Part 3

|WHEN Prickly Porky the Porcupine and Old Man Coyote the Prairie Wolf met beside the Laughing Brook, it was a case of Slow Wit meeting Quick Wit. You see, Prickly Porky is very slow in everything he does, that is everything but flipping that queer tail of his about when there is an enemy near enough for it to reach. But in everything else he is oh, so slow! He walks as if he had all the time in the world to get to the place he has started for. He climbs in just the same way. And because he never moves quickly, he never thinks quickly. The fact is, he doesn't see any need of hurrying, not even in thinking.

But Old Man Coyote is just the opposite. Yes, Sir, he is just the opposite. No one moves quicker than he does. He is nimble on his feet, and his wit is just as quick.

His nimble wit and nimble feet

Are very, very hard to beat.

Digger the Badger, who also comes from the Great West, says that to beat Old Man Coyote in anything, you should start the day before he does and not let him know it.

So here was Slow Wit facing Quick Wit, with most of the little meadow people and forest folk looking on. Suddenly Old Man Coyote sprang forward with his ugliest snarl, a snarl that made everybody but Prickly Porky shiver, even those who were perfectly safe up in the trees.

But Prickly Porky didn't shiver.

No, Sir, he just grunted angrily and rattled this thousand little spears.

Now, Old Man Coyote had sprung with that ugly snarl just to try to frighten Prickly Porky, and he had taken care not to spring too close to those rattling spears. When he found that Prickly Porky wasn't frightened the least little bit, he tried another plan. Perhaps he could get Prickly Porky from behind. As quick as a flash and as light as a feather, he leaped right over Prickly Porky and turned to seize him from behind. But he didn't! Oh, my, no! You see, the thousand little spears covered every inch of Prickly Porky's back.

Slowly and clumsily Prickly Porky turned so as to face his enemy.

“Got fooled that time, didn't you, Mr. Smarty?” he grunted, while his eyes snapped with anger.

Old Man Coyote didn't say anything. He just grinned. But all the time he was using his eyes, and now he discovered that while Prickly Porky was fully protected on his back and sides by the thousand little spears carried in his coat, there wasn't a single little spear in his waistcoat.

“I've got to get him where I can seize him from underneath,” thought he, and straightway he began to run in a circle around Prickly Porky while the latter turned slowly round and round, trying to keep his face turned always towards Old Man Coyote. Faster and faster ran Old Man Coyote, and faster and faster turned Prickly Porky. In his slow mind he was trying to understand what it meant, but he couldn't. And for a while the little meadow and forest people looking on were just as much puzzled. It was a most surprising thing.

Then suddenly Unc' Billy Possum understood.

“He's trying to make Prickly Porky dizzy,” he whispered to Bobby Coon.

“Let's warn Prickly Porky; he'll never think of it himself until it's too late,” whispered Bobby Coon.

But before they could do this, the queer performance came to an end. Prickly Porky hadn't discovered what Old Man Coyote was trying to do, but he had become tired of such foolishness, and he suddenly decided to take a rest. So he stopped turning around, and then curled himself up in a ball on the ground, where he looked like a great chestnut burr. Everybody held their breath to see what Old Man Coyote would do next.

XV. PRICKLY PORKY'S TAIL

Who on a prickly porcupine

Makes up his mind that he will dine

Must overcome a thousand quills

Before his stomach Porky fills.

And so it is with you and me;

With everybody whom we see;

With Reddy Fox and Billy Mink,

And all the rest of whom we think

On Meadows Green, in Smiling Pool

Or hidden in the Forest cool:

The thing we've set our hearts upon

Must past a thousand spears be won.

|NO one knows this better than did Old Man Coyote as he ran around and around Prickly Porky. He had never felt one of those little spears which Prickly Porky rattled so fiercely, and he had no mind to feel one. You see, he didn't like the look of them. When finally Prickly Porky lay down and curled up into a great prickly ball, like a huge chestnut burr, Old Man Coyote sat down just a little way off to study how he was going to get at Prickly Porky without getting hurt by some of those sharp, barbed little spears.

