The Tale of Turkey Proudfoot | Page 7

looked up
at the roof of the barn; but there was no one there except the gilded
rooster that told which way the wind blew. He looked up at the roof of
the farmhouse.
"You don't suppose that fellow's hiding in the chimney, do you?" he
asked.
"No doubt he is," said the rooster. "If I were you I'd fly up there and
catch him."
"The roof's high for one of my weight to fly to," Turkey Proudfoot
remarked.

"Still, I could flap up to the top of the woodshed and get to the roof of
the house from there.... I'll take a look and see how high the house
seems when I'm near it."
[Illustration: Polly Imitates Turkey Proudfoot's Gobble. (Page 42)]
To the rooster's delight, Turkey Proudfoot started towards the house.
The rooster promptly called to all the hens to "come quick," because
Turkey Proudfoot was going to fly to the roof of the farmhouse. "I hope
he won't get into trouble," said the rooster with a chuckle. "It would be
a pity if he fell down the chimney."
In spite of his words, the rooster didn't look at all uneasy. Indeed, the
only thing that worried him was the fear that Turkey Proudfoot
wouldn't get himself into a scrape. But he thought it more polite not to
say exactly what he hoped.
Turkey Proudfoot stalked up to the farmhouse and stopped near the
piazza. He was gazing upwards and measuring the height of the roof
with his eye when all at once a loud "Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble!"
almost tipped him over backward.
The outcry came from the farmhouse. There was no doubt of that. But
it didn't come from the roof, nor the chimney.
Turkey Proudfoot stared at the windows and the doors and saw no one
except Miss Kitty Cat, dozing on a window sill. Then something
moved beneath the piazza ceiling. It was a cage, which swayed as a
green figure clung to the wires on one side of it.
"I'm a handsome bird," a voice informed Turkey Proudfoot. "Gobble,
gobble, gobble, gobble!"
For once in his life Turkey Proudfoot hadn't a word to say. For the
moment he was struck dumb.
At last he found his voice. "Who are you?" he bellowed.

"Ha! ha! ha! ha!"
"Don't laugh at me!" cried Turkey Proudfoot.
"Polly wants a cracker," said the green bird.
A few quick steps brought Turkey Proudfoot upon the piazza, nearer
the cage where the annoying green person swung and made queer,
throaty noises--sounds which only angered Turkey Proud foot the
more.
Turkey Proudfoot took a little run and rose into the air, to crash against
the cage and then fall flapping upon the piazza floor.
The green person shrieked. And the hired man, with an axe in his hand,
peered out of the woodshed door.
"Here, you old gobbler! You leave our Polly alone!" he called. And he
ran out and gave Turkey Proudfoot a sharp rap with the axe helve.
Turkey Proudfoot ran off and hid behind the barn and sulked.
"There's a bird around here," he muttered, "that mocks Miss Kitty Cat;
and they call him a Cat Bird. Now, here's a bird that mocks me; so I
should think they'd call him a Turkey Bird. But they don't. I heard the
hired man call him Pretty Polly.
"Pretty Polly indeed!" Turkey Proudfoot sniffed. "That creature is
nothing but a bunch of green feathers and a loud voice."

X
THE WORM TURNS
Henrietta Hen had no love for Turkey Proudfoot. Beginning with the
days of her chickenhood he had always ordered her about, telling her
not to do this and not to do that. Even after she was grown up and had a

family of her own, Turkey Proudfoot treated her as if she had just
begun to scratch for herself.
If Henrietta Hen found a spot where somebody had spilled a few
kernels of corn Turkey Proudfoot was more than likely to rush up to
her and cry, "Go away! I've had my eye on that corn for some time. I
saw it first."
On such occasions there was nothing Henrietta Hen could do except to
stand aside and look on while Turkey Proudfoot ate the corn. He was so
much bigger than she that he could bowl her over easily.
On her own account Henrietta didn't really think it worth while to try to
make any trouble for Turkey Proudfoot. But when she led her first
brood of chicks into the yard to teach them to find food for themselves,
Turkey Proudfoot's lordly ways made her very angry.
"Move your family over on the gravel drive!" Turkey Proudfoot
ordered her.
Henrietta Hen said flatly that she wouldn't.
"There are no bugs--no worms--in the gravel," she told him. "My
chicks