Evening star., 1941-12-20
Bedtime Stories
Nv THORNTON w. BURGESS.


Sammy Jay hurried through the
Green Forest chuckling as he flew.
Sammy was brimming over with the
news he had to tell, how Old Granny
Fox had been caught mapping by
Farmer Browns boy. Sammy
wouldn't have believed it if any one
had told him. but he had seen 1t
himself, and it tickled him almost to
pieces to think that Granny Fox,
whom everybody thought so sly and
clever and smart, had been caught
actually asleep by the one whom
she was most afraid Of, but at whom
she always had turned up her nose.
Presently, Sammy spied Reddy Fox
trotting along the Lone Little Path.
Reddy was forever boasting Of how
smart Granny Fox was. He had
boasted of it so much that every
body was sick of hearing him. Sam
my chuckled harder than ever when
he saw Reddy. He hid in a thick
hemlock tree and as Reddy passed
Sammy shouted:
IF I'd such a stupid old granny
As some folks who think they are smart
But would live myself quite apart"
Reddy looked up angrily. He
couldn't see Sammy Jay, but he
knew Sammy's voice. OF course it
was foolish, very foolish of him to
be angry, and still more foolish of
him to show his anger. If he had
stopped minute to think he would
have known that Sammy was saying
such mean, provoking thing just
to make him angry, and that the
angrier he grew the better pleased
Sammy Jay would be. But like a
great many people he let his temper
get the better of his common sense
Who says Granny Fox is stupid?"
he snarled.
Il do" replied Sammy promptly.
'I say she is stupid"
shes smarter than anybody else
in the Green Forest or on the
Green Meadows. She's smarter
than anybody else in the whole
world!" boasted Reddy, and he
really meant it. You see, he had
quite forgotten how Old Man Coyote
had several times proved himself
smarter than Granny Fox.
"She isn't smart enough to fool
Farmer Browns boy" said Sammy.
What's that? Has anything hap
pened to Granny Fox?" Reddy for
got his anger in sudden great fear.
Could she have been shot by Farmer
Browns boy?
Nothing much, only Farmer
Browns boy caught her mapping y
replied Sammy, and chuckled so
that Reddy heard him.
Il don't believe It'll" snapped
Reddy. Il don't believe it! Nobody
ever caught Granny mapping and
nobody ever will"
II don't care whether you believe
it or not; it's so, for I saw him.
retorted Sammy.
"You-you-you-
Go ask Tommy Tit the Chicka-
dee if it isn't true. He saw him,
too" interrupted Sammy.
Dee, dee, dee, chickadee! It's so,
and Farmer Browns boy let her
run away without shooting at her,
said new voice. 1t was Tommy Tit
himself.
Reddy didn't know what to think
or what to say. He just couldn' t
believe it, and yet he had never
known Tommy Tit to tell an un-
truth. Then Tommy Tit and Sam
my Jay told him all about what
they had seen and Reddy had to
believe it in spite OF himself. He
started of to hunt up Granny and
ask her about 1t. Then a sudden
thought popped into his head and
he changed his mind.
Il won't say a thing about It until
some time when Granny scolds me
for being careless and then III see
what she has to say. I guess she
won't scold so much after this"
Reddy grinned, which wasn't a bit
nice OF him. Instead of being sorry
that Granny Fox had had such a
fright he was already planning how
he would get even when she scolded
him for his own carelesSness