Evening star., 1940-07-13
Bedtime Stories
By THORNTON W. BURGEs

BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.
Reddy Fox was so sore and lame
that he could hardly hobble. You
see, he had been shot by Farmer
Browns boy, who had been hiding
behind an old tree trunk waiting
for Reddy. Reddy had been dread
fully frightened, and so hurt that
he had the hardest kind OF work
to get far enough ahead OF Bowser
the Hound to mix his trail up so
that Bowser couldn't follow it.
Then Reddy Fox had limped
home, big tears running down his
nose, although he tried hard not
to cry. "Oh! Oh! Obi" moaned
Reddy Fox as he crept in at the
doorway of his home.
whats the matter now?"
snapped old Granny Fox, who had
just walked up from a sound nap.
Tive got hurt" said Reddy Fox,
and began to cry harder.
Granny Fox looked at Reddy
sharply. What. have you been do
ing now--tearing your clothes on a
barbed-wire fence or trying to crawl
through a bull-briar thicket? 1
should think you were big enough
by this time to look out for your
self!' said Granny Fox GROSSLY as
she came over to look at Reddy's
hurts.
"Please don't scold, please don't,
Granny Fox" begged Reddy, who
was beginning to feel sick to his
stomach as well as lame, and to
smart so dreadfully.
Granny Fox took one good look
at Reddy's wounds, and knew right
away what had happened. She
made Reddy stretch himself out at
full length and then she went to work
on him, washing his wounds with the
greatest care and binding them up.
She was very gentle, was old Granny
Fox, as she touched the sore places,
but all the time she was at work
her tongue flew, and that wasn't
gentle at all. Oh. my, no! There
was nothing gentle about that!
You see, old Granny Fox Is wise
and very, very sharp and shrewd.
Just as soon as she saw Reddy's
hurts she knew that they were made
by shot from gun, and that meant
that Reddy Fox had been careless
or he never, never, would have been
where he was in danger of being
shot.
Il hope this will teach you a les
son!" said Granny Fox. What are
your eyes and your ears and your
nose for? To keep you out Of just
such trouble as this.
"A little fox must use his eyes
Or some day get a sad surprise.
A little fox must use his ears
And know what makes each sound
he hears.
A little fox must use his nose
And try the wind where'er he goes.
A little fox must use all three
To live to grow as old as me.
Nov tell me all about it, Reddy
Fox. This is summer and men don't
hunt foxes now. I don't see how IL
happens that Farmer Browns boy
was waiting for you with a gun"
So Reddy Fox told Granny Fox
all about how he had run too near
the old tree trunk behind which
Farmer Browns boy had been
hiding. But Reddy didn't tell how
he had been trying to show of, nor
how in broad daylight he had stolen
the pet chicken of Farmer Browns
boy. You may be very sure he was
very careful not to mention that.
And so old Granny Fox puckered
up her brows and thought and
thought, trying to find some good
reason why Farmer Browns boy
should have been hunting in the
summer time.
"Caw, cav, caw!" shouted Blacky
the Crow.
The face of Granny Fox cleared.
"Blacky the Crow has been stealing
and Farmer Browns boy was out
after him when Reddy came along"
said Granny Fox, talking out loud
to herself.
Reddy Fox grew very red in the
face but he said never a word.