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Tale of Frisky Squirrel

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<h2>IX</h2><h3>A Bag of Corn</h3></div> When Frisky Squirrel and Uncle Sammy Coon arrived at Farmer Green’s place, the moon was just rising. It wasn’t dark, but Uncle Sammy said that they would have no trouble at all, because Farmer Green’s family would be in the house, eating their evening meal. “There’s the corn-house,” he said, pointing to an old stone building. “There’s a hole in the wall up there under the roof. All you have to do is to climb that tree, run out on that limb, crawl through the hole, and there you are—inside. Then you can bring the corn up to[Pg 45] the hole, drop it out onto the ground, and I’ll stay outside and pick it up and put it in this sack and watch out for old dog Spot.” “You see,” he went on, “I’ll be doing most of the work, for I’ll be doing three things, while all you’ll have to do will be to drop the corn out of the hole in the wall.... But I don’t mind doing more than my share.” Frisky Squirrel couldn’t quite understand how Uncle Sammy would be doing most of the work. But since the old gentleman said it was so, Frisky supposed it was the truth. There was one thing, however, that puzzled him still more. “Have you brought a bag for my share of the corn?” he asked. “Oh, we’ll divide this bagful,” said Uncle Sammy. “When we get over the hill we’ll sit down and divide it.” “All right!” said Frisky. And then he[Pg 46] hurried up the tree. In no more than a jiffy he was inside the old stone building; and pretty soon the corn began to patter, patter, down upon the ground where Uncle Sammy waited. Frisky had been working steadily for some time. And he began to wonder if the bag was not full. He thought he would just peep out of the hole in the wall and see. So he stuck his head out. To his surprise, Uncle Sammy had vanished. And as Frisky looked all around he caught sight of Uncle Sammy Coon with the bag of corn on his back, hurrying up the road. For an old gentleman with a lame knee he was going at a very fast pace. Frisky Squirrel wondered why he had run away. But he didn’t wonder long, for a dog barked; and the bark came from right underneath the hole in the wall. Then Farmer Green came running up the[Pg 47] path which led to the corn-house. He had a gun in his hand, too. Frisky didn’t wait to see anything more. He whisked out of the hole, and climbed the roof, and jumped into another tree on the other side of the corn-house. And soon he too was running like mad along the road—only he was going in exactly the opposite direction to that in which Uncle Sammy had vanished. He never stopped running until he had reached the woods. And since he could not bring any corn home with him, he thought that there was really no sense in telling his mother anything about his adventure. The next day, as Frisky was playing in a tree-top, he came across Uncle Sammy Coon sunning himself. “Where’s my corn?” asked Frisky Squirrel.[Pg 48] “Corn!” Uncle Sammy exclaimed, as if he had forgotten all about such a thing. “Oh! you mean that corn that we got last night. Now, I’m sorry to say that the bag was so heavy I had to drop it, because old dog Spot was after me, you know. And when I went back to get it, later, it wasn’t there.... We’ll have to try again, some other time,” he added. Frisky Squirrel began to see that the old fellow had tricked him. Uncle Sammy’s sides looked very plump, as if he had had an unusually good meal. And he smiled so pleasantly that Frisky Squirrel became very angry. “You’ll get your own corn next time,” he snapped. And as he skipped away he heard Uncle Sammy Coon laugh heartily—just as though something had amused him. <hr class='major' /> <div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> <ANTIMG src='images/illus-037.png' alt='300' title='' /> </div> <div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> [Pg 49] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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