The Tale of Frisky Squirrel | Page 6

up at once.
When the little frightened wren screamed, Mr. Kinglet made up his mind that it was time for him to do something. And he pushed his red crown up on the top of his head where it would show better and he flew straight toward Mr. Hawk.
Mr. Kinglet flew up over Mr. Hawk's head, and then he darted down and lighted right in the middle of Mr. Hawk's broad back, and began pecking him as hard as he could with his sharp little bill.
Mr. Hawk stopped trying to catch Frisky. He had all he wanted to do to shake that bold little fellow off his back. And though Mrs. Hawk still swooped down at Frisky Squirrel, brave Mr. Kinglet's brave little wife began to fly at her so fiercely that Mrs. Hawk couldn't keep Frisky from reaching the tree where he lived.
He was very glad to get home, you may be sure. And he dived in through the door and was out of sight in no time. But pretty soon he stuck his head out again to see what was happening. Mr. and Mrs. Hawk had vanished. And all the forest-people were thanking Mr. and Mrs. Kinglet for driving them away. Frisky Squirrel thanked them, too. And when he remembered how he had sometimes teased Mrs. Kinglet by visiting her nest he felt very much ashamed, and he promised himself that he would never trouble her again.

VIII
Uncle Sammy Coon
One day Frisky Squirrel was looking for something to eat in the woods, when whom should he meet but Uncle Sammy Coon, a good-for-nothing old fellow who lived over in the swamp.
"Well, young man!" said Uncle Sammy, "what are you doing here?"
"I'm trying to find a few seeds to eat," Frisky explained.
"I know where there's some corn," said Uncle Sammy Coon. "It's last year's corn, to be sure; but it's good, just the same."
"Where is it?" Frisky asked him.
"Hm--" said Uncle Sammy. "If I told you would you get some of it for me? It would be easy for a spry young chap like you to take all you wanted of it. But I've a lame knee, you know, and I can't climb so well as I used to."
"Of course I'll get some corn for you," Frisky promised. "Where is it?"
"I'll take you to it," said Uncle Sammy--"this very night." He was a suspicious old chap--which means that he was afraid that if he told Frisky then, Frisky would go off alone and take what corn he wanted without giving Uncle Sammy any.
"To-night!" Frisky exclaimed. "Oh, I don't stay out late at night, you know, as you do." Uncle Sammy Coon was known to keep very late hours.
"Well--right after sundown, then," the old rascal said. "We'll meet over by the brook. Don't tell your mother. It will be a pleasant surprise for her, when you bring home a fine bagful of corn."
"All right! I'll be there," Frisky told him.
And sure enough! Just as the sun sank out of sight that evening, Frisky appeared on the bank of the brook. And he hadn't told his mother what he was going to do, either.
Pretty soon Uncle Sammy Coon came along. He had an old sack slung over his shoulder and a wide grin on his face.
"Come on, young man!" he said, "and we'll go over to Farmer Green's place."
"Farmer Green's!" Frisky cried. "I don't want to go there." He remembered the fright he had had when he fell into the flour-barrel in Farmer Green's kitchen.
"You promised," Uncle Sammy reminded him. "And unless you want something you won't like nearly so well as corn, you had better march right along with me."
He was so cross that Frisky Squirrel thought he had better mind him. But Frisky wished he had not come. And he wished he had told his mother what he was going to do, too. But he trotted along with Uncle Sammy--only he was careful not to get too close to the tricky old gentleman, for there was no knowing when Uncle Sammy might suddenly decide that he would rather have a nice, tender, young gray squirrel to eat than all the last year's corn in the world. You see, the little forest-people have to think of many things--especially when they walk out alone with a person like Uncle Sammy Coon.

IX
A Bag of Corn
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