the fun," as he expressed it.
+
+"But don't let Timothy Turtle see you!" Mr. Crow had warned Jasper. "At
+least, don't let him know you're there until after he has jumped off the
+big rock."
+
+Jasper Jay had given his solemn promise.
+
+"And don't let him hear you, either," Mr. Crow had said. And Jasper had
+agreed to that, too, although he said that it might be a hard thing to
+do.
+
+Well, Timothy Turtle crawled out upon the bank and took a long look at
+the high bluff above him, from which the great rock hung over the water
+of the creek.
+
+"I believe----" he said to old Mr. Crow--"I believe I'd better wait till
+to-morrow before I try to fly. I've just had a long swim, you know. And
+I want to feel fresh when I take my first lesson."
+
+"Nonsense!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. "Everything's all ready. You're not too
+tired, are you, to climb to the top of the bluff?"
+
+"No," Timothy Turtle admitted.
+
+"Then you've no reason for waiting," Mr. Crow assured him. "Coming down
+will be much easier than going up."
+
+"I dare say that's true," Timothy remarked. "But I don't quite like to
+think about this business of flying."
+
+"Then you certainly ought not to wait any longer," Mr. Crow urged him.
+"For the longer you wait the more time you'll have to think."
+
+That appeared to Timothy Turtle to be a good bit of advice. And yet he
+still seemed uneasy.
+
+"There's just one thing that troubles me," he confessed. "After I've
+jumped from the rock I might find that I couldn't fly. And I'd get a
+bad fall."
+
+"But you'd land in the water," Mr. Crow reminded him. "And that would be
+much better than falling on the land.... I don't need to tell you," he
+added, "that water is soft. And you're a fine swimmer."
+
+So Timothy Turtle yielded. And thereupon he began to drag himself up the
+steep bluff.
+
+It seemed to Mr. Crow that he had never known anybody to walk so slowly.
+But then, of course, he was in a hurry to see the fun. And it couldn't
+really begin until Mr. Turtle should reach the big rock and take the
+leap that Mr. Crow had suggested to him.
+
+Jasper Jay and the rowdies he had brought with him stirred impatiently.
+And Jasper said aloud to one of them:
+
+"What an old slow-poke he is!"
+
+"What's that!" Timothy Turtle inquired, as he stopped and looked around
+at Mr. Crow.
+
+"I didn't speak," Mr. Crow told him.
+
+Timothy glared at his teacher for a few moments. And Mr. Crow began to
+think that Jasper Jay had spoiled the fun. But at last Timothy Turtle
+plodded on. And when his back was turned old Mr. Crow flew over to the
+place where Jasper Jay was hidden and whispered to him that he had
+better keep still or there would be trouble for him.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+TURNING TURTLE
+
+
+So Timothy Turtle struggled up the steep face of the bluff. And as he
+neared the top Mr. Crow began to hop up and down upon the old pine
+stump. He was almost bursting with silent laughter. But he succeeded in
+keeping quiet. And now and then he made threatening motions toward
+Jasper Jay and his friends, who stuck their heads from behind limbs of
+trees and hummocks and bushes, lest they miss any of the fun.
+
+Once on top of the great rock that capped the bluff and hung out over
+the creek, Timothy Turtle clung there and peered down at the gently
+flowing water below.
+
+"What a long way it is down there!" he called to Mr. Crow.
+
+"Don't think about that!" Mr. Crow cautioned him.
+
+"Is this the way Mr. Alligator learned to fly?" Timothy Turtle demanded.
+
+"Don't think about him!" Mr. Crow shouted. "Just jump out as far as you
+can!"
+
+"I believe I don't care to fly to-day," Timothy Turtle faltered, drawing
+back from the edge of the rock. "I----I'll wait till some other time.
+You know, I'm older than you are."
+
+"Tut, tut!" said Mr. Crow. "When I'm your age I shall still be flying as
+well as I do now. It's nothing, when you know how. Nothing at all!"
+
+Urged by Mr. Crow, Timothy Turtle once more crept to the very edge of
+the cliff and stretched his neck out as far as he could, to gaze down at
+the black water. And at last, after making several false starts and
+drawing back to a place of safety, he stood up on his hind legs, shut
+his eyes, and hopped off into space.
+
+Now, the moment Timothy Turtle leaped from the top of the bluff a
+deafening squawk broke the silence. Old Mr. Crow _cawed_ as loud as he
+knew how. But the racket he made was as nothing compared with the uproar
+of Jasper Jay and the noisy crew he had brought with him. They squalled
+with delight as Timothy Turtle plunged through the air like a stone. And
+when he landed upside down in the creek, striking the water with a great
+splash, the whole company shrieked louder than ever.
+
+"_Ha! ha! ha_!" Mr. Crow cried, holding his sides and rocking backwards
+and forwards upon the old stump.
+
+"_Jay_! _jay_! _jay_!" Jasper and his friends bawled, hopping up and
+down and cutting capers in the air.
+
+As for Timothy Turtle, he made no sound at all. And neither did he make
+the slightest motion. The current of Black Creek caught him and bore him
+away down the stream. But at last he managed to paddle ashore. And he
+pulled himself slowly out of the water, and lay upon the sand and
+groaned.
+
+Mr. Crow and his cronies gathered quickly about him.
+
+"What's the matter?" Mr. Crow inquired. "Don't you like flying?"
+
+It was some time before Timothy could answer.
+
+"I've had an awful fall," he moaned finally.
+
+"Where are you hurt?" Mr. Crow asked him.
+
+"Everywhere!" Timothy Turtle told him. "I thought you said that water
+was soft to fall into."
+
+"Well, isn't it?"
+
+"It certainly is _not,_" Timothy Turtle declared. "I believe there's
+nothing harder in the whole world.... I've heard, sir, that you are very
+wise. But for once, anyhow, you've made a great mistake."
+
+Old Mr. Crow coughed--and winked at his friends. "The trouble was"--he
+explained--"the trouble was, you lost your balance and landed in the
+creek upside down. And of course you couldn't fly in that position. It's
+what's called 'turning turtle,'" he added, "and I might have known--if I
+had stopped to think--that you'd be sure to do it."
+
+"Well," said Timothy Turtle, drawing a long breath, "I'll tell you right
+now that I'll never, _never_, turn turtle again."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+A PLEASURE TRIP
+
+
+Almost always the wild folk in Pleasant Valley knew that if they wanted
+to see Timothy Turtle they could find him somewhere in Black Creek. But
+once in a great while he liked to go on what he called "an excursion."
+By that he meant a pleasure trip to some spot not too far away--never
+outside of Pleasant Valley.
+
+Nobody meeting Timothy Turtle on one of those journeys would have
+suspected that he was bent on pleasure. Or at least, nobody would have
+supposed that Mr. Turtle had found what he was looking for. Certainly if
+he was hunting for fun, he never looked as if he had discovered any.
+For no smile showed itself upon his face. Instead, he met every one with
+a frown. And if a body gave him a cheery "Good morning," just as likely
+as not Timothy would answer with a grunt, and pass on.
