Spotted Tail

“ He hasn’t had time to run around the end of Black Ravine.”
“But he’ll be here soon,” whined Young Black Buck.
“Then we must be going. We can’t stay here. You must run on three legs. You can do it.”
“Not so fast as Timber Wolf or Puma can run on four legs. Oh, you won’t leave me, White Tail, will you? I shall die of fear if you do. I’ve always been your friend.”
“I won’t leave you yet,” replied White Tail. “Lie down in the bushes, and I will run back and see if I can find Timber or Puma. ”

“ Then White Tail did a magnanimous thing. He couldn’t bear to leave his companion behind to be pulled down by the dogs, while he escaped. No, no, that would never do for 86one who some day expected to be leader of the herd!
“Young Black Buck,” he said, running along by the side of the panting creature, “you run straight on as hard as you can. I’m going to stop here until the dogs see me. Then I’ll lead them off to the left. So long as they can see me they’ll follow me and forget the scent. When I get them far enough away I’ll run faster, and get away from them. ”

“ White Tail Escapes The moment Great Horn the Owl flew out of the open camp to tell Puma of White Tail’s hiding place, Bumper hopped from his place in the corner, and Rusty jumped to a perch on one of the buck’s antlers. ”

“ I said at the beginning, dear Lady Yellow-paw, that this is a wonderful story. Let me tell you that the cats of that place do not wish to have tails. ‘Not wish to have tails?’ cried Lady Yellow-paw and others at the famous party. No, your ladyship. But let us not be conceited and think our own ways are always the best. To be sure a tail does add to the good looks of a cat, still we all know that a tail is a great care; always likely to get rocked on, or stepped on, or pulled, and is sometimes in the way when you want to sit down. That no-tailed cat made my tail a way of hurting me. ”

“ White Tail was so alarmed that he retraced his footsteps, calling every little while for Father Buck. It was a dangerous thing to do, for in calling he might attract Puma or Timber Wolf. But his anxiety for his father made him forget all caution.
He found him a long way back on the trail, lying in the bushes, panting with exhaustion. 22As soon as he discovered him, White Tail ran up to him with a little bleat of joy.
“Oh, I thought something terrible had happened to you!” he exclaimed. “What is it? Did you stumble? You haven’t broken a leg, have you?” ”

“ Before he reached the embankment, White Tail jumped to the edge, and quick as a wink stretched forth his head, caught Young Black Buck by a prong of his antlers. He got a good hold with his teeth, and then as the leaping buck’s hind feet slipped down and his body began to sway backward, White Tail braced his feet, and jerked backward with all his strength.
It was enough to overcome the balance of the frightened jumper. Instead of falling backward into the chasm, he stumbled forward, and then catching his hind hoofs on the edge he managed to climb up the embankment. ”

“ White Tail Jumps Stepping Stone Brook White Tail grew rapidly in size and strength, his long, clean limbs showing taut muscles and great springing power; and his neck grew thick and short, which is well for a buck, who must use it in savage thrusts when the head is a battering ram. His horns were short and bony, but they protruded in front like knobs against which it would be unpleasant to fall.
But his antlers were his pride. They spread out fan-shape on his head, crowning it with a glory that made Mother Deer supremely happy. ”

“ I can no longer spring across Stepping Stone brook. I am not fit to be leader of the herd.”
Father Buck’s proud head drooped, and something like a tear gleamed in his eyes. It was hard to acknowledge that he was failing, and that in a few seasons he would be looked upon as a useless old buck who would have to 19take orders from another much younger than he. But it was the law of the herd—and the law of life.
“I can’t believe it!” exclaimed White Tail. “I won’t believe it! I know you can leap across the brook. You must try it again. What I can do you can do!” ”

“ White Tail and Young Black Buck ran without knowing which way they were going. In fact they might have run straight into the camp of the man hunters if they hadn’t been stopped by the sudden baying of the dogs. ”

