Old Mother West Wind | Page 6

Every
time Johnny Chuck looked up at him Mr. Sun winked.
"So long as I can see great round, red Mr. Sun and he winks at me I
can't be lost," thought Johnny Chuck, and trotted on looking for clover.
By and by Johnny Chuck really did find some clover--just the sweetest
clover that grew in the Green Meadows. Johnny Chuck ate and ate and

ate and then what do you think he did? Why, he curled right up in the
nice sweet clover and went fast asleep.
Great round, red Mr. Sun kept climbing higher and higher up in the sky,
then by and by he began to go down on the other side, and long
shadows began to creep out across the Green Meadows. Johnny Chuck
didn't know anything about them: he was fast asleep.
By and by one of the Merry Little Breezes found Johnny Chuck all
curled up in a funny round ball.
"Wake up Johnny Chuck! Wake up!" shouted the Merry Little Breeze.
Johnny Chuck opened his eyes. Then he sat up and rubbed them. For
just a few, few minutes he couldn't remember where he was at all.
By and by he sat up very straight to look over the grass and see where
he was. But he was so far from home that he didn't see a single thing
that looked at all like the things he was used to. The trees were all
different. The bushes were all different. Everything was different.
Johnny Chuck was lost.
Now, when Johnny sat up, Reddy Fox happened to be looking over the
Green Meadows and he saw Johnny's head where it popped above the
grass.
"Aha!" said Reddy Fox, "I'll scare Johnny Chuck so he'll wish he'd
never put his nose out of his house."
Then Reddy dropped down behind the long grass and crept softly, oh,
ever so softly, through the paths of his own, until he was right behind
Johnny Chuck. Johnny Chuck had been so intent looking for home that
he didn't see anything else.
Reddy Fox stole right up behind Johnny and pulled Johnny's little short
tail hard. How it did frighten Johnny Chuck! He jumped right straight
up in the air and when he came down he was the maddest little
woodchuck that ever lived in the Green Meadows.
Reddy Fox had thought that Johnny would run, and then Reddy meant
to run after him and pull his tail and tease him all the way home. Now,
Reddy Fox got as big a surprise as Johnny had had when Reddy pulled
his tail. Johnny didn't stop to think that Reddy Fox was twice as big as
he, but with his eyes snapping, and chattering as only a little Chuck can
chatter, with every little hair on his little body standing right up on end,
so that he seemed twice as big as he really was, he started for Reddy
Fox.

It surprised Reddy Fox so that he didn't know what to do, and he
simply ran. Johnny Chuck ran after him, nipping Reddy's heels every
minute or two. Peter Rabbit just happened to be down that way. He was
sitting up very straight looking to see what mischief he could get into
when he caught sight of Reddy Fox running as hard as ever he could.
"It must be that Bowser, the hound, is after Reddy Fox," said Peter
Rabbit to himself. "I must watch out that he doesn't find me."
Just then he caught sight of Johnny Chuck with every little hair
standing up on end and running after Reddy Fox as fast as his short legs
could go.
"Ho! ho! ho!" shouted Peter Rabbit. "Reddy Fox afraid of Johnny
Chuck! Ho! ho! Ho!"
Then Peter Rabbit scampered away to find Jimmy Skunk and Bobby
Coon and Happy Jack Squirrel to tell them all about how Reddy Fox
had run away from Johnny Chuck, for you see they were all a little
afraid of Reddy Fox.
Straight home ran Reddy Fox as fast as he could go, and going home he
passed the house of Johnny Chuck. Now Johnny couldn't run so fast as
Reddy Fox and he was puffing and blowing as only a fat little
woodchuck can puff and blow when he has to run hard. Moreover, he
had lost his ill temper now and he thought it was the best joke ever to
think that he had actually frightened Reddy Fox. When he came to his
own house he stopped and sat on his hind legs once more. Then he
shrilled out after Reddy Fox: "Reddy Fox is a 'fraid cat, 'fraid-cat!
Reddy Fox is a 'fraid-cat!"
And all the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind, who were
playing on the Green Meadows shouted: "Reddy Fox