For a long time he sat and studied and studied, his tongue hanging out of one side of his mouth. Once he looked up at Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow and winked, but he didn't make a sound. Sammy and Blacky chuckled to themselves and winked back, and for a wonder they didn't make a sound. Somehow that wink made them have more of a friendly feeling for Old Man Coyote. You see, that wink told them that Old Man Coyote was just the same kind of a sly rogue as themselves, and so right away they had a fellow feeling for him.

And none of the little meadow and forest people looking on made a sound. Some of them didn't dare to, and others were so anxious to see what would happen next that they didn't want to. It was so still that the little leaves up in the tree-tops could be heard whispering good night to the Merry Little Breezes, for whom Old Mother West Wind was waiting with her big bag out on the Green Meadows to take them to their home behind the Purple Hills. It was so still that after a while Prickly Porky began to wonder if he were all alone. You see, being curled up that way, he couldn't see and had to trust to his ears. He waited a little longer, and then he uncurled just enough to peep out. There sat Old Man Coyote, and Prickly Porky promptly curled up again.

Now the minute he curled up again something happened. Old Man Coyote looked up at Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow and winked once more. Then very softly, so softly that he didn't so much as rustle a leaf, he tiptoed around to the other side of Prickly Porky and sat down just as before.

“Now,” thought he, “when he peeps out again, he will think I have gone, and then perhaps I can catch him by surprise.”

Bobby Coon saw through his plan right away. “Some one ought to warn Prickly Porky,” he whispered to Unc' Billy Possum.

Unc' Billy shook his head. “No,” he whispered back, “No, Brer Coon! That wouldn't be fair. It's they-all's quarrel and not ours, and though Ah done want to see Brer Porky win just as much as yo' do, Ah reckon it wouldn't be right fo' us to meddle. They-all done got to fight it out themselves.”

For a long time nothing happened. Then Old Man Coyote grew tired of waiting. Very carefully he crept nearer and nearer, with his nose stretched out to sniff at that prickly ball on the ground. Everybody held his breath, for everybody remembered what had happened to Bowser the Hound when he came sniffing around Prickly Porky,--how Prickly Porky's tail had suddenly slapped Bowser full in the face, filling it with sharp little spears. Now they hoped to see the same thing happen to Old Man Coyote. So they held their breath as they kept their eyes on Old Man Coyote and Prickly Porky's tail.

XVI. OLD MAN COYOTE'S SMARTNESS

When you meet an adversary

Bold and brave be, also wary.

If the weapons you may hear of,

Teeth and claws, you have no fear of,

Don't be heedless and rush blindly

Lest you be received unkindly,

And, like Prickly Porky, find him

With a dangerous tail behind him.

|NOW Old Man Coyote knew nothing about that dangerous tail. He had never heard how Bowser the Hound had been sent yelping home with his face stuck full of those sharp little spears. But Old Man Coyote is wary. Oh, my, yes! He certainly is wary. To be wary, you know, is to be very, very careful where you go and what you do until you know for sure that there is no possible danger. And there is no one more wary than Old Man Coyote, not even wise, sly, old Granny Fox.

So now, though Prickly Porky, curled up in a ball in front of him, looked harmless enough except for the thousand little spears sticking out all over him, Old Man Coyote was too wary--too smart and too careful--to take any chances as Bowser the Hound had rashly done. And this is why, as he stole forward with his nose stretched out as if to sniff of Prickly Porky, he suddenly stopped just when the little meadow and forest people looking on were holding their breath and hugging themselves with joy and excitement because they expected to see the same thing happen to Old Man Coyote that had happened to Bowser.

Yes, Sir, Old Man Coyote stopped. He studied Prickly Porky a few minutes. Then slowly he walked around him, just studying and studying.

“It looks safe enough to go closer and sniff at him,” thought Old Man Coyote, “but I learned a long time ago that you cannot always tell just by looks, and that the most harmless looking thing is sometimes the most dangerous. Now it looks to me as if this stupid Porcupine couldn't hurt a flee so long as he keeps curled up this way, but I don't _know_, and I'm not going any nearer until I do know.”

He scratched his head thoughtfully, and then he had an idea. He began to dig in the soft earth.

“What under the sun is he doing that for?” whispered Happy Jack Squirrel to his cousin, Chatterer the Bed Squirrel.

“I don't know,” replied Chatterer, also in a whisper. “We'll probably know in a few minutes.”

