Then all the Hollow Tree People sat right down there and had some of the things, and by-and-by they carried some more up-stairs, and some wood, too, and built up a fine big fire, and lit their pipes and smoked, and forgot everything unpleasant in the world. And they all said how smart and good Mr. "Possum was to save all that food for the very time when they would need it most, when all the rest of them had been just eating it up as fast as possible and would have been now without a thing in the world except for Mr. "Possum.
Then Mr. "Possum asked them if they could hear Old Hungry-Wolf any more, and they listened but they couldn"t hear a sound, and then they went up into Mr. Crow"s room, and into Mr. "c.o.o.n"s room, and into Mr. "Possum"s room, and they couldn"t see a thing of him anywhere, though it was just the time of day to see him, for it was late in the evening--the time Old Hungry-Wolf is most likely to look in the window.
And that night it turned warm, and the big snow began to thaw; and it thawed, and it thawed, and all the brooks and rivers came up, and even the Wide Blue Water rose so that the Deep Woods Company had to stay a little longer in the Hollow Tree, even when all the snow was nearly gone. Mr. Rabbit was pretty anxious to get home, and started out one afternoon with Mr. Turtle along, because Mr. Turtle is a good swimmer.
But there was too much water to cross and they came back again just at sunset, and Mr. Crow let them in,[C] so they had to wait several days longer. But Mr. "Possum"s food lasted, and by the time it was gone they could get plenty more; and when they all went away and left the three Hollow Tree People together again, they were very happy because they had had such a good time; and the "c.o.o.n and "Possum and the Old Black Crow were as good friends as ever, though the gray feathers on the top of Mr.
Crow"s head never did turn quite black again, and some of the Deep Woods People call him "Silver-Top" to this day.
The Little Lady looks anxiously at the Story Teller.
"Did Old Hungry-Wolf ever get inside of the Hollow Tree?" she asks.
"No, he never did get inside; they only saw him through the window, and heard him bark."
"And why couldn"t Mr. "Possum ever hear him sometimes?"
"Well, you see, Old Hungry isn"t a real wolf, but only a shadow wolf--the shadow of famine. He only looks in when people dread famine, and he only barks and gnaws when they feel it. A famine, you know, is when one is very hungry and there is nothing to eat. I don"t think Mr.
"Possum was very hungry, and he had all those nice things laid away, so he would not care much about that old shadow wolf, which is only another name for hunger."
The Little Lady clings very close to the Story Teller.
"Will we ever see Old Hungry-Wolf and hear his bark?"
The Story Teller sits up quite straight, and gathers the Little Lady tight.
"Good gracious, no!" he says. "He moved out of our part of the country before you were born, and we"ll take good care that he doesn"t come back any more."
"I"m glad," says the Little Lady. "You can sing now--you know--the "Hollow Tree Song.""
FOOTNOTE:
[C] See picture on cover.
AN EARLY SPRING CALL ON MR. BEAR
MR. "POSSUM"S CURIOUS DREAM AND WHAT CAME OF IT
"WHAT did they do then?" asks the Little Lady. "What did the Deep Woods People all do after they got through being snowed in?"
"Well, let"s see. It got to be spring then pretty soon--early spring--of course, and Mr. Jack Rabbit went to writing poetry and making garden; Mr. Robin went to meet Mrs. Robin, who had been spending the winter down South; Mr. Squirrel, who is quite young, went to call on a very nice young Miss Squirrel over toward the Big West Hills; Mr. Dog had to help Mr. Man a good deal with the spring work; Mr. Turtle got out all his fishing-things and looked them over, and the Hollow Tree People had a general straightening up after company. They had a big house-cleaning, of course, with most of their things out on the line, and Mr. "Possum said that he"d just about as soon be snowed-in for good as to have to beat carpets and carry furniture up and down stairs all the rest of his life."
But they got through at last, and everything was nice when they were settled, only there wasn"t a great deal to be had to eat, because it had been such a long, cold winter that things were pretty scarce and hard to get.
One morning Mr. "Possum said he had had a dream the night before, and he wished it would come true. He said he had dreamed that they were all invited by Mr. Bear to help him eat the spring breakfast which he takes after his long winter nap, and that Mr. Bear had about the best breakfast he ever sat down to. He said he had eaten it clear through, from turkey to mince-pie, only he didn"t get the mince-pie because Mr.
Bear had asked him if he"d have it hot or cold, and just as he made up his mind to have some of both he woke up and didn"t get either.
Then Mr. "c.o.o.n said he wished he could have a dream like that; that he"d take whatever came along and try to sleep through it, and Mr. Crow thought a little while and said that sometimes dreams came true, especially if you helped them a little. He said he hadn"t heard anything of Mr. Bear this spring, and it was quite likely he had been taking a longer nap than usual. It might be a good plan, he thought, to drop over that way and just look in in pa.s.sing, because if Mr. Bear should be sitting down to breakfast he would be pretty apt to ask them to sit up and have a bite while they told him the winter news.
Then Mr. "Possum said that he didn"t believe anybody in the world but Mr. Crow would have thought of that, and that hereafter he was going to tell him every dream he had. They ought to start right away, he said, because if they should get there just as Mr. Bear was clearing off the table it would be a good deal worse than not getting the mince-pie in his dream.
