{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_28204/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_28204","id":"gutenberg_28204","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28204","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Humour","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore"],"text":"Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: [See page 94\n\nSET UP HIS EARS AND WENT BY, LICKETY SPLIT]\n\n\n\n\nHOW MR. RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL\n\n\n[Illustration: HOLLOW TREE STORIES\n\nBY ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE\n\nILLUSTRATED BY J. M. CONDE]\n\n          HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS\n          NEW YORK AND LONDON\n\n\n\n\nHOLLOW TREE STORIES\n\nBY\n\nALBERT BIGELOW PAINE\n\n          HOW MR. DOG GOT EVEN\n          HOW MR. RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL\n          MR. RABBIT'S BIG DINNER\n          MR. TURTLE'S FLYING ADVENTURE\n          MAKING UP WITH MR. DOG\n          MR. POSSUM'S GREAT BALLOON TRIP\n          WHEN JACK RABBIT WAS A LITTLE BOY\n          MR. CROW AND THE WHITEWASH\n          MR. RABBIT'S WEDDING\n\n\n          HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS BOOK\n          HOLLOW TREE SNOWED-IN BOOK\n          HOLLOW TREE NIGHTS AND DAYS\n\n          HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK\n\n          Copyright, 1901, by ROBERT HOWARD RUSSELL\n\n          Copyright, 1910, by HARPER & BROTHERS\n\n          Printed in the United States of America\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                    PAGE\n          MR. DOG PLAYS SANTA CLAUS                    3\n          MR. DOG AT THE CIRCUS                       23\n          WHEN MR. 'COON WAS A LITTLE BOY             45\n          HOW MR. RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL                67\n          HOW THE OTHER RABBITS LOST THEIR TAILS      87\n\n[Illustration: MAP OF THE HOLLOW TREE AND DEEP WOODS COUNTRY]\n\n\n\n\nEXPLANATION OF MAP\n\n\nTHE top of the map is South. This is always so with the Hollow Tree\nPeople. The cross on the shelf below the edge of the world (where the\nladder is) is where Mr. Dog landed, and the ladder is the one brought by\nMr. Man for him to climb back on. The tree that Mr. Man cut down shows\ntoo. The spot on the edge of the world is where the Hollow Tree People\nsometimes sit and hang their feet over, and talk. A good many paths\nshow, but not all by a good deal. The bridge and plank near Mr. Turtle's\nhouse lead to the Wide Grass Lands and Big West Hills. The spots along\nthe Foot Race show where Grandpaw Hare stopped, and the one across the\nfence shows where Mr. Turtle landed. Most of the other things tell what\nthey are, and all the things are a good deal farther apart than they\nlook. Of course there was not room on the map for everything.\n\n\n\n\nMR. DOG PLAYS SANTA CLAUS\n\nA STORY TOLD WHEN IT WAS SNOWING OUTSIDE, AND THE LITTLE LADY WAS\nWONDERING HOW IT WAS IN THE FAR DEEP WOODS\n\n\nONCE upon a time, said the Story Teller, the Robin, and Turtle, and\nSquirrel, and Jack Rabbit had all gone home for the winter, and nobody\nwas left in the Hollow Tree except the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old\nBlack Crow. Of course the others used to come back and visit them pretty\noften, and Mr. Dog, too, now that he had got to be good friends with all\nthe Deep Woods People, and they thought a great deal of him when they\ngot to know him better. Mr. Dog told them a lot of things they had\nnever heard of before, things that he'd learned at Mr. Man's house, and\nmaybe that's one reason why they got to liking him so well.\n\nHe told them about Santa Claus, for one thing, and how the old fellow\ncame down the chimney on Christmas Eve to bring presents to Mr. Man and\nhis children, who always hung up their stockings for them, and Mr. Dog\nsaid that once he had hung up his stocking, too, and got a nice bone in\nit, that was so good he had buried and dug it up again as much as six\ntimes before spring. He said that Santa Claus always came to Mr. Man's\nhouse, and that whenever the children hung up their stockings they were\nalways sure to get something in them.\n\n[Illustration: HE TOLD THEM ALL ABOUT SANTA CLAUS]\n\nWell, the Hollow Tree people had never heard of Santa Claus. They knew\nabout Christmas, of course, because everybody, even the cows and sheep,\nknow about that; but they had never heard of Santa Claus. You see, Santa\nClaus only comes to Mr. Man's house, but they didn't know that,\neither, so they thought if they just hung up their stockings he'd come\nthere, too, and that's what they made up their minds to do. They talked\nabout it a great deal together, and Mr. 'Possum looked over all his\nstockings to pick out the biggest one he had, and Mr. Crow made himself\na new pair on purpose. Mr. 'Coon said he never knew Mr. Crow to make\nhimself such big stockings before, but Mr. Crow said he was getting old\nand needed things bigger, and when he loaned one of his new stockings to\nMr. 'Coon, Mr. 'Coon said, \"That's so,\" and that he guessed they were\nabout right after all. They didn't tell anybody about it at first, but\nby and by they told Mr. Dog what they were going to do, and when Mr. Dog\nheard it he wanted to laugh right out. You see, he knew Santa Claus\nnever went anywhere except to Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would\nbe a great joke on the Hollow Tree people when they hung up their\nstockings and didn't get anything.\n\n[Illustration: MR. CROW MADE HIMSELF A NEW PAIR ON PURPOSE]\n\nBut by and by Mr. Dog thought about something else. He thought it would\nbe too bad for them to be disappointed that way. You see, Mr. Dog liked\nthem all, now, and when he had thought about that a minute he made up\nhis mind to do something. And this is what it was--he made up his mind\nto play Santa Claus!\n\nHe knew just how Santa Claus looked, 'cause he'd seen lots of his\npictures at Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would be great fun to\ndress up that way and take a bag of presents to the Hollow Tree while\nthey were all asleep and fill up the stockings of the 'Coon and 'Possum\nand the Old Black Crow. But first he had to be sure of some way of\ngetting in, so he said to them he didn't see how they could expect Santa\nClaus, their chimneys were so small, and Mr. Crow said they could leave\ntheir latch string out down stairs, which was just what Mr. Dog wanted.\nThen they said they were going to have all the folks that had spent the\nsummer with them over for Christmas dinner and to see the presents they\nhad got in their stockings. They told Mr. Dog to drop over, too, if he\ncould get away, and Mr. Dog said he would, and went off laughing to\nhimself and ran all the way home because he felt so pleased at what he\nwas going to do.\n\nWell, he had to work pretty hard, I tell you, to get things ready. It\nwasn't so hard to get the presents as it was to rig up his Santa Claus\ndress. He found some long wool out in Mr. Man's barn for his white\nwhiskers, and he put some that wasn't so long on the edges of his\novercoat and boot tops and around an old hat he had. Then he borrowed a\nbig sack he found out there, too, and fixed it up to swing over his\nback, just as he had seen Santa Claus do in the pictures. He had a lot\nof nice things to take along. Three tender young chickens he'd borrowed\nfrom Mr. Man, for one thing, and then he bought some new neckties for\nthe Hollow Tree folks all around, and a big, striped candy cane for each\none, because candy canes always looked well sticking out of a stocking.\nBesides all that, he had a new pipe for each, and a package of tobacco.\nYou see, Mr. Dog lived with Mr. Man, and didn't ever have to buy much\nfor himself, so he had always saved his money. He had even more things\nthan that, but I can't remember just now what they were; and when he\nstarted out, all dressed up like Santa Claus, I tell you his bag was\npretty heavy, and he almost wished before he got there that he hadn't\nstarted with quite so much.\n\n[Illustration: IT GOT HEAVIER AND HEAVIER]\n\nIt got heavier and heavier all the way, and he was glad enough to get\nthere and find the latch string out. He set his bag down to rest a\nminute before climbing the stairs, and then opened the doors softly and\nlistened. He didn't hear a thing except Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon and Mr.