He had hardly finished when Old Man Coyote threw a little lump of earth so that it hit Prickly Porky. Now, Of course Prickly Porky couldn't see what was going on, because, you know, he was curled up with his head tucked down in his waistcoat. But he had been listening as hard as ever he could, and he had heard Old Man Coyote's footsteps very close to him. When the little lump of earth struck him, he thought it was Old Man Coyote himself, and like a flash he slapped that queer tail of his around. Of course it didn't hit anybody, because there was nobody within reach. But it told Old Man Coyote all that he wanted to know.

“Ha, ha, ha!” he laughed. “That's the time I fooled you instead of you fooling me! You've got to get up early to fool me with a trick like that, Mr. Smarty!”

Then what do you think he did? Why, he just scooped earth on to Prickly Porky as fast as he could dig. Prickly Porky stood it for a few minutes, but he didn't want to be buried alive. Besides, now that his trick was found out by the smartness of Old Man Coyote, there was no use in keeping still any longer. So, with a grunt of anger, Prickly Porky scrambled to his feet, and rattling his thousand little spears, rushed at Old Man Coyote, who just jumped to one side, laughing fit to kill himself.

XVII. GRANNY FOX IS FOUND OUT

Granny Fox is sly and wise

And seldom taken by surprise,

But wisdom wrongly put to use

Can never find a good excuse.

It ceases then to wisdom be,

But foolishness, as we shall see.

|NOW, with all her smartness and all her cleverness, old Granny Fox had made one great mistake. Yes, Sir, old Granny Fox had made one great mistake. You see, she had become so used to being thought the smartest and cleverest of all the little people who lived on the Green Meadows and around the Smiling Pool and in the Green Forest, that she had come to believe that there couldn't be anybody anywhere as smart and clever as she. That was because she didn't know Old Man Coyote. And now, as she and Reddy Fox watched from their hiding place the meeting between Old Man Coyote and Prickly Porky, she felt a sudden sharp sting in her pride. Old Man Coyote had proved himself too smart for Prickly Porky. She ground her teeth as she heard him laughing fit to kill himself as he kept out of Prickly Porky's reach, and she ground them still more as she heard him say:

“You will boast that you will drive me out of the Green Forest, will you, Mr. Porcupine? The time to brag will be when you have done it.”

Prickly Porky stopped short in the middle of one of his clumsy rushes.

“Boaster and bragger yourself!” he grunted. “You don't seem to be dining on Porcupine the first time we meet. Why don't you? Why don't you make your own boast good?”

Old Man Coyote stopped laughing and pricked up his ears. “What's that?” he demanded. “What's that? Somebody has been filling your ears with something that is very like a lie, Mr. Porcupine.”

“No more than they have yours, Mr. Coyote,” replied Prickly Porky, letting his thousand little spears drop part way back into his coat. “But old Granny Fox told me.”

“Ha! So it was Granny Fox!” interrupted Old Man Coyote. “So it was old Granny Fox! Well, it was that same old mischief-maker who told me that--” He stopped and suddenly looked very hard at the very place where Granny and Reddy were hiding. Then he made, a long jump in that direction. Granny and Reddy didn't wait for him.

They started for home so fast that they looked like nothing but two little red streaks disappearing among the trees.

“Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! Hee, hee, hee! Ha, ho, he, ho!” laughed Old Man Coyote, and all the little meadow and forest people who were looking on laughed with him. Then he turned to Prickly Porky.

“I guess you and I are going to be friends,” said he.

“I guess we are,” replied Prickly Porky, and all his little spears dropped out of sight.

XVIII. THE CUNNING OF OLD GRANNY FOX

You must get up very early,

You must lie awake at night,

You must have your wits well sharpened

And your eyes must be so bright

That there's nothing can escape them,

Nothing that you do not see,

If ahead of Granny Fox you

Ever get, or hope to be.

|Happy Jack squirrel made up that verse one day after he had had oh, such a narrow escape from old Granny Fox. It had made Happy Jack very sober for a while, for Granny had so nearly caught him that she actually had pulled some hair from Happy Jack's tail. All the other little forest and meadow people agreed that Happy Jack was quite right.

Most of them had had just such narrow escapes from old Granny Fox.

