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SLEEPY-TIME TALES
THE TALE OF FATTY COON
BYARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
ILLUSTRATED BYHARRY L. SMITH
NEW YORK
1915
CONTENTS
I FATTY COON AT HOME
II FATTY LEARNS SOMETHING ABOUT EGGS
III FATTY DISCOVERS MRS. TURTLE'S SECRET
IV FATTY COON'S MISTAKE
V FATTY COON GOES FISHING
VI FATTY AND THE GREEN CORN
VII JOHNNIE GREEN IS DISAPPOINTED
VIII A TERRIBLE FRIGHT
IX JOHNNIE GREEN LOSES HIS PET
X FATTY COON AND THE MONSTER
XI JASPER JAY TELLS SOME NEWS
XII FORTY FAT TURKEYS
XIII FATTY MEETS JIMMY RABBIT
XIV THE BARBER-SHOP AGAIN
XV FATTY VISITS THE SMOKEHOUSE
XVI FATTY COON PLAYS ROBBER
XVII FATTY FINDS THE MOON
XVIII THE LOGGERS COME
XIX FATTY GROWS EVEN FATTER
XX THE TRACKS IN THE SNOW
ILLUSTRATIONS
FATTY SAW MRS. TURTLE DIGGING IN THE SAND Frontispiece
FATTY COON CROUCHED CLOSE TO THE WATER'S EDGE
FATTY WISHED THE DOG WOULD GO AWAY
FATTY STOPPED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
"PLEASE, MR. BEAR, LET GO OF MY TAIL!" FATTY CRIED
IT HUNG UNDER A TREE, JUST OVER FATTY'S HEAD
I
FATTY COON AT HOME
Fatty Coon was so fat and round that he looked like a ball of fur, witha plumelike tail for a handle. But if you looked at him closely youwould have seen a pair of very bright eyes watching you.
Fatty loved to eat. Yes--he loved eating better than anything else inthe world. That was what made him so fat. And that, too, was what ledhim into many adventures.
Close by a swamp, which lay down in the valley, between Blue Mountainand Swift River, Fatty Coon lived with his mother and his brother andhis two sisters. Among them all there was what grown people call "astrong family resemblance," which is the same thing as saying that theyall looked very much alike. The tail of each one of them--mother andchildren too--had six black rings around it. Each of them had a darkbrown patch of fur across the face, like a mask. And--what do youthink?--each of them, even Fatty and his brother and his sisters, had astiff, white moustache!
Of course, though they all looked so much alike, you would have knownwhich was Mrs. Coon, for she was so much bigger than her children. Andyou would have known which was Fatty--he was so much rounder than hisbrother and his sisters.
Mrs. Coon's home was in the hollow branch of an old tree. It was a giantof a tree--a poplar close by a brook which ran into the swamp--and thebranch which was Mrs. Coon's home was as big as most tree-trunks are.
Blackie was Fatty's brother--for the mask on his face was just a littledarker than the others'. Fluffy was one of Fatty's sisters, because herfur was just a little fluffier than the other children's. And Cutey wasthe other sister's name, because she was so quaint.
Now, Fatty Coon was forever looking around for something to eat. He wasnever satisfied with what his mother brought home for him. No matter howbig a dinner Mrs. Coon set before her family, as soon as he had finishedeating his share Fatty would wipe his white moustache carefully--for allthe world like some old gentleman--and hurry off in search of somethingmore.
Sometimes he went to the edge of the brook and tried to catch fish byhooking them out of the water with his sharp claws. Sometimes he wentover to the swamp and hunted for duck among the tall reeds. And thoughhe did not yet know how to catch a duck, he could always capture a frogor two; and Fatty ate them as if he hadn't had a mouthful of food fordays.
To tell the truth, Fatty would eat almost anything he could get--nuts,cherries, wild grapes, blackberries, bugs, small snakes, fish, chickens,honey--there was no end to the different kinds of food he liked. He ateeverything. And he always wanted more.
"Is this all there is?" Fatty Coon asked his mother one day. He hadgobbled up every bit of the nice fish that Mrs. Coon had brought homefor him. It was gone in no time at all.