“ The White Rabbit sighed, and said: “I do hope White Tail will escape.”
And White Tail hoped so too. Meanwhile, he was running with all his might. As soon as he had left his two friends, he leaped through the bushes or over them, with his head aimed straight for the brook. He heard the roar of Puma behind him, and this spurred him on to greater speed.
103When he finally reached the shallow brook, he waded in and rapidly followed it down toward its mouth where it joined the wider stream. When Puma reached the brook he was baffled. The scent he had been following suddenly stopped. ”

“ To prove the truth of his father’s words, Young Black Buck turned a complete circle, suddenly reared, and brought his head down in another terrific blow. White Tail received it, and for a time their horns and antlers became locked. They pulled and jerked, pushed and twisted all over the open space to free their heads. With a sudden snap, the antlers loosened, and they were free once more.
The battle grew more vigorous now that the two combatants were warmed to the fray. They began to put more speed in their motions, and more force in their blows. ”

“ Puma and Timber Fight The leap across Black Ravine carried White Tail and Young Black Buck away from the yapping jaws of Timber Wolf and his pack. Not one of them dared to follow. They could no more do it than fly. They stopped at the edge and howled woefully as they saw their prey escape. ”

“ Mother Deer nodded and smiled. Father Buck turned to her and affectionately licked her neck. “And the greatest thing you could do,” he added, “is to train your son so that he is worthy to lead. I’m proud of White Tail, and still prouder of you, Mother Deer. He is your son!”
A little later White Tail found them together in the woods, talking and smiling, and so happy in the possession of each other’s love that neither seemed to regret the loss of authority. 135And White Tail, watching them, said to himself:
“The honor of being leader of the herd is not all mine. ”

“ So the two brothers hopped off, and found Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels, and Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, and some other animal friends, and they had a fine game, and Bawly made a home run.
Now, about this same time, Grandpa Croaker, the nice old gentleman frog, was hopping along through the cool, shady woods, and he was wondering what Mrs. No-Tail would have good for supper. ”

“ I saw him, and hurried to tell you.”
“Thank you, Downy,” replied White Tail. “It’s time we were off. He can never catch us if he’s behind.”
“I didn’t say he was behind you,” replied Downy. “He was on your trail, but Puma’s too wise to follow you that way. You don’t know him. When he picked up your trail, he 54followed you by the wind. While you were running around in a circle, he’s been cutting across it. He’s between you and the herd.”
“In that case,” said Young Black Buck in a frightened voice, “we’ll take a wide circuit, and he’ll miss us.” ”

“ Downy the Woodpecker Brings Startling News Swift as the wind, and almost as silently, White Tail and Young Black Buck swept through the low timberland, skirting the edge of Puma’s hunting ground so they could circuit it and return to the starting point. Like two good long-distance runners, neither made an effort to take the lead at first. ”

“ Never again will the herd follow me. What must come to all of us at some time has befallen me. There is nothing to regret. One and all must face it sooner or later. Why should we not accept it complacently?”
111White Tail was surprised, and yet pleased, by the quiet acceptance Father Buck took of his downfall. It softened the load that he was carrying in his own heart.
“I prepared you for it, you remember White Tail,” the old leader continued. “Well, tomorrow they will choose a new leader. They will demand that I step aside. But until then I’m leader, and no one shall dispute that right.” ”

“ Oh, that tail—that awful, writhing, lashing tail! I can stand Indians, bears, wolves, anything but that tail, and a rattler is all tail, except its head. If that tail touches me I shall let go. It did touch me, I did not let go. Pride held me there, for I heard the sound of galloping hoofs. Whiskers' empty saddle had alarmed the rest of the party. ”

“ The tail, the point in which man is inferior to the brute, what a delicate index of the mind it is! how it expresses the passions of love and hate, how nicely it gives token of the feelings of joy or fear which animate the soul! But Lord Monboddo did not consider that what the tail is to the brute, that the eye is to man; the lack of one member is supplied by the other. I can tell a proud man by his eye just as truly as if he stalked past one with erect tail, and anger is as plainly depicted in the human eye as in the bottle-brush tail of a cat. ”

“ White Tail Made Leader of the Herd By defeating Young Black Buck in combat, White Tail was, according to the law of the herd, chosen leader until another should grow up and displace him. The decision on the battlefield could not be changed or altered. ”

