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diff --git a/38896-h/38896-h.htm b/38896-h/38896-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4695d04 --- /dev/null +++ b/38896-h/38896-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5883 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Hollow Tree Snowed-In Book, by Albert Bigelow Paine. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + .chapsum {margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em;margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 30%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + .small {font-size: 70%;} + .big {font-size: 110%;} + .adtitle2 {font-size: 150%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} + .adtitle {font-size: 200%; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} + .attrib {font-style: italic; font-size: 70%; text-align: left;} + .author {font-size: 120%; text-align: center;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .chaptertitle {text-align: center; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 90%;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 30%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; text-align: left;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align:baseline; + position: relative; + bottom: 0.33em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + .hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em;} + .cap:first-letter {float: left; clear: left; margin: -0.2em 0.1em 0; margin-top: 0%; + padding: 0; line-height: .75em; font-size: 300%; text-align: justify;} + .cap {text-align: justify;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Hollow Tree Snowed-in Book, by Albert Bigelow Paine + +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 Hollow Tree Snowed-in Book + being a continuation of the stories about the Hollow Tree + and Deep Woods people + +Author: Albert Bigelow Paine + +Illustrator: J. M. Conde + +Release Date: February 16, 2012 [EBook #38896] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOLLOW TREE SNOWED-IN BOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="420" height="600" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 442px;"> +<img src="images/gs01.png" width="442" height="297" alt="THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS PEOPLE" title="" /> +<div class='attrib'>[See <a href="#Page_28">p. 28</a></div> +<span class="caption">THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS PEOPLE<br /> +<span class='small'>Mr. Crow, Mr. Turtle, Mr. 'Coon, Mr. 'Possum, Mr. Robin, Mr. Squirrel, Mr. Dog, Mr. Rabbit</span><br /> +THEN MR. DOG SAID: "I KNOW ALL ABOUT MENAGERIES, FOR I HAVE BEEN TO ONE"</span> +</div> + + + + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + +<div class='bbox'> +<h1>THE HOLLOW TREE<br /> +SNOWED-IN BOOK</h1> +</div><div class='bbox'> +<div class='center'><span class='small'>BEING A CONTINUATION OF THE STORIES ABOUT</span><br /> +<span class='small'>THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS PEOPLE</span><br /> +<br /><br /> +BY<br /> +<span class='author'>ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE</span><br /> + +<span class='small'>AUTHOR OF</span><br /> +<span class='small'>"THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS BOOK"</span><br /> +<br /><br /> +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY +<span class='big'>J. M. CONDÉ</span><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 86px;"> +<img src="images/tp.png" width="86" height="88" alt="Emblem" title="" /> +<br /><br /><br /></div> + +</div><div class='bbox'><div class='center'> +NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> +<span class='big'>HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS</span><br /> +M C M X<br /></div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class='bbox'><div class='center'> +<span class="smcap">Books by</span><br /> +ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE<br /></div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Books"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Hollow Tree Snowed-In Book.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Crown 8vo </td><td align='right'>$1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Ship-Dwellers.</span> Illustrated</td><td align='right'>8vo </td><td align='right'>1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Tent-Dwellers.</span> Illustrated</td><td align='right'>Post 8vo </td><td align='right'>1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Illustrated. Post 8vo </td><td align='right'>1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">From Van-Dweller to Commuter.</span> Ill'd.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Post 8vo </td><td align='right'>1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Life of Thomas Nast.</span> Ill'd</td><td align='right'>8vo <i>net</i> </td><td align='right'>5.00</td></tr> +</table></div> +<br /><div class='center'>———————<br /> +<span class='small'>HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, N. Y.</span><br /> +</div></div> + + +<div class='copyright'><br /><br /><br /><br /> +Copyright, 1910, by <span class="smcap">Harper & Brothers</span><br /> +———————<br /> +Published October, 1910<br /> +<i>Printed in the United States of America</i><br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'> +TO ALL DWELLERS IN<br /> +THE BIG DEEP WOODS OF DREAM<br /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px;"><a name="Frontis" id="Frontis"></a> +<a href="images/gs02-big.png"><img src="images/gs02.png" width="420" height="600" alt="MAP OF THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS COUNTRY" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">MAP OF THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS COUNTRY</span> +</div> +<div class='tnote'><div class='center'><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> For a larger version of the +map, click on the image.</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + +<h2>EXPLANATION OF MAP</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> top of the map is South. This is always so with the Hollow +Tree People. The cross on the shelf below the edge of the world +(where the ladder is) is where Mr. Dog landed, and the ladder is the +one brought by Mr. Man for him to climb back on. The tree that +Mr. Man cut down shows too. The spot on the edge of the world +is where the Hollow Tree People sometimes sit and hang their feet +over, and talk. A good many paths show, but not all by a good deal. +The bridge and plank near Mr. Turtle's house lead to the Wide Grass +Lands and Big West Hills. The spots along the Foot Race show +where Grandpaw Hare stopped, and the one across the fence shows +where Mr. Turtle landed. Most of the other things tell what they +are, and all the things are a good deal farther apart than they look. +Of course there was not room on the map for everything.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<h2>TO FRIENDS OLD AND NEW</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>I WONDER if you have ever heard a story which begins like this: +"Once upon a time, in the far depths of the Big Deep Woods, +there was a Big Hollow Tree with three hollow branches. In +one of these there lived a 'Coon, in another a 'Possum, and in +the third a Big Black Crow."</div> + +<p>That was the way the first story began in a book which told about +the Hollow Tree People and their friends of the Big Deep Woods +who used to visit them, and how they all used to sit around the table, +or by the fire, in the parlor-room down-stairs, where they kept +most of their things, and ate and talked and had good times together, +just like folk.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>And the stories were told to the Little Lady by the Story Teller, +and there were pictures made for them by the Artist, and it was all +a long time ago—so long ago that the Little Lady has grown to be +almost a big lady now, able to read stories for herself, and to write +them, too, sometimes.</p> + +<p>But the Story Teller and the Artist did not grow any older. The +years do not make any difference to them. Like the Hollow Tree +People they remain always the same, for though to see them you +might think by their faces and the silver glint in their hair that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +are older, it would not be so, because these things are only a kind +of enchantment, made to deceive, when all the time they are really +with the Hollow Tree People in the Big Deep Woods, where years +and enchantments do not count. It was only Mr. Dog, because he +lived too much with Mr. Man, who grew old and went away to that +Far Land of Evening which lies beyond the sunset, taking so many +of the Hollow Tree stories with him. We thought these stories were +lost for good when Mr. Dog left us, but that was not true, for there +came another Mr. Dog—a nephew of our old friend—and he grew +up brave and handsome, and learned the ways of the Hollow Tree +People, and their stories, and all the old tales which the first Mr. Dog +did not tell.</p> + +<p>And now, too, there is another Little Lady—almost exactly like +the first Little Lady—and it may be that it is this Little Lady, after +all, who keeps the Artist and the Story Teller young, for when she +thought they might be growing older, and forgetting, she went with +them away from the House of Many Windows, in the city, to the +House of Low Ceilings and Wide Fireplaces—a queer old house +like Mr. Rabbit's—built within the very borders of the Big Deep +Woods, where they could be always close to Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum +and the Old Black Crow, and all the others, and so learn all the +new tales of the Hollow Tree.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> <i>The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book</i>, by the same author and artist.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">To Friends Old and New</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The First Snowed-In Story</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Dog at the Circus</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Second Snowed-In Story</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Widow Crow's Boarding-House</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Finding of the Hollow Tree</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Third Snowed-In Story</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Fourth Snowed-In Story</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The "Snowed-In" Literary Club</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The "Snowed-In" Literary Club—Part II</span> </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Discontented Fox</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. 'Possum's Great Story</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Bark of Old Hungry-Wolf</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Early Spring Call on Mr. Bear</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mr. Crow's Garden</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">When Jack Rabbit Was a Little Boy</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Hollow Tree Picnic</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS PEOPLE</div></td><td align='left'><i><a href="#Frontis">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MAP OF THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS COUNTRY</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>GATHERING NICE PIECES OF WOOD</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THE PANTRY IN THE HOLLOW TREE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"SLIPPED IN BEHIND HIM WHEN HE WENT INTO THE TENT"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"HE LOOKED SMILING AND GOOD-NATURED, AND I WENT OVER TO ASK HIM SOME QUESTIONS"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"GAVE ME AN EXTRA BIG SWING AND CRACK"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>ALL AT ONCE HE HEARD A FIERCE BARK CLOSE BEHIND HIM</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"THEN I SUDDENLY FELT LIKE A SHOOTING-STAR"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"THEN MR. DOG SAID, 'TELL ME ANOTHER'"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"AND DID ROLL OFF THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, SURE ENOUGH"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"I SET OUT FOR HOME WITHOUT WAITING TO SAY GOOD-BYE"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>CAME CLATTERING DOWN RIGHT IN FRONT OF MR. DOG</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>SO THEN MR. DOG TRIED TO GET MR. 'POSSUM ON HIS SHOULDER</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>HE WAS AN OLD BACHELOR AND LIKED TO HAVE HIS OWN WAY</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THEY SAW MR. CROW OUT IN THE YARD CUTTING WOOD FOR HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>HAD TO STAY AT HOME AND PEEL POTATOES</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>LISTENED NOW AND THEN AT WIDOW CROW'S DOOR TO BE SURE SHE WAS ASLEEP</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE'D JUST GET ON AND HOLD THE THINGS</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. 'COON TRIED TO PUT UP THE STOVE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. FOX SAID HE DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO FOR A FEW MINUTES AND HE'D ACT AS JUDGE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>SAILING ALONG, JUST TOUCHING THE HIGHEST POINTS</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>AWAY WENT MR. TORTOISE, CLEAR OVER THE TOP RAIL</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>SET OUT FOR HOME BY A BACK WAY</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>TRIED TO SPLICE HIS PROPERTY BACK IN PLACE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>GRANDFATHER WOULD LIGHT HIS PIPE AND THINK IT OVER</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>SET UP HIS EARS AND WENT BY, LICKETY-SPLIT</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"'GLAD TO SEE YOU,' SAID KING LION; 'I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT HAVING A NICE RABBIT FOR BREAKFAST'"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>GOT AROUND THE TABLE AND BEGAN TO WORK</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'POSSUM WANTED TO KNOW WHAT MR. RABBIT MEANT BY SPINNING THEIR TAILS</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. DOG SAID HE HAD MADE A FEW SKETCHES</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'POSSUM SAID IT MIGHT BE A GOOD ENOUGH STORY, BUT IT COULDN'T BE TRUE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>SO THEN MR. RABBIT SAID THEY MUST CHOOSE WHO WOULD BE "IT"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'POSSUM HAD TO PUT ON THE HANDKERCHIEF AND DO MORE EXERCISING THAN ANY OF THEM</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>WOULD FIND IT ON THE MANTEL-SHELF OR PERHAPS ON MR. CROW'S BALD HEAD</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE HADN'T MEANT ANYTHING AT ALL BY WHAT HE HAD SAID ABOUT THE STORY</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>AND SO THIS CAT GREW RICH AND FAT</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>HIS CLERKS</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>A SOLEMN LOOK WAS IN HIS FACE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>QUOTH HE, "MY PRIDE IS SATISFIED; THIS KINGDOM BUSINESS DOES NOT PAY"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>AUNT MELISSY HAD ARRANGED A BUNDLE FOR UNCLE SILAS, AND SHE HAD FIXED UP THE HIRED MAN TOO</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>DIDN'T LOOK AS IF SHE BELONGED TO THE REST OF OUR CROWD</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THE BALLOON WENT OVER THE WIDE BLUE WATER JUST AFTER IT GOT OUR FAMILY</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. TURTLE SAID THAT WHAT MR. 'POSSUM HAD TOLD THEM WAS TRUE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>ONE DAY MR. CROW FOUND HE WAS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL OF EVERYTHING</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THEN MR. 'COON SLAMMED HIS DOOR</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'POSSUM SAID NOT TO MOVE, THAT HE WOULD GO AFTER A PIECE OF WOOD</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>HE WOULD SMOKE IN THE SUN WHEN THE MORNINGS WERE FAIR</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>WITH A LOOK AND A SIGH THEY WOULD STAND AND BEHOLD</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THE TASTIEST PASTRY THAT EVER WAS KNOWN</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THEN TO STIR AND TO BAKE HE BEGAN RIGHT AWAY</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THE GREEDY OLD RAVEN, BUT GREEDY NO MORE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>LOOKED STRAIGHT AT MR. 'POSSUM AND SAID, "WHAT WAS THAT YOU WERE CHEWING JUST NOW?"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>THEY WENT ALONG, SAYING WHAT A NICE MAN THEY THOUGHT MR. BEAR WAS</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. BEAR MUST HAVE BEEN VERY TIRED AND GONE TO SLEEP RIGHT WHERE HE WAS</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'COON SCRATCHED HIS BACK AGAINST A LITTLE BUSH</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. RABBIT THANKED HIM FROM ACROSS THE RIVER</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>ONE SAID IT WAS ONE WAY AND THE OTHER THE OTHER WAY</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>MR. CROW DECIDED TO THIN OUT A FEW OF JACK RABBIT'S THINGS</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. CROW WAS ALMOST AFRAID TO BRING ON THE SALAD</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>JACK RABBIT CAPERED AND LAUGHED ALL THE WAY HOME</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>TOOK HER PARASOL AND HER RETICULE AND A CAN OF BERRIES, AND STARTED</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>AND HE MADE SOME STRIPES, TOO—MOSTLY ON TOP OF THE STOVE</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>LITTLE JACK KNEW PERFECTLY WELL THAT SHE WASN'T AT ALL PLEASED</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>PROMISED NEVER TO DISOBEY HIS MOTHER AGAIN</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>AND HE TASTED OF THAT A LITTLE, TOO</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>MR. 'POSSUM LEANED HIS BACK AGAINST A TREE AND READ HIMSELF TO SLEEP</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>SO MR. 'POSSUM PROMISED, AND MR. 'COON UNTIED HIM</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>"AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY SAW?"</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE FIRST SNOWED-IN STORY</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 477px;"> +<img src="images/gs03.png" width="477" height="340" alt="GATHERING NICE PIECES OF WOOD" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GATHERING NICE PIECES OF WOOD</span> +</div> + +<div class='chapsum'>IN WHICH THE READER LEARNS TO +KNOW THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE +AND THEIR FRIENDS, AND THE LITTLE +LADY, AND THE STORY TELLER</div> + + +<div class='cap'>NOW this is the beginning of the Hollow Tree stories +which the Story Teller told the Little Lady in the +queer old house which stands in the very borders +of the Big Deep Woods itself. They were told in the Room +of the Lowest Ceiling and the Widest Fire—a ceiling so low +that when the Story Teller stands upright it brushes his hair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +as he walks, and a fire so deep that pieces of large trees do +not need to be split but can be put on whole. In the old +days, several great-grandfathers back, as the Hollow Tree +People might say, these heavy sticks were drawn in by a +horse that came right through the door and dragged the +wood to the wide stone hearth.</div> + +<p>It is at the end of New-Year's Day, and the Little Lady +has been enjoying her holidays, for Santa Claus found his +way down the big stone chimney and left a number of things +she wanted. Now, when the night is coming down outside, +and when inside there is a heap of blazing logs and a rocking-chair, +it is time for the Story Teller. The Story Teller generally +smokes and looks into the fire when he tells a Hollow +Tree story, because the Hollow Tree People always smoke +and look into the fire when <i>they</i> tell <i>their</i> stories, and the +Little Lady likes everything to be "just the same," and the +stories must be always told just the same, too. If they are +not, she stops the Story Teller and sets him right. So while +the Little Woman passes to and fro, putting away the tea-things, +the Story Teller lights his pipe, and rocks, and looks +into the fire, and holds the Little Lady close, and begins the +Tales of the Hollow Tree.</p> + +<p>"Once upon a time," he begins—</p> + +<p>"Once upon a time," murmurs the Little Lady, settling +herself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, once upon a time, in the old days of the Hollow +Tree, when Mr. Dog had become friends with the 'Coon +and the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow who lived in the +three hollow branches of the Big Hollow Tree, and used to +meet together in their parlor-room down-stairs and invite +all their friends, and have good times together, just like +folk—"</p> + +<p>"But they live there now, don't they?" interrupts the +Little Lady, suddenly sitting up, "and still have their friends, +just the same?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, of course, but this was one of the old times, you +know."</p> + +<p>The Little Lady settles back, satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Go on telling, now," she says.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, this was one of the times when all the Deep +Woods People had been invited to the Hollow Tree for +Christmas Day, and were snowed in. Of course they didn't +expect to be snowed in. Nobody ever expects to be snowed +in till it happens, and then it's too late."</p> + +<p>"Was that the Christmas that Mr. Dog played Santa +Claus and brought all the presents, and Mr. Squirrel and +Mr. Robin and Mr. Turtle and Jack Rabbit came over, and +they all sat around the fire and ate things and told nice +stories? You said you would tell about that, and you never +did."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am going to tell it now, as soon as a Little Lady gets real +still," says the Story Teller. So then the Little Lady <i>is</i> +"real still," and he tells the first snowed-in story, which is +called:</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<h2>MR. DOG AT THE CIRCUS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='chapsum'>THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE LEARN +SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT +ABOUT SHOWS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THAT was a great Christmas in the Hollow Tree. +The 'Coon and the 'Possum and the Old Black +Crow had been getting ready for it for a long +time, and brought in ever so many nice things to eat, +which Mr. Crow had cooked for them, for Mr. Crow +is the best cook of anybody in the Big Deep Woods. +Then Mr. Dog had brought a lot of good things, too, +which he had borrowed from Mr. Man's house, so they +had the finest Christmas dinner that you can think of, +and plenty for the next day when it would be even better, +because chicken and turkey and dressing and such things are +always better the next day, and even the <i>third</i> day, with +gravy, than they are when they are first cooked.</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 468px;"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a> +<img src="images/gs04.png" width="468" height="408" alt="THE PANTRY IN THE HOLLOW TREE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE PANTRY IN THE HOLLOW TREE</span> +</div> + +<p>Then, when they were all through and were standing +around, smoking their new pipes and looking at each other's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +new neckties and other Christmas things, Mr. Crow said that +he and Mr. Squirrel would clear off the table if the others +would get in some wood and stir up the fire and set the room +to rights, so they could gather round and be comfortable +by-and-by; and then, he said, it might snow as much as it +liked as long as they had plenty of wood and things to eat +inside.</p> + +<p>So then they all skurried around getting on their things +to go out after wood—all except Mr. Crow and Mr. Squirrel, +who set about clearing off the table and doing up the dishes. +And pretty soon Mr. Dog and Mr. 'Coon and the rest were +hopping about where the snow was falling so soft and silent +among the big, leafless trees, gathering nice pieces of wood +and brushing the snow off of them and piling them into the +first down-stairs of the Hollow Tree, which the 'Coon and +'Possum and Old Black Crow use for their wood-house and +general store-room. It was great fun, and they didn't feel +the least bit cold after their warm dinner and with all that +brisk exercise.</p> + +<p>Mr. Robin didn't help carry the wood in. He was hardly +strong enough for that, but he hopped about and looked for +good pieces, and when he found one he would call to Mr. +'Coon or Mr. 'Possum, or maybe to one of the others, to +throw it on his shoulder and carry it in, and then he would +tell whoever it happened to be how strong he was and how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +fine he looked with that great chunk on his shoulder, and +would say that he didn't suppose there was another 'Coon, +or 'Possum, or Turtle, or Rabbit, or Dog that could begin +to stand up straight under such a chunk as that anywhere +outside of a menagerie. Mr. Robin likes to say pleasant +things to his friends, and is always popular. And each one +tried to carry the biggest load of wood to show how strong +he was, and pretty soon they had the lower room of the +Hollow Tree piled up high with the finest chunks and +kindling pieces to be found anywhere. Then they all hurried +up-stairs, stamping the snow off their feet, and gathered +around the nice warm fire in the big parlor which was just +below the three big hollow branches where the 'Coon and +'Possum and the Old Black Crow had their rooms.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crow and Mr. Squirrel were through with the table +by this time, and all hands lit their pipes, and looked into +the fire, and smoked, and rested, and thought a little before +they began talking—thinking, of course, of what a good time +they were having, and how comfortable and nice it was to +be inside and warm when such a big snow was falling outside.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum was the first one to say anything. He said +he had been thinking of what Mr. Robin had said about them +being outside of a menagerie, and that, come to think about +it, he believed he didn't know what a menagerie was, unless +it was a new name for a big dinner, as that was the only thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +he could think of now that they were outside of, and he said +if that was so, and if he could get outside of two menageries, +he thought he could carry in a bigger chunk than any two +chunks there were down-stairs.</p> + +<p>Then all the others laughed a good deal, and Mr. 'Coon +said he had thought that perhaps a menagerie was something +to wear that would make anybody who had it on very strong, +and able to stand up under a big load, and to eat as much +as Mr. 'Possum could, or even more.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Robin said that it didn't mean either of those +things. He said he didn't really know what it did mean +himself, but that it must be some kind of a place that had a +great many large creatures in it, for he had heard his grandmother +quite often call his grandfather the biggest goose outside +of a menagerie, though, being very young then, Mr. Robin +couldn't remember just what she had meant by it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rabbit said he thought that the word "menagerie" +sounded like some kind of a picnic, with swings and nice +lively games, and Mr. Crow said that once when he was +flying he passed over a place where there was a big sign that +said "Menagerie" on it, and that there were some tents and +a crowd of people and a great noise, but that he hadn't seen +anything that he could carry off without being noticed, so +he didn't stop.</p> + +<p>Mr. Squirrel thought that from what Mr. Crow said it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +must be a place where there would be a lot of fine things +to see, and Mr. Turtle said that he was a good deal over +three hundred years old and had often heard of a menagerie, +but that he had never seen one. He said he had always +supposed that it was a nice pond of clear water, with a +lot of happy turtles and fish and wild geese and duck and +such things, in it, and maybe some animals around it, all +living happily together, and taken care of by Mr. Man, +who brought them a great many good things to eat. He +had always thought he would like to live in a menagerie, +he said, but that nobody had ever invited him, and he +had never happened to come across one in his travels.</p> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 297px;"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a> +<img src="images/gs05.png" width="297" height="431" alt=""SLIPPED IN BEHIND HIM WHEN HE WENT INTO THE TENT"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"SLIPPED IN BEHIND HIM WHEN HE WENT INTO THE TENT"</span> +</div> +<p>Mr. Dog hadn't been saying anything all this time, but +he knocked the ashes out of his pipe now, and filled it up +fresh and lit it, and cleared his throat, and began to talk. +It made him smile, he said, to hear the different ways +people thought of a thing they had never seen. He said +that Mr. Turtle was the only one who came anywhere near +to what a menagerie really was, though of course Mr. Crow +<i>had</i> seen one on the outside. Then Mr. Dog said:</p> + + + +<p>"I know all about menageries, on the outside and the +inside too, for I have been to one. I went once with Mr. +Man, though I wasn't really invited to go. In fact, Mr. Man +invited me to stay at home, and tried to slip off from me; +but I watched which way he went, and took long roundin's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +on him, and slipped in behind him when he went into the +tent. He didn't know for a while that I was there, and I +wasn't there so very long. But it was plenty long enough—a +good deal longer than I'd ever stay again, unless I was tied.</p> + +<p>"I never saw so many wild, fierce-looking creatures in +my life as there were in that menagerie, and they were just +as wild and fierce as they looked. They had a lot of cages +full of them and they had some outside of cages, though I +don't know why they should leave any of those dangerous +animals around where they could damage folks that happened +to come in reach, as I did. Those animals outside +didn't look as wild and fierce as those in the cages, but +they were.</p> + +<p>"I kept in the crowd, close behind Mr. Man at first, and +nobody knew I was there, but by-and-by he climbed up +into a seat to watch some people all dressed up in fancy +clothes ride around a ring on horses, which I didn't care +much about, so I slipped away, and went over to where +there were some things that I wanted to take my time to +and see quietly.