Mrs. Coon sighed. She had heard that question so many times; and shewished that for once Fatty might have all the dinner he wanted.
"Yes--that's all," she said, "and I should think that it was enough fora young coon like you."
Fatty said nothing more. He wiped his moustache on the back of his hand(I hope you'll never do that!) and without another word he started offto see what he could find to eat.
II
FATTY LEARNS SOMETHING ABOUT EGGS
When Fatty Coon started off alone to find something more to eat, afterfinishing the fish that his mother had brought home for him, he did notknow that he was going to have an adventure. He nosed about among thebushes and the tall grasses and caught a few bugs and a frog or two. Buthe didn't think that THAT was much. He didn't seem to have much luck,down on the ground. So he climbed a tall hemlock, to see if he couldfind a squirrel's nest, or some bird's eggs.
Fatty loved to climb trees. Up in the big hemlock he forgot, for a time,that he was still hungry. It was delightful to feel the branches swayingunder him, and the bright sunshine was warm upon his back. He climbedalmost to the very tip-top of the tree and wound himself around thestraight stem. The thick, springy branches held him safely, and soonFatty was fast asleep. Next to eating, Fatty loved sleeping. And now hehad a good nap.
Fatty Coon woke up at last, yawned, and slowly unwound himself from thestem of the tree. He was terribly hungry now. And he felt that he simplyMUST find something to eat at once.
Without going down to the ground, Fatty climbed over into the top ofanother big tree and his little beady, bright eyes began searching allthe branches carefully. Pretty soon Fatty smiled. He smiled because hewas pleased. And he was pleased because he saw exactly what he had beenlooking for. Not far below him was a big nest, built of sticks and linedwith bark and moss. It was a crow's nest, Fatty decided, and he lost notime in slipping down to the crotch of the tree where the nest wasperched.
There were four white eggs in the nest--the biggest crow's eggs Fattyhad ever seen. And he began to eat them hungrily. His nose becamesmeared with egg, but he didn't mind that at all. He kept thinking howgood the eggs tasted--and how he wished there were more of them.
There was a sudden rush through the branches of the tall tree. And FattyCoon caught a hard blow on his head. He felt something sharp sink intohis back, too. And he clutched at the edge of the nest to keep fromfalling.
Fatty was surprised, to say the least, for he had never known crows tofight like that. And he was frightened, because his back hurt. Hecouldn't fight, because he was afraid he would fall if he let go of thenest.
There was nothing to do but run home as fast as he could. Fatty tried tohurry; but there was that bird, beating and clawing his back, andpulling him first one way and then another. He began to think he wouldnever reach home. But at last he came to the old poplar where his motherlived. And soon, to his great joy, he reached the hole in the bigbranch; and you may well believe that Fatty was glad to slip down intothe darkness where his mother, and his brother Blackie, and Fluffy andCutey his sisters, were all fast asleep. He was glad, because he knewthat no crow could follow him down there.
Mrs. Coon waked up. She saw that Fatty's back was sadly torn (for coons,you know, can see in the dark just as well as you can see in thedaylight).
"What on earth is the matter?" she exclaimed.
Poor Fatty told her. He cried a little, because his back hurt him, andbecause he was so glad to b
e safe at home once more.
"What color were those eggs?" Mrs. Coon inquired.
"White!" said Fatty.
"Ah, ha!" Mrs. Coon said. "Don't you remember that crows' eggs are ablueish green? That must have been a goshawk's nest. And a goshawk isthe fiercest of all the hawks there are. It's no wonder your back isclawed. Come here and let me look at it."
Fatty Coon felt quite proud, as his mother examined the marks of thegoshawk's cruel claws. And he didn't feel half as sorry for himself asyou might think, for he remembered how good the eggs had tasted. He onlywished there had been a dozen of them.
III
FATTY DISCOVERS MRS. TURTLE'S SECRET
After his adventure with the goshawk Fatty Coon did not go near thetree-tops for a long time. Whenever he left home he would crawl down theold poplar tree in which he lived; and he wouldn't climb a single treeuntil he came home again. Somehow, he felt safer on the ground. You see,he hadn't forgotten the fright he had had, nor how the goshawk's clawshad hurt his back.