\n'Possum breathing pretty low, and he knew they might wake up any minute,\nand he wouldn't have been caught there in the midst of things for a good\ndeal. So he slipped up just as easy as anything, and when he got up\nin the big parlor room he almost had to laugh right out loud, for there\nwere the stockings sure enough, all hung up in a row, and a card with a\nname on it over each one telling who it belonged to.\n\n[Illustration: HE ALMOST HAD TO LAUGH RIGHT OUT LOUD]\n\nThen he listened again, and all at once he jumped and held his breath,\nfor he heard Mr. 'Possum say something. But Mr. 'Possum was only talking\nin his sleep, and saying, \"I'll take another piece, please,\" and Mr. Dog\nknew he was dreaming about the mince pie he'd had for supper.\n\nSo then he opened his bag and filled the stockings. He put in mixed\ncandy and nuts and little things first, and then the pipes and tobacco\nand candy canes, so they'd show at the top, and hung a nice dressed\nchicken outside. I tell you, they looked fine! It almost made Mr. Dog\nwish he had a stocking of his own there to fill, and he forgot all about\nthem waking up, and sat down in a chair to look at the stockings. It was\na nice rocking chair, and over in a dark corner where they wouldn't be\napt to see him, even if one of them did wake up and stick his head out\nof his room, so Mr. Dog felt pretty safe now, anyway. He rocked softly,\nand looked and looked at the nice stockings, and thought how pleased\nthey'd be in the morning, and how tired he was. You've heard about\npeople being as tired as a dog; and that's just how Mr. Dog felt. He was\nso tired he didn't feel a bit like starting home, and by and by--he\nnever did know how it happened--but by and by Mr. Dog went sound asleep\nright there in his chair, with all his Santa Claus clothes on.\n\n[Illustration: TO SEE MR. DOG JUMP RIGHT STRAIGHT UP OUT OF HIS CHAIR]\n\nAnd there he sat, with his empty bag in his hand and the nice full\nstockings in front of him, all night long. Even when it came morning and\nbegan to get light Mr. Dog didn't know it; he just slept right on, he\nwas that tired. Then pretty soon the door of Mr. 'Possum's room opened\nand he poked out his head. And just then the door of Mr. 'Coon's room\nopened and he poked out _his_ head. Then the door of the Old Black\nCrow opened and out poked _his_ head. They all looked toward the\nstockings, and they didn't see Mr. Dog, or even each other, at all. They\nsaw their stockings, though, and Mr. 'Coon said all at once:--\n\n[Illustration: IT WAS SNOWING HARD OUTSIDE, WHICH MADE IT A NICER\nCHRISTMAS THAN IF IT HADN'T BEEN]\n\n\"Oh, there's something in my stocking!\"\n\nAnd then Mr. Crow said:--\n\n\"Oh, there's something in my stocking, too!\"\n\nAnd Mr. 'Possum said:--\n\n\"Oh, there's something in all our stockings!\"\n\nAnd with that they gave a great hurrah all together, and rushed out and\ngrabbed their stockings and turned around just in time to see Mr. Dog\njump right straight up out of his chair, for he did not know where he\nwas the least bit in the world.\n\n\"Oh, there's Santa Claus himself!\" they all shouted together, and made a\nrush for their rooms, for they were scared almost to death. Then it all\ndawned on Mr. Dog in a second, and he commenced to laugh and hurrah to\nthink what a joke it was on everybody. And when they heard Mr. Dog laugh\nthey knew him right away, and they all came up and looked at him, and he\nhad to tell just what he'd done and everything; so they emptied out\ntheir stockings on the floor and ate some of the presents and looked at\nthe others, until they almost forgot about breakfast, just as children\ndo on Christmas morning.\n\nThen Mr. Crow said, all at once, that he'd make a little coffee, and\nthat Mr. Dog must stay and have some, and by and by they made him\npromise to spend the day with them and be there when the Robin and the\nSquirrel and Mr. Turtle and Jack Rabbit came, which he did.\n\nAnd it was snowing hard outside, which made it a nicer Christmas than if\nit hadn't been, and when all the others came they brought presents, too.\nAnd when they saw Mr. Dog dressed up as Santa Claus and heard how he'd\ngone to sleep and been caught, they laughed and laughed. And it snowed\nso hard that Mr. Dog had to stay for dinner, which he wanted to do more\nthan anything, because he knew that then they would all sit around and\ntell stories.\n\n\n\n\nMR. DOG AT THE CIRCUS\n\nTHE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE LEARN SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT ABOUT SHOWS\n\n\nTHAT was a great Christmas in the Hollow Tree. The 'Coon and the 'Possum\nand the Old Black Crow had been getting ready for it for a long time,\nand brought in ever so many nice things to eat, which Mr. Crow had\ncooked for them, for Mr. Crow is the best cook of anybody in the Big\nDeep Woods. Then Mr. Dog had brought a lot of good things, too, which he\nhad borrowed from Mr. Man's house, so they had the finest Christmas\ndinner that you can think of, and plenty for the next day, when it would\nbe even better, because chicken and turkey and dressing and such things\nare always better the next day, and even the _third_ day, with gravy,\nthan they are when they are first cooked.\n\n[Illustration: THE PANTRY IN THE HOLLOW TREE]\n\nThen, when they were all through and were standing around, smoking their\nnew pipes and looking at each other's new neckties and other Christmas\nthings, Mr. Crow said that he and Mr. Squirrel would clear off the table\nif the others would get in some wood and stir up the fire and set the\nroom to rights, so they could gather round and be comfortable by and by;\nand then, he said it might snow as much as it liked as long as they had\nplenty of wood and things to eat inside.\n\nSo then they all skurried around getting on their things to go out after\nwood--all except Mr. Crow and Mr. Squirrel, who set about clearing off\nthe table and doing up the dishes. And pretty soon Mr. Dog and Mr. 'Coon\nand the rest were hopping about where the snow was falling so soft and\nsilent among the big, leafless trees, gathering nice pieces of wood and\nbrushing the snow off of them and piling them into the first down\nstairs of the Hollow Tree, which the 'Coon and 'Possum and Old Black\nCrow use for their wood house and general store room. It was great fun,\nand they didn't feel the least bit cold after their warm dinner and with\nall that brisk exercise.\n\n[Illustration: MR. ROBIN HOPPED ABOUT AND LOOKED FOR GOOD PIECES]\n\nMr. Robin didn't help carry the wood in. He was hardly strong enough for\nthat, but he hopped about and looked for good pieces, and when he found\none he would call to Mr. 'Coon or Mr. 'Possum, or maybe to one of the\nothers, to throw it on his shoulder and carry it in, and then he would\ntell whoever it happened to be how strong he was and how fine he looked\nwith that great chunk on his shoulder, and would say that he didn't\nsuppose there was another 'Coon, or 'Possum, or Turtle, or Rabbit, or\nDog that could begin to stand up straight under such a chunk as that\nanywhere outside of a menagerie. Mr. Robin likes to say pleasant things\nto his friends, and is always popular. And each one tried to carry the\nbiggest load of wood to show how strong he was, and pretty soon they\nhad the lower room of the Hollow Tree piled up high with the finest\nchunks and kindling pieces to be found anywhere. Then they all hurried\nup stairs, stamping the snow off their feet, and gathered around the\nnice warm fire in the big parlor which was just below the three big\nhollow branches where the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow had\ntheir rooms.\n\nMr. Crow and Mr. Squirrel were through with the table by this time, and\nall hands lit their pipes, and looked into the fire, and smoked, and\nrested, and thought a little before they began talking--thinking, of\ncourse, of what a good time they were having, and how comfortable and\nnice it was to be inside and warm when such a big snow was falling\noutside.\n\nMr. 