</p> + +<p>"There was an animal about my size and style tied over +in one corner of the tent, behind a rope, with a sign in front +of him which said, 'The Only Tame Hyena in the World.' +He looked smiling and good-natured, and I went over to +ask him some questions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 424px;"> +<img src="images/gs06.png" width="424" height="412" alt=""HE LOOKED SMILING AND GOOD-NATURED, AND I WENT OVER TO ASK HIM SOME QUESTIONS"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"HE LOOKED SMILING AND GOOD-NATURED, AND I WENT OVER TO ASK HIM SOME QUESTIONS"</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But that sign wasn't true. He wasn't the least bit +tame, and I'm sure now that he wasn't smiling. He grabbed +me before I had a chance to say a word, and when I jerked +loose, which I did right away, for I didn't want to stir up +any fuss there, I left quite a piece of my ear with the tame +hyena, and tripped backward over the rope and rolled right +in front of a creature called an elephant, about as big as +a house and not as useful.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they thought <i>he</i> was tame, too, but he must +have been tamed by the same man, for he grabbed me +with a kind of a tail that grew on the end of his nose—a +thing a good deal like Mr. 'Possum's tail, only about a +million times as big—and I could hear my ribs crack as +he waved me up and down.</p> + +<p>"Of course, as I say, I didn't want to stir up any fuss, +but I couldn't keep still under such treatment as that, and +I called right out to Mr. Man, where he sat looking at the +fancy people riding, and told him that I had had enough +of the show, and if he wanted to take any of me home he +ought not to wait very long, but come over that way and +see if he couldn't get the tame elephant to practise that +performance on the hyena or the next dog, because I had +had plenty, and was willing to go home just as I was, all +in one piece, even if not very lively.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Man <i>came</i>, too, and so did a lot of the others. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +seemed to think that I was more to look at than those +riding people; and some of them laughed, though what +there was happening that was funny I have never been +able to guess to this day. I kept right on telling Mr. +Man what I wanted him to do, and mebbe I made a good +deal of noise about it, for it seemed to stir up those other +animals. There was a cage full of lions that started the +most awful roaring you can think of, and a cage of crazy-looking +things they called monkeys that screeched and +howled and swung back and forth in rings and held on to +the bars, and all the other things joined in, until I couldn't +tell whether I was still saying anything or not. I suppose +they were all jealous of the elephant because of the fun +he was having, and howling to be let out so they could get +hold of me too.</p> + +<p>"Well, you never heard of such a time. It nearly broke +up the show. Everybody ran over to look, and even the +riding people stopped their horses to enjoy it, too. If it +only hadn't been so dangerous and unpleasant I should +have been proud of the way they came to see me perform.</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Man didn't seem to like it much. I heard him +tell somebody, as loud as he could, that I would be killed, +and that I was the best dog he ever had, and that if I <i>was</i> +killed he'd sue the show.</p> + +<p>"That made me proud, too, but I wished he wouldn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +wait to sue the show, but would do something right away, +and just then a man with a fancy dress on and a stick with +a sharp iron hook on it came running up and said something +I didn't understand and hit the elephant with the +hook end of the stick, and he gave me an extra big swing +and crack and flung me half-way across the tent, where I +landed on a bunch of hay right in front of a long-necked +thing called a camel—another terrible tame creature, I +suppose—who had me about half eaten up with his old +long under lip, before Mr. Man could get over there.</p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 468px;"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a> +<img src="images/gs07.png" width="468" height="441" alt=""GAVE ME AN EXTRA BIG SWING AND CRACK"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"GAVE ME AN EXTRA BIG SWING AND CRACK"</span> +</div> +<p>"When Mr. Man did get hold of me, he said that I'd +better take what was left of me home, for they were going +to feed the animals pretty soon, and that I would likely +get mixed up with the bill of fare.</p> + +<p>"After that he took me to the entrance and pushed me +outside, and I heard all those fierce creatures in the cages +growl and roar louder than ever, as if they had expected +to sample me and were sorry to see me go.</p> + + + +<p>"That's what a menagerie is—it's a place where they +have all the kinds of animals and things in the world, for +show, and a good many birds, and maybe turtles, too, but +they don't have any fine clear pond. They have just a big +tent, like the one Mr. Crow saw, and a lot of cages inside. +They keep most of the animals in cages, and they ought +to keep them all there, and I don't think they feed them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +very much, nor the best things, or they wouldn't look so +fierce and hungry.</p> + +<p>"They just keep them for Mr. Man and his friends to +look at and talk about, and if Mr. Turtle will take my +advice he will keep out of a menagerie and live in the Wide +Blue Water where he was born. I wouldn't have gone +there again unless I had been tied and dragged there, or +unless they had put those tame animals into cages with the +others. No doubt there are some very fine, strong animals +in a menagerie, but they wouldn't be there if they could +help it, and if anybody ever invites any of you to join a +menagerie, take my advice and don't do it."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Dog knocked the ashes out of his pipe again, +and all the other Deep Woods People knocked the ashes +out of <i>their</i> pipes, too, and filled them up fresh, and one said +one thing, and one said another about being in a menagerie +or out of it, and every one thought it would be a terrible +thing to be shut up in a cage, except Mr. 'Possum, who said +he wouldn't mind it if they would let him sleep enough +and give him all he could eat, but that a cage without those +things would be a lonesome place.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Coon said that a little adventure had happened +to him once which he had never mentioned before, because +he had never known just what to make of it; but he +knew now, he said, that he had come very near getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +into a menagerie, and he would tell them just what happened.</p> + +<p>The Story Teller looked down at the quiet figure in his +lap. The Little Lady's head was nestled close to his +shoulder, and her eyes were straining very hard to keep open.</p> + +<p>"I think we will save Mr. 'Coon's story till another night," +he said.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE SECOND SNOWED-IN STORY</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. 'COON TELLS HOW HE CAME +NEAR BEING A PART OF A MENAGERIE, +AND HOW HE ONCE +TOLD A STORY TO MR. DOG</div> + + +<div class='cap'>"YOU can tell about Mr. 'Coon, now—the story you +didn't tell last night, you know," and the Little +Lady wriggles herself into a comfortable corner +just below the Story Teller's smoke, and looks deep into +a great cavern of glowing embers between the big old andirons, +where, in her fancy, she can picture the Hollow Tree +people and their friends.</div> + +<p>"Why, yes, let me see—" says the Story Teller.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dog had just told about being at the menagerie, +you know, and Mr. 'Coon was just going to tell how he came +very near getting into a menagerie himself."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, of course—well, then, all the Hollow Tree +people, the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +their friends who were visiting them—Mr. Dog and Mr. +Robin and Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle and Mr. Squirrel—knocked +the ashes out of their pipes and filled them up +fresh—"</p> + +<p>"No, they had just done that."</p> + +<p>"That's so, I forgot. Well, anyway, as soon as they got +to smoking and settled back around the fire again Mr. +'Coon told them his story, and I guess we'll call it</p> + + +<div class='center'> +MR. 'COON'S EARLY ADVENTURE<br /> +</div> + +<p>Mr. 'Coon said he was quite young when it happened, +and was taking a pleasant walk one evening, to think over +things a little, and perhaps to pick out a handy tree where +Mr. Man's chickens roosted, when all at once he heard a +fierce bark close behind him, and he barely had time to +get up a tree himself when a strange and very noisy Mr. +Dog was leaping about at the foot of the tree, making a great +fuss, and calling every moment for Mr. Man to hurry, for +he had a young 'coon treed.</p> + +<p>"Of course I laid pretty low when I heard that," Mr. +'Coon said, "for I knew that Mr. Man would most likely +have a gun, so I got into a bunch of leaves and brush that +must have been some kind of an old nest and scrooched +down so that none of me would show.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/gs08.png" width="400" height="468" alt="ALL AT ONCE HE HEARD A FIERCE BARK CLOSE BEHIND HIM" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ALL AT ONCE HE HEARD A FIERCE BARK CLOSE BEHIND HIM</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then by-and-by I heard some big creature come running +through the brush, and I peeked over a little, and there, +sure enough, was Mr. Man with a long gun, and I noticed +that he wore a thing on his head—a sort of hat, I suppose—made +of what looked to be the skin of some relative of mine.</p> + +<p>"Of course that made me mad. I hadn't cared so much +until I saw that; but I said right then to myself that any +one who would do such a thing as that never could be a +friend of mine, no matter how much he tried. So I scrooched +down and laid low in that old nest, and didn't move or let +on in any way that I was there.</p> + +<p>"Then I heard Mr. Man walking around the tree and +talking to his dog and telling him that there wasn't anything +up in that tree at all, and that Mr. Dog had just been +fooling him. I could tell by his voice that he was getting +mad at Mr. Dog, and I hoped that he'd get mad enough +pretty soon to take a stick to him for chasing me up a +tree like that, and then calling for Mr. Man to come and +see me when there wasn't really anything to look at.</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Dog kept galloping around the tree and barking +out, over and over, that I was there; that he had seen +me, and that he knew that I was hiding up there somewhere; +and pretty soon I heard Mr. Man going away, +and I peeked over again.</p> + +<p>"Sure enough, he was going, but Mr. Dog was staying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +right there, sitting under the tree and looking up and making +a good deal more noise than there was any need of to +let me know he hadn't gone. I didn't see why he stayed +there. I wished he'd go away and tend to his own business.</p> + +<p>"Being quite young, I still lived with my folks over near +the Wide Grass Lands, and I wanted to get home for supper. +It was a good way to go, for the tree I had climbed was +over close to the edge of the world where the sun and moon +rise, and you all know that's a good way, even from here.</p> + +<p>"Well, he didn't go, but just sat there, barking up that +tree, and after a long time I heard somebody coming again, +and I peeked over and there was Mr. Man, hurrying back, +this time with an axe. I knew, right then, there was +going to be trouble. I knew they were going to cut that +tree down, and that I should most likely have quite a fuss +with Mr. Dog, and perhaps go home with a black eye and +a scratched nose, and then get whipped again for fighting, +after I got there."</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Coon stopped and knocked the ashes out of his pipe +and filled it up fresh, and all the others knocked the ashes +out of their pipes and filled them up fresh, too. Then Mr. +'Possum poked up the fire and told Mr. Turtle to bring a +stick of wood from down-stairs, and when it was blazing +up high and bright again they all stepped over to the +window a minute, to see how hard it was snowing and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +banking up outside, then went back to their chairs around +the fire, and stretched out their feet and leaned back and +smoked, and listened to the rest of Mr. 'Coon's story.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Coon said he didn't like the sound of that axe when +Mr. Man began to cut the tree down.</p> + +<p>"Every time he struck the tree I could feel it all through +me," he said, "and I knew if he kept that noise up long +enough it would give me a nervous headache. I wished +the tree would hurry up and drop, so we could have what +muss we were going to, and get it over with. I'd have got +out of that old nest and made a jump for another tree if +there had been any near enough, but there wasn't, so I +just laid low and gritted my teeth and let him chop.</p> + +<p>"Well, by-and-by that tree began to go down. It seemed +to teeter a little at first, this way and that; then it went +very slow in one direction; then it went a little faster; +then it went a good deal faster; then I suddenly felt like +a shooting-star, I came down so fast, and there was a big +crash, and I thought I had turned into a lot of stars, sure +enough, and was shooting in every direction, and the next +I knew I was tied to a tree, hand and foot and around the +middle, and Mr. Man and Mr. Dog were sitting and looking +at me, and grinning, and talking about what they were +going to do.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 320px;"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a> +<img src="images/gs09.png" width="320" height="428" alt=""THEN I SUDDENLY FELT LIKE A SHOOTING-STAR"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"THEN I SUDDENLY FELT LIKE A SHOOTING-STAR"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Mr. Man wasn't scolding Mr. Dog any more. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +telling him what a good thing it was they had caught me +alive, for now they could sell me to a show and get a great +deal more for me than they could for my skin. I didn't +know what a show was, then, or that a show is a menagerie, +but I know now, and I can see just what they meant.</p> + +<p>"Pretty soon Mr. Man told Mr. Dog to stay there and +watch me while he went home after a box to put me in. +He said he didn't think it would be safe to carry me in his +arms, and he was right about that.</p> + +<p>"So then Mr. Man walked off, and left Mr. Dog guarding +me, and saying unpleasant things to me now and then.</p> + +<p>"At first I wouldn't answer him; but pretty soon I +happened to think of something pleasant to say:</p> + +<p>"'Mr. Dog,' I said, 'I know a good story, if you'd like +me to tell it. Mr. Man may be a good while getting that +box, and mebbe you'd like to hear something to pass the +time.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dog said he would. He said that Mr. Man would +most likely have to make the box, and he didn't suppose +he knew where the hammer and nails were, and it might be +dark before Mr. Man got back.</p> + +<p>"I felt a good deal better when I heard Mr. Dog say that, +and I told him a story I knew about how Mr. Rabbit lost +his tail, and Mr. Dog laughed and seemed to like it, and +said, 'Tell me another.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 338px;"> +<img src="images/gs10.png" width="338" height="431" alt=""THEN MR. DOG SAID, 'TELL ME ANOTHER'"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"THEN MR. DOG SAID, 'TELL ME ANOTHER'"</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before Mr. 'Coon could go on with his story, Mr. Rabbit +said that of course if that old tale had helped Mr. 'Coon +out of trouble he was very glad, but that it wasn't at all +true, and that some time <i>he</i> would tell them himself the +true story of how it happened.</p> + +<p>Then they all said that they hoped he would, for they'd +always wanted to hear that story told right, and then Mr. +'Coon went on with his adventure.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Coon said that when Mr. Dog said, "Tell me another," +he knew he was in a good-humor, and that he felt better +and better himself. "I thought if Mr. Man didn't come +back too soon," he said, "I might get along pretty well +with Mr. Dog.</p> + +<p>"'I know another story, Mr. Dog,' I said—'the funniest +story there is. It would make you laugh until you fell +over the edge of the world, but I can't tell it here.'</p> + +<p>"'Why,' he said—'why can't you tell it here as well as +anywhere?'</p> + +<p>"'Because it has to be acted,' I said, 'and my hands +are tied.'</p> + +<p>"'Will you tell it if I untie your hands?' said Mr. Dog.</p> + +<p>"'Well,' I said, 'I'll begin it, and you can see how it goes.'</p> + +<p>"So Mr. Dog came over and untied my hands, for he said +he could tie them again before Mr. Man came back, because +he knew Mr. Man hadn't found that hammer yet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'You can't get loose with just your hands untied, can +you?' he said.</p> + +<p>"'No, of course not, Mr. Dog,' I said, pleasant and polite +as could be.</p> + +<p>"'Let's see you try,' said Mr. Dog.</p> + +<p>"So I twisted and pulled, and of course I couldn't get +loose.</p> + +<p>"'Now tell the story,' said Mr. Dog.</p> + +<p>"So I said: 'Once there was a man who had a very bad +pain in his chest, and he took all kinds of medicine, and it +didn't do him any good. And one day the Old Wise Man +of the Woods told him if he would rub his chest with one +hand and pat his head with the other, it might draw the pain +out the top and cure him. So the man with the pain in +his chest tried it, and he did it this way.'</p> + +<p>"Then I showed Mr. Dog just how he did it, and Mr. Dog +thought that was funny, and laughed a good deal.</p> + +<p>"'Go on and tell the rest of it,' he said. 'What happened +after that?'</p> + +<p>"But I let on as if I'd just remembered something, and +I said, 'Oh, Mr. Dog, I'm <i>so</i> sorry, but I can't tell the +rest of that story here, and it's the funniest part, too. I +know you'd laugh till you rolled over the edge of the world.'</p> + +<p>"'Why can't you tell the rest of that story here as well +as anywhere?' said Mr. Dog, looking anxious.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Because it has to be acted with the feet,' I said, 'and +my feet are tied.'</p> + +<p>"'Will you tell it if I untie your feet?' said Mr. Dog.</p> + +<p>"'Well, I'll do the best I can,' I said.</p> + +<p>"So Mr. Dog came over and untied my feet. He said he +knew that Mr. Man hadn't found the nails or the pieces +to make the box yet, and there would be plenty of time +to tie me again before Mr. Man got back.</p> + +<p>"'You can't get loose, anyway, with just your hands +and feet untied, can you?' he said.</p> + +<p>"'No, of course not, Mr. Dog,' I said, more pleasant and +polite than ever.</p> + +<p>"'Let's see you try,' said Mr. Dog.</p> + +<p>"So I squirmed and twisted, but of course with a strong +string around my waist and tied behind I couldn't do anything.</p> + +<p>"'Now go on with the story,' said Mr. Dog.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 337px;"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a> +<img src="images/gs11.png" width="337" height="430" alt=""AND DID ROLL OFF THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, SURE ENOUGH"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"AND DID ROLL OFF THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, SURE ENOUGH"</span> +</div> + +<p>"'Well,' I said, 'the pain left his chest, but it went into +his back, and he had a most terrible time, until one day +the Old Wise Man of the Woods came along and told him +that he thought he ought to know enough by this time +to rub his back where the pain was and pat his head at the +same time to draw it out at the top. So then the man with +the pain rubbed his back and patted his head this way,' +and I showed Mr. Dog how he did it; and I rubbed a good +while about where the knot was, and made a face to show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +how the man with the pain looked, and then I said the +pain came back into his chest again instead of being drawn +out at the top; and I changed about and rubbed there +awhile, and then I went around to my back again, chasing +that pain first one side and the other; and then I said that +the Old Wise Man of the Woods came along one day and +told him that he must kick with his feet too if he ever +wanted to get rid of that pain, because, after all, it might +have to be kicked out at the bottom; and when I began +to kick and dance with both feet and to rub with my +hands at the same time, Mr. Dog gave a great big laugh—the +biggest laugh I ever heard anybody give—and fell right +down and rolled over and over, and did roll off the edge +of the world, sure enough.</p> + +<p>"I heard him go clattering into a lot of brush and blackberry +bushes that are down there, and just then I got +that back knot untied, and I stepped over and looked down +at Mr. Dog, who had lodged in a brier patch on a shelf about +ten feet below the edge, where Mr. Man would have to get +him up with a ladder or a rope.</p> + +<p>"'Do you want to hear the rest of the story, Mr. Dog?' +I said.</p> + +<p>"'I'll story <i>you</i>,' he said, 'when I catch you!'</p> + +<p>"'I told you you'd laugh till you fell off the edge of the +world,' I said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 358px;"> +<img src="images/gs12.png" width="358" height="415" alt=""I SET OUT FOR HOME WITHOUT WAITING TO SAY GOOD-BYE"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"I SET OUT FOR HOME WITHOUT WAITING TO SAY GOOD-BYE"</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'I'll make <i>you</i> laugh,' he said, 'when I catch you!'</p> + +<p>"Then I saw he was cross about something, and I set +out for home without waiting to say good-bye to Mr. Man, +for I didn't want to waste any more time, though I missed +my supper and got a scolding besides.</p> + +<p>"But I was glad I didn't bring home a black eye and +scratched nose, and I'm more glad than ever now that Mr. +Man didn't get back in time with that box, or I might +be in a menagerie this minute instead of sitting here +smoking and telling stories and having a good time on +Christmas Day."</p> + +<p>The Story Teller looks down at the Little Lady.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad Mr. 'Coon didn't get into the menagerie, aren't +you?" she says.</p> + +<p>"Very glad," says the Story Teller.</p> + +<p>"He went lickety-split home, didn't he?"</p> + +<p>"He did that!"</p> + +<p>"I like them to go lickety-split better than lickety-cut, +don't you?" says the Little Lady. "They seem to go so +much faster."</p> + +<p>"Ever so much faster," says the Story Teller.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE WIDOW CROW'S BOARDING-HOUSE</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>EARLY DOINGS OF THE HOLLOW TREE +PEOPLE AND HOW THEY FOUND A HOME</div> + + +<div class='cap'>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."</div> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>That frightens the Story Teller. He is all ready with +something different.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" he says, "that is an old story that all +the Deep Woods People have known ever so long."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>So the Story Teller rocks slowly, and smokes, and almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +forgets the Little Lady in remembering that far-away time, +and presently he begins.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Come right up, Mr. Dog! Always at home to you, Mr. +Dog! Don't stop to knock!"</p> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 384px;"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a> +<img src="images/gs13.png" width="384" height="440" alt="CAME CLATTERING DOWN RIGHT IN FRONT OF MR. DOG" title="" /> +<span class="caption">CAME CLATTERING DOWN RIGHT IN FRONT OF MR. DOG</span> +</div> +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Don't go, Mr. Dog! Mr. Man can get up the cows +alone to-night!"</p> + + + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 390px;"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a> +<img src="images/gs14.png" width="390" height="414" alt="SO THEN MR. DOG TRIED TO GET MR. 'POSSUM ON HIS SHOULDER" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SO THEN MR. DOG TRIED TO GET MR. 'POSSUM ON HIS SHOULDER</span> +</div> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Dog was mad, I <i>tell</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So Mr. 'Possum made up his mind to find a home. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>would</i> 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.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 344px;"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a> +<img src="images/gs15.png" width="344" height="409" alt="HE WAS AN OLD BACHELOR AND LIKED TO HAVE HIS OWN WAY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">HE WAS AN OLD BACHELOR AND LIKED TO HAVE HIS OWN WAY</span> +</div> + +<p>But Mr. 'Coon was tired of that kind of thing too, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class='center'> +MRS. WIDOW CROW.<br /> +WILL TAKE A FEW GUESTS.<br /> +SINGLE GENTLEMEN PREFERRED;<br /> +PLEASANT LOCATION NEAR<br /> +RACE-TRACK.<br /> +</div> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum scratched his head and tried to think, +and Mr. 'Coon scratched <i>his</i> head and tried to think, and +pretty soon Mr. 'Coon said:</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 425px;"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a> +<img src="images/gs16.png" width="425" height="416" alt="THEY SAW MR. CROW OUT IN THE YARD CUTTING WOOD FOR HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THEY SAW MR. CROW OUT IN THE YARD CUTTING WOOD FOR HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW</span> +</div> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE FINDING OF THE HOLLOW TREE</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>HOW THE 'COON AND 'POSSUM +AND THE OLD BLACK CROW MOVED +AND SET UP HOUSEKEEPING</div> + + +<div class='cap'>WELL, the Widow Crow set a very good table, and +everything in her boarding-house went along +quite well for a while, and Mr. 'Possum and +Mr. 'Coon both said what a good thing it was to have a +home, and Mr. Crow said so too, though he didn't look as +if he enjoyed <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 't'">it</ins> as much as he said, for his mother-in-law +kept him so busy cutting and carrying wood and helping +her with the cooking that he never had any time for himself +at all.</div> + +<p>Even when Mr. Rabbit and some of his friends had the +great fall handicap race he had to stay at home and peel +potatoes, and not see it, besides being scolded all the time +for wanting to go to such a thing as a rabbit race anyway. +And Mr. Crow was sad because it reminded him of his +married life, which he was trying to forget—Mrs. Crow +having been the image of his mother-in-law and exactly +like her about races and peeling potatoes and such things.</p> + +<p>And by-and-by, Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon didn't like +it so much, either. Widow Crow got so she scolded them, +too, about their habits, especially about being out nights +and lying in bed next morning, and she wouldn't give them +any breakfast unless they got up in time.</p> + +<p>At last she even asked them to take care of their own +rooms and to do other work, the same as Mr. Crow did; +and she didn't cook as good things, nor as many of them, +as she did when they first came. Then one day when they +complained a little—not very much, for they were afraid of +the Widow Crow, but a little—she told them that if they +didn't like what she gave them they could find a place they +liked better, and that she was tired of their ways anyhow.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 417px;"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a> +<img src="images/gs17.png" width="417" height="424" alt="HAD TO STAY AT HOME AND PEEL POTATOES" title="" /> +<span class="caption">HAD TO STAY AT HOME AND PEEL POTATOES</span> +</div> + +<p>So then Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum all got +together and talked it over. And Mr. Crow said <i>they</i> might +be pretty tired of it, but that they couldn't in a hundred +years, thinking night and day, think how tired of it <i>he</i> was. +He said if they would just say the word he would take +the things that belonged to him out of that house, and the +three of them would find some good place and all live together, +and never have anything more to do with mothers-in-law +or their families. He said he knew how to cook as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +pleasant place and wasn't henpecked to death.</p> + +<p>And he said if they moved his things they had better do +it at night while his mother-in-law was asleep, so as not +to disturb her.</p> + +<p>Well, Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon both spoke right up +and said <i>they'd</i> go in a minute, and that they'd hunt up +the place to live that very day, though it wasn't the best +time of year to move. And Mr. Crow said:</p> + +<p>"I know where there's a big Hollow Tree that would be +<i>just</i> the place. It's the biggest tree in the Big Deep Woods. +It has three big hollow branches that would do for rooms, +and with a little work it could be made into the finest place +anywhere. The Old Wise Man of the Woods once lived +there and fixed it all up with nice stairs, and a fireplace, +and windows, and doors with good latches on them, and it's +still just as he left it. All it needs are a few repairs, and we +could move right in. I found it once as I was flying over, +and I could tell <i>you</i>, so you could find it. It's in a thick +swampy place, and you would never guess it was there if you +didn't know it. Mr. Dog knows about it, but he never could +get in if we kept the door latched, and it's not so far away +from Mr. Man's that we could not borrow, when we ran out +of little things we needed."</p> + +<p>Well, Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon took the directions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +from Mr. Crow, and went right off to look at the Hollow +Tree that very day, and decided they'd take it, and pitched +in to clean it up and get it ready to live in. And next day +they came with a hammer and some nails and worked all +day again, and Mr. Rabbit heard the noise and came over +and looked through the place and said how nice it was; and +they were so tired at night that they never thought of going +out, and were up early for breakfast.</p> + +<p>Widow Crow was so surprised she forgot what she had +always scolded them for before, and scolded them this time +for getting up so early that they had to stand around and +wait for breakfast to be put on the table. But they didn't +seem to mind the scolding at all, and Mr. Crow looked +happier than he had looked for months, and skipped around +and helped set the table, and brought in a big wood-box +full of wood, and when Widow Crow scolded him for getting +chips on the floor he laughed. Then she boxed his ears and +told him he ought to remember the poor Missing One at +such a time, and Mr. Crow said he did, and could almost +imagine she was there now.