It was just three days after his scare, to be exact, when Fatty Coonfound himself on the bank of the creek which flowed slowly into SwiftRiver. Fatty had been looking for frogs, but he had had no luck at all.To tell the truth, Fatty was a little too young to catch frogs easily,even when he found one; and he was a good deal too fat, for he was soplump that he was not very spry.
Now, Fatty was hiding behind some tall rushes, and his sharp little eyeswere looking all about him, and his nose was twitching as he sniffed theair. He wished he might find a frog. But not one frog appeared. Fattybegan to think that some other coon must have visited the creek justbefore him and caught them all. And then he forgot all about frogs.
Yes! Frogs passed completely out of Fatty Coon's mind. For whom shouldhe spy but Mrs. Turtle! He saw her little black head first, bobbingalong through the water of the creek. She was swimming toward the bankwhere Fatty was hidden. And pretty soon she pulled herself out of thewater and waddled a short distance along the sand at the edge of thecreek.
Mrs. Turtle stopped then; and for a few minutes she was very busy aboutsomething. First she dug a hole in the sand. And Fatty wondered what shewas looking for. But he kept very quiet. And after a time Mrs. Turtlesplashed into the creek again and paddled away. But before she left shescooped sand into the hole she had dug. Before she left the place shelooked all around, as if to make sure that no one had seen her. And asshe waddled slowly to the water Fatty could see that she was smiling asif she was very well pleased about something. She seemed to have asecret.
Fatty Coon had grown very curious, as he watched Mrs. Turtle. And justas soon as she was out of sight he came out from his hiding place in thetall reeds and trotted down to the edge of the creek. He went straightto the spot where Mrs. Turtle had dug the hole and filled it up again.And Fatty was so eager to know what she had been doing that he began todig in the very spot where Mrs. Turtle had dug before him.
It took Fatty Coon only about six seconds to discover Mrs. Turtle'ssecret. For he did not have to paw away much of the sand before he cameupon--what do you suppose? Eggs! Turtles' eggs! Twenty-seven round,white eggs, which Mrs. Turtle had left there in the warm sand to hatch.THAT was why she looked all around to make sure that no one saw her.THAT was why she seemed so pleased. For Mrs. Turtle fully expected thatafter a time twenty-seven little turtles would hatch from thoseeggs--just as chickens do--and dig their way out of the sand.
But it never happened that way at all. For as soon as he got over hissurprise at seeing them, Fatty Coon began at once to eat thosetwenty-seven eggs. They were delicious. And as he finished the lastone he couldn't help thinking how lucky he had been.
IV
FATTY COON'S MISTAKE
Fatty Coon was very fond of squirrels. And you may think it strange whenI tell you that not one of the squirrels anywhere around Blue Mountainwas the least bit fond of Fatty Coon. But when I say that Fatty Coon wasfond of squirrels, I mean that he liked to eat them. So of course youwill understand now why the squirrels did not care for Fatty at all. Infact, they usually kept just as far away from him as they could.
It was easy, in the daytime, for the squirrels to keep out of Fatty'sway, when he wandered through the tree-tops, for the squirrels were muchsprier than Fatty. But at night--ah! that was a very different matter.For Fatty Coon's eyes were even sharper in the dark than they were inthe daylight; but the poor squirrels were just as blind as you are whenyou are safely tucked in bed and the light is put out.
Yes--when the squirrels were in bed at night, up in their nests in thetrees, they could see very little. And you couldn't say they were SAFEin bed, because they never knew when Fatty Coon, or his mother, or hisbrother, or one of his sisters, or some cousin of his, might come alongand catch them before they knew it.
Fatty thought it great sport to hunt squirrels at night. Whenever hetried it he usually managed to get a good meal. And after he had almostforgotten about the fright the goshawk had given him in the tall hemlockhe began to roam through the tree-tops every night in search ofsquirrels and sleeping birds.
But a night came at last when Fatty was well punished for huntingsquirrels. He had climbed half-way to the top of a big chestnut tree,when he spied a hole in the trunk. He rather thought that some squirrelslived inside that hole. And as he listened for a few seconds he couldhear something moving about inside. Yes! Fatty was sure that there was asquirrel in there--probably several squirrels.