+
+Naturally, when Timothy Turtle arrived anywhere and told people that he
+expected to spend a few days among them they did not feel any great joy
+at the news. On the contrary, they were quite likely to say to one
+another, "I hope he won't stop long," or "He looks more grumpy than
+ever." And some would even remark that they wished Timothy Turtle would
+go home and stay there.
+
+So no one of the Beaver colony was glad when Timothy appeared in their
+pond one day and explained that he intended to be in the neighborhood at
+least a week. In the first place, the Beavers, as a whole, were a busy,
+cheerful family, who did not like disagreeable folk for company. And in
+the second place, they were spry workers; and they had little use for
+anybody as slow as Timothy Turtle, who never did any work at all.
+
+It is no wonder, then, that as soon as the news of Timothy's coming
+spread up and down and across the pond, the busy Beavers stopped their
+work and said things about the crusty outsider who had forced himself
+upon them. And almost everybody went to call upon Grandaddy Beaver and
+asked him what he thought ought to be done.
+
+Now, Grandaddy was a good old soul. And he told the hot-headed younger
+members of the colony to keep cool, which seems a simple thing for them
+to have done, swimming about as they were in the icy water, which
+flowed down from springs on the side of Blue Mountain.
+
+"Timothy Turtle has been here before," Grandaddy Beaver announced. "I
+can remember my great-grandfather's telling me about his passing two
+whole weeks in our pond. And though everybody wished he would leave, he
+never harmed anybody, because people kept out of his way."
+
+"Well, he ought to work while he's here," said a brisk gentleman,
+tugging at his moustache.
+
+"Timothy Turtle will never lift his hand to do a single stroke of work,"
+said old Grandaddy Beaver. "He has already spent a long life without
+working. And he'll be lazy if he lives to be a hundred years old--or
+even a hundred and fifty."
+
+Now, a young chap called Brownie Beaver heard all this, as he stood in
+Grandaddy's doorway and peeped inside the house. And he thought it was
+a shame that _somebody_ couldn't make Timothy Turtle mend his ways. To
+Brownie Bearer it seemed that Timothy Turtle was old enough to behave
+himself.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+A WARNING
+
+
+Timothy Turtle's visit at the beaver pond was just like all of his
+outings. Wherever he went he was so disagreeable and snappish that there
+wasn't a single person in the whole village that didn't wish Timothy had
+stayed away from that place.
+
+He was forever grumbling, complaining that the fishing was poor in the
+pond. And as for frogs, he declared that he hadn't seen even one.
+
+"Why anybody wants to live here is more than I can understand." That was
+what Timothy Turtle told everyone he met. And of course it was a poor
+way of making himself welcome.
+
+"Why do you come here, if you don't like our pond?" people asked him.
+
+"It's a change for me," was Timothy's reply. "After I've spent a week
+with you I'll be pretty glad to get back home again. And I won't want to
+go on another excursion for a whole year--or maybe two.
+
+"It's twenty years since I was here before. And I sha'n't care to come
+again for forty, at least."
+
+Now, such dreadfully rude remarks hurt the Beaver family's feelings. And
+when Timothy Turtle seized a fat lady by the tail one day and wouldn't
+let her go until sunset, her feelings were hurt most of all. She cried
+that she had never been so insulted in all her life.
+
+Timothy Turtle merely said that she ought not to object. He explained
+that he had been _giving her a rest_--for of course she couldn't cut
+down a tree, nor work upon the dam that held the water in the pond,
+while he clung fast to her tail.
+
+Well, this fat lady happened to be Brownie Beaver's mother. And after
+her disagreeable experience with the stranger, Brownie made up his mind
+that he _would make Timothy Turtle work_. That was the worst punishment
+he could think of.
+
+Whenever the members of the Beaver family were not sleeping, or eating,
+either they were gathering food by cutting down trees, or they were
+mending their dam.
+
+The dam always had leaks here and there. And sooner or later every one
+of them had to be stopped, before it grew so big that the water would
+rush through it and tear a hole so great that the pond would be drained
+dry.
+
+During his stay among the Beavers Timothy Turtle often crawled on top
+of the dam and stretched himself out and watched the Beavers at their
+task. He said that if there was one thing that he liked to see more than
+another it was "a gang of men working." But he complained that they
+ought to work in the daytime, when the sun was shining, because then it
+would have been "much pleasanter for him."
+
+"Don't you want to help us?" asked the brisk fellow who had told
+Grandaddy Beaver that he thought Timothy Turtle ought to go to work.
+
+That question actually made Timothy snort.
+
+"_Me work_?" he snapped scornfully, as he glared at the speaker.
+
+Everybody knew what he meant. And everybody knew how Timothy felt, too,
+when he edged along the dam and made a savage pass at the plump
+gentleman who had spoken to him.
+
+[Illustration: Timothy began to climb the steep bluff.]
+
+Luckily the brisk Beaver jumped aside before Timothy Turtle's jaws
+closed on him. And he did not say another word to the stranger during
+the rest of his stay at the pond.
+
+But Timothy Turtle became quite talkative. He stopped all he met--old
+and young both--and warned them that nobody need try to get him to work,
+for he never had worked, and he never intended to.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+ON THE BEAVER DAM
+
+
+Timothy Turtle was so angry that he went about snapping at everybody and
+everything. And since the whole Beaver family kept carefully out of his
+way, he had to content himself with setting his jaws upon roots and
+sticks.
+
+Now, the Beavers' dam was made of sticks and mud. So Timothy found
+plenty of chances to bite. And because he could not hurt the sticks, no
+matter how much he tried, nobody cared.
+
+Really he acted in a most silly, surly fashion.
+
+Out of a corner of his eye Brownie Beaver watched Timothy Turtle
+closely. Brownie had not forgotten how Timothy seized his mother by the
+tail. And while he was helping his elders on the dam, at the same time
+he was trying to think of some way to outwit Timothy Turtle.
+
+It happened that just at that time the dam needed a great deal of
+mending. There were so many holes to be filled that the Beavers worked
+all night long. And in spite of all their efforts they saw that even
+then a few leaks would have to go unmended. But they did not get
+snappish nor lose their tempers. They were not like Timothy Turtle.
+Though he slept a great part of the night, and waked up to watch the
+workers early in the morning, his temper was worse than ever.
+
+He was paddling through the water close to the dam when Brownie Beaver
+called to him.
+
+"You see that stick??" said Brownie, pointing to a stout piece of box
+elder that stuck out of the dam.
+
+"I'm not blind," Timothy Turtle snarled back at him.
+
+"Well, please don't bite it, anyhow!" Brownie Beaver begged him.
+
+That was enough for Timothy Turtle. The mere fact that he thought
+somebody didn't want him to do a certain thing was sure to make him do
+it. So without saying another word he seized that stick in his powerful
+jaws. And bracing his feet against the inner side of the dam, half in
+the water and half out, he pulled with all his strength.
+
+Now and then he turned his beady eyes toward Brownie Beaver and frowned
+at him, as if to say, "Don't give _me_ any orders, young fellow! I shall
+do just as I please; and nobody can stop me."