</p> + +<p>Well, Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum got the Hollow Tree +all ready, that day, and that night they moved.</p> + +<p>The Widow Crow was pretty fat, and liked to go to bed +early, and sleep sound, and leave Mr. Crow to do the evening +dishes; and that evening Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +pitched in and helped him, and they got through in a jiffy +and began to move.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crow said he knew his own things, and that he wouldn't +take any that belonged to the Missing One, because they +had mostly come from her mother; and, besides, they would +be a sad reminder, and didn't seem to go with the kind of +a place they had planned to have. He said if they didn't +have enough things they could borrow a few from Mr. Man +when Mr. Man went away and left his windows open, and +that they wouldn't need much to begin with.</p> + +<p>So then they got Mr. Crow's cook-stove out of the back +store-room, and a table that was his, and some chairs from +different parts of the house, and a few dishes which had come +to him from his side of the family, and they tiptoed around +and listened now and then at Widow Crow's door to be sure +she was asleep.</p> + +<p>They knew she <i>was</i> by the sound; but still they were very +quiet until Mr. 'Possum started to bring a rocking-chair +of Mr. Crow's down-stairs and somehow got his legs through +the rounds and fell and rolled clear to the bottom, expressing +his feelings as he came down.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 423px;"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a> +<img src="images/gs18.png" width="423" height="399" alt="LISTENED NOW AND THEN AT WIDOW CROW'S DOOR TO BE SURE SHE WAS ASLEEP" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LISTENED NOW AND THEN AT WIDOW CROW'S DOOR TO BE SURE SHE WAS ASLEEP</span> +</div> + +<p>That woke up Widow Crow with a jump, and she sat +up in bed and called "Thieves!" and "Help!" and Mr. Crow +ran to her door and said that it wasn't anything, only those +scamps Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon had been out late again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +He said they had brought home one of Mr. Man's beehives +and had dropped it because the bees woke up just as they +were climbing the stairs.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Crow called out quick, and said for him not +to dare to open that door and let those pesky bees into her +room, and that she hoped they'd sting that 'Possum and +'Coon until they wouldn't be able to tell themselves apart. +She said she bet she'd get that pair out of her house if she +lived through the night. Then she rolled over and went +to sleep again, and Mr. 'Possum got up and limped a little, +but wasn't much damaged, and they got all the things +outside and loaded up, and set out for the Hollow Tree.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 376px;"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a> +<img src="images/gs19.png" width="376" height="419" alt="MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE'D JUST GET ON AND HOLD THE THINGS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE'D JUST GET ON AND HOLD THE THINGS</span> +</div> + +<p>It was moonlight and Mr. Crow led the way, and the +minute they were far enough off to be sure they wouldn't +wake up Widow Crow they sang the chorus of a song that +Mr. Rabbit had made for them the day before when he +called at the Hollow Tree, and they had told him what they +were going to do. That was the "Hollow Tree Song," +which, of course, everybody in the Big Deep Woods knows +now, but it had never been sung there before, and when +they joined in the chorus,</p> + +<div class='poem'> +Then here's to the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the 'Coon with a one, two, three!</span><br /> +And here's to the hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then here's to the Hollow Tree,</span><br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<div class='unindent'>Mr. Owl, who was watching them from a limb overhead, +thought he had never heard anything quite so fine.</div> + +<p>Well, they couldn't get along very fast, for the things +got so heavy and they had to rest so often that it began +to look as if they wouldn't get to the Hollow Tree by morning. +But just as they got out into a little open place that +was about half-way there they saw somebody coming, +and who do you suppose it was?</p> + +<p>"I know," says the Little Lady, "it was the Old Wise +Man of the Woods, to tell them they couldn't have his house."</p> + +<p>No, he didn't live there any more—he had gone away for +good. No, it wasn't the Old Wise Man; it was Mr. Rabbit +and Mr. Turtle, coming to help them move. Mr. Rabbit +had gone all the way to the Wide Blue Water after Mr. +Turtle because he is so strong, and they would have been +there a good deal sooner, only Mr. Turtle didn't get home +till late, and travels slow.</p> + +<p>Well, it wasn't so hard to move after that. They just +set the cook-stove on Mr. Turtle's back and piled on as +much as would stay on, and he kept telling them to put +on more, until pretty soon Mr. 'Possum said that he would +just get on and hold the things from slipping off, which he +did, and sat on the stove and rode and swung his feet and +held the other things, while Mr. Crow and the rest walked +and carried what was left.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 314px;"> +<img src="images/gs20.png" width="314" height="429" alt="MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. 'COON TRIED TO PUT UP THE STOVE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. 'COON TRIED TO PUT UP THE STOVE</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> + +<p>And when they got to the Hollow Tree it was just about +sun-up, and Mr. 'Possum said if they didn't have breakfast +pretty soon he would starve to death with being up all +night and working so hard holding on those things.</p> + +<p>So then Mr. Crow told him that he and Mr. 'Coon could +set up the stove, and that he would unpack the food and +stir up something as quick as he could if the others would +bring a little wood and some water from the spring, and +place the things around inside; for he saw a cloud coming, +he said, and it might rain. And Mr. 'Possum and Mr. +'Coon tried to put up the stove in a hurry, and the pieces +of pipe didn't fit very well, and they came as near having +a quarrel over it as they ever did over anything, for even +the best friends can't always put up stovepipe together +without thinking and sometimes saying unpleasant things +about each other, especially when they are hungry and not +very warm and the house is all upset. Mr. 'Coon said he +only wished he had another hand and he would do that +job alone, and Mr. 'Possum told him that if he'd been provided +with a handy and useful tail he'd <i>have</i> the same as +another hand, and could work more and not wish so +much.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Rabbit came to help them, and just as they got +it about up it all came down again, and Mr. Crow said that +if they'd all go away he'd set up the stove himself; which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +he did in about a minute, and had a fire in it and the coffee +on in no time.</p> + +<p>Then the others rushed around and got the things straightened +out, and a fire in the fireplace, and they said how nice +their rooms were, and when Mr. Crow called they all came +hurrying down, and in about another minute the 'Coon and +'Possum and the Old Black Crow, with Mr. Rabbit and Mr. +Turtle, all sat down to the first meal in the Hollow Tree.</p> + +<p>It was then that Jack Rabbit read all of the "Hollow Tree +Song" he had made for them, and they all sang it together; +and then the storm that Mr. Crow had seen coming did +come, and they shut all the doors and windows tight, and +sat before the fire and smoked and went to sleep, because +they were so tired with being up all night.</p> + +<p>And that was the first day in the Hollow Tree, and how +the 'Possum and 'Coon and Old Black Crow came to live +there, and they live there still.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE THIRD SNOWED-IN STORY</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. RABBIT TELLS SOME INTERESTING FAMILY HISTORY</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE Little Lady waited until the Story Teller had +lit his pipe and sat looking into the great open fire, +where there was a hickory log so big that it had +taken the Story Teller and the Little Lady's mother +with two pairs of ice-tongs to drag it to the hearth and +get it into place. Pretty soon the Little Lady had crept +in between the Story Teller's knees. Then in another minute +she was on one of his knees, helping him rock. Then +she said:</div> + +<p>"Did Mr. Rabbit tell his story next? He promised to +tell about losing his tail, you know."</p> + +<p>The Story Teller took his pipe from his mouth a moment, +and sat thinking and gazing at the big log, which perhaps +reminded him of one of the limbs of the Hollow Tree, where +the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow lived and +had their friends visit them that long-ago snowy Christmastime.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, yes," he said, "that's so, Mr. Rabbit <i>did</i> tell +that story. When Mr. 'Coon got through telling how he +came near getting into a menagerie, they all said that it +certainly was a very narrow escape, and Mr. 'Coon said he +shouldn't wonder if that menagerie had to quit business, +just because he wasn't in it; and Mr. 'Possum said he +thought if anything would <i>save</i> a menagerie that would, +for it would keep them from being eaten out of house and +home."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Coon said that if that was so, Mr. 'Possum +had saved at least three menageries by staying right where +he was in the Big Deep Woods. This made Mr. Squirrel +and Mr. Robin laugh, and the rest wondered what those +two gigglers had noticed that was funny. Then they all +knocked the ashes out of their pipes again, and walked over +to the window, and looked at the snow banking up outside +and piling up on the bare limbs of the big trees. They said +how early it got dark this time of year, especially on a cloudy +day. And pretty soon Mr. Crow said they had just about +time for one more story before supper, and that Mr. Rabbit +ought to tell now about how, a long time ago, his family +had lost their tails. Mr. Rabbit didn't seem to feel +very anxious to tell it, but they told him that he had +promised, and that now was as good a time as any, so +they went back and sat down, and Mr. Rabbit told them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />THE TRUE STORY OF THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE, AND +HOW JACK RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL</div> + +<p>"Once upon a time," he said, "a great many great-grandfathers +back, my family had long bushy tails, like Mr. +Squirrel and Mr. Fox, only a good deal longer and finer +and softer, and <i>very handsome</i>."</p> + +<p>When Mr. Rabbit said that, Mr. Squirrel sniffed and +twitched his nose and gave his nice bushy tail a flirt, but +he didn't say anything. Mr. Rabbit went right on.</p> + +<p>"Well, there was one fine, handsome rabbit who had the +longest and plumiest tail of any of the family, and was very +proud of it. He was my twenty-seventh great-grandfather, +and was called 'Mr. Hare.' He was young and smart then, +and thought he was a good deal smarter than he really was, +though he was smart enough and handsome enough to set +the style for all the other rabbits, and not much ever +happened to him, because he could beat anything running +that there was in the Big Deep Woods.</p> + +<p>"That twenty-seventh great-grandfather of mine was +very proud of his running, and used to brag that in a foot-race +he could beat anything that lived between the Wide Grass +Lands and the Edge of the World. He used to talk about +it to almost everybody that came along, and one day when +he met one of the Turtle family who used to be called 'Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +Tortoise' in those days, he stopped and began to brag to +him how fast he could run and how nobody in the Big Deep +Woods dared to race with him.</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Turtle, he just smiled a little and said: 'Oh, +pshaw! you can't run very fast. I believe I can beat you +myself!'</p> + +<p>"Well, that did make Grandfather Hare laugh—and made +him a little mad, too.</p> + +<p>"'You!' he said. 'Why, I'll give you within ten yards +of that rail fence of Mr. Man's, half a mile away, and then +beat you across it. Just travel along, and some time this +afternoon, when you get down that way, I'll come back and +let you see me go by. But you'll have to look quick if you +see me, for I'll be going fast.'</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Tortoise said he didn't want any start at all, +that he was ready to begin the race right then; and that +made Grandpaw Hare laugh so loud that Mr. Fox heard +him as he was passing, and came over to see what the fun +was. Then he said that he hadn't much to do for a few +minutes, and that he'd stay and act as judge. He thought +a race like that wouldn't last long; and it didn't, though it +wasn't at all the kind of a race he had expected.</p> + +<p>"Well, he put Mr. Tortoise and my twenty-seventh great-grandfather +side by side, and then he stood off and said, +'Go!' and thought it would all be over in a minute.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 462px;"> +<img src="images/gs21.png" width="462" height="317" alt="MR. FOX SAID HE DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO FOR A FEW MINUTES AND HE'D ACT AS JUDGE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. FOX SAID HE DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO FOR A FEW MINUTES AND HE'D ACT AS JUDGE</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Grandpaw Hare gave one great big leap, about twenty +feet long, and then stopped. He was in no hurry, and he +wanted to have some fun with Mr. Tortoise. He looked +around to where Mr. Tortoise was coming straddling and +panting along, and he laughed and rolled over to see how +solemn he looked, and how he was travelling as if he meant +to get somewhere before dark. He was down on all fours +so he could use all his legs at once, and anybody would think, +to look at him, that he really expected to win that race.</p> + +<p>"The more my Grandpaw Hare looked at him the more +he laughed, and then he would make another long leap +forward and stop, and look back, and wait for Mr. Tortoise +to catch up again.</p> + +<p>"Then he would call to him, or maybe go back and take +roundin's on him, and say, 'Come along there, old tobacco-box. +Are you tied to something?' Mr. Fox would laugh +a good deal, too, and he told my ancestor to go on and +finish the race—that he couldn't wait around there all day. +And pretty soon he said if they were going to fool along +like that, he'd just go down to the fence and take a nap till +they got there; and for Grandpaw Rabbit to call to him +when he really started to come, so he could wake up and +judge the finish.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fox he loped away to the fence and laid down +and went to sleep in the shade, and Grandpaw Hare thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +it would be fun to pretend to be asleep, too. I've heard a +story told about it that says that he really did go to sleep, +and that Mr. Tortoise went by him and got to the fence before +he woke up. But that is not the way it happened. My +twenty-seventh great-grandfather was too smart to go to +sleep, and even if he had gone to sleep, Mr. Tortoise made +enough noise pawing and scratching along through the grass +and gravel to wake up forty of our family.</p> + +<p>"My ancestor would wait until he came grinding along +and got up even with him, then suddenly he'd sit up as if +he'd been waked out of a nice dream and say, 'Hello, old +coffee-mill! What do you want to wake me up for when +I'm trying to get a nap?' Then he would laugh a big +laugh and make another leap, and lie down and pretend +again, with his fine plumy tail very handsome in the +sun.</p> + +<p>"But Grandpaw Hare carried the joke a little too far. +He kept letting Mr. Tortoise get up a little closer and closer +every time, until Mr. Tortoise would almost step on him +before he would move. And that was just what Mr. Tortoise +wanted, for about the next time he came along he came +right up behind my ancestor, but instead of stepping on him, +he gave his head a quick snap, just as if he were catching +fish, and grabbed my Grandpaw Hare by that beautiful +plumy tail, and held on, and pinched, and my ancestor gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +a squeal and a holler and set out for that rail fence, telling +his troubles as he came.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fox had gone sound asleep and didn't hear the +rumpus at first, and when he did, he thought grandpaw +was just calling to him to wake up and be ready to judge +the race, so he sat up quick and watched them come. He +saw my twenty-seventh great-grandfather sailing along, just +touching the highest points, with something that looked like +an old black wash-pan tied to his tail.</p> + +<p>"When Mr. Fox saw what it was, he just laid down and +laughed and rolled over, and then hopped up on the top rail +and called, out 'All right, I'm awake, Mr. Hare! Come +right along, Mr. Hare; you'll beat him yet!'</p> + +<p>"Then he saw my ancestor stop and shake himself, and +paw, and roll over, to try to get Mr. Tortoise loose, which +of course he couldn't do, for, as we all know, whenever any +of the Turtle family get a grip they never let go till it +thunders, and this was a bright day. So pretty soon grandpaw +was up and running again with Mr. Tortoise sailing out +behind and Mr. Fox laughing to see them come, and calling +out: 'Come right along, Mr. Hare! come right along! +You'll beat him yet!'</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 480px;"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a> +<img src="images/gs22.png" width="480" height="308" alt="SAILING ALONG, JUST TOUCHING THE HIGHEST POINTS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SAILING ALONG, JUST TOUCHING THE HIGHEST POINTS</span> +</div> + +<p>"But Mr. Fox made a mistake about that. Grandpaw +Hare was really ahead, of course, when he came down the +homestretch, but when he got pretty close to the fence he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +made one more try to get Mr. Tortoise loose, and gave himself +and his tail a great big swing, and Mr. Tortoise didn't +let go quite quick enough, and off came my twenty-seventh +great-grandfather's beautiful plumy tail, and away went +Mr. Tortoise with it, clear over the top rail of the fence, and +landed in a brier patch on the other side.</p> + +<p>"Well, Grandpaw Hare was in such a state as you never +heard of! He forgot all about the race at first, and just +raved about his great loss, and borrowed Mr. Fox's handkerchief +to tie up what was left, and said that he never in the +world could show his face before folks again.</p> + +<p>"And Mr. Fox stopped laughing as soon as he could, +and was really quite sorry for him, and even Mr. Tortoise +looked through the fence, and asked him if he didn't think +it could be spliced and be almost as good as ever.</p> + +<p>"He said he hadn't meant to commit any damage, and that +he hoped Mr. Hare would live to forgive him, and that now +there was no reason why my grandpaw shouldn't beat him +in the next race.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 355px;"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a> +<img src="images/gs23.png" width="355" height="429" alt="AWAY WENT MR. TORTOISE, CLEAR OVER THE TOP RAIL" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AWAY WENT MR. TORTOISE, CLEAR OVER THE TOP RAIL</span> +</div> + +<p>"Then my ancestor remembered about the race and forgot +his other loss for a minute, and declared that Mr. Tortoise +didn't win the race at all—that he couldn't have covered +that much ground in a half a day alone, and he asked Mr. +Fox if he was going to let that great straddle-bug ruin his +reputation for speed and make him the laughing-stock of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +the Big Deep Woods, besides all the other damage he had +done.</p> + +<p>"Then Mr. Fox scratched his head, and thought about it, +and said he didn't see how he could help giving the race +to Mr. Tortoise, for it was to be the first one across the +fence, and that Mr. Tortoise was certainly the first one +across, and that he'd gone over the top rail in style.</p> + +<p>"Well, that made Grandpaw Hare madder than ever. +He didn't say another word, but just picked up his property +that Mr. Tortoise handed him through the fence, and set +out for home by a back way, studying what he ought to do +to keep everybody from laughing at him, and thinking that +if he didn't do something he'd have to leave the country +or drown himself, for he had always been so proud that if +people laughed at him he knew he could never show his +face again.</p> + +<p>"And that," said Mr. Rabbit, "is the true story of that +old race between the Hare and the Tortoise, and of how +the first Rabbit came to lose his tail. I've never told it before, +and none of my family ever did; but so many stories +have been told about the way those things happened that +we might just as well have this one, which is the only true +one so far as I know."</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 410px;"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a> +<img src="images/gs24.png" width="410" height="408" alt="SET OUT FOR HOME BY A BACK WAY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SET OUT FOR HOME BY A BACK WAY</span> +</div> + +<p>Then Mr. Rabbit lit his pipe and leaned back and smoked. +Mr. Dog said it was a fine story, and he wished he could +have seen that race, and Mr. Turtle looked as if he wanted +to say something, and did open his mouth to say it, but Mr. +Crow spoke up, and asked what happened after that to Mr. +Rabbit's twenty-seventh great-grandfather, and how it was +that the rest of the Rabbits had short tails, too.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Rabbit said that that was another story, and +Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Robin wanted him to tell it right +away, but Mr. Crow said they'd better have supper now, +and Mr. 'Possum thought that was a good plan, and Mr. +'Coon, too, and then they all hurried around to get up some +sticks of wood from down-stairs, and to set the table, and +everybody helped, so they could get through early and have +a nice long evening.</p> + +<p>And all the time the snow was coming down outside +and piling higher and higher, and they were being snowed +in without knowing it, for it was getting too dark to see +much when they tried again to look out the window through +the gloom of the Big Deep Woods.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE FOURTH SNOWED-IN STORY</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. JACK RABBIT CONTINUES +HIS FAMILY HISTORY</div> + + +<div class='cap'>"DID they have enough left for supper—enough for +all the visitors, I mean?" asks the Little Lady the +next evening, when the Story Teller is ready to go +on with the history of the Hollow Tree.</div> + +<p>"Oh yes, they had plenty for supper, and more, too. +They had been getting ready a good while for just such a +time as this, and had carried in a lot of food, and they had a +good many nice things down in the store-room where the +wood was, but they didn't need those yet. They just put +on what they had left from their big dinner, and Mr. Crow +stirred up a pan of hot biscuits by his best receipt, and they +passed them back and forth across the table so much that +Mr. 'Possum said they went like hot cakes, sure enough, +and always took two when they came his way."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>And they talked a good deal about the stories that Mr. +'Coon and Mr. Rabbit had told them, and everybody thought +how sly and smart Mr. 'Coon had been to fool Mr. Dog +that way; and Mr. 'Coon said that, now he came to think +it over, he supposed it was a pretty good trick, though it +really hadn't seemed so specially great to him at the time. +He said he didn't think it half as smart as Mr. Tortoise's +trick on Mr. Rabbit's Grandpaw Hare, when he beat him +in the foot-race and went over the fence first, taking Mr. +Hare's tail with him. And then they wondered if that +had all really happened as Mr. Rabbit had told it—all but +Mr. Turtle, who just sat and smiled to himself and didn't +say anything at all, except "Please pass the biscuits," now +and then, when he saw the plate being set down in front of +Mr. 'Possum.</p> + +<p>Then by-and-by they all got through and hurried up and +cleared off the table, and lit their pipes, and went back to +the fire, and pretty soon Jack Rabbit began to tell</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />HOW THE REST OF THE RABBITS LOST THEIR TAILS</div> + +<p>"Well," he said, "my twenty-seventh great-grandfather +Hare didn't go out again for several days. He put up a sign +that said 'Not at Home,' on his door, and then tried a few +experiments, to see what could be done.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 429px;"> +<img src="images/gs25.png" width="429" height="400" alt="TRIED TO SPLICE HIS PROPERTY BACK IN PLACE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">TRIED TO SPLICE HIS PROPERTY BACK IN PLACE</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He first tried to splice his property back into place, as +Mr. Tortoise had told him he might, but that plan didn't +work worth a cent. He never could get it spliced on straight, +and if he did get it about right, it would lop over or sag down +or something as soon as he moved, and when he looked at +himself in the glass he made up his mind that he'd rather +do without his nice plumy brush altogether than to go out +into society with it in that condition.</p> + +<p>"So he gave it up and put on some nice all-healing ointment, +and before long what there was left of it was all well, +and a nice bunch of soft, white cottony fur had grown out +over the scar, and Grandpaw Hare thought when he looked +at himself in the glass that it was really quite becoming, +though he knew the rest of his family would always be saying +things about it, and besides they would laugh at him for +letting Mr. Tortoise beat him in a foot-race.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, when there was nobody around, my grandfather +would go out into the sun and light his pipe and lean +up against a big stone, or maybe a stump, and think it over.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 357px;"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a> +<img src="images/gs26.png" width="357" height="424" alt="GRANDFATHER WOULD LIGHT HIS PIPE AND THINK IT OVER" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GRANDFATHER WOULD LIGHT HIS PIPE AND THINK IT OVER</span> +</div> + +<p>"And one morning, as he sat there thinking, he made up +his mind what he would do. Mr. Lion lived in the Big +Deep Woods in those days, and he was King. Whenever +anything happened among the Deep Woods People that +they couldn't decide for themselves, they went to where +King Lion lived, in a house all by himself over by the Big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +West Hills, and he used to settle the question; and sometimes, +when somebody that wasn't very old, and maybe was plump +and tender, had done something that wasn't just right, +King Lion would look at him and growl and say it was too +bad for any one so young to do such things, and especially +for them to grow up and keep on doing them; so he would +have him for breakfast, or maybe for dinner, and that would +settle everything in the easiest and shortest way.</p> + +<p>"Of course Grandfather Hare knew very well that Mr. +Tortoise and Mr. Fox wouldn't go with him to King Lion, +for they would be afraid to, after what they had done, so he +made up his mind to go alone and tell him the whole story, +because he was as sure as anything that King Lion would +decide that he had really won the race, and would be his +friend, which would make all the other Deep Woods People +jealous and proud of him again, and perhaps make them +wish they had nice bunches of white cottony fur in the +place of long dragging tails that were always in the +way.</p> + +<p>"And then some day he would show King Lion where Mr. +Fox and Mr. Tortoise lived.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 363px;"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a> +<img src="images/gs27.png" width="363" height="442" alt="SET UP HIS EARS AND WENT BY, LICKETY-SPLIT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SET UP HIS EARS AND WENT BY, LICKETY-SPLIT</span> +</div> + +<p>"My Grandfather Hare didn't stop a minute after he +thought of that, but just set out for King Lion's house over +at the foot of the Big West Hills. He had to pass by Mr. +Fox's house, and Mr. Fox called to him, but Grandpaw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +Hare just set up his ears as proud as could be and went by, +lickety-split, without looking at Mr. Fox at all.</p> + +<p>"It was a good way to King Lion's house, but Grandpaw +Hare didn't waste any time, and he was there almost before +he knew it.</p> + +<p>"When he got to King Lion's door he hammered on the +knocker, and when nobody came right away he thought +maybe the King was out for a walk. But that wasn't so. +King Lion had been sick for two or three days, and he was +still in bed, and had to get up and get something around him +before he could let Grandpaw in.</p> + +<p>"Grandpaw Hare had sat down on the steps to wait, when +all at once the door opened behind him and he felt something +grab him by the collar and swing him in and set him down +hard on a seat, and then he saw it was King Lion, and he +didn't much like his looks.</p> + +<p>"'So it was you, was it, making that noise?' he said. +'Well, I'm glad to see you, for I was just thinking about +having a nice rabbit for breakfast.'</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 454px;"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a> +<img src="images/gs28.png" width="454" height="291" alt=""'GLAD TO SEE YOU,' SAID KING LION; 'I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT HAVING A NICE RABBIT FOR BREAKFAST'"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"'GLAD TO SEE YOU,' SAID KING LION; 'I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT HAVING A NICE RABBIT FOR BREAKFAST'"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Then my twenty-seventh great-grandfather knew he'd +made a mistake, coming to see King Lion when he was +feeling that way, and he had to think pretty quick to know +what to say. But our family have always been pretty quick +in their thoughts, and Grandpaw Hare spoke right up as +polite as could be, and said he would do anything he could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +to find a nice young plump rabbit for King Lion, and that +he would even be proud to be a king's breakfast himself, +only he wasn't so very young nor so very plump, and, besides, +there was that old prophecy about the king and the cotton-tailed +rabbit, which of course, he said, King Lion must +have heard about.