“ Skin, bone, and feathers. Ugh! you would only trouble me in my empty stomach, and there study out at leisure the various odds and ends of my organisation. No, no! get up; give my mouth a wide berth; sit on my tail, if you like the fur.”
Concealing my dread of his hungry fangs, I perched lightly on the tail, where I was not unfrequently disturbed by the tremor of his emotions.
Fellow Sparrows, the tail of a beast of prey is the safest perch, and it affords a true index of the play of passion in the brute. ”

“ My plumage, it is true, is pleasant to look at, and I am clad in that handsome green colour which is seen shining on ducks; but my beak is too short and my foot too large; and see what a tail I am rigged out with! The length of my body does not make two-thirds of it. Is that not reason enough to wish oneself dead and done with?”
“And as for me, sir,” said the Chinese, “my misfortune is even more distressing. My brother’s tail sweeps the streets; but the street-boys point their finger at me because I have no tail at all.” ”

“ Mother Deer’s heart gave a great throb. If White Tail failed she knew he would be crushed to death on the rocks below. She could not endure such a sight. Better that her son should lose the leadership than be killed.
“No, no, White Tail,” she cried, “you must not accept the challenge. You must not! I can’t lose you!”
Black Buck, who had been standing back of the crowd, heard, and was greatly pleased, for he knew now that Father Buck hadn’t 30taught White Tail to jump the canyon. Few had ever taken the leap without practicing first at the place below where there was no danger. ”

“ A friend of mine thinks it a pity that we have lost our tails. He argues it would be so helpful if, like the dog, we possessed a tail that wagged when we were pleased, that stuck out straight when we were feeling mad. ”

“ Who says I am not going to eat her?” asked the bear, surly-like.
“I do!” went on Papa No-Tail, hopping a bit nearer. “You shall never eat her as long as I am alive!”
“And who are you, if I may be so bold as to ask,” went on the bear, stopping so he could laugh.
“I am the brave Mr. No-Tail, who works in the wallpaper factory, but I can’t work to-day as the bad Pelican bird took the ink,” replied Bully’s and Bawly’s papa. ”

“ Yes, you do cheat them with your tails. When the dogs catch up with you and are about to clutch you, you turn your tails to one side; the dogs turn sharply after the tail, and then you run in the opposite direction. ”

“ The sun shone warm and bright, and then patter, patter, patter fell the rain in a sudden shower.
The Fourteen Little Darling Dogs took up their fourteen little rakes and went merrily homeward, shouting,
[89]
“To make a good garden we always try,
Daddy Do-Little good bye, good bye.”
Daddy Do-Little waved his new red handkerchief in farewell, and shouted,
“I am so lazy, I wonder why,
You always have to call good bye.”
Tangle-Tail then made his best bow and said,
“I’m a tight-rope walker, I make confession
I have to go follow my profession.” ”

“ The difference is not even in the fact that we have no tails; for some of the apes also are as tailless as we are. Besides, when you come to think of it, most animals do not have tails—insects do not, nor clams and oysters, nor sea-anemones and star-fish, nor corals and sponges, nor frogs and toads, nor jelly-fish; even the birds, unless you count the feathers as part, do not have tails that one could really wag.
After all, too, we human beings do have tails; or at least a string of tail bones, an inch or more long, tucked away inside our skins. ”

“ If you have you could never fail to tell when it managed to get a good juicy root or a snail by the happy way it would wiggle its tail. Sometimes when they are very happy they can wiggle their tails so fast that all the eye can catch is a sort of hazy blur. At other times, when they are attending to their toilet and rubbing themselves down with the backs of their heads, they will give their tails a little flirt that is just as proud as proud. ”

“ We are all of us, the good and the bad, looking for tails—for one tail, or for more than one; we do so too often by ways that are mean enough: but perhaps there is no tail-seeker more mean, more sneakingly mean than he who looks out to adorn his bare back with a tail by marriage.
The doctor was up very early the next morning, long before Mary was ready with her teacups. ”