+
+Timothy noticed that Brownie went to a number of the other workers and
+whispered to them. And when everyone to whom he spoke called to Timothy
+and asked him if he wouldn't just as soon let go of that stick and grab
+another one, that crusty old codger made up his mind that nobody should
+move him from that spot. He took an even firmer hold and tugged as if he
+meant to tear the whole dam down.
+
+But the Beaver family knew that he couldn't do any damage. And as soon
+as it was light enough they all went home to take a nap, leaving Timothy
+Turtle to pull away to his heart's content.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+KIND TIMOTHY TURTLE
+
+
+All day long Timothy Turtle stayed on the Beaver dam. And when the
+Beavers returned in the evening, to resume their work, they found
+Timothy still clinging to the box elder stick.
+
+To Timothy Turtle's deep disgust the plump workers gathered round him
+and laughed. He could never bear to hear people laugh--laughing was so
+silly, he always said. And now Brownie Beaver laughed louder than all
+the rest.
+
+"Look!" Brownie cried, pointing straight at Timothy Turtle. "Isn't he
+kind? He has stopped up that big hole for us all day.... And
+now"--Brownie added, turning to Timothy Turtle--"now if you'll kindly
+_stop working_ for us and move aside we'll fill that hole that's right
+under you, with mud."
+
+Timothy Turtle never felt more ashamed in all his long life. There he
+had been working all day long, helping the Beaver family by plugging a
+hole in their dam with his flat body--and he had never guessed what he
+was doing!
+
+He let go of the stick and sank hastily in the pond, where the water was
+deepest, to bury himself in the soft bottom. And there he stayed and
+sulked for the rest of the week, until his visit was done. If he stuck
+his head out of the water now and then for a breath of air, he was
+careful to let no one see him.
+
+He did not even bid the Beaver family good-by at the end of his visit,
+but left in the middle of the day, when everybody was sound asleep.
+
+Grandaddy Beaver said it was no more than one could expect of a person
+so rude as Timothy Turtle.
+
+"He was just like that in my great-grandfather's time," the old
+gentleman explained.
+
+And all the rest of the villagers remarked that Timothy Turtle was old
+enough to have better manners. Certainly, they said, the youngest Beaver
+child knew better than to treat people in such a rude fashion.
+
+Brownie Beaver's mother especially announced that she had never in all
+her life met a gentleman who had treated her so disrespectfully as old
+Mr. Turtle. And she grew red and pale by turns as she recalled how he
+had seized her by the tail and held her fast for a whole day.
+
+"I hope," she said, "that by the time he comes here again he will have
+learned how to behave himself."
+
+But Grandaddy Beaver shook his head.
+
+"Timothy Turtle," he declared, "will be no different even if he lives to
+be a thousand years old."
+
+And everybody said that it was a great pity.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE PLOT
+
+
+Of all the creatures that walked or swam or flew, Timothy Turtle liked
+boys the least of all. He said that if they ever did anything except
+throw stones he had never caught them at it.
+
+"It's a wonder"--he often remarked--"it's a wonder that there's a stone
+left anywhere along this creek. I've lived here a good many years; and
+no boy ever spied me sunning myself on a rock in the water without
+trying to hit me."
+
+Once in a great while some youngster was skillful enough to bounce a
+stone off Mr. Turtle's back. And when the old scamp flopped into the
+water he always heard a great whooping from the bank.
+
+At such times as likely as not Timothy had been awakened from a sound
+sleep. But when that jeering noise greeted his ears he knew at once what
+had struck him.
+
+It was a good thing for him that he had a hard back. Nevertheless it
+always made him angry to be disturbed when he was taking a nap. And some
+people said that if Timothy Turtle ever grabbed a boy by his great-toe,
+when he was in swimming, that youngster would limp for many a day
+thereafter.
+
+But the boys went in swimming just the same. Black Creek would have had
+to be alive with turtles to keep them out of it on a hot summer's day.
+Indeed Farmer Green often said that he wished his son Johnnie would
+spend half the time in the hayfield that he wasted around the creek.
+
+When questioned by his father, Johnnie said that there was an old turtle
+in Black Creek that he wanted to catch.
+
+"What are you going to do with him--make soup of him?" Farmer Green
+inquired solemnly.
+
+Johnnie shook his head.
+
+"I want to cut my initials on his shell and let him go," he explained.
+"Then if I catch him again when I'm grown up I'll know him when I find
+him.... I'll put the date under my initials, too," Johnnie added.
+
+Farmer Green laughed.
+
+"When you're grown up," he said, "you'll have something else to do
+besides catching snapping turtles. This afternoon you may carve your
+initials on the hay-rake and then take it over to the big meadow and
+play with it."
+
+For a few moments Johnnie Green couldn't help looking glum. He had
+intended to visit the creek that very afternoon. But now he knew that
+his father expected him to work--to _work_ on one of the finest days of
+the whole summer!
+
+"I'll let you off all day to-morrow," Farmer Green said. "And you know
+there's that calf I told you I'd give you if you helped me with the
+haying."
+
+And then Johnnie actually smiled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, the next morning was just as fine as the afternoon before. And
+Johnnie Green set off early for Black Creek, with his pockets stuffed
+full of cherries, because he was afraid he might get hungry. He ate a
+few of them on the way to the creek. But when he reached that delightful
+place he found something that made him forget what he had in his
+pockets. For there near the top of the bank, too far from the water to
+escape him--there lay Timothy Turtle himself, taking a sun-bath on the
+warm sand.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+CAUGHT!
+
+
+As soon as Johnnie Green saw Mr. Turtle he let out a loud whoop. And as
+soon as Mr. Turtle saw Johnnie, _he_ scrambled up and made awkwardly for
+the water as fast as he could go.
+
+But Timothy's fastest, on land, was so slow that Johnnie Green stopped
+him in two seconds.
+
+Catching up a long stick, Johnnie thrust it in front of Timothy Turtle,
+who promptly seized it in his hooked jaws.
+
+Johnnie Green couldn't help laughing at him.
+
+"You're a stupid old fellow!" he cried. "You could bite that stick all
+day and not hurt me."
+
+But Timothy Turtle said never a word. He wished, however, that he could
+shift his grip to one of Johnnie's bare toes. He rather thought, if he
+could have done that, that Johnnie Green would give such a yell as had
+never before been heard in Pleasant Valley.
+
+But Johnnie was careful. After catching Mr. Turtle he hardly knew what
+to do with him. All summer long Johnnie had kept his jackknife sharp as
+a razor, ready to carve his initials on Mr. Turtle's hard shell whenever
+the chance came. The knife was in his pocket. There was Mr. Turtle
+before him on the sand. And yet Johnnie was puzzled.
+
+Close at hand his captive looked fiercer than he had appeared at a
+distance, lying on a rock in the creek. And his jaws had closed upon
+the stick in a vise-like hold. Johnnie winced when he tried to imagine
+how he would feel with Mr. Turtle fastened firmly to a toe or a finger.
+
+It was not a pleasant thought. But Johnnie Green soon had a happier one:
+why not turn the old scamp over upon his back?
+
+Johnnie had heard that a turtle was helpless when upset in that way. And
+he had already made up his mind to flop this one over when he realized
+that even with his captive upside down there was still a certain
+difficulty.