'Possum was the first one to say anything. He said he had been\nthinking of what Mr. Robin had said about them being outside of a\nmenagerie, and that, come to think about it, he believed he didn't know\nwhat a menagerie was, unless it was a new name for a big dinner, as that\nwas the only thing he could think of now that they were outside of, and\nhe said if that was so, and if he could get outside of two menageries,\nhe thought he could carry in a bigger chunk than any two chunks there\nwere down stairs.\n\nThen all the others laughed a good deal, and Mr. 'Coon said he had\nthought that perhaps a menagerie was something to wear that would make\nanybody who had it on very strong, and able to stand up under a big\nload, and to eat as much as Mr. 'Possum could, or even more.\n\nBut Mr. Robin said that it didn't mean either of those things. He said\nhe didn't really know what it did mean himself, but that it must be some\nkind of a place that had a great many large creatures in it, for he had\nquite often heard his grandmother call his grandfather the biggest goose\noutside of a menagerie, though, being very young then, Mr. Robin\ncouldn't remember just what she had meant by it.\n\nMr. Rabbit said he thought that the word \"menagerie\" sounded like some\nkind of a picnic, with swings and nice lively games, and Mr. Crow said\nthat once when he was flying he passed over a place where there was a\nbig sign that said \"Menagerie\" on it, and that there were some tents and\na crowd of people and a great noise, but that he hadn't seen anything\nthat he could carry off without being noticed, so he didn't stop.\n\nMr. Squirrel thought that from what Mr. Crow said it must be a place\nwhere there would be a lot of fine things to see, and Mr. Turtle said\nthat he was a good deal over three hundred years old and had often heard\nof a menagerie, but that he had never seen one. He said he had always\nsupposed that it was a nice pond of clear water, with a lot of happy\nturtles and fish and wild geese and ducks and such things, in it, and\nmaybe some animals around it, all living happily together, and taken\ncare of by Mr. Man, who brought them a great many good things to eat.\nHe had always thought he would like to live in a menagerie, he said, but\nthat nobody had ever invited him, and he had never happened to come\nacross one in his travels.\n\nMr. Dog hadn't been saying anything all this time, but he knocked the\nashes out of his pipe now, and filled it up fresh and lit it, and\ncleared his throat, and began to talk. It made him smile, he said, to\nhear the different ways people thought of a thing they had never seen.\nHe said that Mr. Turtle was the only one who came anywhere near to what\na menagerie really was, though of course Mr. Crow _had_ seen one on the\noutside. Then Mr. Dog said:--\n\n[Illustration: SLIPPED IN BEHIND HIM WHEN HE WENT INTO THE TENT]\n\n\"I know all about menageries, on the outside and the inside too, for I\nhave been to one. I went once with Mr. Man, though I wasn't really\ninvited to go. In fact, Mr. Man invited me to stay at home, and tried to\nslip off from me; but I watched which way he went, and took long\nroundin's on him, and slipped in behind him when he went into the tent.\nHe didn't know for a while that I was there, and I wasn't there so very\nlong. But it was plenty long enough--a good deal longer than I'd ever\nstay again, unless I was tied.\n\n\"I never saw so many wild, fierce-looking creatures in my life as there\nwere in that menagerie, and they were just as wild and fierce as they\nlooked. They had a lot of cages full of them and they had some outside\nof cages, though I don't know why they should leave any of those\ndangerous animals around where they could damage folks that happened to\ncome in reach, as I did. Those animals outside didn't look as wild and\nfierce as those in the cages, but they were.\n\n\"I kept in the crowd, close behind Mr. Man at first, and nobody knew I\nwas there, but by and by he climbed up into a seat to watch some people\nall dressed up in fancy clothes ride around a ring on horses, which I\ndidn't care much about, so I slipped away, and went over to where there\nwere some things that I wanted to take my time to and see quietly.\n\n[Illustration: \"HE LOOKED SMILING AND GOOD-NATURED, AND I WENT OVER TO\nASK HIM SOME QUESTIONS\"]\n\n\"There was an animal about my size and style tied over in one corner of\nthe tent, behind a rope, with a sign in front of him which said, 'The\nOnly Tame Hyena in the World,' He looked smiling and good-natured, and I\nwent over to ask him some questions.\n\n\"But that sign wasn't true. He wasn't the least bit tame, and I'm sure\nnow that he wasn't smiling. He grabbed me before I had a chance to say a\nword, and when I jerked loose, which I did right away, for I didn't want\nto stir up any fuss there, I left quite a piece of my ear with the tame\nhyena, and tripped backward over the rope and rolled right in front of a\ncreature called an elephant, about as big as a house and not as useful.\n\n\"I suppose they thought _he_ was tame, too, but he must have been tamed\nby the same man, for he grabbed me with a kind of a tail that grew on\nthe end of his nose--a thing a good deal like Mr. 'Possum's tail, only\nabout a million times as big--and I could hear my ribs crack as he waved\nme up and down.\n\n\"Of course, as I say, I didn't want to stir up any fuss, but I couldn't\nkeep still under such treatment as that, and I called right out to Mr.\nMan, where he sat looking at the fancy people riding, and told him that\nI had had enough of the show, and if he wanted to take any of me home he\nought not to wait very long, but come over that way and see if he\ncouldn't get the tame elephant to practise that performance on the hyena\nor the next dog, because I had had plenty, and was willing to go home\njust as I was, all in one piece, even if not very lively.\n\n\"Mr. Man _came_, too, and so did a lot of the others. They seemed to\nthink that I was more to look at than those riding people; and some of\nthem laughed, though what there was happening that was funny I have\nnever been able to guess to this day. I kept right on telling Mr. Man\nwhat I wanted him to do, and mebbe I made a good deal of noise about\nit, for it seemed to stir up those other animals. There was a cage full\nof lions that started the most awful roaring you can think of, and a\ncage of crazy-looking things they called monkeys that screeched and\nhowled and swung back and forth in rings and held on to the bars, and\nall the other things joined in, until I couldn't tell whether I was\nstill saying anything or not. I suppose they were all jealous of the\nelephant because of the fun he was having, and howling to be let out so\nthey could get hold of me too.\n\n\"Well, you never heard of such a time. It nearly broke up the show.\nEverybody ran over to look, and even the riding people stopped their\nhorses to enjoy it, too. If it only hadn't been so dangerous and\nunpleasant I should have been proud of the way they came to see me\nperform.\n\n\"But Mr. Man didn't seem to like it much. I heard him tell somebody, as\nloud as he could, that I would be killed, and that I was the best dog\nhe ever had, and that if I _was_ killed he'd sue the show.\n\n[Illustration: \"GAVE ME AN EXTRA BIG SWING AND CRACK\"]\n\n\"That made me proud, too, but I wished he wouldn't wait to sue the show,\nbut would do something right away, and just then a man with a fancy\ndress on and a stick with a sharp iron hook on it came running up and\nsaid something I didn't understand and hit the elephant with the hook\nend of the stick, and he gave me an extra big swing and crack and flung\nme half way across the tent, where I landed on a bunch of hay right in\nfront of a long-necked thing called a camel--another terrible tame\ncreature, I suppose--who had me about half eaten up with his old long\nunder lip before Mr. Man could get over there.\n\n\"When Mr. Man did get hold of me, he said that I'd better take what was\nleft of me home, for they were going to feed the animals pretty soon,\nand that I would likely get mixed up with the bill of fare.\n\n\"After that he took me to the entrance and pushed me outside, and I\nheard all those fierce creatures in the cages growl and roar louder\nthan ever, as if they had expected to sample me and were sorry to see me\ngo.\n\n\"That's what a menagerie is--it's a place where they have all the kinds\nof animals and things in the world, for show, and a good many birds, and\nmaybe turtles, too, but they don't have any fine clear pond. They have\njust a big tent, like the one Mr. Crow saw, and a lot of cages inside.