</p> + +<p>"Then King Lion said that my twenty-seventh great-grandfather +was plenty young enough and plenty plump +enough, and that he'd never heard of any prophecy about +a cotton-tailed rabbit, and that he'd never heard of a cotton-tailed +rabbit, either.</p> + +<p>"Then Grandpaw Hare just got up and turned around, +and as he turned he said, as solemnly as he could:</p> + +<div class='poem2'> +'When the King eats a hare with a cotton tail,<br /> +Then the King's good health will fail.'<br /> +</div> + +<p>"Well, that scared the King a good deal, for he was just +getting over one sick spell, and he was afraid if he had +another right away he'd die sure. He sat down and asked +Grandpaw Hare to tell him how he came to have a tail like +that, and grandpaw told him, and it made the King laugh +and laugh, until he got well, and he said it was the best +joke he ever heard of, and that he'd have given some of the +best ornaments off of his crown to have seen that race.</p> + +<p>"And the better King Lion felt the hungrier he got, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +when my Grandfather Hare asked him if he wouldn't decide +the race in his favor, he just glared at him and said if he +didn't get out of there and hunt him up a nice, young, +plump, long-tailed rabbit, he'd eat him—cotton tail, prophecy, +and all—for he didn't go much on prophecies anyway.</p> + +<p>"Then Grandpaw Hare got right up and said, 'Good-day' +and backed out and made tracks for the rest of his family, +and told them that King Lion had just got up from a +sick spell that had given him an appetite for long-tailed +rabbits. He said that the King had sent him out to get one, +and that King Lion would most likely be along himself +pretty soon. He said the sooner the Rabbit family took +pattern after the new cotton-tailed style the more apt +they'd be to live to a green old age and have descendants.</p> + +<p>"Well, that was a busy day in the Big Deep Woods. The +Rabbit family got in line by a big smooth stump that they +picked out for the purpose, and grandpaw attended to the +job for them, and called out 'Next!' as they marched by. +He didn't have to wait, either, for they didn't know what +minute King Lion might come. Mr. Tortoise and Mr. +Fox came along and stopped to see the job, and helped +grandpaw now and then when his arm got tired, and by +evening there was a pile of tails by that stump as big as +King Lion's house, and there never was such a call for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +the all-healing ointment as there was that night in the Big +Deep Woods.</p> + +<p>"And none of our family ever did have tails after that, +for they never would grow any more, and all the little new +rabbits just had bunches of cotton, too, and that has never +changed to this day.</p> + +<p>"And when King Lion heard how he'd been fooled by +Grandpaw Hare with that foolish prophecy that he just +made up right there, out of his head, he knew that everybody +would laugh at him as much as he had laughed at +Mr. Hare, and he moved out of the country and never +came back, and there's never been a king in the Big Deep +Woods since, so my twenty-seventh great-grandfather did +some good, after all.</p> + +<p>"And that," said Mr. Rabbit, "is the whole story of the +Hare and the Tortoise and how the Rabbit family lost their +tails. It's never been told outside of our family before, but +it's true, for it's been handed down, word for word, and if +Mr. Fox or Mr. Tortoise were alive now they would say so."</p> + +<p>Mr. Rabbit filled his pipe and lit it, and Mr. Crow was +just about to make some remarks, when Mr. Turtle cleared +his throat and said:</p> + +<p>"The story that Mr. Rabbit has been telling is all true, +every word of it—I was there."</p> + +<p>Then all the Deep Woods People took their pipes out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +their mouths and just looked at Mr. Turtle with their mouths +wide open, and when they could say anything at all, they +said:</p> + +<p>"<i>You were there!</i>"</p> + +<p>You see, they could never get used to the notion of Mr. +Turtle's being so old—as old as their twenty-seventh great-grandfathers +would have been, if they had lived.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Turtle, "and it all comes back to me as +plain as day. It happened two hundred and fifty-eight +years ago last June. They used to call us the Tortoise +family then, and I was a young fellow of sixty-seven and +fond of a joke. But I was surprised when I went sailing +over that fence, and I didn't mean to carry off Mr. Hare's +tail. Dear me, how time passes! I'm three hundred and +twenty-five now, though I don't feel it."</p> + +<p>Then they all looked at Mr. Turtle again, for though they +believed he was old, and might possibly have been there, +they thought it pretty strange that he could be the very Mr. +Tortoise who had won the race.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum said, pretty soon, that when anybody said +a thing like that, there ought to be some way to prove it.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Turtle got up and began taking off his coat, +and all the others began to get out of the way, for they didn't +know what was going to happen to Mr. 'Possum, and they +wanted to be safe; and Mr. 'Possum rolled under the table,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +and said that he didn't mean anything—that he loved +Mr. Turtle, and that Mr. Turtle hadn't understood the way +he meant it at all.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Turtle wasn't the least bit mad. He just laid +off his coat, quietly, and unbuttoned his shirt collar, and +told Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow to look on the back of his +shell.</p> + +<p>And then Mr. Dog held a candle, and they all looked, +one after another, and there, sure enough, carved right in +Mr. Turtle's shell, were the words:</p> + +<div class='center'> +BEAT MR. HARE<br /> +FOOT-RACE<br /> +JUNE 10, 1649<br /> +</div> + +<p>"That," said Mr. Turtle, "was my greatest joke, and I +had it carved on my shell."</p> + +<p>And all the rest of the forest people said that a thing like +that was worth carving on anybody's shell that had one, +and when Mr. Turtle put on his coat they gave him the best +seat by the fire, and sat and looked at him and asked questions +about it, and finally all went to sleep in their chairs, +while the fire burned low and the soft snow was banking up +deeper and deeper, outside, in the dark.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE "SNOWED-IN" LITERARY CLUB</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. RABBIT PROPOSES SOMETHING +TO PASS THE TIME</div> + +<div class='cap'>"DID the Hollow Tree People and their company +sleep in their chairs all night?" asks the Little +Lady, as soon as she has finished her supper. +"And were they snowed in when they woke up next +morning?"</div> + +<p>The Story Teller is not quite ready to answer. He has +to fill his pipe first, and puff a little and look into the fire +before he sits down, and the Little Lady climbs into her +place. The Little Lady knows the Story Teller, and waits. +When he begins to rock a little she knows he has remembered, +and then pretty soon he tells her about the "Snowed-In" +Literary Club.</p> + +<p>Well, the Hollow Tree People went to sleep there by the +fire and they stayed asleep a long while, for they were tired<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +with all the good times and all the good things to eat they +had been having. And when they woke up once, they +thought it was still night, for it was dark, though they +thought it must be about morning, because the fire was +nearly out, and Mr. 'Possum said if there was anybody who +wasn't too stiff he wished they'd put on a stick of wood, +as he was frozen so hard that he knew if he tried to move +he'd break.</p> + +<p>So Mr. Turtle, who had been drawn up mostly into his +shell, and Mr. Dog, who was used to getting up at all hours +of the night, stretched and yawned and crept down after +some sticks and dry pieces and built up a good fire, and +pretty soon they were all asleep again, as sound as ever.</p> + +<p>And when they woke up next time it was still just as dark, +and the fire had gone almost out again, and Mr. 'Coon +and Mr. Crow, too, said they didn't understand it, at all, +for a fire like that would generally keep all night and all +day too, and here two fires had burned out and it was still +as dark as ever. Then Mr. Crow lit a splinter and looked +at the clock, and said he must have forgotten to wind it, or +maybe it was because it was so cold, as it had stopped a +little after twelve, and Mr. 'Possum said that from the way +he felt it was no wonder the clock had stopped, for if he +could tell anything by his feelings it must be at least day +after to-morrow. He said he felt so empty that every time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +he breathed he could hear the wind whistle through his +ribs.</p> + +<p>That made Mr. Rabbit think of something, and he stepped +over to the window. Then he pushed it up a little, and put +out his hand. But he didn't put it out far, for it went right +into something soft and cold. Mr. Rabbit came over to +where Mr. Crow was poking up the fire, bringing some of +the stuff with him.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "you can all see what's the matter. +We're snowed in. The snow is up over the window, and +that's why it's so dark. It may be up over the top of the +tree, and we may have been asleep here for a week, for all +we know."</p> + +<p>Then they all gathered around to look at the snow, and +went to the window and got some more, and tried to tell +whether it was day or night, and Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon +and Mr. 'Possum ran up-stairs to their rooms, and called +back that it was day, for the snow hadn't come quite up +to the tops of their windows.</p> + +<p>And it was day, sure enough, and quite late in the afternoon +at that, but they couldn't tell just what day it was, or +whether they had slept one night, or two nights, or even +longer.</p> + +<p>Well, of course the first thing was to get something to +eat and a big fire going, and even Mr. 'Possum scrambled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +around and helped carry wood, so he could get warm quicker. +They still had a good deal to eat in the Hollow Tree, and +they were not much worried. Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon +remembered another time they were snowed in, when Mr. +Crow had fed them on Johnnie cake and gravy, and they +thought that if everything else gave out it would be great +fun to live like that again.</p> + +<p>When they had finished eating breakfast, or dinner, or +whatever it was, for it was nearer supper-time than anything +else, they began to think of things to do to amuse themselves, +and they first thought they'd have some more stories, like +Mr. Rabbit's.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Rabbit, who is quite literary, and a good poet, +said it would be better to make it a kind of a club, and +each have a poem, or a story, or a song; or if anybody +couldn't do any of those he must dance a jig.</p> + +<p>Then they all remembered a poetry club that Mr. Rabbit +had got up once and how nice it was, and they all said that +was just the thing, and they got around the table and began +to work away at whatever they were going to do for the +"Snowed-In" Literary Club.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 460px;"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a> +<img src="images/gs29.png" width="460" height="392" alt="GOT AROUND THE TABLE AND BEGAN TO WORK" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GOT AROUND THE TABLE AND BEGAN TO WORK</span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Rabbit wasn't very long at his piece, and pretty soon +he jumped up and said he was through, and Mr. 'Possum +said that if that was so, he might go down and bring up some +wood and warm up the brains of the rest of them. So Mr. +Rabbit stirred up the fire, and sat down and looked into it, +and read over his poem to himself and changed a word here and +there, and thought how nice it was; and by-and-by Mr. Dog +said he was through, and Mr. Robin said he was through, too.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Rabbit said he thought that would be more than +enough for one evening anyway, and that the others might +finish their pieces to-morrow and have them ready for the +next evening.</p> + +<p>So then they all gathered around the fire again, and everybody +said that as Mr. Rabbit had thought of the club first, +he must be the first to read his piece.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rabbit said he was sure it would be more modest +for some one else to read first, but that he was willing to +start things going if they wanted him to. Then he stood +up, and turned a little to the light, and took a nice position, +and read his poem, which was called</p> + + +<div class='center'>SNOWED IN<br /> + +<i>By J. Rabbit</i></div> + +<div class='poem'> +Oh, the snow lies white in the woods to-night—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The snow lies soft and deep;</span><br /> +And under the snow, I know, oh, ho!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The flowers of the summer sleep.</span><br /> +The flowers of the summer sleep, I know,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snowed in like you and me—</span><br /> +Under the sheltering leaves, oh, ho,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As snug and as warm as we—</span><br /> +As snug and as warm from the winter storm<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As we of the Hollow Tree.</span><br /> +Snowed in are we in the Hollow Tree,<br /> +And as snug and as warm as they we be—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snowed in, snowed in,</span><br /> +Are we, are we,<br /> +And as snug as can be in the Hollow Tree,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The wonderful Hollow Tree.</span><br /> +<br /> +Oh, the snow lies cold on wood and wold,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But never a bit comes in,</span><br /> +As we smoke and eat, and warm our feet,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sit by the fire and spin:</span><br /> +And what care we for the winter gales,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And what care we for the snow—</span><br /> +As we sit by the fire and spin our tales<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And think of the things we know?</span><br /> +As we spin our tales in the winter gales<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And wait for the snow to go?</span><br /> +Oh, the winds blow high and the winds blow low,<br /> +But what care we for the wind and snow,<br /> +Spinning our tales of the long ago<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As snug as snug can be?</span><br /> +For never a bit comes in, comes in,<br /> +As we sit by the fire and spin, and spin<br /> +The tales we know, of the long ago,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the wonderful Hollow Tree.</span><br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Rabbit sat down then, and of course everybody spoke +up as soon as they could get their breath and said how nice +it was, and how Mr. Rabbit always expressed himself better +in poetry than anybody else could in prose, and how the +words and rhymes just seemed to flow along as if he were +reeling it off of a spinning-wheel and could keep it up +all day.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Rabbit smiled and said he supposed it came +natural, and that sometimes it was harder to stop than it +was to start, and that he <i>could</i> keep it up all day as easy +as not.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum said he'd been afraid that was what +<i>would</i> happen, and that if Mr. Rabbit hadn't stopped pretty +soon that he—Mr. 'Possum, of course—would have been so +tangled up in his mind that somebody would have had to +come and undo the knot.</p> + +<p>Then he said he wanted to ask some questions. He said +he wanted to know what "wold" meant, and also what +Mr. Rabbit meant by spinning their tails. He said he hadn't +noticed that any of them were spinning their tails, and that +he couldn't do it if he tried. He said that he could curl +his tail and hang from a limb or a peg by it, and he had +found it a good way to go to sleep when things were on his +mind, and that he generally had better dreams when he +slept that way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 330px;"> +<img src="images/gs30.png" width="330" height="409" alt="MR. 'POSSUM WANTED TO KNOW WHAT MR. RABBIT MEANT BY SPINNING THEIR TAILS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM WANTED TO KNOW WHAT MR. RABBIT MEANT BY SPINNING THEIR TAILS</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>He said that of course Mr. Rabbit's poem had been about +tails of the long ago, and he supposed that he meant the ones +which his family had lost about three hundred years ago, +according to Mr. Turtle, but that he didn't believe they +ever could spin them much, or that Mr. Rabbit could spin +what he had left.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum was going on to say a good deal more on +the subject, but Mr. Rabbit interrupted him.</p> + +<p>He said he didn't suppose there was anybody else in the +world whose food seemed to do him so little good as Mr. +'Possum's, and that very likely it was owing to the habit he +had of sleeping with his head hanging down in that foolish +way. He said he had never heard of anybody who ate so +much and knew so little.</p> + +<p>Of course, he said, everybody might not know what +"wold" meant, as it wasn't used much except by poets who +used the best words, but that it meant some kind of a field, +and it was better for winter use, as it rhymed with "cold" +and was nearly always used that way. As for Mr. 'Possum's +other remark, he said he couldn't imagine how anybody +would suppose that the tales he meant were those other tails +which were made to wave or wag or flirt or hang from limbs +by, instead of being stories to be told or written, just as the +Deep Woods People were telling and writing them now. +He said there was an old expression about having a peg<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +to hang a tale on, and that it was most likely gotten up by +one of Mr. 'Possum's ancestors or somebody who knew as +little about such things as Mr. 'Possum, and that another +old expression which said "Thereby hangs a tale" was just +like it, because the kind of tales he meant didn't hang, but +were always told or written, while the other kind always +did hang, and were never told or written, but were only +sometimes told or written about, and it made him feel sad, +he said, to have to explain his poem in that simple way.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum said that he was sorry Mr. Rabbit +felt that way, because he didn't feel at all that way himself, +and had only been trying to discuss Mr. Rabbit's nice poem. +He said that of course Mr. Rabbit couldn't be expected to +know much about tails, never having had a real one himself, +and would be likely to get mixed up when he tried to write +on the subject. He said he wouldn't mention such things +again, and that he was sorry and hoped that Mr. Rabbit +would forgive him.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Rabbit said that he was sorry, too—sorry for +Mr. 'Possum—and that he thought whoever was ready had +better read the next piece.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Dog said that he supposed that he was as ready +as he'd ever be, and that he'd like to read his and get it off +his mind, so he wouldn't be so nervous and could enjoy +listening to the others. He wasn't used to such things, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +said, and couldn't be original like Mr. Rabbit, but he knew +a story that was told among the fowls in Mr. Man's barn-yard, +and that he had tried to write it in a simple way that +even Mr. 'Possum would understand. His story was about +a duck—a young and foolish duck—who got into trouble, +and Mr. Dog said he had made a few sketches to go with it, +and that they could be handed around while he was reading. +Now he would begin, he said, and the name of his story was</p> + + +<div class='center'>ERASTUS, THE ROBBER DUCK<br /> + +<i>By Mr. Dog, with Sketches</i></div> + +<div class='blockquot'> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Erastus thought himself a brave duck; he would chase +his shadow, and was not afraid of quite a large worm.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>His mother said the great worm was a water-snake, and +she told Erastus snake-stories which gave him bad dreams.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 360px;"> +<img src="images/gs31.png" width="360" height="412" alt="MR. DOG SAID HE HAD MADE A FEW SKETCHES" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. DOG SAID HE HAD MADE A FEW SKETCHES</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Erastus the Robber Duck started to run; but he was lost,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Erastus fled with great speed, taking off his garments as +he ran. At last he reached the edge of the wood, not far +from <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'were'">where</ins> he lived. It was just morning, and his mother +saw him coming. She looked sad, and embraced him.</p> + +<p>It was the first time Erastus had been out all night.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +had a chill. Then she would put him to bed and give +him some of the unpleasant medicine.</p> + +<p>Erastus did not tell his mother <i>all</i> 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.</p> + +<p>After that Erastus behaved, and grew to be the best and +largest duck in Mr. Man's farm-yard.</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 443px;"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a> +<img src="images/gs32.png" width="443" height="342" alt="MR. 'POSSUM SAID IT MIGHT BE A GOOD ENOUGH STORY, BUT IT COULDN'T BE TRUE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM SAID IT MIGHT BE A GOOD ENOUGH STORY, BUT IT COULDN'T BE TRUE</span> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>But Mr. Dog didn't get any further. For the Hollow +Tree People broke in and said, all together:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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 <i>his</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Robin spoke up and said that he thought Mr. +Dog's story had a good moral in it, and he said that <i>his</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE "SNOWED-IN" LITERARY CLUB—Part II</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. RABBIT STARTS SOME NEW +AMUSEMENTS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>IT was still dark in the Hollow Tree when the Deep +Woods People woke up next morning, but they knew +what was the matter now, and could tell by the clock +and the fire that it was day outside, even before Mr. 'Possum +ran up to his room and looked out the window and came +back shivering, because he said the snow was blowing and +drifting and some had drifted in around his windows and +made his room as cold as all outdoors. He said he was +willing to stay by the fire while this spell lasted, and take +such exercise as he needed by moving his chair around to +the table when he wanted to eat.</div> + +<p>Mr. 'Coon said that Mr. 'Possum might exercise himself on +a little wood for the cook-stove in Mr. Crow's kitchen if he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +wanted any breakfast, and that if this spell kept up long +enough, they wouldn't have anything left but exercise to keep +them alive.</p> + +<p>So Mr. 'Possum went down-stairs after an armful of +stove-wood, and he stayed a good while, though they didn't +notice it at the time. Then they all helped with the breakfast, +and after breakfast they pushed back all the things +and played "Blind Man's Buff," for Mr. Rabbit said that +even if moving his chair from the fire to the table and back +again was enough exercise for Mr. 'Possum, it wasn't enough +for <i>him</i>, and the others said so, too.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 433px;"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a> +<img src="images/gs33.png" width="433" height="376" alt="SO THEN MR. RABBIT SAID THEY MUST CHOOSE WHO WOULD BE "IT"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SO THEN MR. RABBIT SAID THEY MUST CHOOSE WHO WOULD BE "IT"</span> +</div> + +<p>So then Mr. Rabbit said they must choose who would be +"It" first, and they all stood in a row and Mr. Rabbit said:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Hi, ho, hickory dee—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">One for you and one for me;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">One for the ones you try to find,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And one for the one that wears the blind,"</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>which was a rigmarole Mr. Rabbit had made up himself +to use in games where somebody had to be "It," and Mr. +Rabbit said it around and around the circle on the different +ones—one word for each one—until he came to the word +"blind" and that was Mr. 'Possum, who had to put on the +handkerchief and do more exercising than any of them, until +he caught Mr. Turtle, who had to be "It" quite often,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +because he couldn't get out of the way as well as the +others.</div> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum was "It" a good deal, too, and Mr. +'Coon, and all the rest, though Mr. Robin was "It" less +than anybody, because he was so little and spry that he +could get out of the way.</p> + +<p>Then when they were tired of "Blind Man's Buff" they +played "Pussy Wants a Corner" and "Forfeits," and Mr. +'Possum had to make a speech to redeem his forfeit, and he +began:</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Ladies and Gentlemen</span>" (though there were no ladies +present)—"I am pleased to see you all here this evening" +(though it wasn't evening) "looking so well dressed and +well fed. It is better to be well fed than well dressed. It +is better to be well dressed than not dressed at all. It is +better to be not dressed at all than not fed at all. Ladies +and gentlemen, I thank you for your kind attention and +applause"—though they hadn't applauded yet, but they did, +right away, and said it was a good speech, and Mr. Crow said +it reminded him that it was about dinner-time, and that he +would need some more wood.</p> + +<p>So Mr. 'Possum got right up to get the stove-wood again, +which everybody thought was very good of Mr. 'Possum, +who wasn't usually so spry and willing.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 422px;"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a> +<img src="images/gs34.png" width="422" height="388" alt="MR. 'POSSUM HAD TO PUT ON THE HANDKERCHIEF AND DO MORE EXERCISING THAN ANY OF THEM" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM HAD TO PUT ON THE HANDKERCHIEF AND DO MORE EXERCISING THAN ANY OF THEM</span> +</div> + +<p>Then in the afternoon they had games again, but nice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +quiet games, for they were all glad to sit down, and they +played "Button! Button! Who's Got the Button?" and nobody +could tell when Mr. 'Possum had the button, for his +face didn't show it, because he was nearly always looking +straight into the fire, and seemed to be thinking about +something away off. And when the fire got low, he always +jumped up and offered to go down into the store-room after +the wood, and they all said how willing and spry Mr. 'Possum +was getting all at once, and when he stayed a good +while down-stairs they didn't think anything about it—not +at the time—or if they did they only thought he was +picking out the best pieces to burn. They played "Drop +the Handkerchief," too, and when they got through Mr. +Rabbit performed some tricks with the handkerchief and +the button that made even Mr. 'Possum pay attention +because they were so wonderful.</p> + +<p>There was one trick especially that Mr. Rabbit did a +great many times because they liked it so much, and were +so anxious to guess how it was done. Mr. Rabbit told them +it was a trick that had come down to him from his thirty-second +great-grandfather, and must never be told to any one.</p> + +<p>It was a trick where he laid the button in the centre of +the handkerchief and then folded the corners down on it, +and pressed them down each time so that they could see +that the button was still there, and he would let them press<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +on it, too, to prove it, and then when he would lift up the +handkerchief by the two corners nearest him there would +be no button at all, and he would find it on the mantel-shelf +or perhaps on Mr. Crow's bald head, or in Mr. 'Possum's +pocket, or some place like that. But one time, when Mr. +Rabbit had done it over and over, and maybe had grown +a little careless, he lifted the handkerchief by the corners +nearest him, and there was the button sticking fast, right +in the centre of the handkerchief, for it had a little beeswax +on it, to make it stick to one of the corners next to Mr. +Rabbit, and by some mistake Mr. Rabbit had turned the +button upside down!</p> + +<p>Then they all laughed, and all began to try it for themselves, +and Mr. Rabbit laughed too, though perhaps he +didn't feel much like it, and told them that they had learned +one of the greatest secrets in his family, and that he would +now tell them the adage that went with it if they would +promise never to tell either the secret or the adage, and they +all promised, and Mr. Rabbit told them the adage, which was:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"When beeswax grows on the button-tree,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">No one knows what the weather'll be."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 395px;"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a> +<img src="images/gs35.png" width="395" height="413" alt="WOULD FIND IT ON THE MANTEL-SHELF OR PERHAPS ON MR. CROW'S BALD HEAD" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WOULD FIND IT ON THE MANTEL-SHELF OR PERHAPS ON MR. CROW'S BALD HEAD</span> +</div> + +<p>"That," said Mr. Rabbit, "is a very old adage. I don't +know what it means exactly, but I'm sure it means something, +because old adages always do mean something,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +though often nobody can find out just what it is, and the +less they seem to mean the better they are, as adages. There +are a great many old adages in our family, and they have +often got my ancestors out of trouble. When we didn't +have an old one to fit the trouble we made a new one, and +by-and-by it got old too, and useful in different ways, because +by that time it didn't seem to mean anything special, +and could be used almost anywhere."</p> + +<p>Then the Deep Woods People all said there was never +anybody who knew so much and could do so many things +as Mr. Jack Rabbit, and how proud they all were to have +him in their midst, and Mr. Rabbit showed them how to do +all the tricks he knew, and they all practised them and tried +them on each other until Mr. Crow said he must look after +the supper, and Mr. 