So they hurried up and put on their best clothes and started for Mr.
Bear"s place, which is over toward the Edge of the World, only farther down, in a fine big cave which is fixed up as nice as a house and nicer.
But when they got pretty close to it they didn"t go so fast and straight, but just sauntered along as if they were only out for a little walk and happened to go in that direction, for they thought Mr. Bear might be awake and standing in his door.
They met Mr. Rabbit about that time and invited him to go along, but Mr.
Rabbit said his friendship with Mr. Bear was a rather distant one, and that he mostly talked to him from across the river or from a hill that had a good clear running s.p.a.ce on the other slope. He said Mr. Bear"s taste was good, for he was fond of his family, but that the fondness had been all on Mr. Bear"s side.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THEY WENT ALONG, SAYING WHAT A NICE MAN THEY THOUGHT MR.
BEAR WAS]
So the Hollow Tree People went along, saying what a nice man they thought Mr. Bear was, and saying it quite loud, and looking every which way, because Mr. Bear might be out for a walk too.
But they didn"t see him anywhere, and by-and-by they got right to the door of his cave and knocked a little, and n.o.body came. Then they listened, but couldn"t hear anything at first, until Mr. "c.o.o.n, who has very sharp ears, said that he was sure he heard Mr. Bear breathing and that he must be still asleep. Then the others thought they heard it, too, and pretty soon they were sure they heard it, and Mr. "Possum said it was too bad to let Mr. Bear oversleep himself this fine weather, and that they ought to go in and let him know how late it was.
So then they pushed open the door and went tiptoeing in to where Mr.
Bear was. They thought, of course, he would be in bed, but he wasn"t. He was sitting up in a big armchair in his dressing-gown, with his feet up on a low stool, before a fire that had gone out some time in December, with a little table by him that had a candle on it which had burned down about the time the fire went out. His pipe had gone out too, and they knew that Mr. Bear had been smoking, and must have been very tired and gone to sleep right where he was, and hadn"t moved all winter long.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. BEAR MUST HAVE BEEN VERY TIRED AND GONE TO SLEEP RIGHT WHERE HE WAS]
It wasn"t very cheerful in there, so Mr. "Possum said maybe they"d better stir up a little fire to take the chill off before they woke Mr. Bear, and Mr. "c.o.o.n found a fresh candle and lighted it, and Mr.
Crow put the room to rights a little, and wound up the clock, and set it, and started it going. Then when the fire got nice and bright they stood around and looked at Mr. Bear, and each one said it was a good time now to wake him up, but n.o.body just wanted to do it, because Mr.
Bear isn"t always good-natured, and n.o.body could tell what might happen if he should wake up cross and hungry, and he"d be likely to do that if his nap was broken too suddenly. Mr. "Possum said that Mr. Crow was the one to do it, as he had first thought of this trip, and Mr. Crow said that it was Mr. "Possum"s place, because it had been in his dream. Then they both said that as Mr. "c.o.o.n hadn"t done anything at all so far, he might do that.
Mr. "c.o.o.n said that he"d do it quick enough, only he"d been listening to the way Mr. Bear breathed, and he was pretty sure he wouldn"t be ready to wake up for a week yet, and it would be too bad to wake him now when he might not have been resting well during the first month or so of his nap and was making it up now. He said they could look around a little and see if Mr. Bear"s things were keeping well, and perhaps brush up his pantry so it would be nice and clean when he did wake.
Then Mr. Crow said he"d always wanted to see Mr. Bear"s pantry, for he"d heard it was such a good place to keep things, and perhaps he could get some ideas for the Hollow Tree; and Mr. "Possum said that Mr. Bear had the name of having a bigger pantry and more things in it than all the rest of the Deep Woods People put together.
So they left Mr. Bear all nice and comfortable, sleeping there by the fire, and lit another candle and went over to his pantry, which was at the other side of the room, and opened the door and looked in.
Well, they couldn"t say a word at first, but only just looked at one another and at all the things they saw in that pantry. First, on the top shelf there was a row of pies, clear around. Then on the next shelf there was a row of cakes--first a fruit-cake, then a jelly-cake, then another fruit-cake and then another jelly-cake, and the cakes went all the way around, too, and some of them had frosting on them, and you could see the raisins in the fruit-cake and pieces of citron. Then on the next shelf there was a row of nice cooked partridges, all the way around, close together. And on the shelf below was a row of meat-pies made of chicken and turkey and young lamb, and on the shelf below that there was a row of nice canned berries, and on the floor, all the way around, there were jars of honey--nice comb honey that Mr. Bear had gathered in November from bee-trees.
Mr. Crow spoke first.
"Well, I never," he said, "never in all my life, saw anything like it!"
And Mr. "c.o.o.n and Mr. "Possum both said:
"He can"t do it--a breakfast like that is too much for _any_ bear!"
Then Mr. Crow said:
"He oughtn"t to be _allowed_ to do it. Mr. Bear is too nice a man to lose."
And Mr. "Possum said:
"He _mustn"t_ be allowed to do it--we"ll help him."