+
+To be sure, Mr. Turtle couldn't walk away. But he could bite just the
+same. And how was a boy going to carve his initials on anybody's back,
+when that person was lying on it?
+
+Johnnie Green saw that that plan wouldn't do at all. But he turned
+Timothy over, just for fun, upsetting him neatly by lifting him on the
+stick--for Timothy had not sense enough to let go of it in time to save
+himself.
+
+Johnnie stayed there only long enough to make sure that Timothy Turtle
+was unable to move. And he soon decided that the savage old rascal would
+have to lie on his back until somebody came along and tipped him over.
+Then Johnnie Green scampered away.
+
+To be sure, Mr. Turtle wriggled his legs, and twisted his neck about.
+But all his wiggling and twisting were of not the slightest help to him.
+
+It was the first time in his long life that he had ever found himself in
+that position on land. And he was both frightened and angry.
+
+Old Mr. Crow, who had a way of knowing when there was anything unusual
+going on, arrived in time to hear Timothy's remarks. And what he said
+about boys--and especially about Johnnie Green--made Mr. Crow catch his
+breath.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE REDSKINS' WAY
+
+
+Of course Timothy Turtle was glad that Johnnie Green was gone. But he
+was far from happy, lying helpless on his back on the bank of Black
+Creek.
+
+He told Mr. Crow that he hoped Johnnie would forget to come back
+again--a remark which made old Mr. Crow laugh. Being very wise, he saw
+at once that Timothy Turtle knew next to nothing about boys.
+
+"I should think," Mr. Crow told Timothy, "you'd want Johnnie Green to
+return."
+
+"Why?" Timothy snapped out his question in an angry tone, as he lay
+there upside down and stared at old Mr. Crow, who sat in a tree near-by.
+
+"Well," Mr. Crow answered, "who'll set you on your feet again if he
+doesn't?"
+
+"Don't you worry about me!" Timothy Turtle sneered. "I'll right myself
+as soon as there's a freshet. If there's a big enough rain the creek
+will rise as high as I am now. And nobody could keep me on my back in
+the water."
+
+Old Mr. Crow actually snickered.
+
+"You might have to wait till next spring for a freshet," he said
+cheerfully. "And what would you eat meanwhile?"
+
+Having had a hearty meal of fish just before leaving the creek, Timothy
+Turtle hadn't once thought of _eating_. And naturally Mr. Crow's
+question troubled him. So he frowned frightfully. And he snapped his
+hooked jaws together, for he had to take something in his jaws and bite
+it, if it was no more than the air.
+
+"I suppose"--Mr. Crow remarked--"I suppose you would call that _taking
+the air, eh_?" And there was a merry twinkle in his eye.
+
+"Go away!" Timothy Turtle growled.
+
+But his guest declined to leave.
+
+"There's likely to be some fun here," he thought, "and I don't intend to
+miss it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If Timothy Turtle was surprised, Mr. Crow certainly was not, when a
+little later Johnnie Green and another boy whom he called "Red" (on
+account of his hair) came hurrying up to the spot where Timothy Turtle
+lay.
+
+Upon the ground they dropped a number of things, such as pieces of rope,
+an old grain-sack, and an axe.
+
+"Goodness!" said Mr. Crow to himself, as he looked on. "I'm glad I'm not
+Timothy Turtle. It appears to me that he's going to have a terrible
+time."
+
+And Timothy himself seemed to think the same. He made savage passes at
+Johnnie and Red whenever they came near him. But they took good care to
+keep beyond his reach.
+
+On the whole their captive behaved in a most foolish manner. Instead of
+drawing his head as far as he could into his shell, he thrust his neck
+out as far as it would go.
+
+And that was exactly what the boys wanted him to do. Before Timothy
+Turtle--who was somewhat slow-witted--before he realized what their plan
+was, Johnnie Green and his friend Red had slipped one noose around his
+head and another around his body. And after turning their captive right
+side up they staked him out upon the sand so that he could not move.
+
+"There!" Johnnie Green cried when they had Timothy Turtle where they
+wanted him. "That's the way the Redskins do with their enemies."
+
+And his friend the red-haired boy danced something that might have been
+an Indian war dance.
+
+Anyhow, neither old Mr. Crow nor Timothy Turtle had ever seen anything
+like it.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+JOHNNIE GREEN'S INITIALS
+
+
+Timothy Turtle found himself in a very uncomfortable position, staked
+out as he was on the bank of Black Creek, with one rope about his body
+and another about his neck.
+
+And even then Johnnie Green was not satisfied. Though his friend Red
+insisted that their captive could do them no harm (saying, "How can he
+bite when he can't move his head?") Johnnie Green replied that he would
+"fix him" so there couldn't possibly be any accident. And taking the old
+grain-sack he had brought back with him, he wrapped it carefully around
+Timothy's head, till he looked for all the world as if he had the
+earache.
+
+"There!" Johnnie Green said, when he had finished. "He'll have to bite
+through that bag before he bites us; and I guess he'll find he has a
+pretty big mouthful."
+
+Then he pulled out his jackknife and felt its sharp edge with his thumb.
+
+"Lemme do it for you!" Red begged him, holding out his hand for the
+knife.
+
+But Johnnie Green had no such idea.
+
+"No!" he said firmly. "I've got to cut my initials myself."
+
+"He might get loose and grab you," the red-haired boy remarked
+hopefully.
+
+But Johnnie Green told him that he would risk that.
+
+"Which way are you going to cut them?" Red asked him.
+
+"What do you mean?" Johnnie inquired.
+
+"Are you going to make 'em read when he's going or coming?" Red
+explained.
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," Johnnie Green replied. "But I guess _going_
+would be better. Then if he stands up you can read 'em just the same,
+without any trouble."
+
+So Johnnie kneeled down beside Timothy Turtle. It took him some time to
+decide just where he would carve his initials on Timothy's shell. And he
+had about decided that the best place to put his mark on Mr. Turtle's
+back would be exactly in the middle of it, when he cried all at once,
+"Look, Red! Look!"
+
+"Whassamatter?" the red-haired boy wanted to know.
+
+"This is the queerest thing I ever heard of!" Johnnie exclaimed. "Here
+are my initials already cut!"
+
+Red could not believe him, until he had peered at Timothy's shell
+himself. And then he saw that what Johnnie had said was true.
+
+"There's a date, too," Johnnie pointed out. And he read it aloud.
+"That's more'n thirty years ago," he declared.
+
+But the red-haired boy laughed boisterously.
+
+"Shucks!" he jeered. "Somebody's been playin' a joke on you. Somebody
+knew you were lookin' for this old turtle and put your initials and that
+old date on him just to puzzle you."
+
+Johnnie Green didn't know exactly what to think. But probably he was no
+more upset than was Timothy Turtle, who was not having a good time at
+all.
+
+"I don't care if some one did catch this turtle first," Johnnie said at
+last. "I'm going to carve my mark on him just the same."
+
+So he began to cut "J. G." in the exact center of the back of Timothy
+Turtle, much to that old fellow's rage.
+
+And when Johnnie Green had finished the letters he cut the date below
+them.
+
+"What you goin' to do with him now?" Red asked Johnnie then.
+
+"Turn him loose!" Johnnie replied.
+
+"Aw--don't do that! Lemme have him!" Red coaxed.
+
+Johnnie Green said that he was sorry--but he intended to set his captive
+free, just as he had planned.
+
+He soon found that turning Mr. Turtle loose was no easy matter. Strange
+to say, Timothy Turtle did nothing to help. On the contrary, he made the
+task as hard as he could for Johnnie Green, trying his best to bite that
+young man.
+
+In the end Johnnie had to cut the rope that held Timothy's head. And
+when that furious old fellow at last found himself in Black Creek once
+more he still wore a noose of rope, like a collar, around his neck.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Johnnie Green told his father about his adventure with Timothy
+Turtle, he had a great surprise. Farmer Green said that when he was just
+about Johnnie's age he had cut _his_ initials on a turtle, down by the
+creek.
+
+Now, since Johnnie was named for his father, their initials had to be
+alike. So the J. G.--and the old date--that Johnnie had found must have
+been carved by Farmer Green when he was a youngster.
+
+Somehow, Johnnie found it very hard to imagine that his father had ever
+been a boy like himself and had spent his time playing near the creek,
+and carving his initials on the back of a turtle.
+
+"How old do you suppose that turtle is?" he asked his father.
+
+"Oh, he must be a regular old settler," Farmer Green declared. "He may
+have been around here when your grandfather was a boy, for all I know."
+
+"Do you really believe that?" Johnnie exclaimed.
+
+"Well," his father answered, "there's only one way to find out."
+
+"What's that?" Johnnie inquired eagerly.
+
+"Ask Mr. Turtle himself," Farmer Green replied with a smile.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+TIMOTHY NEEDS HELP
+
+
+Everybody who lived near Black Creek noticed Timothy Turtle's new
+collar. And almost every one, being curious, asked Mr. Turtle where he
+got it, and why he was wearing it.
+
+Now, Timothy Turtle would give such folk no answer at all. But old Mr.
+Crow knew what had happened--of course. And he took pains to tell all
+his friends how Johnnie Green had caught Timothy and tied a rope around
+his neck, and cut something on Timothy's back, besides.
+
+[Illustration: "Let me go!" Fatty Coon shrieked.]
+
+So it was not long before Timothy Turtle's neighbors began to ask him
+what was on his back.
+
+"My shell's on my back!" he snapped, when any one put that question to
+him.
+
+"Yes--but what's on your shell?" everybody was sure to answer back.
+
+Timothy Turtle couldn't have replied to that question, even if he had
+wanted to. And though he always sneered when hearing it and turned his
+head away, as if the matter was something he didn't care to talk about,
+there was nobody who was any more eager to know the answer than he.
+
+To be sure, by raising his head he could get a slanting view of the top
+of his shell. But such a glimpse was not enough to tell him anything.
+
+Under the constant inquiries of his neighbors Timothy's curiosity grew
+every day. Soon he took to staring at his reflection in the surface of
+the water, with the hope that he might be able to see his back in that
+way.
+
+But it was all in vain. Though Timothy twisted and turned and stretched
+his long neck, he couldn't see his own back, no matter how much he
+tried.
+
+Now, there was an ill-mannered scamp named Peter Mink who happened to go
+prowling up the creek one day. And as he quietly rounded a bend he came
+upon an odd sight.
+
+In front of him, and perched on a rock in the midst of the water,
+Timothy Turtle was going through the queerest motions. He seemed to be
+peering into the water at something, while wriggling about in a most
+peculiar fashion.
+
+He did not notice Peter Mink, who stood stock still and watched him for
+some time without speaking.
+
+At last Peter's prying ways got the better of him. He simply had to say
+something.
+
+"What on earth are you doing!" he called to Timothy.
+
+Mr. Turtle gave a great start.
+
+"I'm looking at myself--that's all," he said. He was so surprised that
+for once he actually answered a question politely.
+
+His reply amused Peter Mink. And that ill-bred rascal laughed right in
+Timothy Turtle's face.
+
+"Time must hang heavy on your hands, if you can't find anything
+pleasanter to do than that," he remarked--for Peter Mink never cared how
+rude he was. In fact he liked to make unkind remarks. "Aren't you
+afraid," he added, "that you'll wear out the surface of the creek,
+gazing into it? I shouldn't like that very well," said Peter Mink,
+"because then it couldn't freeze in winter, and you know it's great
+sport to hunt muskrats under the ice."
+
+Well, Peter's speech alarmed Timothy Turtle. And yet he felt that he
+could not rest until he knew what was on his back. So he asked Peter
+Mink to meet him on the bank.
+
+"I want you to help me," he said. "I have reason to believe that there's
+something written on my back. And you must tell me what it is."
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+PETER MINK'S PLAN
+
+
+Now Peter Mink had never learned to read. In the first place, he had
+never had a chance to learn. And in the second, he was such a
+good-for-nothing rascal that he wouldn't have gone to school anyhow.
+
+But he did not tell all this to Timothy Turtle. When he stepped behind
+Timothy and gazed at his back, Peter Mink thought of a fine way to tease
+the old fellow.
+
+Of course, he had not the slightest idea what those marks on Mr.
+Turtle's shell meant. But he looked down at them with a wise smile.
+
+Mr. Turtle, watching Peter out of the corner of his eye, saw that smile;
+and he did not like it in the least. In fact, it made him feel quite
+peevish.
+
+"Well, what do you see?" he asked Peter Mink impatiently.
+
+"Ah!" Peter Mink replied with a shake of his small head. "I'm not going
+to tell you, Mr. Turtle. I don't want to hurt your feelings. And if I
+were to explain that your back says you're a disagreeable, mean old
+scamp, you know you'd be very angry."
+
+Peter Mink jumped out of the way just in time. For Timothy Turtle
+wheeled with amazing swiftness and snapped at his tormentor.
+
+"Don't do that!" Peter cried. "_I_ didn't say anything about you, Mr.
+Turtle."
+
+"You'd better not," Timothy warned him. "And if Johnnie Green carved
+any such words as those on my shell I don't know what to do. I certainly
+don't want to carry them about with me for the rest of my life." He
+looked unhappy, to say the least. He knew that probably he would live a
+great many years longer. And he was puzzled.
+
+"Why don't you get a new shell?" Peter Mink inquired.
+
+"I'd hate to do that," Timothy Turtle told him. "I've had this one a
+long time; and it fits me perfectly."
+
+"Then why don't you get the well-known tailor, Mr. Ferdinand Frog, to
+make you a coat that will cover your back? If you did that, nobody could
+see what's on your shell."
+
+"A good idea!" Timothy Turtle exclaimed. "I'll see Mr. Frog at once. And
+some day I'll do something handsome for you, because you've been a
+great help to me."
+
+"Why wait?" Peter Mink demanded. "Why don't you do it now?" Knowing that
+Timothy was stingy, Peter thought that the old gentleman would soon
+change his mind about "doing something handsome" for him.
