Evening star., 1943-07-10
Bedtime Stories
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS
Temper. temper. 60 away!
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You and I know that this is abso-
lutely the only thing to do. Peter
Rabbit knows it, and all the other
little people know it. The trouble
with most of us is that we do not
do what We know We ought to do.
We listen ITO, the tempter when we
ought to close our ears as tightly as
we can. 1t was just that way with
Redtail the Hawk. You know Red
tail is very much like Reddy Fox in
his tastes. He lives on much the
same kind of food. And like Reddy
he has a weakness for chicken. Yes,
sir, Redtail is quite as fond of chick
en- as Reddy is. He would have
chicken for dinner every day II he
could.
You know how often Reddy is
tempted TO try to get one of Farmer
Browns chickens. But Reddy's
temptation is nothing compared
with the temptation which Redtail
the Hawk has to fight You see If
,Reddy keeps away from Farmer
Browns henyard he is tempted only
when he allows himself to think
about chickens, or is very. very
hungry and cannot find enough to
fill his stomach And then. too, he
does most of his hunting after dark
when the chickens are shut up.
But with Redtail the Hawk it Is
different, very different indeed. He
hunts in the daytime and as he
swings in great circles high in the
blue, blue sky his wonderful eyes
see all that is going on below. And
so there is hardly day that he
does not see chickens, lots of them,
running about in the dooryardS of
the farms over which he flies. OF
course, you understand what that
means. 1t means that the tempter
Is whispering to him all the time.
Now Redtail, like Reddy Fox, can
see no reason why he should not
catch a chicken when he can, just
as he catches Meadow Mice or one
of the children of Mrs. Grouse If he
has q chance A chicken is just a
kind of bird to him and intended
for him to eat If he is smart enough
to catch one. Because the chickens
are in henyard is no reason at all
to him why he should not catch one.
He does not know that he is stealing
1t always seems very queer to him
that those two-legged creatures
called men make such a fuss when
he is simply obeying law of nature
by trying to get a good meal. But
he has learned that it is dangerous
to 90 near a henyard when any OF
the two-legged creatures are about,
and he knows all about terrible guns.
So, though every day he looks down
and sees the chickens running about,
1t Is only once in a while that he
does not say mo" to the tempter.
and then only when he has watched
long enough to feel sure that he
will run no risk.
For a long time Redtail had re-
sisted the tempter Then very early
one morning as he sailed over
farmyard he saw an old hen with
a dozen little white chickens right
beneath him. They were very tiny
chickens only few days out OF
their shells. Redtail had not break
faasted yet and he was hungry.
Those chickens were very, very
tempting. He might have to hunt
for some time before he could catch
anything else. He swung around in
circles, his keen eyes studying all
beneath him. There was no danger
to be seen anywhere.
"It is safe enough" whispered the
tempter.
Still Redtail hesitated. "You can
get one of those chickens and be
safely away before anybody knows
you are about" whispered the
tempter.
Redtail circled lower and lower
Just then the mother hen looked
up and saw him. Instantly she ruff
fed up all her feathers and called
to her babies to hurry to her. How
they did scamper to get under her
sheitering wings! But there was one
little fellow who had wandered
farther than the rest. He started
as soon as his mother called. but
he was too far away. Redtail closed
his wings and shot down out Of the
sky, his great claws stretched wide.
In a twinkling he had closed the
great claws of one foot around
that little white chicken and his
great wings were sending him up, up
into the blue sky. The mother hen
was making a great fuss, but Red
tail just laughed, for no one ap-
peared with a terrible gun. He
would have a chicken for breakfast.