The Tale of Frisky Squirrel Part 2

I am afraid _The Tale of Frisky Squirrel_ would have ended right here, if somebody had not come to Frisky's help. Fortunately, there was a small, olive-green bird who lived with his wife not far from Frisky Squirrel's home. Mr. Kinglet was his name. And though he was a tiny fellow he had a heart like a lion's. I suppose that in all the country around Blue Mountain there was no braver fellow than he. And his wife was brave too. Although they both wore very dull-colored clothes, if you took a good look at Mr. Kinglet you could see that he always wore a bright red crown. He was very modest about his crown, and generally wore it so that only a little of it showed. But whenever he went out to fight, as the forest-people are often obliged to, that beautiful red crown might be seen as plain as could be.

Now, it happened that Mrs. Kinglet heard Mr. and Mrs. Hawk talking to each other, as they tried to capture Frisky Squirrel, and she heard the other forest-people shouting, too. So she called to Mr. Kinglet that somebody seemed to be in trouble; and he came hurrying up at once.

When the little frightened wren screamed, Mr. Kinglet made up his mind that it was time for him to do something. And he pushed his red crown up on the top of his head where it would show better and he flew straight toward Mr. Hawk.

Mr. Kinglet flew up over Mr. Hawk's head, and then he darted down and lighted right in the middle of Mr. Hawk's broad back, and began pecking him as hard as he could with his sharp little bill.

Mr. Hawk stopped trying to catch Frisky. He had all he wanted to do to shake that bold little fellow off his back. And though Mrs. Hawk still swooped down at Frisky Squirrel, brave Mr. Kinglet's brave little wife began to fly at _her_ so fiercely that Mrs. Hawk couldn't keep Frisky from reaching the tree where he lived.

He was very glad to get home, you may be sure. And he dived in through the door and was out of sight in no time. But pretty soon he stuck his head out again to see what was happening. Mr. and Mrs. Hawk had vanished. And all the forest-people were thanking Mr. and Mrs. Kinglet for driving them away. Frisky Squirrel thanked them, too. And when he remembered how he had sometimes teased Mrs. Kinglet by visiting her nest he felt very much ashamed, and he promised himself that he would never trouble her again.

VIII

Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n

One day Frisky Squirrel was looking for something to eat in the woods, when whom should he meet but Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n, a good-for-nothing old fellow who lived over in the swamp.

"Well, young man!" said Uncle Sammy, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to find a few seeds to eat," Frisky explained.

"I know where there's some corn," said Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n. "It's last year's corn, to be sure; but it's good, just the same."

"Where is it?" Frisky asked him.

"Hm--" said Uncle Sammy. "If I told you would you get some of it for me? It would be easy for a spry young chap like you to take all you wanted of it. But I've a lame knee, you know, and I can't climb so well as I used to."

"Of course I'll get some corn for you," Frisky promised. "Where is it?"

"I'll take you to it," said Uncle Sammy--"this very night." He was a suspicious old chap--which means that he was afraid that if he told Frisky then, Frisky would go off alone and take what corn he wanted without giving Uncle Sammy any.

"To-night!" Frisky exclaimed. "Oh, I don't stay out late at night, you know, as you do." Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n was known to keep very late hours.

"Well--right after sundown, then," the old rascal said. "We'll meet over by the brook. Don't tell your mother. It will be a pleasant surprise for her, when you bring home a fine bagful of corn."

"All right! I'll be there," Frisky told him.

And sure enough! Just as the sun sank out of sight that evening, Frisky appeared on the bank of the brook. And he hadn't told his mother what he was going to do, either.

Pretty soon Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n came along. He had an old sack slung over his shoulder and a wide grin on his face.

"Come on, young man!" he said, "and we'll go over to Farmer Green's place."

"Farmer Green's!" Frisky cried. "I don't want to go there." He remembered the fright he had had when he fell into the flour-barrel in Farmer Green's kitchen.

"You promised," Uncle Sammy reminded him. "And unless you want something you won't like nearly so well as corn, you had better march right along with me."

He was so cross that Frisky Squirrel thought he had better mind him.

But Frisky wished he had not come. And he wished he had told his mother what he was going to do, too. But he trotted along with Uncle Sammy--only he was careful not to get too close to the tricky old gentleman, for there was no knowing when Uncle Sammy might suddenly decide that he would rather have a nice, tender, young gray squirrel to eat than all the last year's corn in the world. You see, the little forest-people have to think of many things--especially when they walk out alone with a person like Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n.

IX

A Bag of Corn

When Frisky Squirrel and Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n arrived at Farmer Green's place, the moon was just rising. It wasn't dark, but Uncle Sammy said that they would have no trouble at all, because Farmer Green's family would be in the house, eating their evening meal.

"There's the corn-house," he said, pointing to an old stone building.

"There's a hole in the wall up there under the roof. All you have to do is to climb that tree, run out on that limb, crawl through the hole, and there you are--inside. Then you can bring the corn up to the hole, drop it out onto the ground, and I'll stay outside and pick it up and put it in this sack and watch out for old dog Spot."

"You see," he went on, "I'll be doing most of the work, for I'll be doing three things, while all you'll have to do will be to drop the corn out of the hole in the wall.... But I don't mind doing more than my share."

Frisky Squirrel couldn't quite understand how Uncle Sammy would be doing most of the work. But since the old gentleman said it was so, Frisky supposed it was the truth. There was one thing, however, that puzzled him still more.

"Have you brought a bag for my share of the corn?" he asked.

"Oh, we'll divide this bagful," said Uncle Sammy. "When we get over the hill we'll sit down and divide it."

"All right!" said Frisky. And then he hurried up the tree. In no more than a jiffy he was inside the old stone building; and pretty soon the corn began to patter, patter, down upon the ground where Uncle Sammy waited.

Frisky had been working steadily for some time. And he began to wonder if the bag was not full. He thought he would just peep out of the hole in the wall and see. So he stuck his head out. To his surprise, Uncle Sammy had vanished. And as Frisky looked all around he caught sight of Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n with the bag of corn on his back, hurrying up the road. For an old gentleman with a lame knee he was going at a very fast pace.

Frisky Squirrel wondered why he had run away. But he didn't wonder long, for a dog barked; and the bark came from right underneath the hole in the wall. Then Farmer Green came running up the path which led to the corn-house. He had a gun in his hand, too.

Frisky didn't wait to see anything more. He whisked out of the hole, and climbed the roof, and jumped into another tree on the other side of the corn-house. And soon he too was running like mad along the road--only he was going in exactly the opposite direction to that in which Uncle Sammy had vanished.

He never stopped running until he had reached the woods. And since he could not bring any corn home with him, he thought that there was really no sense in telling his mother anything about his adventure.

The next day, as Frisky was playing in a tree-top, he came across Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n sunning himself.

"Where's my corn?" asked Frisky Squirrel.

"Corn!" Uncle Sammy exclaimed, as if he had forgotten all about such a thing. "Oh! you mean that corn that we got last night. Now, I'm sorry to say that the bag was so heavy I had to drop it, because old dog Spot was after me, you know. And when I went back to get it, later, it wasn't there.... We'll have to try again, some other time," he added.

Frisky Squirrel began to see that the old fellow had tricked him.

Uncle Sammy's sides looked very plump, as if he had had an unusually good meal. And he smiled so pleasantly that Frisky Squirrel became very angry.

"You'll get your own corn next time," he snapped. And as he skipped away he heard Uncle Sammy c.o.o.n laugh heartily--just as though something had amused him.