You see, it is this way: Old Granny Fox is very, very cunning. To be cunning, you know, is to be sly and smart in doing things in such a way as no one else will think of doing them. Just now, the thing that Granny wanted most of anything in the world was to drive Old Man Coyote away from the Green Meadows and the Green Forest. She couldn't do it openly, because he was bigger and stronger than she, so she had thought and thought and thought, trying to find some plan which might get Old Man Coyote into trouble, so that he would go away and stay away.

Then Reddy Fox told her that he had found the place where Old Man Coyote took a sun-nap every day and a splendid plan came to Granny. At least, it seemed like a splendid plan. The more she thought about it, the better it seemed.

But Granny Fox never acts hastily. She is too wise for that. So she studied and studied this plan that she had thought of to make trouble for Old Man Coyote. Finally she was satisfied.

“I believe it will work. I certainly do believe it will work,” said she, and called Reddy Fox over to her.

“I want you to make sure that Old Man Coyote takes his sun-nap in the same place every day,” said she. “You must see him there yourself. It won't do to take the word of any one else for it. I want you to steal up every day and make sure that he is there. Be sure you don't tell any one, not any one at all, what you are doing, and above all things, don't let _him_ get so much as a glimpse of you.”

Reddy promised that he would take the greatest care, and so for a week every day he crept to a snug hiding-place behind a thick clump of grass where he could peep through and see Old Man Coyote taking his sun-nap. Then he would tiptoe softly away and hurry to report to old Granny Fox.

“Good!” she would say. “Go again, to-morrow and make sure that he is. there.”

“But what do you want to know for?” Reddy asked one day, for he was becoming very, very curious.

“Never mind what I want to know for,” replied Granny severely. “Do as I tell you, and you will find out soon enough.”

You see, Granny Fox was too cunning to let even Reddy know of her plan, for if no one but herself knew it, it couldn't possibly leak out, and that, you know, is the only way to keep a secret.

XIX. BOWSER THE HOUND HAS A VISITOR

|BOWSER the Hound lay in Fanner Brown's dooryard dozing in the sun. Bowser was dreaming. Yes, Sir, Bowser was dreaming. Farmer Brown's boy, passing through the yard on his way to the cornfield, laughed.

“Sic him, Bowser! Sic him! That's the dog! Don't let him fool you this time,” said he.

You see, Bowser was talking in his sleep. He was whining eagerly, and every once in a while breaking out into excited little yelps, and so Farmer Brown's boy knew that he was dreaming that he was hunting, that he was on the trail of Reddy Fox or sly old Granny Fox. His eyes were shut, and he didn't; hear what Fanner Brown's boy said. The latter went off laughing, his hoe on his shoulder, for there was work for him down in the cornfield.

Bowser kept right on getting more and more excited. It was a splendid hunt he was having there in dreamland. Across the Green Meadows, along the edge of the Green Forest, and up through the Old Pasture he ran, all in his dream, you know, and just ahead of him ran old Granny Fox. Not once was he fooled by her tricks, and she tried every one she knew. For once he was too smart for her, and it made him tingle all over with delight, for he was sure that this time he would catch her.

And then something queer happened. Yes, Sir, it was something very queer indeed. He saw Granny Fox stop just a little way ahead of him. She sat down facing him and began to laugh at him. She laughed and laughed fit to kill herself. It made Bowser very angry. Oh, very angry indeed. No one likes to be laughed at, you know, and to be laughed at by Granny Fox of all people was more than Bowser could stand. He opened his mouth to give a great roar as he sprang at her and then--why, Bowser waked up. Yes, Sir, he really had given a great roar, and had waked himself up with his own voice.

For a few minutes Bowser winked and blinked, for the sun was shining in his eyes. Then he winked and blinked some more, but not because of the sun. Oh, my, no! it wasn't because of the sun that he winked and blinked now. It was because--what do you think? Why, it was because Bowser the Hound couldn't tell whether he was awake or asleep. He thought that he was awake. He was sure that he was awake, and yet--well, there sat old Granny Fox laughing at him, just as he had seen her in his dream. Yes, Sir, there she sat, laughing at him. Poor Bowser! He just didn't know what to think. He rubbed both eyes and looked. There she sat, laughing just as before. Bowser closed his eyes tight and kept them closed for a whole minute. Perhaps when he opened them again, she would be gone. Then he would know that she was only a dream fox, after all.

