The Tale of Turkey Proudfoot | Page 3

in his shoes and
didn't intend to let Turkey Proudfoot know it. "Order the geese to stay
away from the water. Command them to stop swimming. If you don't,
you'll have a terrible chill some day when you see them set out for the
duck pond. And you don't want to be ill just before the holidays."

"That's true," said Turkey Proudfoot. "I don't want to get a chill and be
ill." And then he turned suddenly upon the startled rooster. "Look
here!" cried Turkey Proudfoot. "It seems to me that you are giving me
orders."
"Not at all!" the rooster assured him. "No, indeed! You're mistaken."
"Don't tell me I'm mistaken!" Turkey Proudfoot bawled in an angry,
gobbly voice. "I'm never mistaken."
"Oh, certainly not!" said the rooster, who was bold as brass with most
of his neighbors, but very mild with Turkey Proudfoot.
"Ha!" Turkey Proudfoot exclaimed. "You're getting yourself into a hole,
sir! If I wasn't mistaken, then you were giving me orders. And in either
case I should have to fight you."
This was too much for the rooster. He couldn't grasp what Turkey
Proudfoot was saying. He only knew that things looked bad for him
because Turkey Proudfoot was getting angrier every moment.
"I say!" the rooster cried. "Please don't waste your time on me just now,
Mr. Turkey Proudfoot! Here come the six silly geese back from the
duck pond. And I'd suggest that you speak to them at once and warn
them not to enter the water again."
Turkey Proudfoot glanced across the farmyard. It was as the rooster
had said. The six geese were waddling around a corner of the barn in
single file. Somehow the sight of them made him so furious that he
forgot he had been picking a quarrel with the rooster.
"I'll attend to them," he gobbled. "I'll fix them. They'll be so scared that
they won't dare leave this yard again."
Turkey Proudfoot hurried towards the geese. He didn't take time to strut,
but ran across the yard with long strides.
"Don't be silly geese!" Turkey Proudfoot called. "Keep away from the

duck-pond! The weather's getting colder every day; and it makes me
shiver to see you start off for a swim."
Turkey Proudfoot had supposed the six geese would be very meek and
most eager to obey his commands. But to his great surprise they
stopped, wheeled about so that they stood in a row, facing him, and
hissed loudly.
It was not at all the sort of answer Turkey Proudfoot had expected.

IV
SCARING THE GEESE
The six geese stood in a row and hissed at Turkey Proudfoot. He was
so astonished that any one of them could have knocked him over with a
feather, almost. When he gobbled an order at them, telling them not to
go swimming again, the geese hissed at him. That was just the same as
telling him to keep still and mind his own affairs.
And Turkey Proudfoot was not used to answers like that.
The rooster had followed him across the farmyard in order to look on
and listen while Turkey Proudfoot spoke to the geese. And his surprise
was as great as Turkey Proudfoot's.
"Surely!" he muttered to Turkey Proudfoot, "you aren't going to let
these geese go unpunished. They've insulted you."
"Ha! I thought they had," Turkey Proudfoot exclaimed. "And I'm glad
to know that you agree with me. There's no doubt that they deserve a
severe beating."
"Ah!" the rooster cried. "Now we'll see some fun."
"Yes!" said Turkey Proudfoot. "I expect we'll have a merry time." Still
he made no move to attack the geese, who stood motionless, facing him

like soldiers.
"Well!" the rooster said impatiently. "Aren't you going to punish these
geese?"
"Certainly not!" Turkey Proudfoot cried. "Why did you tag after me
across the yard if it wasn't to fight them? I've often heard that you were
usually spoiling for a fight. So here's your chance!"
It was true, in a way, that the rooster was always ready to fight. Not one
of the cockerels on the farm dared to speak to him. But he always took
care to fight only such as he knew he could whip. Certainly he had no
desire to fight six geese all by himself. He drew back a little and shook
his head.
"This is not my quarrel," he declared.
"But you suggested it," Turkey Proudfoot reminded him. "And now I
suggest that you take it up. I did my part. You must do yours."
A wild look came into the rooster's eyes. He wanted to run away. But
he was a proud bird. He thought a great deal of the looks of things. And
he didn't know just what to do.
Then something happened that suddenly