The Adventures of Reddy Fox
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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Reddy Fox
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THE ADVENTURES OF REDDY FOX
BY THORNTON W. BURGESS
I. Granny Fox Gives Reddy a Scare
Reddy Fox lived with Granny Fox. You see, Reddy was one of a
large family, so large that Mother Fox had hard work to feed so
many hungry little mouths and so she had let Reddy go to live
with old Granny Fox. Granny Fox was the wisest, slyest, smartest
fox in all the country round, and now that Reddy had grown so
big, she thought it about time that he began to learn the things
that every fox should know. So every day she took him hunting
with her and taught him all the things that she had learned about
hunting: about how to steal Farmer Brown's chickens without
awakening Bowser the Hound, and all about the thousand and one
ways of fooling a dog which she had learned.
This morning Granny Fox had taken Reddy across the Green Meadows,
up through the Green Forest, and over to the railroad track.
Reddy had never been there before and he didn't know just what
to make of it. Granny trotted ahead until they came to a long
bridge. Then she stopped.
"Come here, Reddy, and look down," she commanded.
Reddy did as he was told, but a glance down made him giddy, so
giddy that he nearly fell. Granny Fox grinned.
"Come across," said she, and ran lightly across to the other
side.
But Reddy Fox was afraid. Yes, Sir, he was afraid to take one
step on the long bridge. He was afraid that he would fall through
into the water or onto the cruel rocks below. Granny Fox ran back
to where Reddy sat.
"For shame, Reddy Fox!" said she. "What are you afraid of? Just
don't look down and you will be safe enough. Now come along over
with me."
But Reddy Fox hung back and begged to go home and whimpered.
Suddenly Granny Fox sprang to her feet, as if in great fright.
"Bowser the Hound! Come, Reddy, come!" she cried, and started
across the bridge as fast as she could go.
Reddy didn't stop to look or to think. His one idea was to get
away from Bowser the Hound. "Wait, Granny! Wait!" he cried, and
started after her as fast as he could run. He was in the middle
of the bridge before he remembered it at all. When he was at last
safely across, it was to find old Granny Fox sitting down
laughing at him. Then for the first time Reddy looked behind him
to see where Bowser the Hound might be. He was nowhere to be
seen. Could he have fallen off the bridge?
"Where is Bowser the Hound?" cried Reddy.
"Home in Farmer Brown's dooryard," replied Granny Fox dryly.
Reddy stared at her for a minute. Then he began to understand
that Granny Fox had simply scared him into running across the
bridge. Reddy felt very cheap, very cheap indeed. "Now we'll run
back again," said Granny Fox. And this time Reddy did.
II. Granny Shows Reddy a Trick
Every day Granny Fox led Reddy Fox over to the long railroad
bridge and made him run back and forth across it until he had no
fear of it whatever. At first it had made him dizzy, but now he
could run across at the top of his speed and not mind it in the
least. "I don't see what good it does to be able to run across a
bridge; anyone can do that!" exclaimed Reddy one day.
Granny Fox smiled. "Do you remember the first time you tried to
do it?" she asked.
Reddy hung his head. Of course he remembered--remembered that
Granny had had to scare him into crossing that first time.
Suddenly Granny Fox lifted her head. "Hark!" she exclaimed.
Reddy pricked up his sharp, pointed ears. Way off back, in the
direction from which they had come, they heard the baying of a
dog. It wasn't the voice of Bowser the Hound but of a younger
dog. Granny listened for a few minutes. The voice of the dog grew
louder as it drew nearer.
"He certainly is following our track," said Granny Fox. "Now,
Reddy, you run across the bridge and watch from the top of the
little hill over there. Perhaps I can show you a trick that will
teach you why I have made you learn to run across the bridge."
Reddy trotted across the long bridge and up to the top of the
hill, as Granny had told him to. Then he sat down to watch.
