Little Jack Rabbit and Danny Fox

<h2><SPAN name="FOX_HUNTING" id="FOX_HUNTING"></SPAN>FOX HUNTING</h2> <div class="block-centre"> <div class="block"> <div class="verse"> <div class="line outdent">“<span class="smcap">Creak</span>, creak, creak!</div> <div class="line">I’m old and very rusty,</div> <div class="line">Why don’t you wait till summertime</div> <div class="line">When it is hot and dusty.</div> <div class="line">This is no time to pull a nail</div> <div class="line">When Mr. North Wind blows a gale,”</div> </div></div> </div> <p class="noi">shouted a rusty nail as Danny Fox tugged away at the loose board of the Henhouse.</p> <p>“S-s-s-sh!” whispered Danny Fox, “you’ll wake up Sic’em.”</p> <p>But he need not have worried, for old Sic’em was dreadfully deaf. Besides, he was asleep on the mat in front of the kitchen stove, and how could he hear a rusty nail talk out in the farmyard, I should like to know.</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</SPAN></span> All the same, Danny Fox stopped tugging at the board and looked around just as Mrs. Cow came to the door of the shed. No sooner did she see the old fox than she gave a loud “MOO!”</p> <p>“Keep quiet, can’t you?” whined Danny Fox, showing his long white teeth. But they didn’t frighten her. Oh, my, no! She just lowered her head and mooed again.</p> <div class="block-centre"> <div class="block"> <div class="verse"> <div class="line outdent">“I’ll run my horn right through your tail</div> <div class="line">If you don’t listen to that nail.</div> <div class="line">That board was fastened there to keep</div> <div class="line">Out folks like you who try to creep</div> <div class="line">In through a hole to steal a hen,</div> <div class="line">And maybe come around again.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>“Goodness me!” answered Danny Fox, “won’t you be quiet and let an honest man get his supper?”</p> <p>This made Mrs. Cow laugh so hard that<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</SPAN></span> the little bell on her leather collar woke up the Kind Farmer, who had fallen asleep reading the Almanac. When he opened the door and looked out, the Weathercock pointed at Danny Fox hiding behind the Henhouse. But that wise old fox didn’t wait another minute but turned and fled to his den on the wooded hillside.</p> <p>“Gee whiskers!” cried the Kind Farmer, “there goes old Danny Fox,” and he ran to get his gun.</p> <p>“Come on, Sic’em! Let’s go fox hunting!” And he and the old dog followed Danny Fox’s footprints over the snow.</p> <p>“He lives under that pile of rocks, sure enough,” said the Kind Farmer, following Danny Fox’s trail right up to his front door. “But how shall I get him out?”</p> <p>And that’s just what old Sic’em thought,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</SPAN></span> only he didn’t say so. He barked instead, and the hair on his back stood out straight like bristles on my tooth brush. Then he wagged his tail and barked harder than ever.</p> <p>“I guess I’ve come on a wild goose chase,” said the Kind Farmer. “That old fox won’t come out, and I can’t wait here all day for we’re going to have hot muffins for supper.”</p> <p>Then, with a whistle to Sic’em, he turned back to the farm.</p> <div class="block-centre"> <div class="block"> <div class="verse"> <div class="line">Home again! The kitchen fire</div> <div class="line">Warms the kettle to a song.</div> <div class="line">Home again! And now forgotten</div> <div class="line">Everything that has gone wrong.</div> </div> <div class="verse"> <div class="line">Comfort and a place for dreaming</div> <div class="line">In the big armchair to find&mdash;</div> <div class="line">Where the wistful hearthstone fairies</div> <div class="line">Fill with dreams your tired mind.</div> </div></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />