There is nothing in the world more true than that. Old Man Coyote has the craftiest brain of all the little people of the Green Forest or the Green Meadows. Sharp as are the wits of old Granny Fox, they are not quite as sharp as the wits of Old Man Coyote. If you want to fool him, you will have to get up very early in the morning, and then it is more than likely that you will be the one fooled, not he. There is very little going on around him that he doesn"t know about. But once in a while something escapes him. The coming of Paddy the Beaver to the Green Forest was one of these things. He didn"t know a thing about Paddy until Paddy had finished his dam and his house, and was cutting his supply of food for the winter.
You see, it was this way: When the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind first heard what was going on in the Green Forest and hurried around over the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest to spread the news, as is their way, they took the greatest pains not to even hint it to Old Man Coyote because they were afraid that he would make trouble and perhaps drive Paddy away. The place that Paddy had chosen to build his dam was so deep in the Green Forest that Old Man Coyote seldom went that way. So it was that he knew nothing about Paddy, and Paddy knew nothing about him for some time.
But after a while Old Man Coyote noticed that the little people of the Green Meadows were not about as much as usual. They seemed to have a secret of some kind. He mentioned the matter to his friend, Digger the Badger.
Digger had been so intent on his own affairs that he hadn"t noticed anything unusual, but when Old Man Coyote mentioned the matter he remembered that Blacky the Crow headed straight for the Green Forest every morning. Several times he had seen Sammy Jay flying in the same direction as if in a great hurry to get somewhere.
Old Man Coyote grinned. "That"s all I need to know, friend Digger,"
said he. "When Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay visit a place more than once, something interesting is going on there. I think I"ll take a stroll up through the Green Forest and have a look around."
With that, off Old Man Coyote started. But he was too sly and crafty to go straight to the Green Forest. He pretended to hunt around over the Green Meadows just as he usually did, all the time working nearer and nearer to the Green Forest. When he reached the edge of it, he slipped in among the trees, and when he felt sure that no one was likely to see him, he began to run this way and that way with his nose to the ground.
"Ha!" he exclaimed presently, "Reddy Fox has been this way lately."
Pretty soon he found another trail. "So," said he, "Peter Rabbit has been over here a good deal of late, and his trail goes in the same direction as that of Reddy Fox. I guess all I have to do now is to follow Peter"s trail, and it will lead me to what I want to find out."
So Old Man Coyote followed Peter"s trail, and he presently came to the pond of Paddy the Beaver. "Ha!" said he, as he looked out and saw Paddy"s new house. "So there is a newcomer to the Green Forest! I have always heard that Beaver is very good eating. My stomach begins to feel empty this very minute." His mouth began to water, and a fierce, hungry look shone in his yellow eyes.
It was just then that Sammy Jay saw him and began to scream at the top of his lungs so that Paddy the Beaver over in his house heard him. Old Man Coyote knew that it was of no use to stay longer with Sammy Jay about, so he took a hasty look at the pond and found where Paddy came ash.o.r.e to cut his food. Then, shaking his fist at Sammy Jay, he started straight back for the Green Meadows. "I"ll just pay a visit here in the night," said he, "and give Mr. Beaver a surprise while he is at work."
But with all his craft, Old Man Coyote didn"t notice that he had left a footprint in the mud.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
XVII
OLD MAN COYOTE IS DISAPPOINTED
Old Man Coyote lay stretched out in his favorite napping place on the Green Meadows. He was thinking of what he had found out up in the Green Forest that morning--that Paddy the Beaver was living there. Old Man Coyote"s thoughts seemed very pleasant to himself, though really they were very dreadful thoughts. You see, he was thinking how easy it was going to be to catch Paddy the Beaver, and what a splendid meal he would make. He licked his chops at the thought.
"He doesn"t know I know he"s here," thought Old Man Coyote. "In fact, I don"t believe he even knows that I am anywhere around. Of course, he won"t be watching for me. He cuts his trees at night, so all I will have to do is to hide right close by where he is at work, and he"ll walk right into my mouth. Sammy Jay knows I was up there this morning, but Sammy sleeps at night, so he will not give the alarm. My, my, how good that Beaver will taste!" He licked his chops once more, then yawned and closed his eyes for a nap.
Old Man Coyote waited until jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had gone to bed behind the Purple Hills, and the Black Shadows had crept out across the Green Meadows. Then, keeping in the blackest of them, and looking very much like a shadow himself, he slipped into the Green Forest. It was dark in there, and he made straight for Paddy"s new pond, trotting along swiftly without making a sound. When he was near the aspen-trees which he knew Paddy was planning to cut, he crept forward very slowly and carefully. Everything was still as still could be.
"Good!" thought Old Man Coyote. "I am here first, and now all I need do is to hide and wait for Paddy to come ash.o.r.e."
So he stretched himself flat behind some brush close beside the little path Paddy had made up from the edge of the water and waited. It was very still, so still that it seemed almost as if he could hear his heart beat. He could see the little stars twinkling in the sky and their own reflections twinkling back at them from the water of Paddy"s pond. Old Man Coyote waited and waited. He is very patient when there is something to gain by it. For such a splendid dinner as Paddy the Beaver would make he felt that he could well afford to be patient. So he waited and waited, and everything was as still as if no living thing but the trees were there. Even the trees seemed to be asleep.
At last, after a long, long time, he heard just the faintest splash. He p.r.i.c.ked up his ears and peeped out on the pond with the hungriest look in his yellow eyes. There was a little line of silver coming straight towards him. He knew that it was made by Paddy the Beaver swimming.
Nearer and nearer it drew. Old Man Coyote chuckled way down deep inside, without making a sound. He could see Paddy"s head now, and Paddy was coming straight in, as if he hadn"t a fear in the world.
Almost to the edge of the pond swam Paddy. Then he stopped. In a few minutes he began to swim again, but this time it was back in the direction of his house, and he seemed to be carrying something. It was one of the little food logs he had cut that day, and he was taking it out to his storehouse. Then back he came for another. And so he kept on, never once coming ash.o.r.e. Old Man Coyote waited until Paddy had carried the last log to his storehouse and then, with a loud whack on the water with his broad tail, had dived and disappeared in his house.
Then Old Man Coyote arose and started elsewhere to look for his dinner, and in his heart was bitter disappointment.
XVIII
OLD MAN COYOTE TRIES ANOTHER PLAN
For three nights Old Man Coyote had stolen up through the Green Forest with the coming of the Black Shadows and had hidden among the aspen-trees where Paddy the Beaver cut his food, and for three nights Paddy had failed to come ash.o.r.e. Each night he had seemed to have enough food logs in the water to keep him busy without cutting more. Old Man Coyote lay there, and the hungry look in his eyes changed to one of doubt and then to suspicion. Could it be that Paddy the Beaver was smarter than he thought? It began to look very much as if Paddy knew perfectly well that he was hiding there each night. Yes, Sir, that"s the way it looked. For three nights Paddy hadn"t cut a single tree, and yet each night he had plenty of food logs ready to take to his storehouse in the pond.
"That means that he comes ash.o.r.e in the daytime and cuts his trees,"
thought Old Man Coyote as, tired and with black anger in his heart, he trotted home the third night. "He couldn"t have found out about me himself; he isn"t smart enough. It must be that some one has told him.
And n.o.body knows that I have been over there but Sammy Jay. It must be he who has been the tattletale. I think I"ll visit Paddy by daylight to-morrow, and then we"ll see!"
Now the trouble with some smart people is that they are never able to believe that others may be as smart as they. Old Man Coyote didn"t know that the first time he had visited Paddy"s pond he had left behind him a footprint in a little patch of soft mud. If he had known it, he wouldn"t have believed that Paddy would be smart enough to guess what that footprint meant. So Old Man Coyote laid all the blame at the door of Sammy Jay, and that very morning, when Sammy came flying over the Green Meadows, Old Man Coyote accused him of being a tattletale and threatened the most dreadful things to Sammy if ever he caught him.
Now Sammy had flown down to the Green Meadows to tell Old Man Coyote how Paddy was doing all his work on land in the daytime. But when Old Man Coyote began to call him a tattletale and accuse him of having warned Paddy, and to threaten dreadful things, he straightway forgot all his anger at Paddy and turned it all on Old Man Coyote. He called him everything he could think of, and this was a great deal, for Sammy has a wicked tongue. When he hadn"t any breath left, he flew over to the Green Forest, and there he hid where he could watch all that was going on.
That afternoon Old Man Coyote tried his new plan. He slipped into the Green Forest, looking this way and that way to be sure that no one saw him. Then very, very softly, he crept up through the Green Forest towards the pond of Paddy the Beaver. As he drew near, he heard a crash, and it made him smile. He knew what it meant. It meant that Paddy was at work cutting down trees. With his stomach almost on the ground, he crept forward little by little, little by little, taking the greatest care not to rustle so much as a leaf. Presently he reached a place where he could see the aspen-trees, and there sure enough was Paddy, sitting up on his hind legs and hard at work cutting another tree.
Old Man Coyote lay down for a few minutes to watch. Then he wriggled a little nearer. Slowly and carefully he drew his legs under him and made ready for a rush. Paddy the Beaver was his at last! At just that very minute a harsh scream rang out right over his head "Thief!
thief! thief!"
It was Sammy Jay, who had silently followed him all the way. Paddy the Beaver didn"t stop to even look around. He knew what that scream meant, and he scrambled down his little path to the water as he never had scrambled before. And as he dived with a great splash, Old Man Coyote landed with a great jump on the very edge of the pond.
XIX
PADDY AND SAMMY JAY BECOME FRIENDS
Paddy the Beaver floated in his pond and grinned in the most provoking way at Old Man Coyote, who had so nearly caught him. Old Man Coyote fairly danced with anger on the bank. He had felt so sure of Paddy that time that it was hard work to believe that Paddy had really gotten away from him. He bared his long cruel teeth, and he looked very fierce and ugly.
"Come on in; the water"s fine!" called Paddy.
Now, of course, this wasn"t a nice thing for Paddy to do, for it only made Old Man Coyote all the angrier. You see, Paddy knew perfectly well that he was absolutely safe, and he just couldn"t resist the temptation to say some unkind things. He had had to be on the watch for days lest he should be caught, and so he hadn"t been able to work quite so well as he could have done with nothing to fear, and he still had a lot of preparations to make for winter. So he told Old Man Coyote just what he thought of him, and that he wasn"t as smart as he thought he was or he never would have left a footprint in the mud to give him away.
When Sammy Jay, who was listening and chuckling as he listened, heard that, he flew down where he would be just out of reach of Old Man Coyote, and then he just turned that tongue of his loose, and you know that some people say that Sammy"s tongue is hung in the middle and wags at both ends. Of course, this isn"t really so, but when he gets to abusing people it seems as if it must be true. He called Old Man Coyote every bad name he could think of. He called him a sneak, a thief, a coward, a bully, and a lot of other things.
"You said I had warned Paddy that you were trying to catch him and that was why you failed to find him at work at night, and all the time you had warned him yourself!" screamed Sammy. "I used to think that you were smart, but I know better now. Paddy is twice as smart as you are."
"Mr. Coyote is ever so sly; Mr. Coyote is clever and spry; If you believe all you hear.
Mr. Coyote is naught of the kind; Mr. Coyote is stupid and blind; He can"t catch a flea on his ear."
Paddy the Beaver laughed till the tears came at Sammy"s foolish verse, but it made Old Man Coyote angrier than ever. He was angry with Paddy for escaping from him, and he was angry with Sammy, terribly angry, and the worst of it was he couldn"t catch either one, for one was at home in the water and the other was at home in the air and he couldn"t follow in either place. Finally he saw it was of no use to stay there to be laughed at, so, muttering and grumbling, he started for the Green Meadows.
As soon as he was out of sight Paddy turned to Sammy Jay.