\nThey keep most of the animals in cages, and they ought to keep them all\nthere, and I don't think they feed them very much, nor the best things,\nor they wouldn't look so fierce and hungry.\n\n\"They just keep them for Mr. Man and his friends to look at and talk\nabout, and if Mr. Turtle will take my advice he will keep out of a\nmenagerie and live in the Wide Blue Water where he was born. I wouldn't\nhave gone there again unless I had been dragged there by force, or\nunless they had put those tame animals into cages with the others. No\ndoubt there are some very fine, strong animals in a menagerie, but they\nwouldn't be there if they could help it, and if anybody ever invites any\nof you to join a menagerie, take my advice and don't do it.\"\n\nThen Mr. Dog knocked the ashes out of his pipe again, and all the other\nDeep Woods People knocked the ashes out of _their_ pipes, too, and\nfilled them up fresh, and one said one thing, and one said another about\nbeing in a menagerie or out of it, and every one thought it would be a\nterrible thing to be shut up in a cage, except Mr. 'Possum, who said he\nwouldn't mind it if they would let him sleep enough and give him all he\ncould eat, but that a cage without those things would be a lonesome\nplace.\n\nThen Mr. 'Coon said that a little adventure had happened to him once\nwhich he had never mentioned before, because he had never known just\nwhat to make of it; but he knew now, he said, that he had come very near\ngetting into a menagerie, and he would tell them just what happened.\n\nThe Story Teller looked down at the quiet figure in his lap. The Little\nLady's head was nestled close to his shoulder, and her eyes were\nstraining very hard to keep open.\n\nI think we will save Mr. 'Coon's story till another night, he said.\n\n\n\n\nWHEN MR. 'COON WAS A LITTLE BOY\n\nMR. 'COON TELLS HOW HE CAME NEAR BEING A PART OF A MENAGERIE, AND HOW HE\nONCE TOLD A STORY TO MR. DOG\n\n\n\"YOU can tell about Mr. 'Coon, now--the the story you didn't tell last\nnight, you know,\" and the Little Lady wriggles herself into a\ncomfortable corner just below the Story Teller's smoke, and looks deep\ninto a great cavern of glowing embers between the big old andirons,\nwhere, in her fancy, she can picture the Hollow Tree people and their\nfriends.\n\nWhy, yes, let me see--says the Story Teller.\n\n\"Mr. Dog had just told about being at the menagerie, you know, and Mr.\n'Coon was just going to tell how he came very near getting into a\nmenagerie himself.\"\n\nOh, yes, of course--well, then, all the Hollow Tree people, the 'Coon\nand 'Possum and the Old Black Crow, and their friends who were visiting\nthem--Mr. Dog and Mr. Robin and Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle and Mr.\nSquirrel--knocked the ashes out of their pipes and filled them up\nfresh--\n\n\"No, they had just done that.\"\n\nThat's so, I forgot. Well, anyway, as soon as they got to smoking and\nsettled back around the fire again Mr. 'Coon told them his story, and I\nguess we'll call it\n\n\nMR. 'COON'S EARLY ADVENTURE\n\n[Illustration: ALL AT ONCE HE HEARD A FIERCE BARK CLOSE BEHIND HIM]\n\nMr. 'Coon said he was quite young when it happened, and was taking a\npleasant walk one evening, to think over things a little, and perhaps to\npick out a handy tree where Mr. Man's chickens roosted, when all at once\nhe heard a fierce bark close behind him, and he barely had time to get\nup a tree himself when a strange and very noisy Mr. Dog was leaping\nabout at the foot of the tree, making a great fuss, and calling every\nmoment for Mr. Man to hurry, for he had a young 'coon treed.\n\n\"Of course I laid pretty low when I heard that,\" Mr. 'Coon said, \"for I\nknew that Mr. Man would most likely have a gun, so I got into a bunch of\nleaves and brush that must have been some kind of an old nest, and\nscrooched down so that none of me would show.\n\n\"Then by and by I heard some big creature come running through the\nbrush, and I peeked over a little, and there, sure enough, was Mr. Man\nwith a long gun, and I noticed that he wore a thing on his head--a sort\nof hat, I suppose--made of what looked to be the skin of some relative\nof mine.\n\n\"Of course that made me mad. I hadn't cared so much until I saw that;\nbut I said right then to myself that any one who would do such a thing\nas that never could be a friend of mine, no matter how much he tried.\nSo I scrooched down and laid low in that old nest, and didn't move or\nlet on in any way that I was there.\n\n\"Then I heard Mr. Man walking around the tree and talking to his dog and\ntelling him that there wasn't anything up in that tree at all, and that\nMr. Dog had just been fooling him. I could tell by his voice that he was\ngetting mad at Mr. Dog, and I hoped that he'd get mad enough pretty soon\nto take a stick to him for chasing me up a tree like that, calling all\nthe time for Mr. Man to come and see me when there wasn't really\nanything to look at.\n\n\"But Mr. Dog kept galloping around the tree and barking out, over and\nover, that I was there; that he had seen me, and that he knew that I was\nhiding up there somewhere; and pretty soon I heard Mr. Man going away,\nand I peeked over again.\n\n\"Sure enough, he was going, but Mr. Dog was staying right there, sitting\nunder the tree and looking up and making a good deal more noise than\nthere was any need of to let me know he hadn't gone. I didn't see why he\nstayed there. I wished he'd go away and 'tend to his own business.\n\n\"Being quite young, I still lived with my folks over near the Wide Grass\nLands, and I wanted to get home for supper. It was a good way to go, for\nthe tree I had climbed was over close to the edge of the world where the\nsun and moon rise, and you all know that's a good way, even from here.\n\n\"Well, he didn't go, but just sat there, barking up that tree, and after\na long time I heard somebody coming again, and I peeked over, and there\nwas Mr. Man, hurrying back, this time with an axe. I knew, right then,\nthere was going to be trouble. I knew they were going to cut that tree\ndown, and that I should most likely have quite a fuss with Mr. Dog, and\nperhaps go home with a black eye and a scratched nose, and then get\nwhipped again for fighting, after I got there.\"\n\nMr. 'Coon stopped and knocked the ashes out of his pipe and filled it\nup fresh, and all the others knocked the ashes out of their pipes and\nfilled them up fresh, too. Then Mr. 'Possum poked up the fire and told\nMr. Turtle to bring a stick of wood from down stairs, and when it was\nblazing up high and bright again they all stepped over to the window a\nminute, to see how hard it was snowing and banking up outside, then went\nback to their chairs around the fire, and stretched out their feet and\nleaned back and smoked, and listened to the rest of Mr. 'Coon's story.\n\nMr. 'Coon said he didn't like the sound of that axe when Mr. Man began\nto cut the tree down.\n\n\"Every time he struck the tree I could feel it all through me,\" he said,\n\"and I knew if he kept that noise up long enough it would give me a\nnervous headache. I wished the tree would hurry up and drop, so we could\nhave what muss we were going to, and get it over with. I'd have got out\nof that old nest and made a jump for another tree if there had been any\nnear enough, but there wasn't, so I just laid low and gritted my teeth\nand let him chop.\n\n\"Well, by and by the tree began to go down. It seemed to teeter a little\nat first, this way and that; then it went very slow in one direction;\nthen it went a little faster; then it went a good deal faster; then I\nsuddenly felt like a shooting-star, I came down so fast, and there was a\nbig crash, and I thought I had turned into a lot of stars, sure enough,\nand was shooting in every direction, and the next I knew I was tied to a\ntree hand and foot and around the middle, and Mr. Man and Mr. Dog were\nsitting and looking at me, and grinning, and talking about what they\nwere going to do.\n\n\"Mr. Man wasn't scolding Mr. Dog any more. He was telling him what a\ngood thing it was they had caught me alive, for now they could sell me\nto a show and get a great deal more for me than they could for my skin.\nI didn't know what a show was, then, or about menageries, but I know\nnow, and I can see just what they meant.