Arthur Scott Bailey

“ You're not too tired, are you, to climb to the top of the bluff?"
"No," Timothy Turtle admitted.
"Then you've no reason for waiting," Mr. Crow assured him. "Coming down will be much easier than going up."
"I dare say that's true," Timothy remarked. "But I don't quite like to think about this business of flying."
"Then you certainly ought not to wait any longer," Mr. Crow urged him. "For the longer you wait the more time you'll have to think."
That appeared to Timothy Turtle to be a good bit of advice. ”

“ And Long Bill always took pains to tell his children of his own adventure with Timothy Turtle and warn them not to make such a mistake.
"Luckily I sat exactly in the center of Mr. Turtle's shell, so he couldn't reach me," Long Bill was explaining to his family one day. "But if I had happened to perch on his head I certainly wouldn't be here now."
"Oh, Mr. Turtle is too slow to catch me," one of the youngsters boasted. "I saw him on the bank to-day; and he only crawled."
"Ah! You don't know him," Long Bill Wren replied. "When he wants to, he can stand up on his hind legs as quick as a wink. ”

“ Timothy Turtle didn't say anything more. Of course he was only talking to himself, anyhow. And he seized the string of pickerel and waddled into the bushes, where he ate every one of those seven fish.
When Peter Mink met Timothy the next day he said he had not yet found anybody who would write the letter to Farmer Green.
"Mr. Crow told me that if it was anybody but you he might be willing to pull out one of his quills for a pen," Peter explained. "But he said that he hoped Johnnie Green would come here every day to fish, until there are no fish left for you." ”

“ TIMOTHY TURTLE I A FAMOUS BITER That black rascal, Mr. Crow, was not the oldest dweller in Pleasant Valley. There was another elderly gentleman who had spent more summers—and a great many more winters—under the shadow of Blue Mountain than he.
All the wild folk knew this person by the name of Timothy Turtle. And if they didn't see him so often as Mr. Crow it was because he spent much of his time on the muddy bottom of Black Creek. Besides,p. 2 he never flapped his way through the air to Farmer Green's cornfield, in plain sight of everyone who happened to look up at the sky. ”

“ He hoped that Timothy Turtle would crawl out upon the bank and growl about Fatty.
The old black rascal was not disappointed. Fatty Coon had not been gone long when Timothy Turtle dragged himself out of the creek and stretched himself upon the sand in the warm sunshine.
"How's your eye?" Mr. Crow asked him hoarsely.
"It's feeling better; but it's a wonderp. 22 that I can see with it at all," Timothy Turtle grumbled. "If I ever get hold of that fat young fellow again I'll pull him under the water before he knows what's happened to him. He doesn't fight fair."
Old Mr. Crow chuckled. ”

“ If there's a big enough rain the creek will rise as high as I am now. And nobody could keep me on my back in the water."
Old Mr. Crow actually snickered.
"You might have to wait till next spring for a freshet," he said cheerfully. "And what would you eat meanwhile?"
Having had a hearty meal of fish just before leaving the creek, Timothy Turtle hadn't once thought of eating. And naturally Mr. Crow's question troubled him. So he frowned frightfully. And he snapped his hooked jaws together, for hep. 72 had to take something in his jaws and bite it, if it was no more than the air. ”

“ When questioned by his father, Johnnie said that there was an old turtle in Black Creek that he wanted to catch.
"What are you going to do with him—make soup of him?" Farmer Green inquired solemnly.
Johnnie shook his head.
"I want to cut my initials on his shell and let him go," he explained. "Then if I catch him again when I'm grown up I'll know him when I find him.... I'll put the date under my initials, too," Johnnie added.
Farmer Green laughed.
"When you're grown up," he said, "you'll have something else to do besides catching snapping turtles. ”

“ It was a good thing for him that he had a hard back. Nevertheless it always made him angry to be disturbed when he was taking a nap. And some people said that if Timothy Turtle ever grabbed a boy by his great-toe, when he was in swimming, that youngster would limp for many a day thereafter.
But the boys went in swimming just the same. Black Creek would have had to be alive with turtles to keep them out of it on a hot summer's day. Indeed Farmer Green often said that he wished his son Johnnie would spend half the time in the hayfield that he wasted around the creek.p. ”

“ VI MR. CROW'S KIND OFFER "I suppose——" Timothy Turtle said to his young friend, old Mr. Crow—"I suppose Mr. Alligator is a fine flier."
"He's a very powerful fellow," old Mr. Crow replied with a sly smile. ”

“ He told Mr. Crow that he hoped Johnnie would forget to come back again—a remark which made old Mr. Crow laugh. Being very wise, he saw at once that Timothy Turtle knew next to nothing about boys.
"I should think," Mr. Crow told Timothy, "you'd want Johnnie Green to return."
"Why?" Timothy snapped out his questionp. 71 in an angry tone, as he lay there upside down and stared at old Mr. Crow, who sat in a tree near-by.
"Well," Mr. Crow answered, "who'll set you on your feet again if he doesn't?"
"Don't you worry about me!" Timothy Turtle sneered. "I'll right myself as soon as there's a freshet. ”

“ Mr. Crow cried, holdingp. 39 his sides and rocking backwards and forwards upon the old stump.
"Jay! jay! jay!" Jasper and his friends bawled, hopping up and down and cutting capers in the air.
As for Timothy Turtle, he made no sound at all. And neither did he make the slightest motion. The current of Black Creek caught him and bore him away down the stream. But at last he managed to paddle ashore. And he pulled himself slowly out of the water, and lay upon the sand and groaned.
Mr. Crow and his cronies gathered quickly about him.
"What's the matter?" Mr. Crow inquired. "Don't you like flying?" ”