Granny trotted out in the middle of a field and sat down. Pretty
soon a young hound broke out of the bushes, his nose in Granny's
track. Then he looked up and saw her, and his voice grew still
more savage and eager. Granny Fox started to run as soon as she
was sure that the hound had seen her, but she did not run very
fast. Reddy did not know what to make of it, for Granny seemed
simply to be playing with the hound and not really trying to get
away from him at all. Pretty soon Reddy heard another sound. It
was a long, low rumble. Then there was a distant whistle. It was
a train.
Granny heard it, too. As she ran, she began to work back toward
the long bridge. The train was in sight now. Suddenly Granny Fox
started across the bridge so fast that she looked like a little
red streak. The dog was close at her heels when she started and
he was so eager to catch her that he didn't see either the bridge
or the train. But he couldn't begin to run as fast as Granny Fox.
Oh, my, no! When she had reached the other side, he wasn't
halfway across, and right behind him, whistling for him to get
out of the way, was the train.
The hound gave one frightened yelp, and then he did the only
thing he could do; he leaped down, down into the swift water
below, and the last Reddy saw of him he was frantically trying to
swim ashore.
"Now you know why I wanted you to learn to cross a bridge; it's a
very nice way of getting rid of dogs," said Granny Fox, as she
climbed up beside Reddy.
III. Bowser the Hound Isn't Fooled
Reddy Fox had been taught so much by Granny Fox that he began to
feel very wise and very important. Reddy is naturally smart and
he had been very quick to learn the tricks that old Granny Fox
had taught him. But Reddy Fox is a boaster. Every day he
swaggered about on the Green Meadows and bragged how smart he
was. Blacky the Crow grew tired of Reddy's boasting.
"If you're so smart, what is the reason you always keep out of
sight of Bowser the Hound?" asked Blacky. "For my part, I don't
believe that you are smart enough to fool him."
A lot of little meadow people heard Blacky say this, and Reddy
knew it. He also knew that if he didn't prove Blacky in the wrong
he would be laughed at forever after. Suddenly he remembered the
trick that Granny Fox had played on the young hound at the
railroad bridge. Why not play the same trick on Bowser and invite
Blacky the Crow to see him do it? He would.
"If you will be over at the railroad bridge when the train comes
this afternoon, I'll show you how easy it is to fool Bowser the
Hound," said Reddy.
Blacky agreed to be there, and Reddy started off to find out
where Bowser was. Blacky told everyone he met how Reddy Fox had
promised to fool Bowser the Hound, and every time he told it he
chuckled as if he thought it the best joke ever.
Blacky the Crow was on hand promptly that afternoon and with him
came his cousin, Sammy Jay. Presently they saw Reddy Fox hurrying
across the fields, and behind him in full cry came Bowser the
Hound. Just as old Granny Fox had done with the young hound,
Reddy allowed Bowser to get very near him and then, as the train
came roaring along, he raced across the long bridge just ahead of
it. He had thought that Bowser would be so intent on catching him
that he would not notice the train until he was on the bridge and
it was too late, as had been the case with the young hound. Then
Bowser would have to jump down into the swift river or be run
over. As soon as Reddy was across the bridge, he jumped off the
track and turned to see what would happen to Bowser the Hound.
The train was halfway across the bridge, but Bowser was nowhere
to be seen. He must have jumped already. Reddy sat down and
grinned in the most self-satisfied way.
The long train roared past, and Reddy closed his eyes to shut out
the dust and smoke. When he opened them again, he looked right
into the wide-open mouth of Bowser the Hound, who was not ten
feet away.
"Did you think you could fool me with that old trick?" roared
Bowser.
Reddy didn't stop to make reply; he just started off at the top
of his speed, a badly frightened little fox.
You see, Bowser the Hound knew all about that trick and he had
just waited until the train had passed and then had run across
the bridge right behind it.
And as Reddy Fox, out of breath and tired, ran to seek the aid of
Granny Fox in getting rid of Bowser the Hound, he heard a sound
that made him grind his teeth.
"Haw, haw, haw! How smart we are!"
It was Blacky the Crow.
