Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 14732-h.htm or 14732-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/3/14732/14732-h/14732-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/3/14732/14732-h.zip) The Bedtime Story-Books THE ADVENTURES OF UNC' BILLY POSSUM by THORNTON W. BURGESS Author of _The Adventures of Peter Cottontail_, _Old Mother West Wind_, etc. With Illustrations by HARRISON CADY Boston Little, Brown, and Company 1920 [Illustration: Reddy Fox sprang up as if some one had stuck a pin into him. FRONTISPIECE.] CONTENTS CHAPTER I. UNC' BILLY POSSUM IS CAUGHT II. REDDY FOX THINKS HE SEES A GHOST III. UNC' BILLY POSSUM SENDS FOR HIS FAMILY IV. BOBBY COON ENTERS THE WRONG HOUSE V. BOBBY COON IS WAKED UP VI. SAMMY JAY LEARNS PETER RABBIT'S SECRET VII. FOUR LITTLE SCAMPS PLAN MISCHIEF VIII. PETER RABBIT SENDS OUT WORD IX. MR. TOAD AND PRICKLY PORKY PUT THEIR HEADS TOGETHER X. THE RUNAWAY CABBAGE XI. REDDY FOX GOES HUNGRY XII. PRICKLY PORKY MAKES HIMSELF AT HOME XIII. UNC' BILLY POSSUM GROWS HUNGRY XIV. OLD MRS. POSSUM GROWS WORRIED XV. THE FOOLISHNESS OF UNC' BILLY POSSUM XVI. WHY UNC' BILLY POSSUM DIDN'T GO HOME XVII. UNC' BILLY POSSUM LIES LOW XVIII. UNC' BILLY POSSUM IS A PRISONER XIX. WHAT THE SNOW DID XX. UNC' BILLY POSSUM WISHES HE HAD SNOWSHOES XXI. FARMER BROWN'S BOY CHOPS DOWN A TREE XXII. WHERE UNC' BILLY POSSUM WAS XXIII. HAPPY JACK SQUIRREL MAKES AN UNEXPECTED CALL XXIV. HAPPY JACK SQUIRREL HELPS UNC' BILLY POSSUM XXV. HAPPY JACK SQUIRREL'S BRIGHT IDEA LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS REDDY FOX SPRANG UP AS IF SOME ONE HAD STUCK A PIN INTO HIM MY! MY! MY! SUCH A RUMPUS AS THERE WAS RIGHT AWAY IN THAT HOLLOW TREE! "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" EXCLAIMED THE OTHERS ALL TOGETHER HE JUST ATE AND ATE AND ATE UNTIL HE COULDN'T EAT ANOTHER ONE THERE ALL THE WAY FROM FARMER BROWN'S HEN-HOUSE, WAS A BROAD TRAIL IN THE SMOOTH WHITE SNOW "YO' TELL UNC' BILLY POSSUM THAT AH DON' CARE IF HE NEVER COMES BACK" I UNC' BILLY POSSUM IS CAUGHT The Green Meadows were thrown into great excitement late one afternoon, just as the black shadows came creeping down from the Purple Hills. Reddy Fox brought the news, and when he told it he grinned as if he enjoyed it and was glad of it. "Old Billy Possum is dead. I know it because I saw Farmer Brown's boy carrying him home by the tail," said Reddy. "So you see he wasn't so smart as you thought he was," he added maliciously.