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Tale of Frisky Squirrel

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<h2>XIV</h2><h3>Mrs. Squirrel Has a Visitor</h3></div> <p>Fatty Coon was very hungry. And he stole along through the woods very quietly, hoping to find something to eat. To his great joy, it was not long before he discovered Mrs. Squirrel’s home. He crept up to the nest silently; for he hoped to catch Mrs. Squirrel and Frisky inside. But Mrs. Squirrel and her son were both away.</p> <p>Fatty was disappointed. But he made up his mind to go into the house anyhow, to see what he could find there. So he pushed through the narrow doorway. It was a tight squeeze; but Fatty managed<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='Page_68' id='Page_68'>[Pg 68]</SPAN></span> to get inside. And there he found a fine lot of beechnuts, which Mrs. Squirrel had brought home and stored, in order to have something to eat during the winter.</p> <p>Fatty Coon just loved beechnuts. And he squatted down on the floor and began to eat. He ate and ate until he was half-buried in beechnut-shells. And he never stopped until he had finished the very last beechnut. He wished there had been more, though you would think he had had quite enough, for Fatty’s sides bulged out so that he was rounder than ever. He smiled as he thought of the surprise Mrs. Squirrel would have when she came home and found her winter food all gone. And then he stood up, shook the shells out of his coat, and started to climb through the doorway.</p> <p>Fatty was still smiling as he stuck his head through the opening in the tree. But<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='Page_69' id='Page_69'>[Pg 69]</SPAN></span> all at once his smile faded away. You remember that he had had hard work to squeeze through the narrow doorway when he entered the house? Well, now his sides stuck out so far that he couldn’t get through it at all. He tried and tried; but though he struggled hard, Fatty found that he simply could not squeeze through. He had stuffed himself so full of beechnuts that he was too big to get out of the hole. And there he was—caught fast by his own greediness! Yes! Fatty Coon was a prisoner.</p> <p>Fatty had smiled because he thought Mrs. Squirrel would be surprised when she came home. And he had not been mistaken about that. When Mrs. Squirrel and her son Frisky scampered up the tree about sundown that evening they had the surprise of their lives—though not just the sort of surprise Fatty had expected.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='Page_70' id='Page_70'>[Pg 70]</SPAN></span></p> <p>They looked in through their doorway and scolded. And they ordered Fatty to get out of their house at once.</p> <p>He would have been glad enough to leave, you may be sure. But he couldn’t go just then. And at last Frisky Squirrel and his mother had to go and spend the night in the house of a friend.</p> <p>When they came back to the old hickory tree the next morning Fatty Coon had gone. He had tried the whole night long to get through the doorway. And at last—just as the sun was rising—he managed to slip out.</p> <p>Mrs. Squirrel knew that Fatty had had a hard time, because he had left a good deal of his fur behind him. It clung to the sides of the doorway. And Mrs. Squirrel spent half the day picking it off and throwing the beechnut-shells out of her house. She was a very neat housekeeper;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='Page_71' id='Page_71'>[Pg 71]</SPAN></span> and she was quite annoyed to find her house upset.</p> <p>As for Frisky, he began to bring home another store of nuts that very day. After what had happened neither he nor his mother had any fear that Fatty Coon would ever trouble them again.</p> <div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> <SPAN name='illus-027' id='illus-027'></SPAN> <ANTIMG src='images/illus-053.png' alt='300' title='' /><br/></div> <hr class='major' /> <div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> <SPAN name='illus-028' id='illus-028'></SPAN> <ANTIMG src='images/illus-055.png' alt='300' title='' /><br/></div> <div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> <SPAN name='XV' id='XV'></SPAN> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name='Page_72' id='Page_72'>[Pg 72]</SPAN></span> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

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