\n\n[Illustration: \"THEN I SUDDENLY FELT LIKE A SHOOTING-STAR\"]\n\n\"Pretty soon Mr. Man told Mr. Dog to stay there and watch me while he\nwent home after a box to put me in. He said he didn't think it would be\nsafe to carry me in his arms, and he was right about that.\n\n\"So then Mr. Man walked off, and left Mr. Dog guarding me and saying\nunpleasant things to me now and then.\n\n\"At first I wouldn't answer him; but pretty soon I happened to think of\nsomething pleasant to say.\n\n\"'Mr. Dog,' I said, 'I know a good story, if you'd like me to tell it.\nMr. Man may be a good while getting that box, and mebbe you'd like to\nhear something to pass the time.'\n\n\"Mr. Dog said he would. He said that Mr. Man would most likely have to\nmake the box, and he didn't suppose he knew where the hammer and nails\nwere, and it might be dark before Mr. Man got back.\n\n\"I felt a good deal better when I heard Mr. Dog say that, and I told\nhim a story I knew about how Mr. Rabbit lost his tail, and Mr. Dog\nlaughed and seemed to like it, and said, 'Tell me another.'\"\n\nBefore Mr. 'Coon could go on with his story, Mr. Rabbit said that of\ncourse if that old tale had helped Mr. 'Coon out of trouble he was very\nglad, but that it wasn't at all true, and that some time _he_ would tell\nthem himself the true story of how it happened.\n\nThen they all said that they hoped he would, for they'd always wanted to\nhear that story told right, and then Mr. 'Coon went on with his\nadventure.\n\n[Illustration: THEN MR. DOG SAID, \"TELL ME ANOTHER\"]\n\nMr. 'Coon said that when Mr. Dog said, \"Tell me another,\" he knew he was\nin a good humor, and that he felt better and better himself. \"I thought,\nif Mr. Man didn't come back too soon,\" he said, \"I might get along\npretty well with Mr. Dog.\n\n\"'I know another story, Mr. Dog,' I said--'the funniest story there is.\nIt would make you laugh until you fell over the edge of the world, but I\ncan't tell it here.'\n\n\"'Why,' he said--'why can't you tell it here as well as anywhere?'\n\n\"'Because it has to be acted,' I said, 'and my hands are tied.'\n\n\"'Will you tell it if I untie your hands?' said Mr. Dog.\n\n\"'Well,' I said, 'I'll begin it, and you can see how it goes.'\n\n\"So Mr. Dog came over and untied my hands, for he said he could tie them\nagain before Mr. Man came back, because he knew Mr. Man hadn't found\nthat hammer yet.\n\n\"'You can't get loose with just your hands untied, can you?' he said.\n\n\"'No, of course not, Mr. Dog,' I said, pleasant and polite as could be.\n\n\"'Let's see you try,' said Mr. Dog.\n\n\"So I twisted and pulled, and of course I couldn't get loose.\n\n\"'Now tell the story,' said Mr. Dog.\n\n\"So I said: 'Once there was a man who had a very bad pain in his chest,\nand he took all kinds of medicine, and it didn't do him any good. And\none day the Old Wise Man of the Woods told him if he would rub his\nchest with one hand and pat his head with the other, it might draw the\npain out of the top and cure him. So the man with the pain in his chest\ntried it, and he did it this way.'\n\n\"Then I showed Mr. Dog just how he did it, and Mr. Dog thought that was\nfunny, and laughed a good deal.\n\n\"'Go on and tell the rest of it,' he said. 'What happened after that?'\n\n\"But I let on as if I'd just remembered something, and I said, 'Oh, Mr.\nDog, I'm _so_ sorry, but I can't tell the rest of that story here, and\nit's the funniest part, too. I know you'd laugh till you rolled over the\nedge of the world.'\n\n\"'Why can't you tell the rest of that story here as well as anywhere?'\nsaid Mr. Dog, looking anxious.\n\n\"'Because it has to be acted with the feet,' I said, 'and my feet are\ntied.'\n\n\"'Will you tell it if I untie your feet?' said Mr. Dog.\n\n\"'Well, I'll do the best I can,' I said.\n\n\"So Mr. Dog came over and untied my feet. He said he knew that Mr. Man\nhadn't found the nails or the pieces to make the box yet, and there\nwould be plenty of time to tie me again before Mr. Man got back.\n\n\"'You can't get loose, anyway, with just your hands and feet untied, can\nyou?' he said.\n\n\"'No, of course not, Mr. Dog,' I said, more pleasant and polite than\never.\n\n\"'Let's see you try,' said Mr. Dog.\n\n\"So I squirmed and twisted, but of course with a strong string around my\nwaist and tied behind I couldn't do anything.\n\n\"'Now go on with the story,' said Mr. Dog.\n\n[Illustration: AND DID ROLL OFF THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, SURE ENOUGH]\n\n\"'Well,' I said, 'the pain left his chest, but it went into his back,\nand he had a most terrible time, until one day the Old Wise Man of the\nWoods came along and told him that he thought he ought to know enough by\nthis time to rub his back where the pain was and pat his head at the\nsame time to draw it out at the top. So then the man with the pain\nrubbed his back and patted his head this way,' and I showed Mr. Dog how\nhe did it; and I rubbed a good while about where the knot was, and made\na face to show how the man with the pain looked, and then I said the\npain came back into his chest again instead of being drawn out at the\ntop, and I changed about and rubbed there awhile, and then I went around\nto my back again, chasing that pain first one side and then the other;\nand then I said that the Old Wise Man of the Woods came along one day\nand told him that he must kick with his feet, too, if he ever wanted to\nget rid of that pain, because, after all, it might have to be kicked out\nat the bottom; and when I began to kick and dance with both feet and to\nrub with my hands at the same time, Mr. Dog gave a great big laugh--the\nbiggest laugh I ever heard anybody give--and fell right down and rolled\nover and over, and did roll off the edge of the world, sure enough.\n\n\"I heard him go clattering into a lot of brush and blackberry bushes\nthat are down there, and just then I got that back knot untied, and I\nstepped over and looked down at Mr. Dog, who had lodged in a brier patch\non a shelf about ten feet below the edge, where Mr. Man would have to\nget him up with a ladder or a rope.\n\n\"'Do you want to hear the rest of the story, Mr. Dog?' I said.\n\n\"'I'll story _you_,' he said, 'when I catch you!'\n\n\"'I told you you'd laugh till you fell off the edge of the world,' I\nsaid.\n\n[Illustration: \"I SET OUT FOR HOME WITHOUT WAITING TO SAY GOOD-BYE\"]\n\n\"'I'll make _you_ laugh,' he said, 'when I catch you!'\n\n\"Then I saw he was cross about something, and I set out for home without\nwaiting to say good-bye to Mr. Man, for I didn't want to waste any more\ntime, though I missed my supper and got a scolding besides.\n\n\"But I was glad I didn't bring home a black eye and scratched nose, and\nI'm more glad than ever now that Mr. Man didn't get back in time with\nthat box, or I might be in a menagerie this minute instead of sitting\nhere smoking and telling stories and having a good time on Christmas\nDay.\"\n\nThe Story Teller looks down at the Little Lady.\n\n\"I'm glad Mr. 'Coon didn't get into the menagerie, aren't you?\" she\nsays.\n\nVery glad, says the Story Teller.\n\n\"He went lickety split home, didn't he?\"\n\nHe did that!\n\n\"I like them to go lickety split better than lickety cut, don't you?\"\nsays the Little Lady. \"They seem to go so much faster.\"\n\nEver so much faster, says the Story Teller.\n\n\n\n\nHOW MR. RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL\n\nMR. RABBIT TELLS SOME INTERESTING FAMILY HISTORY\n\n\nTHE Little Lady waited until the Story Teller had lit his pipe and sat\nlooking into the great open fire, where there was a hickory log so big\nthat it had taken the Story Teller and the Little Lady's mother with two\npairs of ice tongs to drag it to the hearth and get it into place.\nPretty soon the Little Lady had crept in between the Story Teller's\nknees. Then in another minute she was on one of his knees, helping him\nrock. Then she said:--\n\n\"Did Mr. Rabbit tell his story next? He promised to tell about losing\nhis tail, you know.\"\n\nThe Story Teller took his pipe from his mouth a moment, and sat thinking\nand gazing at the big log, which perhaps reminded him of one of the\nlimbs of the Hollow Tree where the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black\nCrow lived and had their friends visit them that long-ago snowy\nChristmas-time.\n\nWhy, yes, he said, that's so, Mr. Rabbit _did_ tell that story. When Mr.