And now Johnny Chuck was the busiest he had ever been in all his life.
If he felt lazy these beautiful spring days, he didn't have time to
think about it. No, Sir, he actually didn't have time to remember that
he is naturally lazy. You see, he had a family to look out for--three
babies to find sweet, tender young clover for and to teach all the
things that every Chuck should know, and to watch out for, that no harm
should come to them. So Johnny Chuck was busy, so busy that he hardly
had time to get enough to eat.
Every morning Johnny would come out as soon as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun
began his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky. He would look this way
and look that way to make sure that Reddy Fox or Granny Fox or Redtail
the Hawk or Bowser the Hound or any other danger was nowhere near. And
he never forgot to look up in the apple-trees to make sure that Sammy
Jay was not there. Then he would call to Polly Chuck and the three baby
Chucks.
Polly Chuck would come out with a very worried air, and after her would
come the three funny little baby Chucks, who would roll and tumble over
each other on the doorstep. When he thought they had played enough,
Johnny Chuck would lead the way along a little private path which he had
made through the grass. After him, one behind another, would trot the
three little Chucks, and behind them would march Polly Chuck, to see
that none went astray.
When they reached the patch of tender, sweet, young clover, Johnny Chuck
would sit up very straight and still, watching as sharp as he knew how
for the least sign of danger. When the three little stomachs were full
of sweet, tender, young clover, he would proudly lead the way home
again, and then as before he would sit up very straight and watch for
danger, while the three baby Chucks sprawledout on the doorstep for a
sun-nap.
Oh, those were busy days for Johnny Chuck, and anxious days, too! You
see he had not forgotten that Sammy Jay had found out his secret, and he
hadn't the least doubt in the world that Sammy Jay would tell Reddy Fox.
So, from the first thing in the morning until the very last thing at
night, Johnny Chuck was on the watch for danger.
And all the time, though Johnny didn't know it, a pair of sharp
eyes were watching him from a snug hiding-place in one of the old
apple-trees. Whose were they? Why, Sammy Jay's, to be sure. You see,
Sammy Jay hadn't told Johnny Chuck's great secret, after all.
XXIII. THE SCHOOL IN THE OLD ORCHARD
Little Foxes, little Chucks,
Little Squirrels, Mice and Mink,
Just like little boys and girls,
Go to school to learn to think.
You didn't know that, did you? Well, it's a fact. Yes, Sir, it's a
fact. All the babies born in the Green Forest or on the Green Meadows
or around the Smiling Pool have to go to school just as soon as they are
big enough to leave their own doorsteps. They go to the greatest school
in the world, and it is called the School of Experience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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