The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book Part 4

"I'm sorry, Mr. Crow, but I've just had comp'ny come, too, and I couldn't come unless I brought my comp'ny."

"Who is it?" said the Crow.

"n.o.body but home folks. Mr. Cat just dropped in to spend the evening."

The Old Black Crow gave a jump when he heard that, for he was afraid as death of Mr. Cat, and he said, quick as a wink:--

"Table's all full and no room for more! Table's all full and no room for more!"

Then he hurried over to the 'c.o.o.n's door and called:--

"Supper's all ready! Comp'ny's here! Come down!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. 'c.o.o.n PUT AN EXTRA CHAIR AGAINST THE DOOR.]

Mr. 'c.o.o.n put an extra chair against the door and said:--

"Who is your comp'ny, Mr. Crow?"

"Oh, just home folks. n.o.body but Mr. Dog. We've got fried chicken and it's all on the table."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Crow, but comp'ny just came here, too, and I'd have to bring him along."

"Who is it, Mr. 'c.o.o.n?"

"Only home folks. Just Mr. Hawk run in for the evening."

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. CROW NEARLY FELL OVER BACKWARD.]

Mr. Crow nearly fell over backward when he heard that. He had stolen some of Mr. Hawk's chickens the day before, and the 'c.o.o.n knew about it.

The Hawk would surely know the flavor of his own chickens if he came down, and, anyhow, Mr. 'c.o.o.n would tell him. So he called out just as quick as lightning:--

"Table's all full and no room for more! Table's all full and no room for more!"

Then he hurried right back to Mr. Dog and told him not to wait, because Mr. 'c.o.o.n and Mr. 'Possum could not come, and Mr. Dog laughed and pitched into the fried chicken and said it was the best joke and the best chicken he had ever heard of. But the Crow some way did not think it was as good a joke as he had expected and could not eat his supper for looking up at the doors where the 'Possum and the 'c.o.o.n were.

By and by, when Mr. Dog had finished his supper and had a smoke, he said he guessed his folks would be looking for him and that he would have to go. Then the Crow nearly had a fit and begged and begged him to spend the evening. He said Mr. Dog came so seldom that he ought to stay, now he was there, so at last Mr. Dog sat down again and said he might as well sit a little longer, he s'posed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. CROW TALKED AND TOLD STORIES.]

Well, the Crow talked and talked and told stories and got Mr. Dog to telling stories, too, and once he slipped around behind Mr. Dog while he was talking away and put the clock back, but it didn't do any good. Mr.

Dog said by and by that he was obliged to go and that he was afraid now he would be locked out when he got home. So the Crow thought as quick as he could and called out loud:--

"Time comp'ny was going home! Time comp'ny was going home!"

But the 'Possum called back that his comp'ny wasn't in any hurry. And the c.o.o.n called back that his comp'ny wasn't in any hurry either.

Then Mr. Crow was in a bad fix. He hopped around first on one foot and then on the other while Mr. Dog was putting on his things, and as soon as he was gone he skipped right up into his own room and locked the door tight.

Mr. 'c.o.o.n and Mr. 'Possum were looking out of their windows and saw Mr.

Dog outside as he lit his pipe and marched off laughing. And the 'c.o.o.n and 'Possum laughed, too, for they hadn't had any company at all, but had been making believe all the time. Then they unbarred their doors and went down into the parlor, where there was a lot of the supper left, and sat down and pa.s.sed the fried chicken across to each other and laughed some more and said Mr. Crow was certainly a mighty good cook.

"Didn't they give the Crow any?" asked the Little Lady, who had been so still that the Story Teller believed her asleep.

Pretty soon they did. They said it was too bad to punish him any longer, so they went up to his door, and the 'Possum knocked and said:--

"Better come down to supper, Mr. Crow. Comp'ny's all gone!"

And then the 'c.o.o.n he knocked and said:--

"Better come down to fried chicken, Mr. Crow. Comp'ny's all gone!"

