The Tale of Tommy Fox

The Tale of Tommy Fox

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Title: The Tale of Tommy Fox
Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5955] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 29, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration: "Run Along, Tommy Fox," the Squirrel Said]
SLEEPY-TIME TALES
THE TALE OF TOMMY FOX
BY
ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
ILLUSTRATED BY
HARRY L. SMITH

Copyright, 1915, by A. S. BAILEY

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I TOMMY ENJOYS HIMSELF II JOHNNIE GREEN GOES HUNTING III TOMMY FOX LEARNS TO HUNT IV MOTHER GROUSE'S CHILDREN V TOMMY FOX IS HUNGRY VI MR. GRAY SQUIRREL'S MISTAKE VII TOMMY CHASES MR. WOODCHUCK VIII SOMETHING MAKES TOMMY VERY PROUD IX TOMMY FOX IN TROUBLE X MRS. FOX OUTWITS DOG SPOT XI TOMMY GROWS TOO CARELESS XII OLD MR. CROW IS PLEASED XIII JOHNNIE GREEN AND HIS NEW PET XIV TOMMY FOX MAKES A STRANGE FRIEND XV JOHNNIE GREEN FEELS SAD XVI TOMMY BECOMES BOASTFUL XVII PAYING A CALL ON A FRIEND XVIII THE WORLD TURNS WHITE XIX TOMMY FOX LEARNS A NEW TRICK XX THE DRUMMER OF THE WOODS XXI THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF ALL

ILLUSTRATIONS
"RUN ALONG, TOMMY FOX," THE SQUIRREL SAID...... Frontispiece
A CLOUD OF FEATHERS FLOATED DOWN FROM THE LIMB
MR. WOODCHUCK WHISKED DOWN OUT OF SIGHT
TOMMY DASHED FOR THE LITTLE DOOR
TOMMY THOUGHT IT WAS HIS MOTHER'S VOICE
MRS. FOX AND TOMMY STARTED TO RUN

I
TOMMY ENJOYS HIMSELF
Tommy Fox was having a delightful time. If you could have come upon him in the woods you would have been astonished at his antics. He leaped high off the ground, and struck out with his paws. He opened his mouth and thrust his nose out and then clapped his jaws shut again, with a snap. Tommy burrowed his sharp face into the dead leaves at his feet and tossed his head into the air. And then he jumped up and barked just like a puppy.
If you could have hid behind a tree and watched Tommy Fox you would have said that he was playing with something. But you never could have told what it was, because you couldn't have seen it. And you may have three guesses now, before I tell you what it was that Tommy Fox was playing with. ... It was a feather! Yes--Tommy had found a downy, brownish feather in the woods, which old Mother Grouse had dropped in one of her flights. And Tommy was having great sport with it, tossing it up in the air, and slapping and snapping at it, as it drifted slowly down to the ground again.
He grew quite excited, did Tommy Fox. For he just couldn't help making believe that it was old Mother Grouse herself--and not merely one of her smallest feathers that he had found. And he leaped and bounded and jumped and tumbled about and made a great fuss over nothing but that little, soft, brownish feather.
There was something about that feather that made Tommy's nose twitch and wrinkle and tremble. Tommy sniffed and sniffed at the bit of down, for he liked the smell of it. It made him feel very hungry. And at last he felt so hungry that he decided he would go home and see if his mother had brought him something to eat. So he started homewards.
I must explain that Tommy lived with his mother and that their house was right in the middle of one of Farmer Green's fields, not far from the foot of Blue Mountain. When Tommy was quite small his mother had chosen that place for her house, which was really a den that she had dug in the ground. By having her house in the center of the field she knew that no one could creep up and catch Tommy when he was playing outside in the