"I can throw a wonderful perfume farther than anybody here," said Jimmy Skunk.
"We know it! We know it!" shouted the Merry Little Breezes as everybody tumbled heels over head away from Jimmy Skunk, even Reddy Fox. "But please don"t!"
And Jimmy Skunk didn"t.
Then they all came back, Reddy Fox carefully brushing his handsome red coat which had become sadly mussed, he had fled in such a hurry.
Now for the first time in his life Johnny Chuck began to feel just a wee, wee bit discontented. What was there he could do better than any one else? He couldn"t jump and he couldn"t climb and he couldn"t swim.
He couldn"t even run fast, because he was so fat and round and rolly-poly. He quite forgot that he was so sunny-hearted and good-natured that everybody loved him, everybody but Reddy Fox.
Just then Reddy Fox began to boast, for Reddy Fox is a great boaster.
"Pooh!" said Reddy Fox, "pooh! Anybody could jump if their legs were made for jumping. And what"s the good of climbing trees anyway? Now I can run faster than anybody here--faster than anybody in the whole world!" said Reddy Fox, puffing himself out.
"Chug-a-rum," said Grandfather Frog. "You can"t beat Spotty the Turtle."
Then everyone shouted and rolled over and over in the gra.s.s, they were so tickled, for every one remembered how Spotty the Turtle had once won a race from Reddy Fox.
For a minute Reddy Fox looked very foolish. Then he lost his temper, which is a very unwise thing to do, for it is hard to find again. He swelled himself out until every hair stood on end and he looked twice as big as he did before. He strutted up and down and glared at each in turn.
"And I"m not afraid of any living thing on the Green Meadows!" boasted Reddy Fox.
"Chug-a-rum," said Grandfather Frog. "Do I see Bowser the Hound?"
Every hair on Reddy Fox suddenly fell back into place. He whirled about nervously and anxiously looked over the Green Meadows. Then everybody shouted again and rolled over and over in the gra.s.s and held on to their sides, for you see Bowser the Hound wasn"t there at all.
But everybody took good care to keep away from Reddy Fox, everybody but Johnny Chuck. He just sat still and chuckled and chuckled till his fat sides shook.
"What are you laughing at?" demanded Reddy Fox.
"I was just thinking," said Johnny Chuck, "that though you can run so fast, you can"t even catch me."
Reddy Fox just glared at him for a minute, he was so mad. Then he sprang straight at Johnny Chuck.
"I"ll show you!" he snarled.
Now Johnny Chuck had been sitting close beside a hole that Grandfather Chuck had dug a long time before and which was empty. In a flash Johnny Chuck disappeared head first in the hole. Now the hole was too small for Reddy Fox to enter, but he was so angry that he straightway began to dig it larger. My, how the sand did fly! It poured out behind Reddy Fox in a stream of shining yellow.
Johnny Chuck ran down the long tunnel underground until he reached the end. Then when he heard Reddy Fox digging and knew that he was really coming, Johnny Chuck began to dig, too, only instead of digging down he dug up towards the sunshine and the blue sky.
My, how his short legs did fly and his stout little claws dug into the soft earth! His little forepaws flew so fast that if you had been there you could hardly have seen them at all. And with his strong hind legs he kicked the sand right back into the face of Reddy Fox.
All the little meadow people gathered around the hole where Johnny Chuck and Reddy Fox had disappeared. They were very anxious, very anxious indeed. Would Reddy Fox catch Johnny Chuck? And what would he do to him? Was all their fun to end in something terrible to sunny-hearted, merry Johnny Chuck, whom everybody loved?
All of a sudden, pop! right out of the solid earth among the daisies and b.u.t.tercups, just like a jack-in-the-box, came Johnny Chuck! He looked very warm and a little tired, but he was still chuckling as he scampered across to another hole of Grandfather Chuck"s.
By and by something else crawled out of the hole Johnny Chuck had made.
Could it be Reddy Fox? Where were his white waistcoat and beautiful red coat? And was that thing dragging behind him his splendid tail?
He crept out of the hole and then just lay down and panted for breath.
He was almost too tired to move. Then he began to spit sand out of his mouth and blow it out of his nose and try to wipe it out of his eyes.
The long hair of his fine coat was filled full of sand and no one would ever have guessed that this was Reddy Fox.
"Haw! haw! haw!" shouted Blacky the Crow.
Then everybody shouted "Haw! haw! haw!" and began to roll in the gra.s.s and hold on to their sides once more; everybody but Reddy Fox. When he could get his breath he didn"t look this way or that way, but just sneaked off to his home under the big hickory.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Then everybody shouted "Haw! haw! haw!"]
And when Old Mother West Wind came with her big bag to take the Merry Little Breezes to their home behind the Purple Hills, Johnny Chuck waddled back up the Lone Little Path chuckling to himself, for that little feeling of discontent was all gone. He had found that after all he could do something better than anybody else on the Green Meadows, for in his heart he knew that none could dig so fast as he.
VII
JOHNNY CHUCK"S SECRET
Johnny Chuck pushed up the last bit of gravel from the hole he had dug between the roots of the old apple tree in a corner of the Green Meadows. He smoothed it down on the big, yellow mound he had made in front of his door. Then he sat up very straight on top of the mound, brushed his coat, shook the sand from his trousers and carefully cleaned his hands.
After he had rested a bit, he turned around and looked at his new home, for that is what it was, although he had not come there to live yet, and no one knew of it, no one but jolly, round, red Mr. Sun, who, peeping between the branches of the old apple tree, had caught Johnny Chuck at work. But _he_ wouldn"t tell, not jolly Mr. Sun! Looking down from the blue sky every day he sees all sorts of queer things and he learns all kinds of secrets, does Mr. Sun, but he never, never tells. No, Sir! Mr. Sun never tells one of them, not even to Old Mother West Wind when at night they go down together behind the Purple Hills.
So jolly, round, red Mr. Sun just smiled and smiled when he discovered Johnny Chuck"s secret, for that is just what the new home under the apple tree was--a secret. Not even the Merry Little Breezes, who find out almost everything, had discovered it.
Johnny Chuck chuckled to himself as he planned a back door, a beautiful back door, hidden behind a tall clump of meadow gra.s.s where no one would think to look for a door. When he had satisfied himself as to just where he would put it, he once more sat up very straight on his nice, new mound and looked this way and looked that way to be sure that no one was near. Then he started for his old home along a secret little path he had made for himself.
Pretty soon he came to the Lone Little Path that went past his own home. He danced and he skipped along the Lone Little Path, and, because he was so happy, he tried to turn a somersault. But Johnny Chuck was so round and fat and rolly-poly that he just tumbled over in a heap.
"Well, well, well! What"s the matter with you?" said a voice close beside him before he could pick himself up. It was Jimmy Skunk, who was out looking for some beetles for his dinner.
Johnny Chuck scrambled to his feet and looked foolish, very foolish indeed.
"There"s nothing the matter with me, Jimmy Skunk," said Johnny.
"There"s nothing the matter with me. It"s just because I"ve got a secret."
"A secret!" cried Jimmy Skunk. "What is it?"
"Yes, a secret, a really, truly secret," said Johnny Chuck, and looked very important.
"Tell me, Johnny Chuck. Come on, tell just _me_, and then we"ll have the secret together," begged Jimmy Skunk.
Now Johnny Chuck was so tickled with his secret that it seemed as if he _must_ share it with some one. He just couldn"t keep it to himself any longer.
"You won"t tell any one?" said Johnny Chuck.
Jimmy Skunk promised that he wouldn"t tell a soul.
"Cross your heart," commanded Johnny Chuck.