+
+"No!" Timothy Turtle declared. "I want to wait a while and think it
+over."
+
+"Well, then," Peter Mink urged him, "why don't you crawl under that
+shelving rock and think it over right now?"
+
+"You ask too many questions," Mr. Turtle told him. "And besides, I must
+hurry away and find Ferdinand Frog. I want my new coat as soon as I can
+get it. And the longer I stay here, the more time I shall lose." So in
+spite of all Peter Mink could say, Timothy slipped into Black Creek and
+swam away.
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+CAREFUL MR. FROG
+
+
+Somebody had knocked. And with a wide smile upon his face Mr. Ferdinand
+Frog, the tailor, went to his door and peeped out.
+
+One look was enough. He shut the door again with great haste and barred
+it. And he held one hand over his heart, as if he had just received a
+terrible fright.
+
+"Let me in!" somebody called. The tailor knew that it was Timothy
+Turtle's voice, for he had seen that crusty old person standing upon his
+doorstep.
+
+"Go away!" Mr. Frog replied. "I'm not here."
+
+He was an odd chap--this Ferdinand Frog. One never could tell what he
+was going to do--or say.
+
+"Yes, you are!" Timothy Turtle insisted. "I saw you only a moment ago."
+
+The tailor then peered out of the window at his caller.
+
+"There you are now!" Timothy shouted, as he caught sight of Mr. Frog. "I
+say, let me in!"
+
+"I can't," Mr. Frog answered. "I'm sick a-bed."
+
+"Nonsense!" Timothy cried.
+
+"Well, I expect I'll be ill if you don't go away," the tailor answered.
+"I'm having a nervous chill this very moment."
+
+He was afraid of Timothy Turtle. And it was no wonder. For Timothy had
+tried, more than once to make a meal of the nimble Mr. Frog.
+
+"I haven't come here to hurt you," Timothy Turtle explained, trying to
+smile at the face in the window. "I want you to make me a new coat--a
+big one that will cover my back all over."
+
+To his great disappointment Mr. Frog shook his head with great force.
+
+"I'm not interested," he announced.
+
+"Do you mean"--Timothy Turtle faltered--"do you mean that you won't make
+a coat for me?"
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+"Why?" Timothy pressed him.
+
+"Too busy!" was Mr. Frog's answer.
+
+"Who is?"
+
+"You are!" said Mr. Frog. "Ever since I've known you, you've been trying
+to catch me and my friends."
+
+"Why--er--I was only joking," Timothy Turtle told him. "You mustn't mind
+my playful ways. Just make me a coat and I'll do something handsome for
+you."
+
+It was now the tailor's turn to ask questions.
+
+"What"--he inquired--"what will you do?"
+
+"I couldn't just say at this moment," Timothy replied.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Oh, I'd want to think a while," said Timothy Turtle.
+
+"Very well!" was the tailor's answer. "I've no objection, though it's
+something I never do myself."
+
+"I wish you'd come outside a moment, since you don't want me inside your
+shop," Timothy remarked. "I'd like to whisper to you."
+
+"I'm deaf," Mr. Frog informed him. "I couldn't hear a single word, even
+if you were to shout your head off."
+
+"You can hear what I'm saying now well enough," Timothy pointed out.
+
+"I read the lips," said Mr. Frog with a snicker.
+
+That speech made Timothy Turtle start.
+
+"Then if you can read my lips, no doubt you can read what's on my back,"
+he said.
+
+"That's easy," the tailor observed. "Your shell's on your back, of
+course."
+
+Timothy Turtle glanced up with a look of scorn.
+
+"Don't be silly!" he snapped. "I mean, can you read what's carved on my
+shell?"
+
+"Certainly!" Mr. Frog replied. And he began to mutter, as if to himself,
+"J. G.--that means _just grumpy_, of course----"
+
+Timothy Turtle interrupted him quickly.
+
+"I don't care to hear any more," he screamed. And turning away, he
+waddled towards the water.
+
+"That Ferdinand Frog has no manners," he spluttered. "I only wish he
+wasn't quite so spry." And Mr. Turtle looked very fierce as he snapped
+his jaws together.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+THE ALMANAC
+
+
+One rainy night Peter Mink stopped at Black Creek; and calling loudly to
+Timothy Turtle he asked for a place to sleep.
+
+"You remember," he said, when Timothy drew himself upon the bank, "you
+told me that you would do something handsome for me some time. And now
+that I'm wet and tired I hope you can offer me a snug, dry spot in which
+to spend the night."
+
+"What can you do to pay me?" asked Timothy Turtle. He never did anything
+for anybody without pay. "Can you saw wood?"
+
+Now, Peter Mink would rather stay out in the rain forever than saw a
+single stick of wood. So he said:
+
+"No, I can't!" just like that.
+
+"Well, it's about time you learned," said Timothy Turtle.
+
+Peter Mink was about to leave in disgust; and he was wondering what name
+he would call Timothy Turtle, when he was a little further away, when he
+noticed that Timothy had a thin book in his hand.
+
+"What's that?" Peter asked.
+
+"It's the Farmer's Almanac," said Timothy Turtle. "I've been looking
+through it; but my eyes are bad and I can't read."
+
+Now that was quite true; for Timothy's eyes _were_ bad--and he had never
+learned to read.
+
+"I'll tell you what I'll do," Peter Mink announced. "If you'll give me a
+place to spend the night I'll read the Farmer's Almanac to you."
+
+"Come right in!" Timothy Turtle cried, leading the way to a cozy nook
+beneath a big rock which was not far from the water. And Peter Mink was
+very glad to creep inside that comfortable shelter. He took the Almanac
+from Timothy Turtle and they both sat down.
+
+Peter opened the book.
+
+"I see," he said, "that it says the weather was fair to-day, but look
+out for a heavy rain to-night!"
+
+Now, Timothy Turtle had not felt quite sure that Peter Mink knew how to
+read. But when he heard that he quickly changed his mind.
+
+"That's exactly what's happened!" he exclaimed. And he was greatly
+pleased.
+
+But the next moment he noticed that Peter Mink was holding the book
+upside down. Timothy could tell that because the picture of the man
+ploughing, on the cover, was upside down.
+
+"You can't read!" he cried angrily. "You don't even know how to hold a
+book. You've got it bottom side up!"
+
+But Peter Mink only smiled pleasantly at him.
+
+"You don't understand," he said. "That's the way I was taught to read.
+Then, if you want to read when standing on your head, you don't need to
+turn the book over.... It's the latest method," he explained.
+
+"Oh!" said Timothy Turtle. "That's different!"
+
+"Yes--quite different!" said Peter Mink.
+
+"What does the Almanac say about next week?" Timothy inquired.
+
+"Time to plant corn!" Peter told him.
+
+"That's so!" said Timothy Turtle. "Mr. Crow was telling me this very day
+that Farmer Green was ploughing his cornfield; but of course that
+doesn't interest me much.... What else does the book say?" Timothy
+continued.
+
+"Well, here's some general advice," Peter Mink remarked, as he looked at
+the Almanac again. "It says: 'If anybody comes to you and asks for a
+place to sleep, give him a bed--but first of all, give him a good
+supper.'"