'Possum ran right off after an armful +of stove-wood, and everybody helped with everything there +was to do, for they were having such a good time and were +so hungry.</p> + +<p>And after supper they all sat around the fire again and +smoked a little before anybody said anything, until by-and-by +Mr. Rabbit said that they would go on now with the +literary club, and that Mr. Robin might read the story he +had mentioned the night before.</p> + +<p>So Mr. Robin got up, and stood on a chair, and made a +nice bow. He said it was not really his own story he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +written, but one that his grandmother used to tell him sometimes, +though he didn't think it had ever been put into a +book.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Rabbit spoke up and said that that didn't +matter, that of course everybody couldn't be original, +and that the story itself was the main thing and the way +you told it. He said if Mr. Robin would go right on with +the story now it would save time. So then they all knocked +the ashes out of their pipes—all except Mr. Robin, who +began right off to read his story:</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE DISCONTENTED FOX</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. ROBIN TELLS HOW A FOX +LEARNED A GOOD LESSON BY +TAKING A LONG JOURNEY</div> + + +<div class='cap'>ONCE upon a time there was a Fox who lived at +the foot of a hill and had a <i>nice garden</i>. One +morning when he began to hoe in it he got tired, +and the sun was <i>very hot</i>. Then the Fox didn't like to +hoe any more, and made up his mind that it wasn't very +pleasant to have a garden, anyway.</div> + +<p>So then he started out to travel and find <i>pleasant things</i>. +He put on his best clothes, and the first house he came to +belonged to a Rabbit who kept bees. And the Rabbit +showed the Fox his bees and how to take out the honey. +And the Fox said, "What <i><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'pleasan'">pleasant</ins> work!</i>" and wanted to +take out honey too. But when he did there was a bee +on the honey, and it stung the Fox on the nose. And that +hurt the Fox, and his nose began to swell up, and he said: +"This is not pleasant work <i>at all!</i>" and of course it wasn't—not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +for <i>him</i>—though the Rabbit seemed to enjoy it <i>more +than ever</i>.</p> + +<p>So the Fox travelled on, and the next house he came to +belonged to a Crow who made pies. And the Fox looked +at him awhile and said, "What <i>pleasant work!</i>" And the +Crow let the Fox help him, and when the Fox went to take +a pie out of the oven he burnt his fingers <i>quite badly</i>. Then +he said, "No, it is <i>not</i> pleasant work—not for <i>me!</i>" and that +was true, though the Crow seemed to enjoy it <i>more than ever</i>.</p> + +<p>So the Fox went on again, and the next house he came +to belonged to a 'Coon who milked cows. And the Fox +watched him milk, and pretty soon he said: "What pleasant +work that <i>is!</i> Let <i>me</i> milk." So the 'Coon let the Fox +milk, and the Cow put her foot in the milk-pail and upset +it <i>all over</i> the Fox's nice <i>new clothes</i>. And the Fox was mad, +and said: "This work is not in the <i>least</i> pleasant!" and he +<i>hurried away</i>, though the 'Coon seemed to enjoy it <i>more +than ever</i>.</p> + +<p>And the next house the Fox came to belonged to a Cat +who played the fiddle. And the Fox listened awhile +and said: "What pleasant work that <i>must be!</i>" and he +borrowed the Cat's fiddle. But when he started down the +road playing, a Man ran around the corner and shot a loud +gun at him, and that was not pleasant, <i>either</i>, though the Cat +seemed to enjoy it <i>more than ever</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p>So the Fox kept on travelling and <i>doing</i> things that he +thought would be <i>pleasant</i>, but that did not turn out to <i>be</i> +pleasant—not for <i>him</i>—until by-and-by he had travelled +<i>clear around the world</i> and had come up on the other side, +<i>back</i> to his <i>own garden</i> again. And his garden was just +the same as he had left it, only the things had grown bigger, +and there were <i>some weeds</i>.</p> + +<p>And the Fox jumped over the fence and commenced to +<i>hoe</i> the <i>weeds</i>, and pretty soon he said, "Why, this is <i>pleasant!</i>" +Then he hoed some more, and said, "Why, what +pleasant work <i>this is!</i>"</p> + +<p>So he kept on hoeing and finding it pleasant until by-and-by +the weeds were <i>all gone</i>, and the <i>Rabbit</i> and the <i>Crow</i> +and the <i>Cat</i> and the <i>'Coon</i> came and traded him honey and +pies and milk and music for vegetables, because he had the +best garden in the world. And he <i>has yet!</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>When Mr. Robin got through and sat down, Mr. Squirrel +spoke up and said it was a good story because it had a moral +lesson in it and taught folks to like the things they knew best +how to do, and Mr. 'Possum said yes, that might be so, but +that the story couldn't be true, because none of those animals +would have enjoyed seeing that Fox leave them, but would +have persuaded him to stay and help them, and would have +taught him to do most of the work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Mr. Robin spoke up and said that Mr. 'Possum +thought everybody was like himself, and that anyway Mr. +'Possum didn't need the lesson in that story, for he already +liked to do the things he could do best, which were to eat +and sleep and let other people do the work, though of course +he had been very good about getting the wood, lately, which +certainly was unusual.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum said he didn't see why Mr. Robin +should speak in that cross way when he had only meant to +be kind and show him the mistake in his story, so he could +fix it right. And Mr. Rabbit said that as Mr. 'Possum +seemed to know so much how stories and poems ought to +be written, perhaps he'd show now what he could do in that +line himself.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum said he hadn't written anything because +it was too much trouble, but that he would tell them a story +if they would like to hear it—something that had really +happened, because he had been there, and was old enough +to remember.</p> + +<p>But before he began Mr. Robin said that as they had +not cared much about his story he would like to recite a +few lines he had thought of, which would perhaps explain +how he felt, and all the animals said, "Of course, go right +on," and Mr. Robin bowed and recited a little poem he had +made, called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'>ONLY ME<br /> + +<i>By C. Robin</i></div> + +<div class='poem'> +How came a little bird like me<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A place in this fine group to win?</span><br /> +My mind is small—it has to be—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The little place I keep it in.</span><br /> +How came a little bird like me<br /> +To be here in the Hollow Tree?<br /> +<br /> +When all the others know so much,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And are so strong and gifted too,</span><br /> +How can I dare to speak of such<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As I can know, and think, and do?</span><br /> +How can a little bird like me<br /> +Belong here in the Hollow Tree?<br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 378px;"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a> +<img src="images/gs36.png" width="378" height="405" alt="MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE HADN'T MEANT ANYTHING AT ALL BY WHAT HE HAD SAID ABOUT THE STORY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE HADN'T MEANT ANYTHING AT ALL BY WHAT HE HAD SAID ABOUT THE STORY</span> +</div> + +<p>Well, when Mr. Robin finished that, all the others spoke +right up and said that Mr. Robin must never write anything +so sad as that again. They said his story was just as good +as it could be, and that Mr. Robin was one of the smartest +ones there; and Mr. 'Possum burst into tears, and said that +he hadn't meant anything at all by what he had said about the +story, and that some time, when they were all alone, Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +Robin must tell it to him again, and he would try to have +sense enough to understand it.</p> + +<p>Then he ran over to Mr. Robin, and was going to embrace +him and weep on his shoulder, and would very likely have +mashed him if Mr. Turtle hadn't dragged him back to his +seat and told him that he had done damage enough to +people's feelings without killing anybody, and the best +thing he could do now would be to go on with a story of +his own if he had any.</p> + +<p>But Mr. 'Possum said he was too sleepy now, so Mr. Dog +sang the poem which he had promised the evening before +because, he said, singing would be a nice thing to go to sleep +on. Mr. Dog's song was called</p> + + +<div class='center'>THE CAT WHO WOULD BE KING</div> + +<div class='poem'> +There was cat who kept a store,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With other cats for customers.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">His milk and mice</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">All packed in ice—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">His catnip all in canisters.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fresh milk he furnished every day—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Two times a day and sometimes three—</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span><br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> +<img src="images/gs37.png" width="475" height="433" alt="AND SO THIS CAT GREW RICH AND FAT" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AND SO THIS CAT GREW RICH AND FAT</span> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And so this cat</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Grew rich and fat</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And proud as any cat could be.</span><br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +But though so fat and rich he grew<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He was not satisfied at all—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">At last quoth he,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"A king I'll be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of other cats both great and small."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 427px;"> +<img src="images/gs38.png" width="427" height="500" alt="Cat in crown" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem'> +Then hied he to the tinner cat,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who made for him a tinsel crown,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And on the street,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A king complete,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He soon went marching up and down.</span><br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 457px;"> +<img src="images/gs39.png" width="457" height="474" alt="Proud cats" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class='poem'> +Now, many cats came out to see,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And some were filled with awe at him;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">While some, alack,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Behind his back</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Did laugh and point a paw at him.</span><br /> +<br /></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/gs40.png" width="450" height="440" alt="HIS CLERKS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">HIS CLERKS</span> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +Mice, milk, and catnip did he scorn;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He went to business less and less—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And everywhere</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He wore an air</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of arrogance and haughtiness.</span><br /> +<br /> +His clerks ate catnip all day long—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They spent much time in idle play;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">They left the mice</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">From off the ice—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They trusted cats who could not pay.</span><br /> +<br /></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 431px;"> +<img src="images/gs41.png" width="431" height="500" alt="A SOLEMN LOOK WAS IN HIS FACE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">A SOLEMN LOOK WAS IN HIS FACE</span> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +While happy in his tin-shop crown<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Each day the king went marching out,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Elate because</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He thought he was</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The kind of king you read about.</span><br /> +<br /> +But lo, one day, he strolled too far,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And in a dim and dismal place</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A cat he met,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Quite small, and yet</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A solemn look was in his face.</span><br /> +<br /> +One fiery eye this feline wore—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A waif he was of low degree—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">No gaudy dress</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Did he possess,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nor yet a handsome cat was he.</span><br /> +<br /> +But lo, he smote that spurious king<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And stripped him of his tinsel crown,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Then like the wind</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Full close behind</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He chased His Highness into town.</span><br /> +<br /> +With cheers his subjects saw him come.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He did not pause—he did not stop,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">But straight ahead</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He wildly fled</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till he was safe within his shop.</span><br /> +<br /> +He caught his breath and gazed about—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A sorry sight did he behold:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">No catnip there</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Or watchful care—</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">No mice and milk and joy of old.</span><br /> +<br /> +He heaved a sigh and dropped a tear—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He sent those idle clerks away—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Quoth he, "My pride</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Is satisfied;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">This kingdom business does not pay."</span><br /> +<br /> +With care once more he runs his store,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">His catnip all in canisters—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">His milk and mice</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">All packed in ice,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And humbly serves his customers.</span><br /> +<br /></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 281px;"> +<img src="images/gs42.png" width="281" height="427" alt="QUOTH HE, "MY PRIDE IS SATISFIED; THIS KINGDOM BUSINESS DOES NOT PAY"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">QUOTH HE, "MY PRIDE IS SATISFIED; THIS KINGDOM BUSINESS DOES NOT PAY"</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> +<h2>MR. 'POSSUM'S GREAT STORY</h2> + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. 'POSSUM TELLS THE STRANGE ADVENTURES +OF THE 'POSSUM FAMILY, +TO THE SURPRISE OF HIS FRIENDS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>"NOW this," said the Story Teller, "is the story +that Mr. 'Possum told the 'Snowed-In' Literary +Club in the Hollow Tree. It must be a true story, +because Mr. 'Possum said so, and, besides, anybody that +knows Mr. 'Possum would know that he could never in the +world have made it up out of his head."</div> + +<p>The Little Lady doesn't quite like that.</p> + +<p>"But Mr. 'Possum is smart," she says. "He knows ever +so much."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, of course, and that's why he never <i>has</i> to make +up things. He just tells what he knows, and this time he +told</p> + + +<div class='center'>HOW UNCLE SILAS AND AUNT MELISSY MOVED</div> + +<p>"You may remember," he said, "my telling you once +about Uncle Silas and Aunt Melissy Lovejoy, who lived in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +a nice place just beyond the Wide Paw-paw Hollows, and +how Uncle Silas once visited Cousin Glenwood in town +and came home all dressed up, leading a game chicken, +and with a bag of shinny-sticks, and a young man to wait +on him; and how Aunt Melissy—instead of being pleased, +as Uncle Silas thought she would be—got mad when she +saw him, and made him and the young man take off all +their nice clothes and go to work in the garden, and kept +them at it with that bag of shinny-sticks until fall.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p> + +<p>"Well, this story is about them, too. I went to live with +them soon after that, because I lost both of my parents +one night when Mr. Man was hunting in the Black +Bottoms for something to put in a pan with some sweet +potatoes he had raised that year, and I suppose I would +have been used with sweet potatoes too if I hadn't come +away from there pretty lively instead of trying our old +playing-dead trick on Mr. Man and his friends.</p> + +<p>"I thought right away that Mr. Man might know the +trick, so I didn't wait to try it myself, but took out for the +Wide Paw-paw Hollows, to visit Uncle Silas Lovejoy, who +was an uncle on my mother's side, and Aunt Melissy and my +little cousins; and they all seemed glad to see me, especially +my little cousins, until they found they had to give me some +of their things and most of their food, because I was young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +and growing, besides being quite sad about my folks, and +so, of course, had to eat a good deal to keep well and from +taking my loss too hard.</p> + +<p>"But by-and-by Uncle Lovejoy said that he didn't believe +that he and the hired man—who was the same one he had +brought home to wait on him when he came from town—to +be his valet, he said—though he got to be a hired man +right after Aunt Melissy met him and got hold of the shinny-sticks—Aunt +Melissy being a spry, stirring person who +liked to see people busy. I remember how she used to keep +me and my little cousins busy until sometimes I wished I +had stayed with my folks and put up with the sweet potatoes +and let Uncle Silas and his family alone."</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum stopped to light his pipe, and Mr. Rabbit +said that he supposed, of course, Mr. 'Possum knew his +story and how to tell it, but that if he ever intended to finish +what Uncle Lovejoy had said about himself and the hired +man he wished he'd get at it pretty soon.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum said of course he meant to, as soon as he +could get his breath, and think a minute. "Well, then," he +said, "Uncle Silas told Aunt Melissy that he didn't believe +he and the hired man could raise and catch enough for the +family since I had come to stay with them, and he thought +they had better move farther west to a place where the land +was better and where Mr. Man's chickens were not kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +up in such close, unhealthy places, but were allowed to +roost out in the open air, on the fences and in the trees. +He said he didn't think their house was quite stylish enough +either, which he knew would strike Aunt Melissy, who was +a Glenwood, and primpy, and fond of the best things.</p> + +<p>"So then we began to pack up right away, and Uncle +Silas and Aunt Melissy quarrelled a good deal about what +was worth taking and what wasn't, and they took turns +scolding the hired man about a good many things he didn't +do and almost all of the things he did do, and my little +cousins and I had a fine time running through the empty +rooms and playing with things we had never seen before, +but we had to keep out of Aunt Melissy's reach if we wanted +to enjoy it much.</p> + +<p>"Well, by-and-by we were all packed up and ready to +start. We had everything in bundles or tied together, +and Aunt Melissy had arranged a big bundle for Uncle +Silas to carry, and several things to tie and hang about on +his person in different places, and she had fixed up the hired +man too, besides some bundles for me and my little cousins.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Melissy said she would take charge of the lunch-basket +and lead the way, and she was all dressed up and +carried an umbrella, and didn't look much as if she belonged +to the rest of our crowd.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 438px;"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a> +<img src="images/gs43.png" width="438" height="370" alt="AUNT MELISSY HAD ARRANGED A BUNDLE FOR UNCLE SILAS, AND SHE HAD FIXED UP THE HIRED MAN TOO" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AUNT MELISSY HAD ARRANGED A BUNDLE FOR UNCLE SILAS, AND SHE HAD FIXED UP THE HIRED MAN TOO</span> +</div> + +<p>"It was pretty early when we started, for it was getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +dangerous to camp out in that section, and we wanted to get +as far as we could the first day, though we didn't any of +us have any idea then how long a trip we <i>would</i> make that +day, nor of the way we were going to make it. Nobody +could guess a guess like that, even if he was the best guesser +in the world and made his living that way."</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum stopped to light his pipe again, and said +that if anybody wanted a chance to guess how far they went +that first day and how they travelled, they could guess now. +But the Hollow Tree People said they didn't want to +guess, and they did want Mr. 'Possum to go ahead and tell +them about it.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "we travelled fifty miles that +first day, and we travelled it in less than two hours."</p> + +<p>"Fifty miles in two hours!" said all the Hollow Tree +People. And Jack Rabbit said:</p> + +<p>"Why, a menagerie like that couldn't travel fifty miles +in two years!"</p> + +<p>"But we did, though," said Mr. 'Possum; "we travelled +it in a balloon."</p> + +<p>"In a balloon!"</p> + +<p>"Well, not exactly in a balloon, but <i>with</i> a balloon. It +happened just as I'm going to tell you.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 347px;"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a> +<img src="images/gs44.png" width="347" height="432" alt="DIDN'T LOOK AS IF SHE BELONGED TO THE REST OF OUR CROWD" title="" /> +<span class="caption">DIDN'T LOOK AS IF SHE BELONGED TO THE REST OF OUR CROWD</span> +</div> + +<p>"We went along pretty well until we got to the Wide +Grass Lands, though Aunt Melissy scolded Uncle Silas a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +good deal because he got behind and didn't stand up in a +nice stylish way with all the things he had to carry, and she +used her umbrella once on the hired man because he dropped +the clock.</p> + +<p>"When we got out to the Wide Grass Lands there was a +high east wind blowing, getting ready for a storm, and when +we got on top of a little grassy hill close to the Wide Blue +Water it blew Uncle Silas and the hired man so they could +hardly stand up, and it turned Aunt Melissy's umbrella +wrong side out, which made her mad, and she said that it +was Uncle Silas's fault and mine, and that she had never +wanted to move anyway.</p> + +<p>"But just then one of my little cousins looked up in the +sky and said, 'Oh, look at that funny bird!' and we all looked +up, and there was a great big long bag of a thing coming right +toward us, not very high up, and Uncle Silas spoke up and +said 'That's a balloon,' for Uncle Silas had seen one in town +when he was there visiting Cousin Glenwood, and the hired +man, too. Then while we were all standing there watching +it, we saw that there was a long rope that hung from the +balloon most to the ground, and that it had something tied +to the end of it (a big iron thing with a lot of hooks on it), +and that it was swooping down straight toward us.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Silas called out as loud as he could, 'That's +the anchor! Look out!' but it was too late to look out, for it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +was coming as fast as the wind blew the balloon, and Uncle +Silas and the hired man being loaded with the things couldn't +move very quick, and the rest of us were too scared to know +which way to jump, and down came that thing right among +us, and I saw it catch among Uncle Silas's furniture and +the hired man's, and I heard Uncle Silas say, 'Grab hold, +all of you!' and we all did, some one way and some another, +and away we went.</p> + +<p>"Well, it was certainly very curious how we all were lucky +enough to get hold of that anchor, with all our bundles and +things; but of course we could do it better than if we had not +been given those nice useful tails which belong to our family. +I had hold that way, and some of the others did, too. Uncle +Silas didn't need to hold on at all, for some of the furniture +was tied to him, and he just sat back in a chair that was hung +on behind and took it easy, though he did drop some of his +things when he first got aboard, and Aunt Melissy scolded +him for that as soon as she caught her breath and got over +being frightened and was sitting up on her part of the anchor +enjoying the scenery.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 333px;"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a> +<img src="images/gs45.png" width="333" height="437" alt="THE BALLOON WENT OVER THE WIDE BLUE WATER JUST AFTER IT GOT OUR FAMILY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE BALLOON WENT OVER THE WIDE BLUE WATER JUST AFTER IT GOT OUR FAMILY</span> +</div> + +<p>"I never had such a trip as that before, and never expect +to have one again. The balloon went over the Wide Blue +Water just after it got our family, and we were all afraid we +would be let down in it and drowned; but the people who +were in the balloon threw out something heavy which we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +thought at first they were throwing at us, but it must have +been something to make the balloon go up; for we did go up +until Aunt Melissy said if we'd just get a little nearer one +of those clouds she'd step out on it and live there, as she'd +always wanted to do since she was a child.</p> + +<p>"Then we all sat up and held on tight, above and below, +and said what a nice day it was to travel, and that we'd always +travel that way hereafter; and Uncle Silas and the hired +man unhooked their furniture, so they could land easier +when the time came, and Aunt Melissy passed around the +lunch, and we looked down and saw the water and the land +again and a lot of houses and trees, and Aunt Melissy said +that nobody could ever made her believe the world was that +big if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.</p> + +<p>"And Uncle Silas and the hired man said that of course +this was going pretty fast, but that they had travelled a +good deal faster sometimes when they were in town with +Cousin Glenwood, and pretty soon he showed us the town +where Cousin Glenwood lived, and he and the hired man +tried to point out the house to us, but they couldn't agree +about which it was because the houses didn't look the same +from up there in the air as they did from down on the +ground.</p> + +<p>"I know I shall never forget that trip. We saw ever so +many different Mr. Men and Mr. Dogs, and animals of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +every kind, and houses that had chimneys taller than any +tree, and a good many things that even Uncle Silas did not +know about. Then by-and-by we came to some woods +again—the biggest kind of Big Deep Woods—and we saw +that we were getting close to the tree-tops, and we were +all afraid we would get hit by the branches and maybe +knocked off with our things.</p> + +<p>"And pretty soon, sure enough, that anchor did drop +right down among the trees, and such a clapping and scratching +as we did get!</p> + +<p>"We shut our eyes and held on, and some of our furniture +was brushed off of Uncle Silas and the hired man, and +Aunt Melissy lost her umbrella, and I lost a toy chicken, +which I could never find again. Then all at once there +was a big sudden jerk that jarred Uncle Silas loose, and made +Aunt Melissy holler that she was killed, and knocked the +breath out of the rest of us for a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"But we were all there, and the anchor was fast on the +limb of a big tree—a tree almost as big as the Hollow Tree, +and hollow, just like it, with a nice handy place to go in.</p> + +<p>"So when we got our senses back we picked up all our +things that we could find, and moved into the new place, and +Aunt Melissy looked at the clock, which was still running, +and it was just a little over two hours since we started.</p> + +<p>"Then pretty soon we heard Mr. Man and his friends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +who had been up in the balloon coming, and we stayed close +inside till they had taken the anchor and everything away, +and after that, when it was getting dark, Uncle Silas and the +hired man went out and found, not very far off, where there +were some nice chickens that roosted in handy places, and +brought home two or three, and Aunt Melissy set up the stove +and cooked up a good supper, and we all sat around the +kitchen fire, and the storm that the east wind had been blowing +up came along sure enough and it rained all night, but +we were snug and dry, and went to sleep mostly in beds +made down on the floor, and lay there listening to the rain +and thinking what a nice journey we'd had and what a +good new home we'd found.</p> + +<p>"And it <i>was</i> a good place, for I lived there till I grew up, +and if I'm not mistaken some of Uncle Silas's and Aunt +Melissy's children live there still. I haven't heard from any +of them for a long time, but I am thinking of going on a +visit over that way in the spring, and if that balloon is still +running I'm going to travel with it.</p> + +<p>"And that," said Mr. 'Possum, "is a true story—all true, +every word, for I was there."</p> + +<p>Nobody said anything for a minute or two after Mr. +'Possum had finished his story—nobody <i>could</i> say anything.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Rabbit coughed a little and remarked that he +was glad that Mr. 'Possum said that the story was true,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +for no one would ever have suspected it. He said if Mr. +'Possum hadn't said it was true he would have thought it +was one of those pleasant dreams that Mr. 