\n'Coon got through telling how he came near getting into a menagerie,\nthey all said that it certainly was a very narrow escape, and Mr. 'Coon\nsaid he shouldn't wonder if that menagerie had to quit business, just\nbecause he wasn't in it; and Mr. 'Possum said he thought if anything\nwould _save_ a menagerie that would, for it would keep them from being\neaten out of house and home.\n\nThen Mr. 'Coon said that if that was so, Mr. 'Possum had saved at least\nthree menageries by staying right where he was in the Big Deep Woods.\nThis made Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Robin laugh, and the rest wondered what\nthose two gigglers had noticed that was funny. Then they all knocked the\nashes out of their pipes again, and walked over to the window, and\nlooked at the snow banking up outside and piling up on the bare limbs of\nthe big trees. They said how early it got dark this time of year,\nespecially on a cloudy day. And pretty soon Mr. Crow said they had just\nabout time for one more story before supper, and that Mr. Rabbit ought\nto tell now about how, a long time ago, his family had lost their tails.\nMr. Rabbit didn't seem to feel very anxious to tell it, but they told\nhim that he had promised, and that now was as good a time as any, so\nthey went back and sat down, and Mr. Rabbit told them\n\n\nTHE TRUE STORY OF THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE, AND HOW JACK RABBIT LOST\nHIS TAIL\n\n\"Once upon a time,\" he said, \"a great many great-grandfathers back, my\nfamily had long bushy tails, like Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Fox, only a good\ndeal longer and finer and softer, and _very handsome_.\"\n\nWhen Mr. Rabbit said that, Mr. Squirrel sniffed and twitched his nose\nand gave his nice bushy tail a flirt, but he didn't say anything. Mr.\nRabbit went right on.\n\n\"Well, there was one fine, handsome rabbit who had the longest and\nplumiest tail of any of the family, and was very proud of it. He was my\ntwenty-seventh great-grandfather, and was called 'Mr. Hare.' He was\nyoung and smart then, and thought he was a good deal smarter than he\nreally was, though he was smart enough and handsome enough to set the\nstyle for all the other rabbits, and not much ever happened to him,\nbecause he could beat anything running that there was in the Big Deep\nWoods.\n\n\"That twenty-seventh great-grandfather of mine was very proud of his\nrunning, and used to brag that in a foot race he could beat anything\nthat lived between the Wide Grass Lands and the edge of the world. He\nused to talk about it to almost everybody that came along, and one day\nwhen he met one of the Turtle family who used to be called 'Mr.\nTortoise' in those days, he stopped and began to brag to him how fast he\ncould run and how nobody in the Big Deep Woods dared to race with him.\n\n\"But Mr. Turtle he just smiled a little and said: 'Oh, pshaw! You can't\nrun very fast. I believe I can beat you myself!'\n\n\"Well, that did make Grandfather Hare laugh--and made him a little mad,\ntoo.\n\n'You!' he said. 'Why, I'll give you within ten yards of that rail fence\nof Mr. Man's half a mile away, and then beat you across it. Just travel\nalong, and some time this afternoon, when you get down that way, I'll\ncome back and let you see me go by. But you'll have to look quick if you\nsee me, for I'll be going fast.'\n\n[Illustration: MR. FOX SAID HE HADN'T MUCH TO DO FOR A FEW MINUTES, AND\nHE'D ACT AS JUDGE]\n\n\"But Mr. Tortoise said he didn't want any start at all, that he was\nready to begin the race right then; and that made Grandpaw Hare laugh so\nloud that Mr. Fox heard him as he was passing, and came over to see\nwhat the fun was. Then he said that he hadn't much to do for a few\nminutes, and that he'd stay and act as judge. He thought a race like\nthat wouldn't last long; and it didn't, though it wasn't at all the kind\nof a race he had expected.\n\n\"Well, he put Mr. Tortoise and my twenty-seventh great-grandfather side\nby side, and then he stood off and said, 'Go!' and thought it would all\nbe over in a minute.\n\n\"Grandpaw Hare gave one great big leap, about twenty feet long, and then\nstopped. He was in no hurry, and he wanted to have some fun with Mr.\nTortoise. He looked around to where Mr. Tortoise was coming straddling\nand panting along, and he laughed and rolled over to see how solemn he\nlooked, and how he was travelling as if he meant to get somewhere before\ndark. He was down on all fours so he could use all his legs at once, and\nanybody would think, to look at him, that he really expected to win that\nrace.\n\n\"The more my Grandpaw Hare looked at him the more he laughed, and then\nhe would make another long leap forward and stop, and look back, and\nwait for Mr. Tortoise to catch up again.\n\n\"Then he would call to him, or maybe go back and take roundin's on him,\nand say: 'Come along there, old tobacco box. Are you tied to something?'\nMr. Fox would laugh a good deal, too, and he told my ancestor to go on\nand finish the race--that he couldn't wait around there all day. And\npretty soon he said if they were going to fool along like that, he'd\njust go down to the fence and take a nap till they got there; and for\nGrandpaw Rabbit to call to him when he really started to come, so he\ncould wake up and judge the finish.\n\n\"Mr. Fox he loped away to the fence and laid down and went to sleep in\nthe shade, and Grandpaw Hare thought it would be fun to pretend to be\nasleep, too. I've heard a story told about it that says that he really\ndid go to sleep, and that Mr. Tortoise went by him and got to the fence\nbefore he woke up. But that is not the way it happened. My\ntwenty-seventh great-grandfather was too smart to go to sleep, and even\nif he had gone to sleep, Mr. Tortoise made enough noise pawing and\nscratching along through the grass and gravel to wake up forty of our\nfamily.\n\n\"My ancestor would wait until he came grinding along and was up even\nwith him, then suddenly he'd sit up as if he'd been waked out of a nice\ndream and say: 'Hello, old coffee mill! What do you want to wake me up\nfor when I'm trying to get a nap?' Then he would laugh a big laugh and\nmake another leap, and lie down and pretend again, with his fine plumy\ntail very handsome in the sun.\n\n\"But Grandpaw Hare carried the joke a little too far. He kept letting\nMr. Tortoise get up a little closer and closer every time, until Mr.\nTortoise would almost step on him before he would move. And that was\njust what Mr. Tortoise wanted, for about the next time he came along he\ncame right up behind my ancestor, but instead of stepping on him, he\ngave his head a quick snap, just as if he were catching fish, and\ngrabbed my Grandpaw Hare by that beautiful plumy tail, and held on, and\npinched, and my ancestor gave a squeal and a holler and set out for that\nrail fence, telling his troubles as he came.\n\n[Illustration: SAILING ALONG, JUST TOUCHING THE HIGHEST POINTS]\n\n\"Mr. Fox had gone sound asleep and didn't hear the rumpus at first, and\nwhen he did he thought Grandpaw was just calling to him to wake up and\nbe ready to judge the race, so he sat up quick and watched them come. He\nsaw my twenty-seventh great-grandfather sailing along, just touching the\nhighest points, with something that looked like an old rusty washpan\ntied to his tail.\n\n\"When Mr. Fox saw what it was, he just laid down and laughed and rolled\nover, and then hopped up on the top rail and called out, 'All right, I'm\nawake, Mr. Hare! Come right along, Mr. Hare. You'll beat him yet!'\n\n\"Then he saw my ancestor stop and shake himself, and paw, and roll\nover, to try to get Mr. Tortoise loose, which of course he couldn't do,\nfor, as we all know, whenever any of the Turtle family get a grip they\nnever let go till it thunders, and this was a bright day. So pretty soon\nGrandpaw was up and running again, with Mr. Tortoise sailing out behind\nand Mr. Fox laughing to see them come, and calling out: 'Come right\nalong, Mr. Hare! Come right along! You'll beat him yet!'\n\n[Illustration: AWAY WENT MR. TORTOISE, CLEAR OVER THE TOP RAIL]\n\n\"But Mr. Fox made a mistake about that. Grandpaw Hare was really\nahead, of course, when he came down the homestretch, but when he got\npretty close to the fence he made one more try to get Mr. Tortoise\nloose, and gave himself and his tail a great big swing, and Mr. Tortoise\ndidn't let go quite quick enough, and off came my twenty-seventh\ngreat-grandfather's beautiful plumy tail, and away went Mr. Tortoise\nwith it, clear over the top rail of the fence, and landed in a brier\npatch on the other side.