+
+"I don't believe I want to hear any more to-night," said Timothy Turtle
+hastily. "It's late; so we'd better go to bed right away."
+
+Peter Mink was somewhat disappointed. He had hoped to get a fish or two
+to eat. But there was nothing he could say, though he did wish Timothy
+Turtle could take a hint.
+
+"In the morning you can read to me again," Timothy told him.
+
+So they went to bed.
+
+But in the morning the Almanac was nowhere to be found. Timothy Turtle
+hunted for it in every place he could think of--except Peter Mink's
+pocket.
+
+After Peter had gone, Timothy continued his search. And at last he found
+the Almanac beneath the heap of dry leaves which Peter Mink had used for
+a bed.
+
+"That's queer!" Timothy Turtle said. "I'm almost sure I looked there
+before Peter Mink went away.... My eyes must be growing worse."
+
+The more he thought of the matter, the gladder he was that he hadn't
+found the book before. For there was no knowing but that Peter Mink
+might have found some advice about giving a good breakfast to a guest
+who stayed over night.
+
+Then Timothy Turtle went into Black Creek and caught a fine fish, for he
+was hungry. And he enjoyed his meal mightily, because he had it all to
+himself.
+
+While he was eating he kept thinking what a disagreeable fellow Peter
+Mink was. No doubt he would have been surprised had he known that Peter
+Mink was thinking the same thing about _him_, at exactly the same
+moment.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+A QUEER WISH
+
+
+Fishing was one of Timothy Turtle's favorite sports. He was a skillful
+fisherman, too. And though it only happened once that he caught more
+than one fish at a time, on that occasion he captured seven. This was
+the way it happened:
+
+Johnnie Green had come to Black Creek to fish for pickerel. And Timothy
+Turtle was much annoyed when he found Johnnie fishing in the pool that
+he liked best of all. Timothy thought it was mean of Johnnie Green to
+catch _his_ fish, in _his_ creek.
+
+And Timothy's beady eyes glared as he watched Johnnie from a safe
+hiding-place under the bank.
+
+He saw that Johnnie Green was a good fisherman. Before he moved on he
+caught three big fish from that pool; and one of them--the biggest of
+the three--was the very fish on which Timothy Turtle had been expecting
+to dine that day.
+
+It was really no wonder that he was annoyed. And when Johnnie went
+further up the creek to try his luck elsewhere Timothy Turtle slipped
+into the water and followed him.
+
+The more fish he saw Johnnie Green catch, the angrier Timothy grew. And
+he went out of his way to tell a number of his neighbors what was
+happening.
+
+"Something ought to be done about it!" he complained.
+
+"Why don't you go down and speak to Farmer Green?" Peter Mink
+suggested. Peter liked fish, too. And he had often said that Johnnie
+had no right to take food away from him, when everybody knew that there
+was a plenty at the farmhouse.
+
+Timothy Turtle did not care for Peter's suggestion.
+
+"I've no time to waste talking to Farmer Green," he said. "It seems to
+me a letter would be better. Now, if somebody would write a letter, and
+get everybody to sign his name to it, and send it down to Farmer Green
+by a messenger, I would do my share to help. I would tell the messenger
+where to leave the letter so that Farmer Green would be sure to find
+it." Timothy then said that he must hurry back to the creek, for he
+wanted to see how many fish Johnnie Green took, so the number could be
+mentioned in the letter. But before he left Timothy told Peter Mink to
+go and find somebody to write the letter. "There's old Mr. Crow,"
+Timothy said. "You might ask him. He could use one of his quills for a
+pen, you know."
+
+When Timothy Turtle reached the creek once more he found that while he
+was talking to Peter Mink, Johnnie Green had moved oh again.
+
+So Timothy started to follow him. But what should he see, lying on the
+bank right before him, but a string of seven pickerel! Johnnie Green had
+left them there, while he went still further up the creek to catch more.
+
+Timothy Turtle suddenly changed his mind about sending a letter to
+Farmer Green. He wished that Johnnie would come there to fish every day.
+
+"He's a kind boy, after all!" said Timothy Turtle to himself. "I never
+dreamed that he was catching these fish for me. But here they are,
+waiting for me! For Johnnie must have known that I would find them."
+
+Timothy Turtle didn't say anything more. Of course he was only talking
+to himself, anyhow. And he seized the string of pickerel and waddled
+into the bushes, where he ate every one of those seven fish.
+
+When Peter Mink met Timothy the next day he said he had not yet found
+anybody who would write the letter to Farmer Green.
+
+"Mr. Crow told me that if it was anybody but you he might be willing to
+pull out one of his quills for a pen," Peter explained. "But he said
+that he hoped Johnnie Green would come here every day to fish, until
+there are no fish left for you."
+
+Timothy Turtle sniffed.
+
+"You go back," he directed Peter Mink, "and tell Mr. Crow that _I_ hope
+Johnnie Green will come here _twice a day_ until he has caught every
+fish in Black Creek."
+
+Peter Mink thought that that was a queer thing for Timothy to wish.
+Neither he nor old Mr. Crow could understand it.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+THE UNWELCOME GUEST
+
+
+Ferdinand Frog did not like Timothy Turtle. But he always said he
+thought Mr. Turtle could be _trusted_.
+
+"You can _depend_ on him," Mr. Frog often remarked. "Yes, you can depend
+on him to grab you if he ever gets a chance."
+
+And all the rest of the musical Frog family agreed with him.
+
+It is not surprising, therefore, that they never invited Timothy Turtle
+to attend their singing parties in Cedar Swamp. It made no difference
+how much Timothy Turtle hinted. Though he frequently took pains to tell
+Ferdinand Frog how fond he was of music, Mr. Frog never once asked him
+to come to a concert.
+
+In private Mr. Frog and his friends often spoke of Mr. Turtle--and
+giggled. And one of the Frog family even made up a song about Timothy
+Turtle, which the whole company loved to chant in Cedar Swamp, safe--as
+they thought--from Timothy's snapping jaws.
+
+But one fine summer's evening they had a great surprise. They had
+scarcely begun their nightly concert when Timothy Turtle appeared, out
+of the water and crawled upon an old stump, right in their midst.
+
+"Good evening!" he cried. "I was just passing on my way home; and
+hearing the singing, I thought I'd stop and enjoy it."
+
+For a few moments none of the Frog family said a word. And then
+Ferdinand Frog spoke up and asked Mr. Turtle a question:
+
+"Have you had your dinner?"
+
+"No, I haven't," Timothy answered. "But you needn't trouble yourselves
+on my account. Go on with your singing. And if I feel faint no doubt I
+can find a bite to eat hereabouts."
+
+Now, Mr. Turtle hoped that his speech would put the singers quite at
+their ease. But they looked at one another and rolled their eyes as if
+to say, "This Timothy Turtle is a dangerous person. Look out for him!"
+
+At the same time they did not wish to appear frightened. And Ferdinand
+Frog's mother's uncle even made a short speech, saying that he hoped Mr.
+Turtle would enjoy the singing half as much as everybody else enjoyed
+his company.