'Possum had when +he slept hanging to a peg head down.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Turtle, who had been sitting with his eyes shut +and looking as if he were asleep, knocked the ashes out of +his pipe, and said that what Mr. 'Possum had told them was +true—at least, <i>some</i> of it was true; for he himself had been +sitting in the door of his house on the shore of the Wide Blue +Water when the balloon passed over, and he had seen Uncle +Silas Lovejoy's family sitting up there anchored and comfortable; +and he had picked up a chair that Uncle Silas had +dropped, and he had it in his house to this day, it being +a good strong chair and better than any that was made +nowadays.</p> + +<p>Well, of course after that nobody said anything about +Mr. 'Possum's story not being true, for they remembered +how old and wise Mr. Turtle was and could always prove +things, and they all talked about it a great deal, and asked +Mr. 'Possum a good many questions.</p> + +<p>They said how nice it was to know somebody who had +had an adventure like that, and Mr. Rabbit changed his +seat so he could be next to Mr. 'Possum, because he said he +wanted to write it all down to keep.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a> +<img src="images/gs46.png" width="351" height="437" alt="MR. TURTLE SAID THAT WHAT MR. 'POSSUM HAD TOLD THEM WAS TRUE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. TURTLE SAID THAT WHAT MR. 'POSSUM HAD TOLD THEM WAS TRUE</span> +</div> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum said he never would forget how good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +those chickens tasted that first night in the new home, and +that Mr. Rabbit mustn't forget to put them in.</p> + +<p>Then they all remembered that they were hungry now, +and Mr. Crow and Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Robin hustled +around to get a bite to eat before bedtime, and Mr. 'Possum +hurried down to bring up the stove-wood, and was gone quite +awhile, though nobody spoke of it—not then—even if they +did wonder about it a little—and after supper they all sat +around the fire again and smoked and dropped off to sleep +while the clock ticked and the blaze flickered about and +made queer shadows on the wall of the Hollow Tree.</p> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> <i>Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book.</i></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE BARK OF OLD HUNGRY-WOLF</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='chapsum'>HOW THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE +HAVE A MOST UNWELCOME VISITOR, +AND WHAT BECOMES OF HIM</div> + + +<div class='cap'>"WHAT made Mr. 'Possum so anxious to get the +wood, and what made him stay down-stairs so +long when he went after it?" asks the Little +Lady next evening, when the Story Teller is lighting his +pipe and getting ready to remember the history of the +Hollow Tree.</div> + +<p>"We're coming to that. You may be sure there was +some reason for it, for Mr. 'Possum doesn't hurry after +wood or stay long in a cold place if he can help it, unless +he has something on his mind. Perhaps some of the Deep +Woods People thought of that too, but if they did they didn't +say anything—not at the time. I suppose they thought +it didn't matter much, anyhow, if they got the wood."</p> + +<p>So they went right on having a good time, keeping up a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +nice fire, and eating up whatever they had; for they thought +the big snow couldn't last as long as their wood and their +things to eat, and every day they went up to look out of the +up-stairs windows to see how much had melted, and every +day they found it just about the same, only maybe a little +crustier on top, and the weather stayed <i>very cold</i>.</p> + +<p>But they didn't mind it so long as they were warm and +not hungry, and they played games, and recited their pieces, +and sang, and danced, and said they had never had such a +good time in all their lives.</p> + +<p>But one day when Mr. Crow went down into the store-room +for supplies he found that he was at the bottom of +the barrel of everything they had, and he came up looking +pretty sober, though he didn't say anything about it—not +then, for he knew there were plenty of bones and odds and +ends he could scrape up, and he had a little flour and some +meal in his pantry; so he could make soup and gravy and +johnny-cake and hash, which he did right away, and they +all said how fine such things were for a change, and told +Mr. Crow to go right on making them as long as he wanted +to, even if the snow stayed on till spring. And Mr. 'Possum +and Mr. 'Coon said it was like old times, and that Mr. Crow +was probably the very best provider in the Big Deep Woods.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 429px;"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a> +<img src="images/gs47.png" width="429" height="362" alt="ONE DAY MR. CROW FOUND HE WAS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL OF EVERYTHING" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ONE DAY MR. CROW FOUND HE WAS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL OF EVERYTHING</span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Crow smiled, too, but he didn't feel like it much, for +he knew that even johnny-cake and gravy wouldn't last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +forever, and that unless the snow went away pretty soon +they would all be hungry and cold, for the wood was getting +low, too.</p> + +<p>And one morning, when Mr. Crow went to his meal-sack +and his flour-bag and his pile of odds and ends there was +just barely enough for breakfast, and hardly that. And +Mr. Crow didn't like to tell them about it, for he knew they +all thought he could keep right on making johnny-cake and +gravy forever, because they didn't have to stop to think +where things came from, as he did, and he was afraid they +would blame him when there was nothing more left.</p> + +<p>So the Old Black Crow tried to step around lively and +look pleasant, to keep anybody from noticing, because he +thought it might turn warm that day and melt the snow; +and when breakfast was ready he put on what there was +and said he hadn't cooked very much because he had heard +that light breakfasts were better for people who stayed in +the house a good deal, and as for himself, he said he guessed +he wouldn't eat any breakfast that morning at all.</p> + +<p>Then while the others were eating he crept down-stairs +and looked at the empty boxes and barrels and the few +sticks of wood that were left, and he knew that if that snow +didn't melt off right away they were going to have a <i>very +hard time</i>. Then he came back up in the big living-room +and went on up-stairs to his own room, to look out the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +window to see if it wasn't going to be a warm, melting +day. But Mr. Crow came back pretty soon. He came back +in a hurry, too, and he slammed his door and locked it, and +then let go of everything and just slid down-stairs. Then +the Deep Woods People jumped up quick from the table +and ran to him, for they thought he was having a fit of some +kind, and they still thought so when they looked into his +face: for Mr. Crow's eyes were rolled up and his bill was +pale, and when he tried to speak he couldn't. And Mr. +Rabbit said it was because Mr. Crow had done without his +breakfast, and he ran to get something from the table; but +Mr. Crow couldn't eat, and then they saw that some of the +feathers on top of his head were turning gray, and they knew +he had seen some awful thing just that little moment he was +in his room.</p> + +<p>So then they all looked at one another and wondered what +it was, and they were glad Mr. Crow had locked the door. +Then they carried him over to the fire, and pretty soon he +got so he could whisper a little, and when they knew what +he was saying they understood why he was so scared and +why he had locked the door; for the words that Mr. Crow +kept whispering over and over were: "Old Hungry-Wolf! +Old Hungry-Wolf! Old Hungry-Wolf!"</p> + +<p>All the Deep Woods People know what that means. +They know that when Old Hungry-Wolf comes, or even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +when you hear him bark, it means that there is no food left +in the Big Deep Woods for anybody, and that nobody can +tell how long it will be before there <i>will</i> be food again. And +all the Deep Woods People stood still and held their breath +and listened for the bark of Old Hungry-Wolf, because +they knew Mr. Crow had seen his face looking in the window. +And they all thought they heard it, except Mr. +'Possum, who said he didn't believe it was Old Hungry-Wolf +at all that Mr. Crow had seen, but only Mr. Gray +Wolf himself, who had perhaps slipped out and travelled +over the snow to see if they were all at home and comfortable.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Crow said:</p> + +<p>"No, no; it was Old Hungry-Wolf! He was big and +black, and I saw his great fiery eyes!"</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum looked very brave, and said he would +see if Old Hungry-Wolf was looking into his window too, +and he went right up, and soon came back and said there +wasn't any big black face at his window, and he thought that +Mr. Crow's empty stomach had made him imagine things.</p> + +<p>So then Mr. 'Coon said that he would go up to <i>his</i> room +if the others would like to come along, and they could see +for themselves whether Old Hungry-Wolf was trying to get +in or not.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 369px;"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a> +<img src="images/gs48.png" width="369" height="431" alt="THEN MR. 'COON SLAMMED HIS DOOR" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THEN MR. 'COON SLAMMED HIS DOOR</span> +</div> + +<p>Then they all went very quietly up Mr. 'Coon's stair +(all except Mr. 'Possum, who stayed with Mr. Crow), and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +they opened Mr. 'Coon's door and took one look inside, and +then Mr. 'Coon he slammed <i>his</i> door shut, and locked it, +and they all let go of everything and came sliding down +in a heap, for they had seen the great fiery eyes and black +face of Old Hungry-Wolf glaring in at Mr. 'Coon's window.</p> + +<p>So they all huddled around the fire and lit their pipes—for +they still had some tobacco—and smoked, but didn't say +anything, until by-and-by Mr. Crow told them that there +wasn't another bite to eat in the house and very little wood, +and that that was the reason why Old Hungry-Wolf had +come. And they talked about it in whispers—whether they +ought to exercise any more, because though exercise would +help them to keep warm and save wood, it would make them +hungrier. And some of them said they thought they would +try to go to sleep like Mr. Bear, who slept all winter and never +knew that he was hungry until spring. So they kept talking, +and now and then they would stop and listen, and they all +said they could hear the bark of Old Hungry-Wolf—all +except Mr. 'Possum, which was strange, because Mr. 'Possum +is fond of good things and would be apt to be the very +first to hear Old Hungry's bark.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 352px;"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a> +<img src="images/gs49.png" width="352" height="415" alt="MR. 'POSSUM SAID NOT TO MOVE, THAT HE WOULD GO AFTER A PIECE OF WOOD" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM SAID NOT TO MOVE, THAT HE WOULD GO AFTER A PIECE OF WOOD</span> +</div> + +<p>And when the fire got very low and it was getting cold, +Mr. 'Possum said for them not to move; that he would go +down after a piece of wood, and he would attend to the fire +as long as the wood lasted, and try to make it last as long +as possible. And every time the fire got very low Mr. +'Possum would bring a piece of wood, and sometimes he +stayed a good while (just for one piece of wood), but they +still didn't think much about it—not then. What they did +think about was how hungry they were, and Mr. 'Crow said +he knew he could eat as much as the old ancestor of his +that was told about in a book which he had once borrowed +from Mr. Man's little boy who had left it out in the yard at +dinner-time.</p> + +<p>Then they all begged Mr. Crow to get the book and +read it to them, and perhaps they could imagine they were +not so hungry. So Mr. Crow brought the book and read +them the poem about</p> + + +<div class='center'>THE RAVENOUS RAVEN</div> + +<div class='poem'> +Oh, there was an old raven as black as could be,<br /> +And a wonderful sort of a raven was he;<br /> +For his house he kept tidy, his yard he kept neat,<br /> +And he cooked the most marvellous dainties to eat.<br /> +He could roast, he could toast, he could bake, he could fry,<br /> +He could stir up a cake in the wink of an eye,<br /> +He could boil, he could broil, he could grill, he could stew—<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>Oh, there wasn't a thing that this bird couldn't do.<br /> +He would smoke in the sun when the mornings were fair,<br /> +And his plans for new puddings and pies would prepare;<br /> +But, alas! like the famous Jim Crow with his shelf,<br /> +He was greedy, and ate all his dainties himself.<br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 301px;"> +<img src="images/gs50.png" width="301" height="391" alt="HE WOULD SMOKE IN THE SUN WHEN THE MORNINGS WERE FAIR" title="" /> +<span class="caption">HE WOULD SMOKE IN THE SUN WHEN THE MORNINGS WERE FAIR</span> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><br /> +It was true he was proud of the things he could cook,<br /> +And would call in his neighbors sometimes for a look,<br /> +Or a taste, it may be, when his pastry was fine;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>But he'd never been known to invite them to dine.<br /> +With a look and a sigh they could stand and behold<br /> +All the puddings so brown and the sauces of gold;<br /> +With a taste and a growl they'd reluctantly go<br /> +Praying vengeance to fall on that greedy old crow.<br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 459px;"> +<img src="images/gs51.png" width="459" height="318" alt="WITH A LOOK AND A SIGH THEY WOULD STAND AND BEHOLD" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WITH A LOOK AND A SIGH THEY WOULD STAND AND BEHOLD</span> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +Now, one morning near Christmas when holly grows green,<br /> +And the best of good things in the markets are seen,<br /> +He went out for a smoke in the crisp morning air,<br /> +And to think of some holiday dish to prepare.<br /> +Mr. Rabbit had spices to sell at his store,<br /> +Mr. Reynard had tender young chicks by the score,<br /> +And the old raven thought, as he stood there alone,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>Of the tastiest pastry that ever was known.<br /> +<br /> +Then away to the market he hurried full soon,<br /> +Dropping in for a chat with the 'possum and 'coon<br /> +Just to tell them his plans, which they heard with delight,<br /> +And to ask them to call for a moment that night<br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 446px;"> +<img src="images/gs52.png" width="446" height="396" alt="THE TASTIEST PASTRY THAT EVER WAS KNOWN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE TASTIEST PASTRY THAT EVER WAS KNOWN</span> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +For a look and a taste of his pastry so fine,<br /> +And he hinted he might even ask them to dine.<br /> +Then he hurried away, and the rest of the day<br /> +Messrs. 'Possum and 'Coon were expectant and gay.<br /> +<br /> +Oh, he hurried away and to market he went,<br /> +And his money for spices and poultry he spent,<br /> +While behind in the market were many, he knew,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>Who would talk of the marvellous things he would do;<br /> +So with joy in his heart and with twinkling eye<br /> +He returned to his home his new project to try,<br /> +Then to stir and to bake he began right away,<br /> +And his dish was complete at the end of the day.<br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 307px;"> +<img src="images/gs53.png" width="307" height="400" alt="THEN TO STIR AND TO BAKE HE BEGAN RIGHT AWAY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THEN TO STIR AND TO BAKE HE BEGAN RIGHT AWAY</span> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +Aye, the marvel was done—'twas a rich golden hue,<br /> +And its smell was delicious—the old raven knew<br /> +That he never had made such a pastry before,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>And a look of deep trouble his countenance wore;<br /> +"For," thought he, "I am certain the 'possum and 'coon<br /> +That I talked with to-day will be coming here soon,<br /> +And expect me to ask them to dine, when, you see,<br /> +There is just a good feast in this dainty for me."<br /> +<br /> +Now, behold, he'd scarce uttered his thoughts when he heard<br /> +At the casement a tapping—this greedy old bird—<br /> +And the latch was uplifted, and gayly strode in<br /> +Both the 'coon and the 'possum with faces agrin.<br /> +They were barbered and brushed and arrayed in their best,<br /> +In the holiday fashion their figures were dressed,<br /> +While a look in each face, to the raven at least,<br /> +Said, "We've come here to-night, sir, prepared for a feast."<br /> +<br /> +And the raven he smiled as he said, "Howdy-do?"<br /> +For he'd thought of a plan to get rid of the two;<br /> +And quoth he, "My dear friends, I am sorry to say<br /> +That the wonderful pastry I mentioned to-day<br /> +When it came to be baked was a failure complete,<br /> +Disappointing to taste and disturbing to eat.<br /> +I am sorry, dear friends, for I thought 'twould be fine;<br /> +I am sorry I cannot invite you to dine."<br /> +<br /> +And the 'coon and the 'possum were both sorry, too,<br /> +And suspicious, somewhat, for the raven they knew.<br /> +They declared 'twas too bad all that pudding to waste,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>And they begged him to give them at least just a taste,<br /> +But he firmly refused and at last they departed,<br /> +While the greedy old crow for the dining-room started,<br /> +And the pie so delicious he piled on his plate,<br /> +And he ate, and he ate, and he ate, and he ate!<br /> +<br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 455px;"> +<img src="images/gs54.png" width="455" height="406" alt="THE GREEDY OLD RAVEN, BUT GREEDY NO MORE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE GREEDY OLD RAVEN, BUT GREEDY NO MORE</span> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +Well, next morn when the 'possum and 'coon passed along<br /> +They could see at the raven's that something was wrong,<br /> +For no blue curling smoke from the chimney-top came;<br /> +So they opened his door and they called out his name,<br /> +And they entered inside, and behold! on the floor<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>Was the greedy old raven, but greedy no more:<br /> +For his heart it was still—not a flutter was there—<br /> +And his toes were turned up and the table was bare;<br /> +Now his epitaph tells to the whole country-side<br /> +How he ate, and he ate, and he ate till he died.<br /> +</div> + +<p>When Mr. Crow finished, Mr. Rabbit said it was certainly +an interesting poem, and if he just had a chance now to eat +till he died he'd take it, and Mr. 'Coon said he'd give anything +to know how that pie had tasted, and he didn't see how +any <i>one</i> pie could be big enough to kill anybody that felt +as hungry as <i>he</i> did now. And Mr. 'Possum didn't say +much of anything, but only seemed drowsy and peaceful-like, +which was curious for <i>him</i> as things were.</p> + +<p>Well, all that day, and the next day, and the next, there +wasn't anything to eat, and they sat as close as they could +around the little fire and wished they'd saved some of the +big logs and some of the food, too, that they had used up +so fast when they thought the big snow would go away. And +the bark of Old Hungry-Wolf got louder and louder, and he +began to gnaw, too, and they all heard it, day and night—all +except Mr. 'Possum, who said he didn't know why, but +that for some reason he couldn't hear a sound like that at +all, which was <i>very</i> strange, indeed.</p> + +<p>But there was something else about Mr. 'Possum that +was strange. He didn't get any thinner. All the others +began to show the change right away, but Mr. 'Possum still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +looked the same, and still kept cheerful, and stepped around +as lively as ever, and that was <i>very strange</i>.</p> + +<p>By-and-by, when Mr. 'Possum had gone down-stairs for +some barrel staves to burn, for the wood was all gone, Mr. +Rabbit spoke of it, and said he couldn't understand it; +and then Mr. 'Coon, who had been thinking about it too, +said he wondered why it sometimes took Mr. 'Possum so +long to get a little bit of wood. Then they all remembered +how Mr. 'Possum had stayed so long down-stairs whenever +he went, even before Old Hungry-Wolf came to the Hollow +Tree, and they couldn't understand it <i>at all</i>.</p> + +<p>And just then Mr. 'Possum came up with two little barrel +staves which he had been a long time getting, and they all +turned and looked at him very closely, which was a thing +they had never done until that time. And before Mr. 'Possum +noticed it, they saw him chew—a kind of last, finishing +chew—and then give a little swallow—a sort of last, finishing +swallow—and just then he noticed them watching him, +and he stopped right in his tracks and dropped the two little +barrel staves and looked very scared and guilty, which was +strange, when he had always been so willing about the wood.</p> + +<p>Then they all got up out of their chairs and looked straight +at Mr. 'Possum, and said:</p> + +<p>"What was that you were chewing just now?"</p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 363px;"> +<img src="images/gs55.png" width="363" height="409" alt="LOOKED STRAIGHT AT MR. 'POSSUM AND SAID, "WHAT WAS THAT YOU WERE CHEWING JUST NOW?"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LOOKED STRAIGHT AT MR. 'POSSUM AND SAID, "WHAT WAS THAT YOU WERE CHEWING JUST NOW?"</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then they all said:</p> + +<p>"What was that you were swallowing just now?"</p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.</p> + +<p>Then they all said:</p> + +<p>"Why do you always stay so long when you go for wood?"</p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.</p> + +<p>Then they all said:</p> + +<p>"Why is it that you don't get thin, like the rest of us?"</p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.</p> + +<p>Then they all said:</p> + +<p>"Why is it you never hear the bark of Old Hungry-Wolf?"</p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum said, very weakly:</p> + +<p>"I did think I heard it a little while ago."</p> + +<p>Then they all said:</p> + +<p>"And was that why you went down after wood?"</p> + +<p>And once more Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.</p> + +<p>Then they all said:</p> + +<p>"What have you got <i>down there</i> to eat? And <i>where</i> do you +keep it?"</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum seemed to think of something, and +picked up the two little barrel staves and brought them over +to the fire and put them on, and looked very friendly, and +sat down and lit his pipe and smoked a minute, and said +that climbing the stairs had overcome him a little, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +he wasn't feeling very well, but if they'd let him breathe +a minute he'd tell them all about it, and how he had been +preparing a nice surprise for them, for just such a time as +this; but when he saw they had found out something, it all +came on him so sudden that, what with climbing the stairs +and all, he couldn't quite gather himself, but that he was +all right now, and the surprise was ready.</p> + +<p>"Of course you know," Mr. 'Possum said, "that I have +travelled a good deal, and have seen a good many kinds of +things happen, and know about what to expect. And when +I saw how fast we were using up the food, and how deep +the snow was, I knew we might expect a famine that even +Mr. Crow's johnny-cake and gravy wouldn't last through; +and Mr. Crow mentioned something of the kind once himself, +though he seemed to forget it right away again, for he +went on giving us just as much as ever. But I didn't forget +about it, and right away I began laying aside in a quiet place +some of the things that would keep pretty well, and that we +would be glad to have when Old Hungry-Wolf should really +come along and we had learned to live on lighter meals and +could make things last."</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Possum was going right on, but Mr. 'Coon interrupted +him, and said that Mr. 'Possum could call it living +on lighter meals if he wanted to but that he hadn't eaten +any meal at all for three days, and that if Mr. 'Possum had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +put away anything for a hungry time he wished he'd get it +out right now, without any more explaining, for it was food +that he wanted and not explanations, and all the others said +so too.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum said he was just coming to that, but +he only wished to say a few words about it because they +had seemed to think that he was doing something that he +shouldn't, when he was really trying to save them from Old +Hungry-Wolf, and he said he had kept his surprise as long +as he could, so it would last longer, and that he had been +pretending not to hear Old Hungry's bark just to keep +their spirits up, and he supposed one of the reasons why he +hadn't got any thinner was because he hadn't been so +worried, and had kept happy in the nice surprise he had all +the time, just saving it for when they would begin to need +it most. As to what he had been chewing and swallowing +when he came up-stairs, Mr. 'Possum said that he had been +taking just the least little taste of some of the things to see +if they were keeping well—some nice cooked chickens, for +instance, from a lot that Mr. Crow had on hand and didn't +remember about, and a young turkey or two, and a few ducks, +and a bushel or so of apples, and a half a barrel of doughnuts, +and—</p> + +<p>But Mr. 'Possum didn't get any further, for all the Deep +Woods People made a wild scramble for the stairs, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +Mr. 'Possum after them, and when they got down in the +store-room he took them behind one of the big roots of the +Hollow Tree, and there was a passageway that none of them +had ever suspected, and Mr. 'Possum lit a candle and led +them through it and out into a sort of cave, and there, sure +enough, were all the things he had told them about and +some mince-pies besides. And there was even some wood, +for Mr. 'Possum had worked hard to lay away a supply of +things for a long snowed-in time.</p> + +<p>Then all the Hollow Tree People sat right down there +and had some of the things, and by-and-by they carried some +more up-stairs, and some wood, too, and built up a fine big +fire, and lit their pipes and smoked, and forgot everything +unpleasant in the world. And they all said how smart and +good Mr. 'Possum was to save all that food for the very +time when they would need it most, when all the rest of them +had been just eating it up as fast as possible and would have +been now without a thing in the world except for Mr. +'Possum.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum asked them if they could hear Old +Hungry-Wolf any more, and they listened but they couldn't +hear a sound, and then they went up into Mr. Crow's room, +and into Mr. 'Coon's room, and into Mr. 'Possum's room, +and they couldn't see a thing of him anywhere, though it +was just the time of day to see him, for it was late in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +evening—the time Old Hungry-Wolf is most likely to look +in the window.</p> + +<p>And that night it turned warm, and the big snow began to +thaw; and it thawed, and it thawed, and all the brooks and +rivers came up, and even the Wide Blue Water rose so that +the Deep Woods Company had to stay a little longer in the +Hollow Tree, even when all the snow was nearly gone. +Mr. Rabbit was pretty anxious to get home, and started +out one afternoon with Mr. Turtle along, because Mr. +Turtle is a good swimmer. But there was too much water +to cross and they came back again just at sunset, and Mr. +Crow let them in,<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> so they had to wait several days longer. +But Mr. 'Possum's food lasted, and by the time it was gone they +could get plenty more; and when they all went away and left +the three Hollow Tree People together again, they were very +happy because they had had such a good time; and the 'Coon +and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow were as good friends +as ever, though the gray feathers on the top of Mr. Crow's +head never did turn quite black again, and some of +the Deep Woods People call him "Silver-Top" to this +day.</p> + +<p>The Little Lady looks anxiously at the Story Teller.</p> + +<p>"Did Old Hungry-Wolf ever get inside of the Hollow +Tree?" she asks.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> +<p>"No, he never did get inside; they only saw him through +the window, and heard him bark."</p> + +<p>"And why couldn't Mr. 'Possum ever hear him sometimes?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, Old Hungry isn't a real wolf, but only a +shadow wolf—the shadow of famine. He only looks in +when people dread famine, and he only barks and gnaws +when they feel it. A famine, you know, is when one is very +hungry and there is nothing to eat. I don't think Mr. +'Possum was very hungry, and he had all those nice things +laid away, so he would not care much about that old shadow +wolf, which is only another name for hunger."</p> + +<p>The Little Lady clings very close to the Story Teller.</p> + +<p>"Will we ever see Old Hungry-Wolf and hear his bark?"</p> + +<p>The Story Teller sits up quite straight, and gathers the +Little Lady tight.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, no!" he says. "He moved out of our +part of the country before you were born, and we'll take good +care that he doesn't come back any more."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad," says the Little Lady. "You can sing now—you +know—the 'Hollow Tree Song.'"</p> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> See picture on cover.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> +<h2>AN EARLY SPRING CALL ON MR. BEAR</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='chapsum'>MR. 'POSSUM'S CURIOUS DREAM +AND WHAT CAME OF IT</div> + + +<div class='cap'>"WHAT did they do then?" asks the Little Lady. +"What did the Deep Woods People all do after +they got through being snowed in?"</div> + +<p>"Well, let's see. It got to be spring then pretty soon—early +spring—of course, and Mr. Jack Rabbit went to writing +poetry and making garden; Mr. Robin went to meet Mrs. +Robin, who had been spending the winter down South; Mr. +Squirrel, who is quite young, went to call on a very nice +young Miss Squirrel over toward the Big West Hills; Mr. +Dog had to help Mr. Man a good deal with the spring work; +Mr. Turtle got out all his fishing-things and looked them +over, and the Hollow Tree People had a general straightening +up after company. They had a big house-cleaning, of +course, with most of their things out on the line, and Mr. +'Possum said that he'd just about as soon be snowed-in for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +good as to have to beat carpets and carry furniture up and +down stairs all the rest of his life."