John Walker Harrington

“ Yellow Lion awoke one morning and found a sign tacked to the door of his house with one of Hedgehog’s quills. On the sign was written:
“Lion, you are a big, yellow animal.”
“Who wrote that?” roared Yellow Lion. “I am no more of an animal than he is.”
Everybody knows that Yellow Lion is very proud, for he is the king of beasts. So Yellow Lion went out and sharpened his claws on the trunk of a tree and started to get revenge for the name that he had been called. He had not gone very far before he saw another piece of bark tacked up to a tree with one of Hedgehog’s quills. ”

“ I understand why it is that the Running Houses do not stop—you are not polite enough to the man at the front door.”
“What am I to do?” asked Ugly Dog.
“O, that is very simple,” answered Sly Fox. “You must be very particular about how you act. Nobody ever succeeds unless he is polite and always says please. You know that I am very wise, and if you only listen to me, you may never have any more trouble.” ”

“ Gray Mouse and White Rabbit lived under the floor of the barn and were very happy. The only thing which ever bothered them was Small Dog. They hated Small Dog worse than poison.
“Poison always stays in one place,” said Gray Mouse, “but Small Dog is always jumping and digging. If he lives around this barn we might as well go away. Why, the other day he chased me right up to my front door, and if I had not been quick with my latch key, I am afraid that he would have jostled me very rudely!” ”

“ They got up and took off their bathing suits and threw them at tailor bird. Then all the birds and the animals laughed so hard that they had to put their hands to their sides. Hyena laughed until he rolled over and over on the beach.
“Hyena,” roared Tiger, “you are always laughing at nothing. What is the matter with you?”
Hyena pointed with his paw. Tiger and Zebra looked at themselves and found that their skins were all striped. The color had come out of the new bathing suits and the sun had dried it into their hair. Tiger and Zebra felt so ashamed that they ran away. ”

“ Sly Fox was very vain. He put his paw up to his neck and felt it all over, and then said: “You are a very foolish animal, Ugly Dog. Anybody can see that my neck is very short and very graceful.”
“I don’t wonder that you do not care to have your picture taken,” said Ugly Dog. “Silly Goose passed by here only yesterday and ordered two dozen. I don’t suppose that my partner, Mole, would care to risk his camera taking a picture of one so ugly, anyway. It’s too bad that your tail is so short and stubby.” ”

“ I am surprised that you should be afraid to jump with such an awkward looking creature as he is.”
“But I am afraid that he can go further than I can,” replied Kerchug.
“Don’t worry about that,” answered Sly Fox, “you just leave that to me. You tell him that you will meet him to-morrow morning.”
So Kerchug, the leap-frog, hid his bundle in the bulrushes and marched back to the stone in front of the pool and croaked for Carrier Pigeon to come back. ”

“ So Mole and Ugly Dog went down into the dark room, and Mole told Ugly Dog just what to do. Ugly Dog went back and stood in front of the photograph gallery, and when Sly Fox came up he made a low bow.
“Good morning, Sly Fox. Ha! Ha!” he said. “That was such a very good joke. After the running house struck me and I found myself lying in the road, I got up and laughed, and laughed so hard that for weeks afterward I was sore all over. You are such a very funny animal, and you look just as funny as you are. Whenever I see that great, big, long, thin neck of yours I can hardly help laughing.” ”

“ Elephants are afraid of mice. So Gray Mouse, with his paws all shaking, took the straw and walked toward the elephant. He heard the hinges of the barn door creaking.
“Come away, Gray Mouse,” cried White Rabbit, “Small Dog is coming.” ”

“ Because I jump so high I got away from the circus. Now, then, where is that miserable little speckled green thing that thinks it can jump?”
Nobody spoke for a long time and then Sly Fox came out from behind the bushes, carrying a bulrush for a cane.
“Birds in the tree,” said Sly Fox, “the great and only Kerchug, the only creature who is not afraid to leap both in the water and on the dry land, has just finished his test, and is now on his way to show how a truly great leap frog can jump.” ”

“ Since that he has never been seen playing golf with anybody and the animals and snakes in Deacon Jones’ wood are happy. Some men from the city who saw Sly Fox and Hoot Owl playing thought it was really a good game and they went back and taught other people how to play it. Only instead of Sly Fox to find the balls they hired good little boys called caddies who always find the balls, no matter how far they go, and they never think of doing anything so dishonest as to charge twenty-five cents for the same ball over and over again. ”

“ The Bogey Man was so fond of playing golf that he never had time to think of anything else. He lived on oatmeal water and smoked a pipe filled with cabbage leaves and chopped hay. Golf was played in those days with one straight stick, and all you had to do was to knock round stones over the meadow. The Bogey Man was very careless, and he was always sending the golf balls into the holes where the rabbits, field mice and snakes lived. He played every day in Deacon Jones’ meadow lot. He used to take his stick, when he lost the balls and pry into the homes of the poor, little animals and snakes. ”

“ Some of them thought they could swim, but then it became the style for all animals and birds to swim like little monkeys without tails. Every afternoon, the beach in front of Little Monkey’s bathing houses was filled by the jungle folk. All those, who went in, hired bathing suits, and the tailor bird was kept busy all day making new suits and mending the old ones. Little Monkey wore a fine, gray suit, and he swam up and down to teach the animals how to swim like a little monkey without a tail. ”

“ They paid no attention to Green Eyes at all. Whenever the cat came after Gray Mouse, that saucy animal would get himself caught in a trap and laugh at the cat. Gray Mouse and White Rabbit grew bigger and stronger every day, and they could run so fast that the cat could never catch them. ”

“ So Sly Fox drove a tack into one of the balls, twisted a long piece of string around it and then drove the tack way down to the head.
“This string,” explained Hoot Owl, “is just as long as the field. You hit the ball with the club and the ball can’t get lost because it has a string tied to it.” ”

“ He had 100 bathing suits in sizes to fit any animal from a mouse to an elephant. He hired the tailor bird to make new suits as fast as the old ones wore out. Ben Crocodile was always swimming around to save the lives of the animals who swam out too far. Little Monkey put a raft away out in the stream, where the animals could rest after they had swum as long as they should. ”

“ The string kept stretching and stretching, until there was no more stretch in it and the ball fastened to the end of it came bounding back and struck the Bogey Man so hard in the nose that it knocked him right over. The poor Bogey Man dropped his club, and when he got on his feet again, he went away as fast as he could. ”

“ Gray Mouse says he is proud of his rich brother.
[79]
“We reached the place called Asia. As soon as I got a chance I said good-by to Weevil and walked until I was in the jungle. When you sell books it is a good thing to know somebody who is big. Weevil told me to go the first thing and see Yellow Lion. I heard Yellow Lion roaring among the trees and I walked up to where he was sitting.
“‘Yellow Lion,’ I said very politely, ‘Yellow Lion, won’t you please buy my book?’
“‘Has it got anything about me in it?’ asked Yellow Lion. ”

“ Gray Mouse winked at White Rabbit and said that he knew where there were sweet potatoes nearly a foot long and so sweet that sugar tasted like vinegar compared to them. Patrick O’Possum sighed and looked happy. ”