\n\n\"Well, Grandpaw Hare was in such a state as you never heard of! He\nforgot all about the race at first, and just raved about his great loss,\nand borrowed Mr. Fox's handkerchief to tie up what was left, and said\nthat he never in the world could show his face before folks again.\n\n\"And Mr. Fox stopped laughing as soon as he could, and was really quite\nsorry for him, and even Mr. Tortoise looked through the fence, and asked\nhim if he didn't think it could be spliced and be almost as good as\never.\n\n\"He said he hadn't meant to commit any injury, and that he hoped Mr.\nHare would live to forgive him, and that now there was no reason why my\ngrandpaw shouldn't beat him in the next race.\n\n\"Then my ancestor remembered about the race and forgot his other loss\nfor a minute, and declared that Mr. Tortoise didn't win the race at\nall--that he couldn't have covered that much ground in a half a day\nalone, and he asked Mr. Fox if he was going to let that great straddle\nbug ruin his reputation for speed and make him the laughing stock of\nthe Big Deep Woods, besides all the other damage he had done.\n\n\"Then Mr. Fox scratched his head, and thought about it, and said he\ndidn't see how he could help giving the race to Mr. Tortoise, for it was\nto be the first one across the fence, and that Mr. Tortoise was\ncertainly the first one across, and that he'd gone over the top rail in\nstyle.\n\n[Illustration: SET OUT FOR HOME BY A BACK WAY]\n\n\"Well, that made Grandpaw Hare madder than ever. He didn't say another\nword, but just picked up his property that Mr. Tortoise handed him\nthrough the fence, and set out for home by a back way, studying what he\nought to do to keep everybody from laughing at him, and thinking that if\nhe didn't do something he'd have to leave the country or drown himself,\nfor he had always been so proud that if people laughed at him he knew he\ncould never show his face again.\n\n\"And that,\" said Mr. Rabbit, \"is the true story of that old race between\nthe Hare and the Tortoise, and of how the first Rabbit came to lose his\ntail. I've never told it before, and none of my family ever did; but so\nmany stories have been told about the way those things happened that we\nmight just as well have this one, which is the only true one so far as I\nknow.\"\n\nThen Mr. Rabbit lit his pipe and leaned back and smoked. Mr. Dog said it\nwas a fine story, and he wished he could have seen that race, and Mr.\nTurtle looked as if he wanted to say something, and did open his mouth\nto say it, but Mr. Crow spoke up, and asked what happened after that to\nMr. Rabbit's twenty-seventh great-grandfather, and how it was that the\nrest of the Rabbits had short tails, too.\n\nThen Mr. Rabbit said that that was another story, and Mr. Squirrel and\nMr. Robin wanted him to tell it right away, but Mr. Crow said they'd\nbetter have supper now, and Mr. 'Possum thought that was a good plan,\nand Mr. 'Coon, too, and then they all hurried around to get up some\nsticks of wood from down stairs, and to set the table, and everybody\nhelped, so they could get through early and have a nice long evening.\n\nAnd all the time the snow was coming down outside and piling higher and\nhigher, and it was getting too dark to see much when they tried to look\nout the window through the gloom of the Big Deep Woods.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE OTHER RABBITS LOST THEIR TAILS\n\nMR. JACK RABBIT CONTINUES HIS FAMILY HISTORY\n\n\n\"DID they have enough left for supper--enough for all the visitors, I\nmean?\" asks the Little Lady the next evening, when the Story Teller is\nready to go on with the history of the Hollow Tree.\n\nOh, yes, they had plenty for supper, and more, too. They had been\ngetting ready a good while for just such a time as this, and had carried\nin a lot of food, and they had a good many nice things down in the store\nroom where the wood was, but they didn't need those yet. They just put\non what they had left from their big dinner, and Mr. Crow stirred up a\npan of hot biscuits by his best receipt, and they passed them back and\nforth across the table so much that Mr. 'Possum said they went like hot\ncakes, sure enough, and always took two when they came his way.\n\nAnd they talked a good deal about the stories that Mr. 'Coon and Mr.\nRabbit had told them, and everybody thought how sly and smart Mr. 'Coon\nhad been to fool Mr. Dog that way; and Mr. 'Coon said that, now he came\nto think it over, he supposed it was a pretty good trick, though it\nreally hadn't seemed so specially great to him at the time. He said he\ndidn't think it half as smart as Mr. Tortoise's trick on Mr. Rabbit's\nGrandpaw Hare, when he beat him in the foot race and went over the fence\nfirst, taking Mr. Hare's tail with him. And then they wondered if that\nhad all really happened as Mr. Rabbit had told it--all but Mr. Turtle,\nwho just sat and smiled to himself and didn't say anything at all,\nexcept \"Please pass the biscuits,\" now and then, when he saw the plate\nbeing set down in front of Mr. 'Possum.\n\nThen by and by they all got through and hurried up and cleared off the\ntable, and lit their pipes, and went back to the fire, and pretty soon\nJack Rabbit began to tell\n\n\nHOW THE REST OF THE RABBITS LOST THEIR TAILS\n\n\"Well,\" he said, \"my twenty-seventh great-grandfather Hare didn't go out\nagain for several days. He put up a sign that said 'Not at Home' on his\ndoor, and then tried a few experiments, to see what could be done.\n\n[Illustration: HE TRIED TO SPLICE HIS PROPERTY BACK IN PLACE]\n\n\"He first tried to splice his property back into place, as Mr. Tortoise\nhad told him he might, but that plan didn't work worth a cent. He never\ncould get it spliced on straight, and if he did get it about right, it\nwould lop over or sag down or something as soon as he moved, and when he\nlooked at himself in the glass he made up his mind that he'd rather do\nwithout his nice plumy brush altogether than to go out into society\nwith it in that condition.\n\n\"So he gave it up and put on some nice all-healing-ointment, and before\nlong what there was left of it was well, and a nice bunch of soft, white\ncottony fur had grown out over the scar, and Grandpaw Hare thought when\nhe looked at himself in the glass that it was really quite becoming,\nthough he knew the rest of his family would always be saying things\nabout it, and besides they would laugh at him for letting Mr. Tortoise\nbeat him in a foot race.\n\n[Illustration: GRANDFATHER WOULD LIGHT HIS PIPE AND THINK IT OVER]\n\n\"Sometimes, when there was nobody around, my grandfather would go out\ninto the sun and light his pipe and lean up against a big stone, or\nmaybe a stump, and think it over.\n\n\"And one morning, as he sat there thinking, he made up his mind what he\nwould do. Mr. Lion lived in the Big Deep Woods in those days, and he was\nKing. Whenever anything happened among the Deep Woods People that they\ncouldn't decide for themselves, they went to where King Lion lived, in\na house all by himself over by the Big West Hills, and he used to settle\nthe question; and sometimes, when somebody that wasn't very old, and\nmaybe was plump and tender, had done something that wasn't just right,\nKing Lion would look at him and growl and say it was too bad for any one\nso young to do such things, and especially for them to grow up and keep\non doing them; so he would have him for breakfast, or maybe for dinner,\nand that would settle everything in the easiest and shortest way.\n\n\"Of course Grandfather Hare knew very well that Mr. Tortoise and Mr. Fox\nwouldn't go with him to King Lion, for they would be afraid to, after\nwhat they had done, so he made up his mind to go alone and tell him the\nwhole story, because he was as sure as anything that King Lion would\ndecide that he had really won the race, and would be his friend, which\nwould make all the other Deep Woods People jealous and proud of him\nagain, and perhaps make them wish they had nice bunches of white\ncottony fur in the place of long dragging tails that were always in the\nway.\n\n\"And then some day he would show King Lion where Mr. Fox and Mr.