IV. Reddy Fox Grows Bold
Reddy Fox was growing bold. Everybody said so, and what everybody
says must be so. Reddy Fox had always been very sly and not bold
at all. The truth is Reddy Fox had so many times fooled Bowser
the Hound and Farmer Brown's boy that he had begun to think
himself very smart indeed. He had really fooled himself. Yes,
Sir, Reddy Fox had fooled himself. He thought himself so smart
that nobody could fool him.
Now it is one of the worst habits in the world to think too much
of one's self. And Reddy Fox had the habit. Oh, my, yes! Reddy
Fox certainly did have the habit! When anyone mentioned Bowser
the Hound, Reddy would turn up his nose and say: "Pooh! It's the
easiest thing in the world to fool him."
You see, he had forgotten all about the time Bowser had fooled
him at the railroad bridge.
Whenever Reddy saw Farmer Brown's boy he would say with the
greatest scorn: "Who's afraid of him? Not I!"
So as Reddy Fox thought more and more of his own smartness, he
grew bolder and bolder. Almost every night he visited Farmer
Brown's henyard. Farmer Brown set traps all around the yard, but
Reddy always found them and kept out of them. It got so that Unc'
Billy Possum and Jimmy Skunk didn't dare go to the henhouse for
eggs any more, for fear that they would get into one of the traps
set for Reddy Fox. Of course they missed those fresh eggs and of
course they blamed Reddy Fox.
"Never mind," said Jimmy Skunk, scowling down on the Green
Meadows where Reddy Fox was taking a sun bath, "Farmer Brown's
boy will get him yet! I hope he does!" Jimmy said this a little
spitefully and just as if he really meant it.
Now when people think that they are very, very smart, they like
to show off. You know it isn't any fun at all to feel smart
unless others can see how smart you are. So Reddy Fox, just to
show off, grew very bold, very bold indeed. He actually went up
to Farmer Brown's henyard in broad daylight, and almost under the
nose of Bowser the Hound he caught the pet chicken of Farmer
Brown's boy. 'Ol Mistah Buzzard, sailing overhead high up in the
blue, blue sky, saw Reddy Fox and shook his bald head:
"Ah see Trouble on the way;
Yes, Ah do! Yes, Ah do!
Hope it ain't a-gwine to stay;
Yes, Ah do! Yes, Ah do!
Trouble am a spry ol' man,
Bound to find yo' if he can;
If he finds yo' bound to stick.
When Ah sees him, Ah runs quick!
Yes, Ah do! Yes, Ah do!"
But Reddy Fox thought himself so smart that it seemed as if he
really were hunting for Ol' Mr. Trouble. And when he caught the
pet chicken of Farmer Brown's boy, Ol' Mr. Trouble was right at
his heels.
V. Reddy Grows Careless
Ol' Mistah Buzzard was right. Trouble was right at the heels of
Reddy Fox, although Reddy wouldn't have believed it if he had
been told. He had stolen that plump pet chicken of Farmer Brown's
boy for no reason under the sun but to show off. He wanted
everyone to know how bold he was. He thought himself so smart
that he could do just exactly what he pleased and no one could
stop him. He liked to strut around through the Green Forest and
over the Green Meadows and brag about what he had done and what
he could do.
Now people who brag and boast and who like to show off are almost
sure to come to grief. And when they do, very few people are
sorry for them. None of the little meadow and forest people liked
Reddy Fox, anyway, and they were getting so tired of his boasting
that they just ached to see him get into trouble. Yes, Sir, they
just ached to see Reddy get into trouble.
Peter Rabbit, happy-go-lucky Peter Rabbit, shook his head gravely
when he heard how Reddy had stolen that pet chicken of Farmer
Brown's boy, and was boasting about it to everyone.
"Reddy Fox is getting so puffed up that pretty soon he won't be
able to see his own feet," said Peter Rabbit.
"Well, what if he doesn't?" demanded Jimmy Skunk.
Peter looked at Jimmy in disgust:
"He comes to grief, however fleet,
Who doesn't watch his flying feet.