Fatty Coon's eyes turned green. It was a way they had, whenever he wasabout to eat anything, or whenever he played with his brother Blackie,or Fluffy and Cutey, his sisters; or whenever he was frightened. And nowFatty was so sure that he was going to have a fine lunch that his eyesturned as green as a cat's. He reached a paw inside the hole and feltall around.
WOW! Fatty gave a cry; and he pulled his paw out much faster than he hadput it in. Something had given him a cruel dig. And in a jiffy Fatty sawwhat that "something" was. It was a grumpy old tramp coon, whom Fattyhad never seen before.
"What do you mean, you young rascal, by disturbing me like this?" theragged stranger cried.
"Please, sir, I never knew it was you," Fatty stammered.
"Never knew it was me! Who did you think it was?"
"A--a squirrel!" Fatty said faintly. And he whimpered a little, becausehis paw hurt him.
"Ho, ho! That's a good one! That's a good joke!" The tramp coon laughedheartily. And then he scowled so fiercely that poor Fatty nearly tumbledout of the tree. "You go home," he said to Fatty. "And don't you let mecatch you around here again. You hear?"
"Yes, sir!" Fatty said. And home he went. And you may be sure that helet THAT tree alone after that. He never went near it again.
V
FATTY COON GOES FISHING
One day Fatty Coon was strolling along the brook which flowed not farfrom his home. He stopped now and then, to crouch close to the water'sedge, in the hope of catching a fish. And one time, when he lay quitestill among the rocks, at the side of a deep pool, with his eyessearching the clear water, Fatty Coon suddenly saw something bright, allyellow and red, that lighted on the water right before him. It was abug, or a huge fly. And Fatty was very fond of bugs--to eat, you know.So he lost no time. The bright thing had scarcely settled on the waterwhen Fatty reached out and seized it. He put it into his mouth, when thestrangest thing happened. Fatty felt himself pulled right over into thewater.
He was surprised, for he never knew a bug or a fly to be so strong asthat. Something pricked his cheek and Fatty thought that the brightthing had stung him. He tried to take it out of his mouth, and he wassurprised again. Whatever the thing was, it seemed to be stuck fast inhis mouth. And all the time Fatty was being dragged along through thewater. He began to be frightened. And for the first time he noticed thatthere was a slender line which stretched from his mouth straight acrossthe pool. As he looked along the line Fatty saw a man at the other endof it--a man, standing on the other side of the brook! And he waspulling Fatty toward him as fast a
s he could.
Do you wonder that Fatty Coon was frightened? He jumped back--as well ashe could, in the water--and tried to swim away. His mouth hurt; but heplunged and pulled just the same, and jerked his head and squirmed andwriggled and twisted. And just as Fatty had almost given up hope ofgetting free, the gay-colored bug, or fly, or whatever it was, flew outof his mouth and took the line with it. At least, that was what FattyCoon thought. And he swam quickly to the bank and scampered into thebushes.
Now, this was what really happened. Farmer Green had come up the brookto catch trout. On the end of his fish-line he had tied a make-believefly, with a hook hidden under its red and yellow wings. He had stolenalong the brook very quietly, so that he wouldn't frighten the fish. Andhe had made so little noise that Fatty Coon never heard him at all.Farmer Green had not seen Fatty, crouched as he was among the stones.And when Fatty reached out and grabbed the make-believe fly Farmer Greenwas even more surprised at what happened than Fatty himself. If thefish-hook hadn't worked loose from Fatty's mouth Farmer Green would havecaught the queerest fish anybody ever caught, almost.
Something seemed to amuse Farmer Green, as he watched Fatty dive intothe bushes; and he laughed loud and long. But Fatty Coon didn't laugh atall. His mouth was too sore; and he was too frightened. But he was very,very glad that the strange bug had flown away.
VI
FATTY AND THE GREEN CORN
It was mid-summer when Fatty Coon had what he then believed to be thefinest time in all his life. And later, when he was older, he stillthought that nothing had ever happened to him that was quite soenjoyable as that surprise his mother gave him when he was a young coon.