The Tale of Turkey Proudfoot | Page 4

made him act--and act quickly.
The six geese all took one step forward.
The rooster turned tail and dashed around the barn, out of sight. And
Turkey Proudfoot found himself facing the six geese, who soon took
one more step towards him and hissed louder than ever.
He had never felt so ill at ease in all his life. But he remembered that he
was the ruler of the turkey flock and the handsomest bird on the farm. It
would never do to have it said that he ran away from six silly geese.
"I'll scare 'em," he thought. Thereupon he burst into a deafening gobble
and took one step towards the geese.
He had fully expected to see them fall back. What they actually did was

most annoying. Every one of them took another step towards him.

V
A SAFE PERCH
As Turkey Proudfoot faced the six geese in the farmyard he began to
feel that he had made a great mistake in speaking to them. Their hisses
were far from agreeable. They were even threatening.
"This will never do," Turkey Proudfoot muttered to himself. "No doubt
I could whip all six of them; but they'd be likely to pull some of my tail
feathers out. And I don't want my tail spoiled." For a moment or two he
didn't know what to do. But suddenly an idea popped into his head.
"Follow me!" he ordered the geese. And wheeling about, he marched
off across the farmyard.
The geese waddled after him.
Perched on top of a wagon wheel in front of the barn, the rooster saw
the odd procession. And he gave voice loudly to his delight.
"The geese are chasing Turkey Proudfoot!" he crowed. He called to
everybody to hurry and see the fun. And all the hens came a-running.
"Nonsense!" said Turkey Proudfoot. "I ordered the geese to follow me.
They're simply obeying orders." And he strutted, a little faster than
usual, toward the tree near the farmhouse where he roosted every night.
"Halt!" he cried to the geese when they reached the tree. As he spoke,
Turkey Proudfoot flapped himself up and settled on a low branch. At
last he felt safe. He knew that the geese wouldn't follow him up there.
With their webbed feet they never roosted in trees.
Meanwhile the hen turkeys had come a-running too, from the meadow.
They wanted to see what was going on. And they promptly fell into a

loud dispute with the rooster and the hens.
"He did!" the hens cackled, meaning that Turkey Proudfoot had run
away from the geese.
"He didn't!" the hen turkeys squalled, meaning that Turkey Proudfoot
hadn't been chased, but had led the geese across the farmyard.
The six geese took no part in the quarrel. They had driven Turkey
Proudfoot into the tree. And knowing that he wouldn't come down so
long as they waited there, they marched off in single file toward the
duck pond.
"Where are you going?" the rooster asked them.
The leader of the geese turned her head at him and hissed. And her five
companions turned their heads at him too, and hissed likewise.
"I ordered them to go and have a swim," Turkey Proudfoot cried from
his tree, as soon as the geese were out of hearing. "I don't want them
about the farmyard. I haven't time to bother with them. Besides, they're
so stupid that I never could teach them anything. I walked ahead of
them, across the farmyard, to show them the stylish strut. But they
couldn't learn it. They'll waddle to the end of their days."
"There!" cried the hen turkeys to the hens. "You hear what he says. The
geese weren't chasing him. He was trying to teach them to strut."
"Huh!" exclaimed Henrietta Hen, who always spoke her mind right out.
"Turkey Proudfoot had better be careful. Some day those geese will
teach him how to waddle."

VI
THE MIMIC
Young Master Meadow Mouse had often peeped at Turkey Proudfoot

from behind a clump of grass, or a hill of corn. But he had never dared
show himself to Turkey Proudfoot. Somehow the old gobbler looked
terribly fierce. And he was so big that Master Meadow Mouse didn't
like the idea of even saying "Good day!" to him. He had heard Turkey
Proudfoot spoken of as a "gobbler." Who knew but that a gobbler
would gobble up young Master Meadow Mouse if he had a chance?
Unseen by everybody, Master Meadow Mouse had watched the geese
drive Turkey Proudfoot across the farmyard and seen him flapping up
to roost in a tree out of their reach. And though Turkey Proudfoot
strutted and tried to act very lordly as he headed the procession across
the yard, Master Meadow Mouse had noticed how