"Jimmy Skunk, if you didn't have that little bag of scent that
everybody is afraid of, you would be a lot more careful where you
step," replied Peter. "If Reddy doesn't watch out, someday he'll
step right into a trap.
Jimmy Skunk chuckled. "I wish he would!" said he.
Now when Farmer Brown's boy heard about the boldness of Reddy
Fox, he shut his mouth tight in a way that was unpleasant to see
and reached for his gun. "I can't afford to raise chickens to
feed foxes!" said he. Then he whistled for Bowser the Hound, and
together they started out. It wasn't long before Bowser found
Reddy's tracks.
"Bow, wow, wow, wow!" roared Bowser the Hound.
Reddy Fox, taking a nap on the edge of the Green Forest, heard
Bowser's big, deep voice. He pricked up his ears, then he
grinned. "I feel just like a good run today," said he, and
trotted off along the Crooked Little Path down the hill.
Now this was a beautiful summer day and Reddy knew that in summer
men and boys seldom hunt foxes. "It's only Bowser the Hound,"
thought Reddy, "and when I've had a good run, I'll play a trick
on him so that he will lose my track." So Reddy didn't use his
eyes as he should have done. You see, he thought himself so smart
that he had grown careless. Yes, Sir, Reddy Fox had grown
careless. He kept looking back to see where Bowser the Hound was,
but didn't look around to make sure that no other danger was
near.
Ol' Mistah Buzzard, sailing round and round, way up in the blue,
blue sky, could see everything going on down below. He could see
Reddy Fox running along the edge of the Green Forest and every
few minutes stopping to chuckle and listen to Bowser the Hound
trying to pick out the trail Reddy had made so hard to follow by
his twists and turns. And he saw something else, did Ol' Mistah
Buzzard. It looked to him very much like the barrel of a gun
sticking out from behind an old tree just ahead of Reddy.
"Ah reckon it's just like Ah said: Reddy Fox is gwine to meet
trouble right smart soon," muttered Ol' Mistah Buzzard.
VI. Drummer the Woodpecker Drums in Vain
Once upon a time, before he had grown to think himself so very,
very smart, Reddy Fox would never, never have thought of running
without watching out in every direction. He would have seen that
thing that looked like the barrel of a gun sticking out from
behind the old tree toward which he was running, and he would
have been very suspicious, very suspicious indeed. But now all
Reddy could think of was what a splendid chance he had to show
all the little meadow and forest people what a bold, smart fellow
he was.
So once more Reddy sat down and waited until Bowser the Hound was
almost up to him. Just then Drummer the Woodpecker began to make
a tremendous noise--rat-a-tat-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat-tat,
rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Now everybody who heard that rat-a-tat-tat-tat
knew that it was a danger signal. Drummer the Woodpecker never
drums just that way for pleasure. But Reddy Fox paid no attention
to it. He didn't notice it at all. You see, he was so full of the
idea of his own smartness that he didn't have room for anything
else.
"Stupid thing!" said Drummer the Woodpecker to himself. "I don't
know what I am trying to warn him for, anyway. The Green Meadows
and the Green Forest would be better off without him, a lot
better off! Nobody likes him. He's a dreadful bully and is all
the time trying to catch or scare to death those who are smaller
than he. Still, he is so handsome!" Drummer cocked his head on
one side and looked over at Reddy Fox.
Reddy was laughing to see how hard Bowser the Hound was working
to untangle Reddy's mixed-up trail.
"Yes, Sir, he certainly is handsome," said Drummer once more.
Then he looked down at the foot of the old tree on which he was
sitting, and what he saw caused Drummer to make up his mind. "I
surely would miss seeing that beautiful red coat of his! I surely
would!" he muttered. "If he doesn't hear and heed now, it won't
be my fault!" Then Drummer the Woodpecker began such a furious
rat-a-tat-tat-tat on the trunk of the old tree that it rang
through the Green Forest and out across the Green Meadows almost
to the Purple Hills.