“ His reply amused Peter Mink. And that ill-bred rascal laughed right in Timothy Turtle's face.
"Time must hang heavy on your hands, if you can't find anything pleasanter to do than that," he remarked—for Peter Mink never cared how rude he was. In fact he liked to make unkind remarks. "Aren't you afraid," he added, "that you'll wear out the surface of the creek, gazing into it? I shouldn't like that very well," said Peter Mink, "because then it couldn't freeze in winter, and you knowp. 86 it's great sport to hunt muskrats under the ice." ”

“ It is not surprising, therefore, that they never invited Timothy Turtle to attend their singing parties in Cedar Swamp. It made no difference how much Timothy Turtle hinted. Though he frequentlyp. 111 took pains to tell Ferdinand Frog how fond he was of music, Mr. Frog never once asked him to come to a concert.
In private Mr. Frog and his friends often spoke of Mr. Turtle—and giggled. And one of the Frog family even made up a song about Timothy Turtle, which the whole company loved to chant in Cedar Swamp, safe—as they thought—from Timothy's snapping jaws. ”

“ During his stay among the Beaversp. 50 Timothy Turtle often crawled on top of the dam and stretched himself out and watched the Beavers at their task. He said that if there was one thing that he liked to see more than another it was "a gang of men working." But he complained that they ought to work in the daytime, when the sun was shining, because then it would have been "much pleasanter for him."
"Don't you want to help us?" asked the brisk fellow who had told Grandaddy Beaver that he thought Timothy Turtle ought to go to work. ”

“ So no one of the Beaver colony was glad when Timothy appeared in their pond one day and explained that he intended to be in the neighborhood at leastp. 44 a week. In the first place, the Beavers, as a whole, were a busy, cheerful family, who did not like disagreeable folk for company. And in the second place, they were spry workers; and they had little use for anybody as slow as Timothy Turtle, who never did any work at all. ”

“ Timothy Turtle said bluntly that he had always been told that Mr. Crow was the rudest person in all Pleasant Valley—unless it was Mr. Crow's boisterous cousin, Jasper Jay.
When he heard that, Mr. Crow pretended to wipe a tear away from each of his eyes.
"I've always been misunderstood," he declared mournfully. "I'm really a kind-hearted soul. And just to prove to you that I want to be helpful, I'll meet you at the bluff any time you say, and tell youp. 30 exactly what to do if you want to learn to fly." ”

“ Timothy warnedp. 89 him. "And if Johnnie Green carved any such words as those on my shell I don't know what to do. I certainly don't want to carry them about with me for the rest of my life." He looked unhappy, to say the least. He knew that probably he would live a great many years longer. And he was puzzled.
"Why don't you get a new shell?" Peter Mink inquired.
"I'd hate to do that," Timothy Turtle told him. "I've had this one a long time; and it fits me perfectly."
"Then why don't you get the well-known tailor, Mr. Ferdinand Frog, to make you a coat that will cover your back? ”

“ As for Timothy Turtle, he never could understand why his neighbors objected to this little trick of his. He always said that it was more fun than almost anything else he could think of. And it isp. 5 true that he never seemed so happy as he did when he had caught some careless person and was biting him without mercy.
"Anybody that wants to may bite me," Timothy used to declare. But perhaps he never stopped to think that one might almost as well bite a rock as his hard shell. And anybody might better chew a piece of leather than try to take a mouthful out of his legs, or his neck, or his head. ”

“ Turtle didn't live in some other place. "He makes my wife so nervous!" he used to exclaim. "With a new brood of at least a half-dozen youngsters to take care of every summer one has to watch sharp for Mr. Turtle whenever thep. 9 children play near the water." ”

“ To Brownie Bearer it seemed that Timothy Turtle was old enough to behave himself.
p. 47
X A WARNING Timothy Turtle's visit at the beaver pond was just like all of his outings. Wherever he went he was so disagreeable and snappish that there wasn't a single person in the whole village that didn't wish Timothy had stayed away from that place.
He was forever grumbling, complaining that the fishing was poor in the pond. And as for frogs, he declared that he hadn't seen even one.
"Why anybody wants to live here is more than I can understand." That was what Timothy Turtle told everyone hep. 48 met. ”

“ Crow saw everything that happened—and don't you call my wife an old lady!" Timothy Turtle spluttered.
"Very well! She's a young one, of course," Fatty said hastily. "But I don't know how I've harmed you."
"You don't, eh?" Timothy Turtle snarled. "Then I'll explain. I meant to have those eggs myself, young man!"
p. 16
IV A TIGHT SQUEEZE Timothy Turtle's remark was most surprising. It almost took Fatty Coon's breath away. And for a moment or two he even forgot the pain in his paw. ”

“ Timothy Turtle sniffed.p. 109
"You go back," he directed Peter Mink, "and tell Mr. Crow that I hope Johnnie Green will come here twice a day until he has caught every fish in Black Creek."
Peter Mink thought that that was a queer thing for Timothy to wish. Neither he nor old Mr. Crow could understand it.
p. 110
XXII THE UNWELCOME GUEST Ferdinand Frog did not like Timothy Turtle. But he always said he thought Mr. Turtle could be trusted.
"You can depend on him," Mr. Frog often remarked. "Yes, you can depend on him to grab you if he ever gets a chance." ”

“ I've lived here a good many years; and no boy ever spied me sunning myself on a rock in the water without trying to hit me."
Once in a great while some youngster was skillful enough to bounce a stone off Mr. Turtle's back. And when the oldp. 61 scamp flopped into the water he always heard a great whooping from the bank. ”