\nTortoise lived.\n\n\"My Grandfather Hare didn't stop a minute after he thought of that, but\njust set out for King Lion's house over at the foot of the Big West\nHills. He had to pass by Mr. Fox's house, and Mr. Fox called to him, but\nGrandpaw Hare just set up his ears as proud as could be and went by,\nlickety split, without looking at Mr. Fox at all.\n\n\"It was a good way to King Lion's house, but Grandpaw Hare didn't waste\nany time, and he was there almost before he knew it.\n\n\"When he got to King Lion's door he hammered on the knocker, and when\nnobody came right away he thought maybe the King was out for a walk. But\nthat wasn't so. King Lion had been sick for two or three days, and he\nwas still in bed, and had to get up and get something around him before\nhe could let Grandpaw in.\n\n\"Grandpaw Hare had sat down on the steps to wait, when all at once the\ndoor opened behind him and he felt something grab him by the collar and\nswing him in and set him down hard on a seat, and then he saw it was\nKing Lion, and he didn't much like his looks.\n\n[Illustration: \"GLAD TO SEE YOU,\" SAID KING LION; \"I WAS JUST THINKING\nABOUT HAVING A RABBIT FOR BREAKFAST\"]\n\n\"'So it was you, was it, making that noise?' he said. 'Well, I'm glad to\nsee you, for I was just thinking about having a nice rabbit for\nbreakfast.'\n\n\"Then my twenty-seventh great-grandfather knew he'd made a mistake,\ncoming to see King Lion when he was feeling that way, and he had to\nthink pretty quick to know what to say. But our family have always been\npretty quick in their thoughts, and Grandpaw Hare spoke right up as\npolite as could be, and said he would do anything he could to find a\nnice young plump rabbit for King Lion, and that he would even be proud\nto be a king's breakfast himself, only he wasn't so very young nor so\nvery plump, and, besides, there was that old prophecy about the king\nand the cotton-tailed rabbit, which of course, he said, King Lion must\nhave heard about.\n\n\"Then King Lion said that my twenty-seventh great-grandfather was plenty\nyoung enough and plenty plump enough, and that he'd never heard of any\nprophecy about a cotton-tailed rabbit, and that he'd never heard of a\ncotton-tailed rabbit, either.\n\n\"Then Grandpaw Hare just got up and turned around, and as he turned he\nsaid, as solemnly as he could:--\n\n          \"'When the King eats a hare with a cotton tail,\n            Then the King's good health will fail.'\n\n\"Well, that scared the King a good deal, for he was just getting over\none sick spell, and he was afraid if he had another right away he'd die,\nsure. He sat down and asked Grandpaw Hare to tell him how he came to\nhave a tail like that, and Grandpaw told him, and it made the King laugh\nand laugh, until he got well, and he said it was the best joke he ever\nheard of, and that he'd have given some of the best ornaments off of\nhis crown to have seen that race.\n\n\"And the better King Lion felt the hungrier he got, and when my\nGrandfather Hare asked him if he wouldn't decide the race in his favor,\nhe just glared at him and said if he didn't get out of there and hunt\nhim up a nice, young, plump, long-tailed rabbit, he'd eat him--cotton\ntail, prophecy, and all--for he didn't go much on prophecies, anyway.\n\n\"Then Grandpaw Hare got right up and said, 'Good day,' and backed out\nand made tracks for the rest of his family, and told them that King Lion\nhad just got up from a sick spell that had given him an appetite for\nlong-tailed rabbits. He said that the King had sent him out to get one,\nand that King Lion would most likely be along himself pretty soon. He\nsaid the sooner the Rabbit family took pattern after the new\ncotton-tailed style the more apt they'd be to live to a green old age\nand have descendants.\n\n\"Well, that was a busy day in the Big Deep Woods. The Rabbit family got\nin line by a big smooth stump that they picked out for the purpose, and\nGrandpaw borrowed a hatchet and attended to the job for them, and called\nout 'Next!' as they marched by. He didn't have to wait, either, for they\ndidn't know what minute King Lion might come. Mr. Tortoise and Mr. Fox\ncame along and stopped to see the job, and helped Grandpaw now and then\nwhen his arm got tired, and by evening there was a pile of tails by that\nstump as big as King Lion's house, and there never was such a call for\nthe all-healing-ointment as there was that night in the Big Deep Woods.\n\n\"And none of our family ever did have tails after that, for they never\nwould grow any more, and all the little new rabbits just had bunches of\ncotton, too, and that has never changed to this day.\"\n\n\"And when King Lion heard how he'd been fooled by Grandpaw Hare with\nthat foolish prophecy that he just made up right there, out of his\nhead, he knew that everybody would laugh at him as much as he had\nlaughed at Mr. Hare, and he moved out of the country and never came\nback, and there's never been a king in the Big Deep Woods since, so my\ntwenty-seventh great-grandfather did some good, after all.\n\n\"And that,\" said Mr. Rabbit, \"is the whole story of the Hare and the\nTortoise and how the Rabbit family lost their tails. It's never been\ntold outside of our family before, but it's true, for it's been handed\ndown, word for word, and if Mr. Fox or Mr. Tortoise were alive now they\nwould say so.\"\n\nMr. Rabbit filled his pipe and lit it, and Mr. Crow was just about to\nmake some remarks when Mr. Turtle cleared his throat and said:--\n\n\"The story that Mr. Rabbit has been telling is all true, every word of\nit--I was there.\"\n\nThen all the Deep Woods People took their pipes out of their mouths and\njust looked at Mr. Turtle with their mouths wide open, and when they\ncould say anything at all, they said:--\n\n\"_You were there!_\"\n\nYou see, they could never get used to the notion of Mr. Turtle's being\nso old--as old as their twenty-seventh great-grandfathers would have\nbeen, if they had lived.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Mr. Turtle, \"and it all comes back to me as plain as day. It\nhappened two hundred and fifty-eight years ago last June. They used to\ncall us the Tortoise family then, and I was a young fellow of\nsixty-seven and fond of a joke. But I was surprised when I went sailing\nover that fence, and I didn't mean to carry off Mr. Hare's tail. Dear\nme, how time passes! I'm three hundred and twenty-five now, though I\ndon't feel it.\"\n\nThen they all looked at Mr. Turtle again, for though they believed he\nwas old, and might possibly have been there, they thought it pretty\nstrange that he could be the very Mr. Tortoise who had won the race.\n\nMr. 'Possum said, pretty soon, that when anybody said a thing like that,\nthere ought to be some way to prove it.\n\nThen Mr. Turtle got up and began taking off his coat, and all the others\nbegan to get out of the way, for they didn't know what was going to\nhappen to Mr. 'Possum, and they wanted to be safe; and Mr. 'Possum\nrolled under the table, and said that he didn't mean anything--that he\nloved Mr. Turtle, and that Mr. Turtle hadn't understood the way he meant\nit at all.\n\nBut Mr. Turtle wasn't the least bit mad. He just laid off his coat,\nquietly, and unbuttoned his shirt collar, and told Mr. 'Coon and Mr.\nCrow to look on the back of his shell.\n\nAnd then Mr. Dog held a candle, and they all looked, one after another,\nand there, sure enough, carved right in Mr. Turtle's shell, were the\nwords:--\n\n                           BEAT MR. HARE\n                             FOOT RACE\n                           JUNE 10, 1649\n\n\"That,\" said Mr. Turtle, \"was my greatest joke, and I had it carved on\nmy shell.\"\n\nAnd all the rest of the forest people said that a thing like that was\nworth carving on anybody's shell that had one, and when Mr. Turtle put\non his coat they gave him the best seat by the fire, and sat and looked\nat him and asked questions about it, and finally all went to sleep in\ntheir chairs, while the fire burned low and the soft snow was banking up\ndeeper and deeper, outside, in the dark.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nIllustrations were moved from their original location. They are now\nlocated more closely to the text that forms the caption.","title":"How Mr. Rabbit Lost his Tail: Hollow Tree Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":12619}