Down at the foot of the tree a freckled face on which there was a
black scowl looked up. It was the face of Farmer Brown's boy.
"What ails that pesky woodpecker?" he muttered. "If he doesn't
keep still, he'll scare that fox!"
He shook a fist at Drummer, but Drummer didn't appear to notice.
He kept right on, rat-a-tat-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat-tat,
rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
VII. Too Late Reddy Fox Hears
Drummer the Woodpecker was pounding out his danger signal so fast
and so hard that his red head flew back and forth almost too fast
to see. Rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat, beat Drummer on the old tree
trunk on the edge of the Green Forest. When he stopped for
breath, he looked down into the scowling face of Farmer Brown's
boy, who was hiding behind the old tree trunk.
Drummer didn't like the looks of that scowl, not a bit. And he
didn't like the looks of the gun which Farmer Brown's boy had. He
knew that Farmer Brown's boy was hiding there to shoot Reddy Fox,
but Drummer was beginning to be afraid that Farmer Brown's boy
might guess what all that drumming meant--that it was a warning
to Reddy Fox. And if Farmer Brown's boy did guess that,
why--why--anyway, on the other side of the tree there was a
better place to drum. So Drummer the Woodpecker crept around to
the other side of the tree and in a minute was drumming harder
than ever. Whenever he stopped for breath, he looked out over the
Green Meadows to see if Reddy Fox had heard his warning.
But if Reddy had heard, he hadn't heeded. Just to show off before
all the little meadow and forest people, Reddy had waited until
Bowser the Hound had almost reached him. Then, with a saucy flirt
of his tail, Reddy Fox started to show how fast he could run, and
that is very fast indeed. It made Bowser the Hound seem very
slow, as, with his nose to the ground, he came racing after
Reddy, making a tremendous noise with his great voice.
Now Reddy Fox had grown as careless as he had grown bold. Instead
of looking sharply ahead, he looked this way and that way to see
who was watching and admiring him. So he took no note of where he
was going and started straight for the old tree trunk on which
Drummer the Woodpecker was pounding out his warning of danger.
Now Reddy Fox has sharp eyes and very quick ears. My, my, indeed
he has! But just now Reddy was as deaf as if he had cotton
stuffed in his ears. He was chuckling to himself to think how he
was going to fool Bowser the Hound and how smart everyone would
think him, when all of a sudden, he heard the
rat-a-tat-tata-tat-tat of Drummer the Woodpecker and knew that
that meant "Danger!"
For just a wee little second it seemed to Reddy Fox that his
heart stopped beating. He couldn't stop running, for he had let
Bowser the Hound get too close for that. Reddy's sharp eyes saw
Drummer the Woodpecker near the top of the old tree trunk and
noticed that Drummer seemed to be looking at something down
below. Reddy Fox gave one quick look at the foot of the old tree
trunk and saw a gun pointed at him and behind the gun the
freckled face of Farmer Brown's boy. Reddy Fox gave a little gasp
of fright and turned so suddenly that he almost fell flat. Then
he began to run as never in his life had he run before. It seemed
as though his flying feet hardly touched the grass. His eyes were
popping out with fright as with every jump he tried to run just a
wee bit faster.
Bang! Bang! Two flashes of fire and two puffs of smoke darted
from behind the old tree trunk. Drummer the Woodpecker gave a
frightened scream and flew deep into the Green Forest. Peter
Rabbit flattened himself under a friendly bramble bush. Johnny
Chuck dived headfirst down his doorway.
Reddy Fox gave a yelp, a shrill little yelp of pain, and suddenly
began to go lame. But Farmer Brown's boy didn't know that. He
thought he had missed and he growled to himself:
"I'll get that fox yet for stealing my pet chicken!"
VIII. Granny Fox Takes Care of Reddy
Reddy Fox was so sore and lame that he could hardly hobble. He
had had the hardest kind of work to get far enough ahead of
Bowser the Hound to mix his trail up so that Bowser couldn't
follow it. Then he had limped home, big tears running down his
nose, although he tried hard not to cry. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" moaned
Reddy Fox, as he crept in at the doorway of his home.