But no, Sir! When he opened his eyes again, there she sat, laughing harder than ever. Just then a hen came around a corner of the house. Granny Fox stopped laughing. Like a flash she caught the hen, slung her over her shoulder and trotted away, all the time keeping one eye on Bowser.

Then Bowser knew that this was no dream fox, but old Granny Fox herself, and that she had had the impudence and boldness to steal a hen right under his very nose! He was awake now, was Bowser, very much awake. With a great roar of anger, he sprang to his feet, and started after Granny, and startled the Merry Little Breezes at play on the Green Meadows.

XX. THE CLEVER PLAN OF GRANNY FOX

|THE bold visit of old Granny Fox to Bowser the Hound in Farmer Brown's dooryard right in broad daylight was all a part of the clever plan Granny had worked out to make trouble for Old Man Coyote. First she had sent Reddy Fox to make sure that Old Man Coyote was taking his usual sun-nap in his usual place. If he were, Reddy was to softly steal away and then hurry to the top of the Crooked Little Path where it comes down the hill. When he got there, he was to bark three times. Granny was to be hidden behind the old stone wall on the edge of Farmer Brown's orchard, and when she heard Reddy bark, she was to do her part, while Reddy was to hide in a secret place on the edge of the Green Forest and watch what would happen.

It all turned out just as Granny had planned. She had been in hiding behind the old stone wall only a few minutes when she heard Reddy bark three times. Granny grinned. Then she stole up to Farmer Brown's dooryard, and there she found Bowser the Hound fast asleep and dreaming. She was just getting ready to bark to waken him, when he waked himself with his own voice. It was just then that a hen happened to walk around the corner of the house. Granny's eyes sparkled. “Good,” said she to herself. “I'll take this hen along with me, and Reddy and I will have a good dinner after I have set Bowser to chasing Old Man Coyote,”--for that was what Granny was planning to do. So she caught the hen, threw it over her shoulder, and started off with Bowser the Hound after her, making a great noise with his big voice.

Now, of course Granny knew that she couldn't carry that hen very far and keep ahead of Bowser, so she ran straight across the Old Orchard towards the secret place on the edge of the Green Forest where she knew that Reddy Fox was hiding. When she was sure that Reddy could see her, she gave the hen a toss over into the grass and then raced away towards the Green Meadows. You see, she knew that Bowser would keep on right after her, and when it was safe for him to do so, Reddy would steal out from his hiding place and get the hen, and that is just what did happen.

Away ran Granny, and after her ran Bowser, and all the little meadow and forest people heard his great voice and were glad that he was not after them. But Granny Fox was not worried. You see, she had fooled him so many times that she knew she could do it again. So she kept just a little way ahead of him and gradually led him towards the place where Old Man Coyote took his sun-nap every day. But she was too smart to run straight towards it, “For,” said she to herself, “if I do that, he will become alarmed and run away before Bowser is near enough to see him.” So she ran in a big circle around the place, feeling sure that Old Man Coyote would lie perfectly still so as not to be seen.

Round and round ran Granny Fox with Bowser after her, and all the time she was making the circles smaller and smaller so as to get nearer and nearer to the napping-place of Old Man Coyote. When she thought that she was near enough, she suddenly started straight for it.

“Now,” thought she, “he'll jump and run, and when Bowser sees him, he will forget all about me. He will follow Old Man Coyote, and perhaps he will drive him away from the Green Meadows forever.”

Nearer and nearer to the napping place Granny drew. She was almost there. Why didn't Old Man Coyote jump and run? At last she was right to it. She could see just where he had been stretched out, but he wasn't there now. There wasn't a sign of him anywhere! What did it mean? Just then she heard a sound over in the Green Forest that made her grind her teeth with rage.

“Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! Hee, hee, nee! Ha, ho, hee, ho!” It was the laughter of Old Man Coyote.

XXI. HOW PETER RABBIT HELPED OLD MAN COYOTE

A kindly word, a kindly deed,

Is like the planting of a seed;

It first sends forth a little root

And by and by bears splendid fruit.