So then the Crow opened the door a little crack and peeked out, and when he saw n.o.body was there but the 'c.o.o.n and the 'Possum he stepped out as brave as you please and said that he had been to one big supper and was sleepy and just going to bed, but that he believed he would sit down with them just to be sociable. He was sorry, he said, that he couldn't have asked them to bring down their comp'ny, but he hadn't fixed for so many, and, after all, it would be nicer now, all alone together.

So then the 'c.o.o.n and the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow all sat down to the table together and ate and ate and ate, and the Old Black Crow ate most of all.

THE FIRST MOON STORY

A STORY IN WHICH MR. 'c.o.o.n TELLS MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. RABBIT SOMETHING ABOUT THE MOON

Last night when the full moon looked into the House of Many Windows the Little Lady stood looking at it for a long time.

She had been told that the moon was another world, and that the stars were worlds, too, and she was trying to think how that could be when they looked so small and close together; also if it were all true, and they were so big, why they did not get against each other when the sky itself wasn't any bigger than the world and came down to it everywhere at the edges. She asked the Story Teller about it when he came in.

The Story Teller tried to explain that the stars and moon were not so close together as they looked, and that some were a good deal further away than others, and a lot more things, all of which the Little Lady doubted, because she said she could see for herself that the sky was just a round blue ceiling, and that the moon and stars were right against it, and if any of them were further away than the others they would be over beyond the ceiling and wouldn't show. This was a good deal easier for the Story Teller to understand than the things he had been trying to tell, so he said, "Why, of course. I hadn't thought of that," and then he said he knew some stories about the moon that were a good deal truer, he guessed, than most anything else. And then he told her, first of all,

MR. 'c.o.o.n'S STORY OF THE MOON.

Once upon a time, when Mr. Dog had invited the Crow and the Turtle to his house for supper, Jack Rabbit came over to the Hollow Tree to spend the evening with the 'c.o.o.n and the 'Possum, and they took a long walk.

They walked and walked, till by and by they got to the edge of the world and sat down and hung their feet over and talked and looked at the full moon that was just rising.

They talked first about one thing and then another, and then they got to talking about the moon, and come to find out one thought it was this, and one thought it was that, and the third man, which was the 'c.o.o.n, said he knew it wasn't either one, for the moon had once belonged to his family and he knew all about it.

So then they agreed between them to let each one tell what he knew about the moon and how he came to know it and all about it. And Mr. 'c.o.o.n told first.

"Well," he said, "a long time ago, about sixteen great-great-grandfathers back, our family lived in a big woods in a big tree that was on top of a high mountain and touched the sky with its top limbs when the wind blew.

"It was a good big family, too; I don't know just how many there were, but I know there was an old grandmother besides the father and mother and a lot of children. They were a very noisy lot of youngsters, so the story goes, nearly all of the same age, and used to tear around the house and never want to do anything but play and run up and down stairs until my sixteenth great-great-grandmother used to stop her ears and say that those children would be the death of her, and she wished there was a school in the neighborhood so they could be sent to it."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SHINING TIN PLATE.]

"But those children never wanted to learn anything, and never thought about even knowing their letters, until one day Father 'c.o.o.n came home from town with a brand new shiny tin plate with the alphabet around on the edge of it. When they saw that they all made a grab for it and claimed it, but Father 'c.o.o.n held it up high and said that it was for the one that first learned his letters. He said that they were to take turns using it, a different one each time, and whoever was using it could study his letters while he was eating. He said that when it had been all around once he would see who knew the most letters and would give it to him the next time, and so on, and the first one who knew all of them should have it for his own, to keep.

"Well, the first night he gave it to a fellow named Bushy and sat down by him and told him the letters over and over, and all the rest leaned across the table and looked on instead of eating, all except one fellow, named Smart, who was good at learning things by heart, and he just listened and ate, too. He did that right along every meal till it came his turn, and then he pretended to look very close, but all the time he was only saying the letters over and over in his head and laughing to himself to think how he was going to surprise everybody when the time came to see who knew the most.