The Tale of Nimble Deer

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Tale of Nimble Deer, by Arthur Scott Bailey

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Title: The Tale of Nimble Deer Sleepy-Time Tales
Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
Illustrator: Harry L. Smith
Release Date: May 26, 2007 [EBook #21619]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE TALE OF NIMBLE DEER
SLEEPY-TIME TALES
(Trademark Registered)
BY
ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
AUTHOR OF
TUCK-ME-IN TALES
(Trademark Registered)
THE TALE OF CUFFY BEAR THE TALE OF FRISKY SQUIRREL THE TALE OF TOMMY FOX THE TALE OF FATTY COON THE TALE OF BILLY WOODCHUCK THE TALE OF JIMMY RABBIT THE TALE OF PETER MINK THE TALE OF SANDY CHIPMUNK THE TALE OF BROWNIE BEAVER THE TALE OF PADDY MUSKRAT THE TALE OF FERDINAND FROG THE TALE OF DICKIE DEER MOUSE THE TALE OF TIMOTHY TURTLE THE TALE OF MAJOR MONKEY THE TALE OF BENNY BADGER
[Illustration: Nimble Told Everybody He Met. Frontispiece--(Page 27)]

SLEEPY-TIME TALES (Trademark Registered)
THE TALE OF NIMBLE DEER
BY ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
Author of
"TUCK-ME-IN TALES" (Trademark Registered) and "SLUMBER-TOWN TALES" (Trademark Registered)
ILLUSTRATED BY HARRY L. SMITH
NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE SPOTTED FAWN 7
II LEARNING THINGS 13
III AN INTERRUPTED NAP 18
IV PLANNING A PICNIC 23
V NIMBLE'S MISTAKE 29
VI AN UNEXPECTED PARTY 35
VII THE STRANGE LIGHT 39
VIII MRS. DEER EXPLAINS 44
IX A SPIKE HORN 49
X AT THE CARROT PATCH 54
XI CUFFY AND THE CAVE 60
XII CUFFY IS MISSING 65
XIII CUFFY BEAR WAKENS 70
XIV ANTLERS 75
XV A MOCK BATTLE 79
XVI MR. CROW LOOKS ON 84
XVII WHAT BROWNIE WANTED 90
XVIII THE MULEY COW 96
XIX THE JUMPING CONTEST 100
XX SOLVING A PROBLEM 104
XXI AN UNTOLD SECRET 109
XXII THE NEW HAT-RACK 113
XXIII HOW NIMBLE HELPED 118
XXIV UNCLE JERRY CHUCK 123

THE TALE OF NIMBLE DEER

I
THE SPOTTED FAWN
When Nimble's mother first looked at him she couldn't believe she would ever be able to raise him. He was such a tiny, frail, spotted thing that he seemed too delicate for a life of adventure on the wooded ridges and in the tangled swamps under the shadow of Blue Mountain.
"Bless me!" cried the good lady. "This child's not much taller than an overgrown beet top and he can't be any heavier than one of Farmer Green's prize cabbages. And his legs--" she exclaimed--"his legs are no thicker than pea pods.... They'll be ready to eat in another month," she added, meaning not her child's legs, as you might have supposed, but Farmer Green's early June peas. For Nimble's mother was very fond of certain vegetables that did not grow wild in the woods.
Of course young Nimble did not know what she was talking about. He had a great deal to learn. And he would have to wait until he was a good deal bigger before his mother took him on an excursion, by night, across the fields to Farmer Green's garden patch.
All at once Nimble leaped quickly upon his slightly wobbly legs. He trembled and gazed up at his mother with a look of fear in his great eyes. At the same time his mother, too, lifted her head and listened for a few moments. "Don't be afraid!" she said then, to Nimble. "That's old Spot--Farmer Green's dog--barking. But he's down near the barns, so we don't need to worry."
That was the first time Nimble had ever heard a dog's voice. Yet no one needed to tell him that it wasn't a pleasant sound.
Even his mother couldn't help feeling that she had better put a wide stretch of rough country between her new youngster and old Spot's home. So in a little while she led the way slowly along the pine grown ridge which bent around a shoulder of the mountain. She was headed for the spring which marked the beginning of Broad Brook.
Her little spotted fawn, Nimble, kept close beside her. Slowly as his mother moved, he found the traveling none too easy. And he was glad when she stopped in a pocket-like clearing. There she spoke to a proud speckled bird who was sitting on a log and amusing himself by spreading his tail feathers into a beautiful fan.
"Good morning, Mr. Grouse!" said Nimble's mother.
"Good morning, madam!" replied the gentleman with the fan. "What a handsome child you have! There's nothing quite like spots--or speckles--to add to a person's looks."
"They are pretty," Nimble's mother agreed with a happy glance at her son.
"I can't say he favors his mother," Mr. Grouse remarked.
"Oh, I had spots enough when I was young," she explained.