</p> + +<p>But they got through at last, and everything was nice +when they were settled, only there wasn't a great deal to +be had to eat, because it had been such a long, cold winter +that things were pretty scarce and hard to get.</p> + +<p>One morning Mr. 'Possum said he had had a dream the +night before, and he wished it would come true. He said +he had dreamed that they were all invited by Mr. Bear +to help him eat the spring breakfast which he takes after his +long winter nap, and that Mr. Bear had about the best +breakfast he ever sat down to. He said he had eaten it clear +through, from turkey to mince-pie, only he didn't get the +mince-pie because Mr. Bear had asked him if he'd have it +hot or cold, and just as he made up his mind to have some +of both he woke up and didn't get either.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Coon said he wished he could have a dream +like that; that he'd take whatever came along and try to +sleep through it, and Mr. Crow thought a little while and +said that sometimes dreams came true, especially if you +helped them a little. He said he hadn't heard anything +of Mr. Bear this spring, and it was quite likely he had been +taking a longer nap than usual. It might be a good plan, +he thought, to drop over that way and just look in in passing, +because if Mr. Bear should be sitting down to breakfast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +he would be pretty apt to ask them to sit up and have a bite +while they told him the winter news.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum said that he didn't believe anybody +in the world but Mr. Crow would have thought of that, +and that hereafter he was going to tell him every dream he +had. They ought to start right away, he said, because if +they should get there just as Mr. Bear was clearing off the +table it would be a good deal worse than not getting the +mince-pie in his dream.</p> + +<p>So they hurried up and put on their best clothes and +started for Mr. Bear's place, which is over toward the Edge of +the World, only farther down, in a fine big cave which is +fixed up as nice as a house and nicer. But when they got +pretty close to it they didn't go so fast and straight, but just +sauntered along as if they were only out for a little walk +and happened to go in that direction, for they thought Mr. +Bear might be awake and standing in his door.</p> + +<p>They met Mr. Rabbit about that time and invited him +to go along, but Mr. Rabbit said his friendship with Mr. +Bear was a rather distant one, and that he mostly talked +to him from across the river or from a hill that had a good +clear running space on the other slope. He said Mr. Bear's +taste was good, for he was fond of his family, but that the +fondness had been all on Mr. Bear's side.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 398px;"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a> +<img src="images/gs56.png" width="398" height="427" alt="THEY WENT ALONG, SAYING WHAT A NICE MAN THEY THOUGHT MR. BEAR WAS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THEY WENT ALONG, SAYING WHAT A NICE MAN THEY THOUGHT MR. BEAR WAS</span> +</div> + +<p>So the Hollow Tree People went along, saying what a nice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +man they thought Mr. Bear was, and saying it quite loud, +and looking every which way, because Mr. Bear might be +out for a walk too.</p> + +<p>But they didn't see him anywhere, and by-and-by they got +right to the door of his cave and knocked a little, and nobody +came. Then they listened, but couldn't hear anything at +first, until Mr. 'Coon, who has very sharp ears, said that he +was sure he heard Mr. Bear breathing and that he must be +still asleep. Then the others thought they heard it, too, +and pretty soon they were sure they heard it, and Mr. +'Possum said it was too bad to let Mr. Bear oversleep himself +this fine weather, and that they ought to go in and let +him know how late it was.</p> + +<p>So then they pushed open the door and went tiptoeing in +to where Mr. Bear was. They thought, of course, he would +be in bed, but he wasn't. He was sitting up in a big armchair +in his dressing-gown, with his feet up on a low stool, +before a fire that had gone out some time in December, +with a little table by him that had a candle on it which had +burned down about the time the fire went out. His pipe +had gone out too, and they knew that Mr. Bear had been +smoking, and must have been very tired and gone to sleep +right where he was, and hadn't moved all winter long.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 380px;"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a> +<img src="images/gs57.png" width="380" height="399" alt="MR. BEAR MUST HAVE BEEN VERY TIRED AND GONE TO SLEEP RIGHT WHERE HE WAS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. BEAR MUST HAVE BEEN VERY TIRED AND GONE TO SLEEP RIGHT WHERE HE WAS</span> +</div> + +<p>It wasn't very cheerful in there, so Mr. 'Possum said +maybe they'd better stir up a little fire to take the chill off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +before they woke Mr. Bear, and Mr. 'Coon found a fresh +candle and lighted it, and Mr. Crow put the room to rights a +little, and wound up the clock, and set it, and started it going. +Then when the fire got nice and bright they stood around +and looked at Mr. Bear, and each one said it was a good +time now to wake him up, but nobody just wanted to do it, +because Mr. Bear isn't always good-natured, and nobody +could tell what might happen if he should wake up cross +and hungry, and he'd be likely to do that if his nap was +broken too suddenly. Mr. 'Possum said that Mr. Crow +was the one to do it, as he had first thought of this trip, and +Mr. Crow said that it was Mr. 'Possum's place, because +it had been in his dream. Then they both said that as Mr. +'Coon hadn't done anything at all so far, he might do that.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Coon said that he'd do it quick enough, only he'd +been listening to the way Mr. Bear breathed, and he was +pretty sure he wouldn't be ready to wake up for a week yet, +and it would be too bad to wake him now when he might +not have been resting well during the first month or so of +his nap and was making it up now. He said they could +look around a little and see if Mr. Bear's things were keeping +well, and perhaps brush up his pantry so it would be nice +and clean when he did wake.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow said he'd always wanted to see Mr. +Bear's pantry, for he'd heard it was such a good place to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +keep things, and perhaps he could get some ideas for the +Hollow Tree; and Mr. 'Possum said that Mr. Bear had +the name of having a bigger pantry and more things in it +than all the rest of the Deep Woods People put together.</p> + +<p>So they left Mr. Bear all nice and comfortable, sleeping +there by the fire, and lit another candle and went over to +his pantry, which was at the other side of the room, and +opened the door and looked in.</p> + +<p>Well, they couldn't say a word at first, but only just +looked at one another and at all the things they saw in that +pantry. First, on the top shelf there was a row of pies, +clear around. Then on the next shelf there was a row +of cakes—first a fruit-cake, then a jelly-cake, then another +fruit-cake and then another jelly-cake, and the cakes went +all the way around, too, and some of them had frosting +on them, and you could see the raisins in the fruit-cake and +pieces of citron. Then on the next shelf there was a row +of nice cooked partridges, all the way around, close together. +And on the shelf below was a row of meat-pies made of +chicken and turkey and young lamb, and on the shelf below +that there was a row of nice canned berries, and on the +floor, all the way around, there were jars of honey—nice +comb honey that Mr. Bear had gathered in November +from bee-trees.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crow spoke first.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I never," he said, "never in all my life, saw anything +like it!"</p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum both said:</p> + +<p>"He can't do it—a breakfast like that is too much for <i>any</i> +bear!"</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow said:</p> + +<p>"He oughtn't to be <i>allowed</i> to do it. Mr. Bear is too nice +a man to lose."</p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum said:</p> + +<p>"He <i>mustn't</i> be allowed to do it—we'll help him."</p> + +<p>"Where do you suppose he begins?" said Mr. 'Coon.</p> + +<p>"At the top, very likely," said Mr. Crow. "He's got it +arranged in courses."</p> + +<p>"I don't care where he begins," said Mr. 'Possum; "I'm +going to begin somewhere, now, and I think I will begin on a +meat-pie."</p> + +<p>And Mr. Crow said he thought he'd begin on a nice +partridge, and Mr. 'Coon said he believed he'd try a mince-pie +or two first, as a kind of a lining, and then fill in with +the solid things afterward.</p> + +<p>So then Mr. 'Possum took down his meat-pie, and said he +hoped this wasn't a dream, and Mr. Crow took down a nice +brown partridge, and Mr. 'Coon stood up on a chair and +slipped a mince-pie out of a pan on the top shelf, and everything +would have been all right, only he lost his balance a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +little and let the pie fall. It made quite a smack when it +struck the floor, and Mr. 'Possum jumped and let his pie +fall, too, and that made a good deal more of a noise, because +it was large and in a tin pan.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow blew out the light quick, and they all +stood perfectly still and listened, for it seemed to them a +noise like that would wake the dead, much more Mr. Bear, +and they thought he would be right up and in there after +them.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Bear was too sound asleep for that. They heard +him give a little cough and a kind of a grunt mixed with a +sleepy word or two, and when they peeked out through the +door, which was open just a little ways, they saw him moving +about in his chair, trying first one side and then the other, +as if he wanted to settle down and go to sleep again, which +he didn't do, but kept right on grunting and sniffing and +mumbling and trying new positions.</p> + +<p>Then, of course, the Hollow Tree People were scared, for +they knew pretty well he was going to wake up. There +wasn't any way to get out of Mr. Bear's pantry except by +the door, and you had to go right by Mr. Bear's chair to +get out of the cave. So they just stood there, holding their +breath and trembling, and Mr. 'Possum wished now it <i>was</i> +a dream, and that he could wake up right away before the +nightmare began.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>Well, Mr. Bear he turned this way and that way, and +once or twice seemed about to settle down and sleep again; +but just as they thought he really had done it, he sat up +pretty straight and looked all around.</p> + +<p>Then the Hollow Tree People thought their time had +come, and they wanted to make a jump, and run for the +door, only they were afraid to try it. Mr. Bear yawned a +long yawn, and stretched himself, and rubbed his eyes open, +and looked over at the fire and down at the candle on the +table and up at the clock on the mantel. The 'Coon and +'Possum and the Old Black Crow thought, of course, he'd +know somebody had been there by all those things being +set going, and they expected him to roar out something +terrible and start for the pantry first thing.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Bear didn't seem to understand it at all, or to +suppose that anything was wrong, and from what he mumbled +to himself they saw right away that he thought +he'd been asleep only a little while instead of all winter +long.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" they heard him growl, "I must have gone to +sleep, and was dreaming it's time to wake up. I didn't sleep +long, though, by the way the fire and the candle look, besides +it's only a quarter of ten, and I remember winding the clock +at half after eight. Funny I feel so hungry, after eating a +big supper only two hours ago. Must be the reason I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +dreamed it was spring. Humph! guess I'll just eat a piece +of pie and go to bed."</p> + +<p>So Mr. Bear got up and held on to his chair to steady +himself, and yawned some more and rubbed his eyes, for +he was only about half awake yet, and pretty soon he picked +up his candle and started for the pantry.</p> + +<p>Then the Hollow Tree People felt as if they were going +to die. They didn't dare to breathe or make the least bit +of noise, and just huddled back in a corner close to the wall, +and Mr. 'Possum all at once felt as if he must sneeze right +away, and Mr. 'Coon would have given anything to be able +to scratch his back, and Mr. Crow thought if he could only +cough once more and clear his throat he wouldn't care +whether he had anything to eat, ever again.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Bear he came shuffling along toward the pantry +with his candle all tipped to one side, still rubbing his eyes +and trying to wake up, and everything was just as still +as still—all except a little scratchy sound his claws made +dragging along the floor, though that wasn't a nice sound +for the Hollow Tree People to hear. And when he came to +the pantry door Mr. Bear pushed it open quite wide and +was coming straight in, only just then he caught his toe a +little on the door-sill and <i>stumbled</i> in, and that was too much +for Mr. 'Possum, who turned loose a sneeze that shook the +world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon made a dive under Mr. +Bear's legs, and Mr. 'Possum did too, and down came Mr. +Bear and down came his candle, and the candle went out, +but not any quicker than the Hollow Tree People, who +broke for the cave door and slammed it behind them, and +struck out for the bushes as if they thought they'd never live +to get there.</p> + +<p>But when they got into some thick hazel brush they stopped +a minute to breathe, and then they all heard Mr. Bear calling +"Help! Help!" as loud as he could, and when they listened +they heard him mention something about an earthquake +and that the world was coming to an end.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum said that from the sound of Mr. +Bear's voice he seemed to be unhappy about something, +and that it was too bad for them to just pass right by without +asking what was the trouble, especially if Mr. Bear, who had +always been so friendly, should ever hear of it. So then they +straightened their collars and ties and knocked the dust off +a little, and Mr. 'Coon scratched his back against a little +bush and Mr. Crow cleared his throat, and they stepped +out of the hazel patch and went up to Mr. Bear's door and +pushed it open a little and called out:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Bear, do you need any help?"</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 390px;"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a> +<img src="images/gs58.png" width="390" height="381" alt="MR. 'COON SCRATCHED HIS BACK AGAINST A LITTLE BUSH" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'COON SCRATCHED HIS BACK AGAINST A LITTLE BUSH</span> +</div> + +<p>"Oh yes," groaned Mr. Bear, "come quick! I've been +struck by an earthquake and nearly killed, and everything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +I've got must be ruined. Bring a light and look at my +pantry!"</p> + +<p>So then Mr. 'Coon ran with a splinter from Mr. Bear's fire +and lit the candle, and Mr. Bear got up, rubbing himself and +taking on, and began looking at his pantry shelves, which +made him better right away.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said, "how lucky the damage is so small! Only +two pies and a partridge knocked down, and they are not +much hurt. I thought everything was lost, and my nerves +are all upset when I was getting ready for my winter sleep. +How glad I am you happened to be passing. Stay with me, +and we will eat to quiet our nerves."</p> + +<p>Then the Hollow Tree People said that the earthquake +had made them nervous too, and that perhaps a little food +would be good for all of them; so they flew around just as +if they were at home, and brought Mr. Bear's table right +into the pantry, and some chairs, and set out the very best +things and told Mr. Bear to sit right up to the table and help +himself, and then all the others sat up, too, and they ate +everything clear through, from meat-pie to mince-pie, just +as if Mr. 'Possum's dream had really come true.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Bear said he didn't understand how he could +have such a good appetite when he had such a big supper +only two hours ago, and he said that there must have been +two earthquakes, because a noise of some kind had roused<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +him from a little nap he had been taking in his chair, but +that the real earthquake hadn't happened until he got to the +pantry door, where he stumbled a little, which seemed to +touch it off. He said he hoped he'd never live to go through +with a thing like that again.</p> + +<p>Then the Hollow Tree People said they had heard both +of the shocks, and that the last one was a good deal the worst, +and that of course such a thing would sound a good deal +louder in a cave anyway. And by-and-by, when they were +all through eating, they went in by the fire and sat down and +smoked, and Mr. Bear said he didn't feel as sleepy as he +thought he should because he was still upset a good deal +by the shock, but that he guessed he would just crawl into +bed while they were there, as it seemed nice to have company.</p> + +<p>So he did, and by-and-by he dropped off to sleep again, +and the Hollow Tree People borrowed a few things, and went +out softly and shut the door behind them. They stopped +at Mr. Rabbit's house on the way home, and told him they +had enjoyed a nice breakfast with Mr. Bear, and how Mr. +Bear had sent a partridge and a pie and a little pot of honey +to Mr. Rabbit because of his fondness for the family. +Then Mr. Rabbit felt quite pleased, because it was too early +for spring vegetables and hard to get good things for the table.</p> + +<p>"And did Mr. Bear sleep all summer?" asks the Little Lady.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 415px;"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a> +<img src="images/gs59.png" width="415" height="431" alt="MR. RABBIT THANKED HIM FROM ACROSS THE RIVER" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. RABBIT THANKED HIM FROM ACROSS THE RIVER</span> +</div> + +<p>No, he woke up again pretty soon, for he had finished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +his nap, and of course the next time when he looked around +he found his fire out and the candle burned down and the +clock stopped, so he got up and went outside, and saw it was +spring and that he had slept a good deal longer than usual. +But when he went to eat his spring breakfast he couldn't +understand why he wasn't very hungry, and thought it must +be because he'd eaten two such big suppers.</p> + +<p>"But why didn't the Hollow Tree People tell him it was +spring and not let him go to bed again?"</p> + +<p>Well, I s'pose they thought it wouldn't be very polite to +tell Mr. Bear how he'd been fooled, and, besides, he needed a +nice nap again after the earthquake—anyhow, he thought it +was an earthquake, and was a good deal upset.</p> + +<p>And it was a long time before he found out what <i>had +really</i> happened, and he never would have known, if Mr. +Rabbit hadn't seen him fishing one day and thanked him +from across the river for the nice breakfast he had sent him +by the Hollow Tree People.</p> + +<p>That set Mr. Bear to thinking, and he asked Mr. Rabbit +a few questions about things in general and earthquakes +in particular, and the more he found out and thought about +it the more he began to guess just how it was, and by-and-by +when he did find out all about it, he didn't care any more, and +really thought it quite a good joke on himself for falling +asleep in his chair and sleeping there all winter long.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> +<h2>MR. CROW'S GARDEN</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<div class='chapsum'>THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE LEARN +HOW TO RAISE FINE VEGETABLES</div> + + +<div class='cap'>ONE morning, right after breakfast in the Hollow +Tree, Mr. Crow said he'd been thinking of +something ever since he woke up, and if the 'Coon +and the 'Possum thought it was a good plan he believed he'd +do it. He said of course they knew how good Mr. Rabbit's +garden always was, and how he nearly lived out of it during +the summer, Mr. Rabbit being a good deal of a vegetarian; +by which he meant that he liked vegetables better than anything, +while the Hollow Tree People, Mr. Crow said, were +a little different in their tastes, though he didn't know just +what the name for them was. He said he thought they +might be humanitarians, because they liked the things that +Mr. Man and other human beings liked, but that he wasn't +sure whether that was the right name or not.</div> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Possum said for him to never mind about the +word, but to go on and talk about his plan if it had anything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +to do with something to eat, for he was getting pretty +tired of living on little picked-up things such as they had +been having this hard spring, and Mr. 'Coon said so too. +So then Mr. Crow said:</p> + +<p>"Well, I've been planning to have a garden this spring +like Mr. Rabbit's."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said Mr. 'Possum, "I thought you were going +to start a chicken farm."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Crow said "No," that the Big Deep Woods +didn't seem a healthy place for chickens, and that they +could pick up a chicken here and there by-and-by, and then +if they had nice green pease to go with it, or some green corn, +or even a tender salad, it would help out, especially when they +had company like Mr. Robin, or Mr. Squirrel, or Mr. Rabbit, +who cared for such things.</p> + +<p>So then the 'Coon and the 'Possum both said that to have +green pease and corn was a very good idea, especially when +such things were mixed with young chickens with plenty +of dressing and gravy, and that as this was a pleasant morning +they might walk over and call on Jack Rabbit so that +the Old Black Crow could find out about planting things. +Mr. 'Possum said that his uncle Silas Lovejoy always had +a garden, and he had worked it a good deal when he was +young, but that he had forgotten just how things should be +planted, though he knew the moon had something to do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +with it, and if you didn't get the time right the things that +ought to grow up would grow down and the down things +would all grow up, so that you'd have to dig your pease +and pick your potatoes when the other way was the fashion +and thought to be better in this climate.</p> + +<p>So then the Hollow Tree People put on their things and +went out into the nice April sunshine and walked over to +Jack Rabbit's house, saying how pleasant it was to take a +little walk this way when everything was getting green, and +they passed by where Mr. and Mrs. Robin were building a +new nest, and they looked in on a cozy little hollow tree +where Mr. Squirrel, who had just brought home a young +wife from over by the Big West Hills, had set up housekeeping +with everything new except the old-fashioned feather-bed +and home-made spread which Miss Squirrel had been +given by her folks. They looked through Mr. Squirrel's +house and said how snug it was, and that perhaps it would +be better not to try to furnish it too much at once, as it was +nice just to get things as one was able, instead of doing +everything at the start.</p> + +<p>When they got to Mr. Rabbit's house he was weaving a +rag carpet for his front room, and they all stood behind him +and watched him weave, and by-and-by Mr. 'Coon wanted to +try it, but he didn't know how to run the treadle exactly, +and got some of the strands too loose and some too tight,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +so he gave it up, and they all went out to look at Mr. +Rabbit's garden.</p> + +<p>Well, Mr. Rabbit did have a nice garden. It was all +laid out in rows, and was straight and trim, and there wasn't +a weed anywhere. He had things up, too—pease and +lettuce and radishes—and he had some tomato-plants growing +in a box in the house, because it was too early to put +them out.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rabbit said that a good many people bought their +plants, but that he always liked to raise his own from seed, +because then he knew just what they were and what to expect. +He told them how to plant the different things and +about the moon, and said there was an old adage in his +family that if you remembered it you'd always plant at the +right time. The adage, he said, was:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Pease and beans in the light of the moon—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Both in the pot before it's June."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>And of course you only had to change "light" to "dark" +and use it for turnips and potatoes and such things, though +really it was sometimes later than June, but June was near +enough, and rhymed with "moon" better than July and +August. He said he would give Mr. Crow all the seeds +he wanted, and that when he was ready to put out tomatoes +he would let him have plenty of plants too.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Coon said it would be nice to have a few flower +seeds, and they all looked at Mr. 'Coon because they knew +he had once been in love, and they thought by his wanting +flowers that he might be going to get that way again.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Rabbit said he was fond of flowers, too, especially +the old-fashioned kind, and he picked out some for +Mr. 'Coon; and then he went to weaving again, and the Hollow +Tree People watched him awhile, and he pointed out pieces +of different clothes he had had that he was weaving into his +carpet, and they all thought how nice it was to use up one's +old things that way.</p> + +<p>Then by-and-by the Hollow Tree People went back home, +and they began their garden right away. It was just the +kind of a day to make garden and they all felt like it, so +they spaded and hoed and raked, and didn't find it very easy +because the place had never been used for a garden before, +and there were some roots and stones; and pretty soon Mr. +'Possum said that Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon might go on +with the digging and he would plant the seeds, as he had +been used to such work when he lived with his uncle Silas +as a boy.</p> + +<p>So then he took the seeds, but he couldn't remember +Mr. Rabbit's adages which told whether beets and carrots +and such things as grow below the ground had to be planted +in the dark of the moon or the light of the moon, and it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +the same about beans and pease and the things that grow +above the ground; and when he spoke to Mr. Crow and Mr. +'Coon about it, one said it was one way and the other the +other way, and then Mr. 'Possum said he wasn't planting +the things in the moon anyhow, and he thought Mr. Rabbit +had made the adages to suit the day he was going to plant +and that they would work either way.</p> + +<p>So then Mr. 'Possum planted everything there was, and +showed Mr. 'Coon how to plant his flower seeds; and when +they were all done they stood off and admired their nice +garden, and said it was just about as nice as Jack Rabbit's, +and maybe nicer in some ways, because it had trees around +it and was a pleasant place to work.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 466px;"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a> +<img src="images/gs60.png" width="466" height="340" alt="ONE SAID IT WAS ONE WAY AND THE OTHER THE OTHER WAY" title="" /> +<span class="caption">ONE SAID IT WAS ONE WAY AND THE OTHER THE OTHER WAY</span> +</div> + +<p>Well, after that they got up every morning and went +out to look at their garden, to see if any of the things were +coming up; and pretty soon they found a good <i>many</i> things +coming up, but they were not in hills and rows, and Mr. +'Possum said they were weeds, because he remembered +that Uncle Silas's weeds had always looked like those, and +how he and his little cousins had had to hoe them. So then +they got their hoes and hoed every morning, and by-and-by +they had to hoe some during the day too, to keep up with +the weeds, and the sun was pretty hot, and Mr. 'Possum +did most of his hoeing over by the trees where it +wasn't so sunny, and said that hereafter he thought it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +would be a good plan to plant all their garden in the +shade.</p> + +<p>And every day they kept looking for the seeds to come up, +and by-and-by a few did come up, and then they were quite +proud, and went over and told Jack Rabbit about it, and Mr. +Rabbit came over to give them some advice, and said he +thought their garden looked pretty well for being its first +year and put in late, though it looked to him, he said, as if +some of it had been planted the wrong time of the moon, +and he didn't think so much shade was very good for most +things.</p> + +<p>But Mr. 'Possum said he'd rather have more shade and +less things, and he thought next year he'd let his part of the +garden out on shares.</p> + +<p>Well, it got hotter and hotter, and the weeds grew more +and more, and the Hollow Tree People had to work and hoe +and pull nearly all day in the sun to keep up with them, +and they would have given it up pretty soon, only they +wanted to show Jack Rabbit that they could have a garden +too, and by-and-by, when their things got big enough to eat, +they were so proud that they invited Mr. Rabbit to come +over for dinner, and they sent word to Mr. Turtle, too, because +he likes good things and lives alone, not being a family +man like Mr. Robin and Mr. Squirrel.</p> + +<p>Now of course the Hollow Tree People knew that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +had no such fine things in their garden as Jack Rabbit had +in his, and they said they couldn't expect to, but they'd try +to have other things to make up; and Mr. Crow was cooking +for two whole days getting his chicken-pies and his puddings +and such things ready for that dinner. And then when the +morning came for it he was out long before sun-up to pick +the things in the garden while they were nice and fresh, +with the dew on them.</p> + +<p>But when Mr. Crow looked over his garden he felt pretty +bad, for, after all, the new potatoes were little and tough, and +the pease were small and dry, and the beans were thin and +stringy, and the salad was pretty puny and tasteless, and the +corn was just nubbins, because it didn't grow in a very good +place and maybe hadn't been planted or tended very well. +So Mr. Crow walked up and down the rows and thought a +good deal, and finally decided that he'd just take a walk over +toward Jack Rabbit's garden to see if Mr. Rabbit's things +were really so much better after all.