Old Rough the miser

Once upon a time there lived on a large farm a crow, a water-rat, an owl, a frog, and a weasel. Large as the farm was, with its meadows, its fields, and many acres of woodland,...

Our story opens on a dark day in summer, and in a piece of woodland so far removed from the busy life that stirs cities and large villages, that it was seldom any sound arose to...

When the two chipmunks found themselves inside their house, they listened in breathless silence, their little hearts beating fast with fear; but as all was still, and they found...

Old Caw led his flock of crows through the dense wood, and startled by the constant cawing that broke the stillness of the forest, many a smaller bird started up in terror from...

Very great was Bobtilla’s distress after she had received the notice of eviction from her hard-hearted landlord, and all night she lay awake, trying to form some plan for the fu...

“We shall have some fun with Johnny the basso,” said the younger crow, as he stopped to gobble up several fat crickets that had collected on a piece of decaying fruit that lay b...

At the Widow O’Warty’s words, the melancholy singer gave a sudden start, and when the widow herself stood before him, he gazed in astonishment at her stout figure; but with nati...

Old Rough was not the only listener to the conversation between the bull-frog and the two young crows. The chimney-swallow Swift, who at the time was sailing over the meadow, ap...

“I intend to find her, sir,” answered old Rough, viciously, his nose moving about rapidly in his excitement. “I can assure you it is not so easy to escape me as you imagine.”

The next day, the two young crows started out at an early hour, and continued their flight until they approached a large farm, situated far back from the road. The numerous barn...

The path was indeed much wider, and the old water-rat took courage, for he knew from experience that these passageways always grow wide as they approach the exit. If he could bu...

The hour for the Widow O’Warty’s reception was approaching, and everything seemed favorable for a happy evening. The sun disappeared in the west, and the golden and red-tinted c...

“But I desire to know zee name of zee leetle brown frog, Monsieur,” persisted the excited basso. “I myself know one leetle brown frog, and I wish to know zee name of her of whom...

The news brought by the bat Flipwing was correct,--the youngest of the squirrel family, little Fluff, was indeed missing, and great was the distress of his family in consequence...

The circumstance that so much encouraged the bat Flipwing was the following: One morning, after an unusually tedious night had been spent in trying to discover some information...

After old Rough had left his little prisoner, instead of going in the direction of his home he entered deeper into the woods. There was no moon, and the stars were obscured by d...

It was a warm, sultry night in August; the air was heavy with vapor, and the grass wet with dew. The large meadow through which the stream ran was seen through a haze from the c...

While the battle was tumultuously raging, besides old Rough the miser there was another interested spectator, a very humble and timid one,--the little brown frog Brownella. Sinc...

For a short time after her mishap on the battle-field, the Widow O’Warty was not in her usual good-humor; but anger with one of her sanguine temperament is short lived; so befor...

On the same night that the weasel took possession of his new quarters under the stone wall, a very different scene was being enacted in the neighborhood of the basso’s dwelling....