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Tale of Grunty Pig

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<h3>XVI</h3><h3>DANGER AHEAD</h3> Jolly Robin and his wife were terribly worried. Grunty Pig meant to uproot the apple tree where they had their nest. Every day he came and dug at the foot of the tree. Every day, just before he went away, he looked up at them and said, "I hope you'll sleep well to-night. You'd better enjoy your home while you have it, for the tree will be flat on the ground before fall." Sleep! Mrs. Robin complained that she never had a good night's rest any more. She said that she had bad dreams. She dreamed that the tree was falling.71 And then she was sure to wake up with a start. And her husband wasn't there to calm her, because he was roosting in a thicket over in the pasture with their first brood of the season. They both agreed—Jolly and his wife—that they must get their second brood of children out of the nest as soon as they could. "The moment they're old enough, we must teach them to fly," Mrs. Robin told her husband. "Yes!" he said. "And we'll have to be careful of them, too, with all these seven young porkers in the orchard." "Suppose—" said Mrs. Robin—"suppose Grunty Pig should bring our tree toppling to the ground before the children leave the nest!" "Oh! There's no danger of that," Jolly assured her. She was always looking72 on the dark side of things. But he didn't tell her so. "I don't know how we're going to be sure the children are safe," Mrs. Robin continued. "How long do you think it will take Grunty Pig to uproot our tree?" Jolly Robin had to confess that he couldn't answer his wife's question. "Then ask somebody who knows something about such matters!" Mrs. Robin cried. And there was a tart note in her voice that made Jolly Robin say hastily, "Yes! Yes, my dear! I'll go right now and find an answer to your question." Off he flew. And not knowing where else to go, he sat down on a bush in Farmer Green's garden, to ponder. Who could tell him how long it would take Grunty Pig to uproot the old apple tree? Although Jolly Robin thought and thought, he could think of no one whom he might73 ask. To be sure, there was Tommy Fox, who was known to be an able digger. But Jolly Robin didn't trust him. Tommy Fox was tricky. And there was Billy Woodchuck, who came from a famous family of burrowers. But everybody knew that old dog Spot had chased him into his hole that very afternoon, and was watching Billy's front door. While Jolly Robin sat there in the garden he happened to look down at the ground. And right before his eyes a long snout suddenly rose out of the dirt, followed by the squat form of Grandfather Mole. Jolly Robin gave a cheerful chirp. Everybody knew that Grandfather Mole was the champion digger of Pleasant Valley. And if he couldn't answer Mrs. Robin's question, then no one could. <hr />74 <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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