</p> + +<p>It was just about sunrise, and Mr. Crow knew Jack +Rabbit didn't get up so soon, and he made up his mind he +wouldn't wake him when he got there, but would just take a +look over his nice garden and come away again. So when +he got to Mr. Rabbit's back fence he climbed through a +crack, and sat down in the weeds to rest a little and to look +around, and he saw that Mr. Rabbit's house was just as still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +and closed up as could be, and no signs of Jack Rabbit anywhere.</p> + +<p>So then Mr. Crow stepped out into the corn patch and +looked along at the rows of fine roasting ears, which made +him feel sad because of those little nubbins in his own garden, +and then he saw the fine fat pease and beans and salads +in Jack Rabbit's garden, and it seemed to him that Mr. Rabbit +could never in the world use up all those things himself.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow decided that he would thin out a few of +Jack Rabbit's things, which seemed to be too thick anyway +to do well. It would be too bad to disturb Mr. Rabbit to +tell him about it, and Mr. Crow didn't have time to wait for +him to get up if he was going to get his dinner ready on time.</p> + +<p>So Mr. Crow picked some large ears of corn and some of +Mr. Rabbit's best pease and beans and salads, and filled his +apron with all he could carry, and climbed through the back +fence again, and took out for home without wasting any more +time. And when he got there Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum +were just getting up, and he didn't bother to tell them about +borrowing from Mr. Rabbit's garden, but set out some +breakfast, and as soon as it was over pitched in to get ready +for company. Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum flew around, +too, to make the room look nice, and by-and-by everything +was ready, and the table was set, and the Hollow Tree People +were all dressed up and looking out the window.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 394px;"> +<img src="images/gs61.png" width="394" height="418" alt="MR. CROW DECIDED TO THIN OUT A FEW OF JACK RABBIT'S THINGS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. CROW DECIDED TO THIN OUT A FEW OF JACK RABBIT'S THINGS</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then pretty soon they saw Mr. Turtle coming through the +timber, and just then Jack Rabbit came in sight from the +other direction. Mr. Turtle had brought a basket of mussels, +which always are nice with a big dinner, like oysters, and +Mr. Rabbit said he would have brought some things out of +his garden, only he knew the Hollow Tree People had a +garden, too, this year, and would want to show what they +could do in that line themselves. He said he certainly must +take a look at their garden because he had heard a good deal +about it from Mr. Robin.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow felt a little chilly, for he happened to +think that if Mr. Rabbit went out into their garden and +then saw the fine things which were going to be on the table +he'd wonder where they came from. So he said right away +that dinner was all ready, and they'd better sit down while +things were hot and fresh.</p> + +<p>Then they all sat down, and first had the mussels which +Mr. Turtle had brought, and there were some fine sliced tomatoes +with them, and Mr. Rabbit said he hadn't supposed +that such fine big tomatoes as those could come out of a new +garden that had been planted late, and that he certainly must +see the vines they came off of before he went home, because +they were just as big as his tomatoes, if not bigger, and he +wanted to see just how they could do so well.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Crow felt <i>real</i> chilly, and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +both said they hadn't supposed their tomatoes were so +big and ripe, though they hadn't looked at them since yesterday. +But Mr. Rabbit said that a good many things could +happen over night, and Mr. Crow changed the subject as +quick as he could, and said that things always looked bigger +and better on the table than they did in the garden, but that +he'd picked all the real big, ripe tomatoes and he didn't +think there'd be any more.</p> + +<p>Then after the mussels they had the chicken-pie, and when +Mr. Rabbit saw the vegetables that Mr. Crow served with it +he looked at them and said:</p> + +<p>"My, what fine pease and beans, and what splendid corn! +I am sure your vegetables are as good as anything in my +garden, if not better. I certainly <i>must see</i> just the spot where +they grew. I would never have believed you could have +done it, never, if I hadn't seen them right here on your table +with my own eyes."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Turtle said they were the finest he ever tasted, +and Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon both said they wouldn't +have believed it themselves yesterday, and it was wonderful +how much everything had grown over night. Then the Old +Black Crow choked a little and coughed, and said he didn't +seem to relish his food, and pretty soon he said that of course +their garden <i>had</i> done <i>pretty</i> well, but that it was about +through now, as these were things he had been saving for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +this dinner, and he had gathered all the biggest and best of +them this morning before Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon were up.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Crow said that, Jack Rabbit looked the other +way and made a very queer face, and you might have thought +he was trying to keep from laughing if you had seen him, +but maybe he was only trying to keep from coughing, for +pretty soon he did cough a little and said that the early +morning was the proper time to gather vegetables; that one +could always pick out the best things then, and do it quietly +before folks were up.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow felt a cold, shaky chill that went all the +way up and down, and he was afraid to look up, though of +course he didn't believe Mr. Rabbit knew anything about +what he had done, only he was afraid that he would look so +guilty that everybody would see it. He said that his head +was a little dizzy with being over the hot stove so much, and +he hoped they wouldn't think of going out until the cool of +the evening, as the sun would be too much for him, and +of course he wanted to be with them.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 268px;"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a> +<img src="images/gs62.png" width="268" height="425" alt="MR. CROW WAS ALMOST AFRAID TO BRING ON THE SALAD" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. CROW WAS ALMOST AFRAID TO BRING ON THE SALAD</span> +</div> + +<p>Poor Mr. Crow was almost afraid to bring on the salad, +but he was just as afraid not to. Only he did wish he had +picked out Mr. Rabbit's smallest bunches instead of his +biggest ones, for he knew there were no such other salads +anywhere as those very ones he had borrowed from Mr. +Rabbit's garden. But he put it off as long as he could, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +by-and-by Jack Rabbit said that there was one thing he was +sure the Hollow Tree couldn't beat him on, and that was +salad. He said he had never had such fine heads as he had +this year, and that there were a few heads especially that he +had been saving to show his friends. Then the 'Coon and +'Possum said "No," their salads were not very much, unless +they had grown a great deal over night, like the other things—and +when Mr. Crow got up to bring them he walked wobbly, +and everybody said it was too bad that Mr. Crow <i>would</i> +always go to so much trouble for company.</p> + +<p>Well, when he came in with that bowl of salad and set it +down, Mr. Turtle and Jack Rabbit said, "Did you ever in +your life!" But Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon just sat and +looked at it, for they thought it couldn't be true.</p> + +<p>Then pretty soon Mr. Rabbit said that he would take back +everything he had told them about his salad, and that he was +coming over to take some lessons from the Hollow Tree +People, and especially from Mr. Crow, on how to raise +vegetables. He said that there were a good many ways to +raise vegetables—some raised them in a garden; some raised +them in a hothouse; some raised them in the market; but +that Mr. Crow's way was the best way there was, and he was +coming over to learn it. He said they must finish their +dinner before dark, for he certainly must <i>see</i> just where <i>all</i> +Mr. Crow's wonderful things came from.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow felt the gray spot on his head getting a +good deal grayer, and he dropped his knife and fork, and +swallowed two or three times, and tried to smile, though it +was a sickly smile. He said that Mr. Rabbit was very kind, +but that Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon had done a good deal +of the work, too.</p> + +<p>But Jack Rabbit said "No," that nobody but an industrious +person like Mr. Crow could have raised <i>those</i> +vegetables—a person who got up early, he said, and was +used to taking a little trouble to get the best things.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Crow went after the dessert, and was glad enough +that there were no more vegetables to come, especially of +that kind.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Rabbit seemed to forget about looking at the +garden until they were all through, and then he said that before +they went outside he would read a little poem he had +composed that morning lying in bed and looking at the sunrise +across his own garden. He said he called it:</p> + +<div class='center'> +ME AND MY GARDEN<br /> +</div><div class='poem'> +Oh, it's nice to have a garden<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On which to put my labors.</span><br /> +It's nice to have a garden<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Especially for my neighbors.</span><br /> +<br /> +I like to see it growing<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When skies are blue above me;</span><br /> +I like to see it gathered<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By those who really love me.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I like to think in winter<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of pleasant summer labors;</span><br /> +Oh, it's nice to have a garden<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Especially for my neighbors.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Everybody said that was a nice poem and sounded just +like Mr. Rabbit, who was always so free-hearted—all except +Mr. Crow, who tried to say it was nice, and couldn't. Then +Mr. Rabbit said they'd better go out now to see the Hollow +Tree garden, but Mr. Crow said really he couldn't stand it +yet, and they could see by his looks that he was feeling pretty +sick, and Mr. Turtle said it was too bad to think of taking +Mr. Crow out in the sun when he had worked so hard.</p> + +<p>So then they all sat around and smoked and told stories, +and whenever they stopped Mr. Crow thought of something +else to do and seemed to get better toward night, and got a +great deal better when it got dark, and Mr. Jack Rabbit said +all at once that now it was too late to see the Hollow Tree +garden, and that he was so sorry, for he knew he could have +learned something if he could just have one look at it, for nobody +could see those vegetables and that garden without +learning a great deal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 394px;"> +<img src="images/gs63.png" width="394" height="415" alt="JACK RABBIT CAPERED AND LAUGHED ALL THE WAY HOME" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JACK RABBIT CAPERED AND LAUGHED ALL THE WAY HOME</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he said he must go, and Mr. Turtle said he guessed +<i>he</i> must go too, so they both set out for home, and when +Jack Rabbit got out of sight of the Hollow Tree and into a +little open moonlight place, he just laid down on the ground +and rolled over and laughed and kicked his feet, and sat up +and rocked and looked at the moon and laughed; and he +capered and laughed all the way home at the good joke he +had all to himself on Mr. Crow.</p> + +<p>For Mr. Rabbit had been lying awake in bed that morning +when Mr. Crow was in his garden, and he had seen Mr. +Crow <i>all</i> the time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p><h2>WHEN JACK RABBIT WAS A LITTLE BOY</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p> + +<div class='chapsum'>A STORY OF A VERY LONG TIME AGO</div> + + +<div class='cap'>THE Little Lady skips first on one foot and then on +the other foot, around and around, until pretty soon +she tumbles backward into <i>twelve flower-pots</i>.</div> + +<p>That, of course, makes a great damage, and though the +Little Lady herself isn't hurt to speak of, she is frightened +very much and has to be comforted by everybody, including +the Story Teller, who comes last, and finishes up by telling +about something that happened to Jack Rabbit when <i>he</i> +was little.</p> + +<p>Once upon a time, it begins, when Mr. Jack Rabbit was +quite small, his mother left him all alone one afternoon while +she went across the Wide Grass Lands to visit an old aunt of +hers and take her some of the nice blackberries she had been +putting up that morning. Mrs. Rabbit had been very busy +all the forenoon, and little Jack had been watching her and +making believe he was putting up berries too.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> + +<p>And when Mrs. Rabbit got through she had cleaned her +stove and polished it as nice as could be; then she gave +little Jack Rabbit his dinner, with some of the berries that +were left over, and afterward she washed his face and hands +and found his blocks for him to play with, besides a new +stick of red sealing-wax—the kind she used to seal her cans +with; for they did not have patent screw-top cans in those +days, but always sealed the covers on with red sealing-wax.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Rabbit told little Jack that he could play with +his blocks, and build houses, with the red stick for a +chimney, and to be a good boy until she came home. So +little Jack Rabbit promised, and Mrs. Rabbit kissed him +twice and took her parasol and her reticule and a can of +berries, and started. Little Jack would have gone with +her, only it was too far.</p> + +<p>Well, after she had left, little Jack played with his blocks +and built houses and set the stick of sealing-wax up for a +brick chimney, and by-and-by he played he was canning +fruit, and he wished he could have a little stove and little +cans and a little stick of sealing-wax, so he could really do +it all just as she did.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 385px;"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a> +<img src="images/gs64.png" width="385" height="424" alt="TOOK HER PARASOL AND HER RETICULE AND A CAN OF BERRIES, AND STARTED" title="" /> +<span class="caption">TOOK HER PARASOL AND HER RETICULE AND A CAN OF BERRIES, AND STARTED</span> +</div> + +<p>Then little Jack Rabbit looked at the nice polished stove +and wondered how it would be to use that, and to build a +little fire in it—just a <i>little</i> fire—which would make everything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +seem a good deal more real, he thought, than his make-believe +stove of blocks.</p> + +<p>And pretty soon little Jack opened the stove door and +looked in, and when he stirred the ashes there were still a +few live coals there, and when he put in some shavings +they blazed up, and when he put in some pieces of old +shingles and things they blazed up too, and when he put +in some of Mrs. Rabbit's nice dry wood the stove got +<i>quite hot!</i></p> + +<p>Then little Jack Rabbit became somewhat frightened, for +he had only meant to make a very small fire, and he thought +this might turn into a big fire. Also, he remembered some +things his mother had told him about playing with fire and +about <i>never going near a hot stove</i>. He thought he'd better +open the stove door a little to see if the fire was getting too +big, but he was afraid to touch it with his fingers for fear of +burning them. He had seen his mother use a stick or something +to open the stove door when it was hot, so he picked +up the first thing that came handy, which was the stick of +sealing-wax. But when he touched it to the hot door the +red stick sputtered a little and left a bright red spot on the +stove door.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a> +<img src="images/gs65.png" width="322" height="430" alt="AND HE MADE SOME STRIPES, TOO—MOSTLY ON TOP OF THE STOVE" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AND HE MADE SOME STRIPES, TOO—MOSTLY ON TOP OF THE STOVE</span> +</div> + +<p>Then little Jack forgot all about putting up blackberries, +admiring that beautiful red spot on the shiny black stove, +and thinking how nice it would be to make some more like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +it, which he thought would improve the looks of the stove +a great deal.</p> + +<p>So then he touched it again in another place and made +another spot, and in another place and made another spot, +and in a lot of places and made a lot of spots, and he made +some stripes, too—mostly on top of the stove, which was +nice and smooth to mark on, though he made <i>some</i> on the +pipe. You would hardly have known it was the same stove +when he got all through, and little Jack thought how beautiful +it was and how pleased his mother would be when she got +home and <i>saw</i> it. But then right away he happened to think +that perhaps she might not be so pleased after all, and the +more he thought about it the more sure he was that she +wouldn't like her nice red-striped and spotted stove as well +as a black one; and, besides, she had told him <i>never</i> to play +with fire.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a> +<img src="images/gs66.png" width="356" height="428" alt="LITTLE JACK KNEW PERFECTLY WELL THAT SHE WASN'T AT ALL PLEASED" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LITTLE JACK KNEW PERFECTLY WELL THAT SHE WASN'T AT ALL PLEASED</span> +</div> + +<p>And just at that moment Mrs. Rabbit herself stepped in +the door! And when she looked at her red-spotted and +striped stove and then at little Jack Rabbit, little Jack knew +perfectly well without her saying a single word that she +wasn't <i>at all pleased</i>. So he began to cry very loud, and +started to run, and tripped over his blocks and fell against +a little stand-table that had Mrs. Rabbit's work-basket on +it (for Mrs. Rabbit always knit or sewed while she was cooking +anything), and all the spools and buttons and knitting-work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +went tumbling, with little Jack Rabbit right among +them, holloing, "Oh, I'm killed! I'm killed!"—just sprawling +there on the floor, afraid to get up, and expecting every +minute his mother would do something awful.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Rabbit just stood and looked at him over her +spectacles and then at her red-spotted and striped stove, and +pretty soon she said:</p> + +<p>"Well, this is a lovely mess to come home to!"</p> + +<p>Which of course made little Jack take on a good deal worse +and keep on bawling out that he was killed, until Mrs. Rabbit +told him that he was making a good deal of noise for a <i>dead</i> +man, and that if he'd get up and pick up all the things he'd +upset maybe he'd come to life again.</p> + +<p>Then little Jack Rabbit got up and ran to his mother and +cried against her best dress and got some tears on it, and +Mrs. Rabbit sat down in her rocker and looked at her stove +and rocked him until he felt better. And by-and-by she +changed her dress and went to cleaning her stove while little +Jack picked up all the things—all the spools and buttons +and needles and knitting-work—every single thing.</p> + +<p>And after supper, when he said his prayers and went +to bed, he promised never to disobey his mother again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 417px;"> +<img src="images/gs67.png" width="417" height="439" alt="PROMISED NEVER TO DISOBEY HIS MOTHER AGAIN" title="" /> +<span class="caption">PROMISED NEVER TO DISOBEY HIS MOTHER AGAIN</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span></p> + +<h2>A HOLLOW TREE PICNIC</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='chapsum'>THE LITTLE LADY AND THE STORY +TELLER, AND THEIR FRIENDS</div> + + +<div class='cap'>NOT far from the House of Low Ceilings, which +stands on the borders of the Big Deep Woods, +there is a still smaller house, where, in summertime, +the Story Teller goes to make up things and write +them down.</div> + +<p>And one warm day he is writing away and not noticing +what time it is when he thinks he hears somebody step in +the door. So then he looks around, and he sees a little +straw hat and a little round red face under it, and then he +sees a basket, and right away he knows it is the Little Lady. +And the Little Lady says:</p> + +<p>"I've brought the picnic—did you know it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no!" the Story Teller says, looking surprised. "Is +it time?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I've got huckleberries and cream, and some hot +biscuits."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Good gracious! Let's see!"</p> + +<p>So then the Story Teller looks, and, sure enough, there +they are, and more things, too; and pretty soon the Little +Lady and he go down to a very quiet place under some +hemlock-trees by a big rock where there is a clear brook +and a spring close by, and they sit down, and the Little +Lady spreads the picnic all out—and there is ham too, and +bread-and-butter, and doughnuts—and they are so hungry +that they eat everything, and both dip into one bowl when +they get to huckleberries and cream.</p> + +<p>Then the Little Lady says:</p> + +<p>"Now tell me about the Hollow Tree People; they have +picnics, too."</p> + +<p>"Sure enough, they do. And I think I'll have to tell you +about their very last picnic and what happened."</p> + +<p>Well, once upon a time Mr. 'Possum said that he was +getting tired of sitting down to a table every meal in a close +room with the smell of cooking coming in, and if Mr. Crow +would cook up a few things that would taste good cold he'd +pack the basket (that is, Mr. 'Possum would) and Mr. 'Coon +could carry it, and they'd go out somewhere and eat their +dinner in a nice place under the trees.</p> + +<p>Mr. 'Coon said he knew a pleasant place to go, and +Mr. Crow said he'd cook one of Mr. Man's chickens, which +Mr. 'Possum had brought home the night before, though it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +would take time, he said, because it was pretty old—Mr. +'Possum having picked it out in the dark in a hurry.</p> + +<p>So then they all flew around and put away things, and +Mr. Crow got the chicken on while Mr. 'Coon sliced the +bread and Mr. 'Possum cut the cake, which they had been +saving for Sunday, and he picked out a pie too, and a nice +book to read which Mr. Crow had found lying in Mr. Man's +yard while the folks were at dinner. Then he packed the +basket all neat and nice, and ate a little piece of the cake +when Mr. 'Coon had stepped out to see how the chicken was +coming along, and when the chicken was ready he cut it all +up nicely, and he tasted of that a little, too, while Mr. Crow +was getting on his best picnic things to go.</p> + +<p>And pretty soon they all started out, and it was so bright +and sunny that Mr. 'Possum began to sing a little, and +Mr. 'Coon told him not to make a noise like that or they'd +have company—Mr. Dog or Mr. Fox or somebody—when +there was only just enough chicken for themselves, which +made Mr. 'Possum stop right away. And before long they +came to a very quiet place under some thick hemlock-trees +behind a stone wall and close to a brook of clear water.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 337px;"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a> +<img src="images/gs68.png" width="337" height="445" alt="AND HE TASTED OF THAT A LITTLE, TOO" title="" /> +<span class="caption">AND HE TASTED OF THAT A LITTLE, TOO</span> +</div> + +<p>That was the place Mr. 'Coon had thought of, and they +sat down there and spread out all the things on some moss, +and everything looked so nice that Mr. 'Possum said they +ought to come here every day and eat dinner as long as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +hot weather lasted. Then they were all so hungry that they +began on the chicken right away, and Mr. 'Possum said +that maybe he <i>might</i> have picked out a tenderer one, but +that he didn't think he could have found a bigger one, or +one that would have lasted longer, and that, after all, size +and lasting were what one needed for a picnic.</p> + +<p>So they ate first one thing and then another, and Mr. 'Coon +asked if they remembered the time Mr. Dog had come to one +of their picnics before they were friends with him, when he'd +really been invited to stay away; and they all laughed when +they thought how Mr. Rabbit had excused himself, and the +others, too, one after another, until Mr. Dog had the picnic +mostly to himself. And by-and-by the Hollow Tree People +lit their pipes and smoked, and Mr. 'Possum leaned his +back against a tree and read himself to sleep, and dreamed, +and had a kind of a nightmare about that other picnic, and +talked in his sleep about it, which made Mr. 'Coon think of +something to do.</p> + +<p>So then Mr. 'Coon got some long grass and made a strong +band of it and very carefully tied Mr. 'Possum to the tree, +and just as Mr. 'Possum began to have his dream again and +was saying "Oh! Oh! here comes Mr. Dog!" Mr. 'Coon +gave three loud barks right in Mr. 'Possum's ear, and Mr. +Crow said "Wake up! Wake up, Mr. 'Possum! Here he +comes!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 324px;"> +<img src="images/gs69.png" width="324" height="403" alt="MR. 'POSSUM LEANED HIS BACK AGAINST A TREE AND READ HIMSELF TO SLEEP" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MR. 'POSSUM LEANED HIS BACK AGAINST A TREE AND READ HIMSELF TO SLEEP</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span></p> + +<p>And Mr. 'Possum did wake up, and jumped and jerked at +that band, and holloed out as loud as he could:</p> + +<p>"Oh, please let me go, Mr. Dog! Oh, please let me go, +Mr. Dog!" for he thought it was Mr. Dog that had him, and +he forgot all about them being friends.</p> + +<p>But just then he happened to see Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon +rolling on the ground and laughing, and he looked down to +see what had him and found he was tied to a tree, and he +knew that they had played a joke on him. That made him +pretty mad at first, and he said if he ever got loose he'd pay +them back for their smartness.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Coon told him he most likely never would get +loose if he didn't promise not to do anything, so Mr. 'Possum +promised, and Mr. 'Coon untied him. Mr. 'Possum said he +guessed the chicken must have been pretty hard to digest, +and he knew it was pretty salt, for he was dying for a good +cold drink.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. 'Coon said he knew where there was a spring +over beyond the wall that had colder water than the brook, +and he'd show them the way to it. So they climbed over the +wall and slipped through the bushes to the spring, and all +took a nice cold drink, and just as they raised their heads +from drinking they heard somebody say something. And +they all kept perfectly still and listened, and they heard it +again, just beyond some bushes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 428px;"> +<img src="images/gs70.png" width="428" height="423" alt="SO MR. 'POSSUM PROMISED, AND MR. 'COON UNTIED HIM" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SO MR. 'POSSUM PROMISED, AND MR. 'COON UNTIED HIM</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> + +<p>So then they crept softly in among the green leaves and +branches and looked through, and what do you think they +saw?</p> + +<p>The Story Teller turns to the Little Lady, who seems a +good deal excited.</p> + +<p>"Why, why, what did they see?" she says. "Tell me, +quick!"</p> + +<p>"Why," the Story Teller goes on, "they saw the Little +Lady and the Story Teller having a picnic too, with all the +nice things spread out by a rock, under the hemlock-trees."</p> + +<p>"Oh," gasps the Little Lady, "did they really see us? and +are they there now?"</p> + +<p>"They might be," says the Story Teller. "The Hollow +Tree People slip around very softly. Anyway, they were +there then, and it was the first time they had ever seen the +Little Lady and the Story Teller so close. And they watched +them until they were all through with their picnic and had +gathered up their things. Then the 'Coon and the 'Possum +and Old Black Crow slipped away again, and crept over the +wall and gathered up their own things and set out for home +very happy."</p> + +<p>The Little Lady grasps the Story Teller's hand.</p> + +<p>"Let's go and see their picnic place!" she says. "They +may be there now."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 393px;"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a> +<img src="images/gs71.png" width="393" height="420" alt=""AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY SAW?"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY SAW?"</span> +</div> + +<p>So the Little Lady and the Story Teller go softly down to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +the spring and get a drink; then they creep across to the +mossy stone wall and peer over, and there, sure enough, is a +green mossy place in the shade, the very place to spread a +picnic; and the Little Lady jumps and says "Oh!" for she +sees something brown whisk into the bushes. Anyhow, she +knows the Hollow Tree People have been there, for there is +a little piece of paper on the moss which they must have used +to wrap up something, and she thinks they most likely heard +her coming and are just gone.</p> + +<p>So the Story Teller lifts her over the wall, and they sit +down on the green moss of the Hollow Tree picnic place, +and she leans up against him and listens to the singing of the +brook, and the Story Teller sings softly too, until by-and-by +the Little Lady is asleep.</p> + +<p>And it may be, as they sit there and drowse and dream, that +the Hollow Tree People creep up close and watch them.</p> + +<p>Who knows?</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/gs72.png" width="300" height="246" alt="Ending image" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> +<p>Repeated chapter titles were deleted to avoid repetition for the reader.</p> +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hollow Tree Snowed-in Book, by +Albert Bigelow Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOLLOW TREE SNOWED-IN BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 38896-h.htm or 38896-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/9/38896/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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