"What's the matter now?" snapped old Granny Fox, who had just
waked up from a sun nap.
"I--I've got hurt," said Reddy Fox, and began to cry harder.
Granny Fox looked at Reddy sharply. "What have you been doing
now--tearing your clothes on a barbed-wire fence or trying to
crawl through a bull-briar thicket? I should think you were big
enough by this time to look out for yourself!" said Granny Fox
crossly, as she came over to look at Reddy's hurts.
"Please don't scold, please don't, Granny Fox," begged Reddy, who
was beginning to feel sick to his stomach as well as lame, and to
smart dreadfully.
Granny Fox took one look at Reddy's wounds, and knew right away
what had happened. She made Reddy stretch himself out at full
length and then she went to work on him, washing his wounds with
the greatest care and binding them up. She was very gentle, was
old Granny Fox, as she touched the sore places, but all the time
she was at work her tongue flew, and that wasn't gentle at all.
Oh, my, no! There was nothing gentle about that!
You see, old Granny Fox is wise and very, very sharp and shrewd.
Just as soon as she saw Reddy's hurts, she knew that they were
made by shot from a gun, and that meant that Reddy Fox had been
careless or he never, never would have been where he was in
danger of being shot.
"I hope this will teach you a lesson!" said Granny Fox. "What are
your eyes and your ears and your nose for? To keep you out of
just such trouble as this.
"A little Fox must use his eyes
Or get someday a sad surprise.
"A little Fox must use his ears
And know what makes each sound he hears.
"A little Fox must use his nose
And try the wind where'er he goes.
"A little Fox must use all three
To live to grow as old as me.
"Now tell me all about it, Reddy Fox. This is summer and men
don't hunt foxes now. I don't see how it happens that Farmer
Brown's boy was waiting for you with a gun.
So Reddy Fox told Granny Fox all about how he had run too near
the old tree trunk behind which Farmer Brown's boy had been
hiding, but Reddy didn't tell how he had been trying to show off,
or how in broad daylight he had stolen the pet chicken of Farmer
Brown's boy. You may be sure he was very careful not to mention
that.
And so old Granny Fox puckered up her brows and thought and
thought, trying to find some good reason why Farmer Brown's boy
should have been hunting in the summertime.
"Caw, caw, caw!" shouted Blacky the Crow.
The face of Granny Fox cleared. "Blacky the Crow has been
stealing, and Farmer Brown's boy was out after him when Reddy
came along," said Granny Fox, talking out loud to herself.
Reddy Fox grew very red in the face, but he never said a word.
IX. Peter Rabbit Hears the News
Johnny Chuck came running up to the edge of the Old Briarpatch
quite out of breath. You see, he is so round and fat and
roly-poly that to run makes him puff and blow. Johnny Chuck's
eyes danced with excitement as he peered into the Old
Briar-patch, trying to see Peter Rabbit.
"Peter! Peter Rabbit! Oh, Peter!" he called. No one answered.
Johnny Chuck looked disappointed. It was the middle of the
morning, and he had thought that Peter would surely be at home
then. He would try once more. "Oh, you Peter Rabbit!" he shouted
in such a high-pitched voice that it was almost a squeal.
"What you want?" asked a sleepy voice from the middle of the Old
Briar-patch.
Johnny Chuck's face lighted up. "Come out here, Peter, where I
can look at you," cried Johnny.
"Go away, Johnny Chuck! I'm sleepy," said Peter Rabbit, and his
voice sounded just a wee bit cross, for Peter had been out all
night, a habit which Peter has.
"I've got some news for you, Peter," called Johnny Chuck eagerly.
"How do you know it's news to me?" asked Peter, and Johnny
noticed that his voice wasn't quite so cross.
"I'm almost sure it is, for I've just heard it myself, and I've
hurried right down here to tell you because I think you'll want
to know it," replied Johnny Chuck.