+
+He was about to make some further remark. But no one knew what. For
+Timothy Turtle wheeled about to look at the old gentleman. And the
+moment Timothy moved, Ferdinand Frog's mother's uncle jumped hastily
+into the water from the hummock where he had been sitting, and swam
+away.
+
+The rest of the company then sang a song. And their listener said that
+he had never heard anything like it.
+
+"I wish you'd sing it again," he said, "with your mouths open and your
+eyes shut."
+
+But the musical Frog family objected that they were not used to singing
+in that fashion.
+
+"Why don't you keep your own eyes shut?" Ferdinand Frog asked Mr.
+Turtle. "Then you wouldn't know whether ours were open or closed."
+
+"Let us _all_ shut our eyes!" Timothy Turtle then suggested. And when
+the Frog family began another song, a few of the younger and more
+foolish singers followed Mr. Turtle's advice.
+
+So, too, did Mr. Turtle himself--_for a few moments_.
+
+But he soon opened his eyes slyly. And he became very angry when he saw
+that most of the singers were watching him.
+
+"You aren't doing as I asked you!" he shouted.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+A MERRY SONG
+
+
+Timothy Turtle made such a noise that the Frog family had to stop
+singing.
+
+"It's not fair!" he cried. "You're peeping!"
+
+"Well, so are you!" Ferdinand Frog retorted.
+
+"I only opened my eyes to make sure that you were doing as I asked you
+to," Mr. Turtle replied with an injured air.
+
+"And we didn't shut ours, because we wanted to watch _you_," said Mr.
+Frog.
+
+"Can't you trust me?" Timothy snapped.
+
+"Certainly!" Ferdinand Frog replied.
+
+"Oh, yes! We can trust you!" And he winked at his friends.
+
+"You don't want to hurt my feelings, do you?" Timothy Turtle went on.
+
+"No, indeed!" everybody exclaimed.
+
+And then Ferdinand Frog told Timothy that they would sing a special song
+in his honor.
+
+"Fire away!" Timothy ordered them. And the whole company knew, when he
+said that, that if he really cared anything at all for singing he never
+would have spoken of it in that fashion.
+
+They were just about to begin the song when Timothy Turtle stopped them.
+
+"What's this thing called?" he demanded.
+
+"It's known," Ferdinand Frog explained, "as 'A Merry Song.'"
+
+And then the whole Frog family began to bellow their loudest:
+
+    Come let us sing a merry song!
+     To you it may sound sad.
+    And if you think it loud and long
+     _We_ think that it's not bad.
+
+    "We'll sing about a grumpy one
+     Who snaps and bites all day.
+    And if you call that "having fun"
+     We make reply, "Go 'way!"
+
+    He has a glittering, wicked eye
+     And also cruel jaws.
+    And if you ask the reason why,
+     We'll answer you, _"Because!"_
+
+    He'll stretch his neck and grab you quick--
+     Don't let him come too near!
+    And if you poke him with a stick
+     He'll seize that too--oh, dear!
+
+    Now, we'll admit he swims quite well
+     And that he's slow ashore.
+    Don't ask us if he wears a shell
+     Until we tell you more.
+
+    Don't ask us if he's fond of fish
+     Nor seek to learn his age.
+    And kindly don't express a wish
+     To see him in a rage!
+
+    Don't ask us if his claws are strong
+     And if he has a tail.
+    It might be short and blunt, or long
+     And pointed like a nail.
+
+    We do not want to cause you pain.
+     We would not give offense--
+    But, sir, you'll not come here again
+     If you have any sense.
+
+After the last echo of the song had lost itself in the depths of Cedar
+Swamp, the singers all turned, smiling, to their listener.
+
+But his face wore no smile. On the contrary, Timothy Turtle frowned
+darkly.
+
+"You can't fool me!" he cried. "You don't like me! You don't want me
+here!"
+
+Ferdinand Frog swallowed a few times.
+
+"Well," said he, "of course my manners are so elegant that I simply
+_couldn't_ dispute one of my elders. And anyhow, Mr. Turtle, you'd find
+that our singing sounded twice as well if you were half a mile away."
+
+"It certainly couldn't sound any worse than it does here," Timothy
+Turtle declared--a remark which made the Frog family grin broadly.
+
+He said no more, but slipped into the water and struck out towards home.
+
+There was a lively scattering of those who found themselves in Timothy
+Turtle's path. And for a time it looked as if the singing party had
+broken up in disorder.
+
+But after a while everybody came back again--that is, everybody but
+Timothy Turtle. He hurried away and spent most of the whole night buried
+in the mud at the bottom of Black Creek. For even until daybreak that
+merry song came floating now and then across Pleasant Valley.
+
+And Timothy Turtle did not like it. He thought it not only loud and
+long, but most unpleasant as well.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Little Jack Rabbit Books
+
+(Trademark Registered)
+
+By DAVID CORY
+
+Author of "Little Journeys to Happyland"
+
+Colored Wrappers With Text Illustrations.
+
+A new and unique series about the furred and feathered little people of
+the wood and meadow.
+
+Children will eagerly follow the doings of little Jack Rabbit, and the
+clever way in which he escapes from his three enemies, Danny Fox, Mr.
+Wicked Wolf and Hungry Hawk will delight the youngsters.
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT'S ADVENTURES
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND DANNY FOX
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE SQUIRREL BROTHERS
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND CHIPPY CHIPMUNK
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE BIG BROWN BEAR
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND UNCLE JOHN HARE
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND PROFESSOR CROW
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND OLD MAN WEASEL
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND MR. WICKED WOLF
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND HUNGRY HAWK
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE POLICEMAN DOG
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND MISS MOUSIE
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND UNCLE LUCKY
+
+LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE YELLOW DOG TRAMP
+
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE JOURNEYS TO HAPPYLAND
+
+By DAVID CORY
+
+PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS.
+
+Printed in large type--easy to read. For children from 6 to 8 years.
+
+A new series of exciting adventures by the author of the LITTLE JACK
+RABBIT books. This series is unique in that it deals with unusual and
+exciting adventures on land and sea and in the air.
+
+THE CRUISE OF THE NOAH'S ARK
+
+This is a good rainy day story. On just such a day Mr. Noah invites
+Marjorie to go for a trip in Noah's Ark. She gets aboard just in time
+and away it floats out into the big wide world.
+
+THE MAGIC SOAP BUBBLE
+
+The king of the gnomes has a magic pipe with which he blows a wonderful
+bubble and taking Ed. with him they both have a delightful time in
+Gnomeland.
+
+THE ICEBERG EXPRESS
+
+The Mermaid's magic comb changes little Mary Louise into a mermaid. The
+Polar Bear Porter on the Iceberg Express invites her to take a trip with
+him and away they go.
+
+THE WIND WAGON
+
+Little Hero stepped aboard the Wind Wagon and started on a journey to
+many wonderful places and had a delightful time.
+
+THE MAGIC UMBRELLA
+
+A little old man gave Jimmy the Magic Umbrella which took him to
+Happyland, where he had many adventures.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Timothy Turtle, by Arthur Scott Bailey
+
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