THE FOREST FRIENDS PREPARE FOR A MAY PARTY AND ARRANGE FOR A QUIET TIME
Well, yes, said the Story Teller, Mr. Dog did have a good deal of trouble, and it makes me sorry for him sometimes when I think about it. He still kept good friends with the Crow and the Turtle, though, and was on pretty fair terms with Mr. Robin and most all the rest of the Bird family, besides living in the same yard with Mr. Man, who always kept an eye on him and got him out of trouble when he could. Of course Jack Rabbit and the Hollow Tree people mostly got the best of Mr. Dog, but there was one time when they didn't. This is how it happened.
Once upon a time Mr. Jack Rabbit was spending the evening over at the big Hollow Tree with the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum. They had all had their supper, and were leaning back and talking about the weather and what a late spring it had been, and how bad the cold rains were for young chickens. Mr. Rabbit didn't care for chickens himself, but he usually kept some for his friends, and always had a nice patch of young clover and some garden vegetables for his own use. He said the late frost had killed his early lettuce and young cabbage plants, and that his clover patch looked as if a fire had been through it.
Mr. 'Coon smoked a little and looked into the fire and said that he guessed to-morrow would be a warm day, and the Crow said he knew it would be because he could feel it in his leg, where a stray shot from Mr. Man's gun happened to hit him once when he was taking a walk in Mr. Man's cornfield just about this time of year.
The 'Possum put his thumbs in the armholes of his vest and leaned back against the mantel, and said he had a plan he wanted to tell them about. When he said that they all kept still to listen, because they knew when the 'Possum had a plan it always meant something good to eat, and they were always ready to hear about good things to eat, even when they'd just got up from the supper table.
Mr. 'Possum puffed a few puffs of smoke, and then he went on to say that after so much bad weather in April he thought it would be proper for them to give an outdoor feast and a woods party on the first day of May. All the others spoke up right off and said that was just the thing. Then they all began talking at once about what each would bring and whom they should invite.
HE FELT FOR THE INVITATION.
Jack Rabbit said he would invite Mr. Chipmunk and Mr Quail, and that he would speak a piece composed for the occasion. The 'Coon said he would invite Mr. Fox, because he had the best chickens, and would bring a basket of them along. The 'Possum said that would be a good plan, and that they ought to try as much as they could to invite people that would bring things. That made the Crow laugh, and he said if they wanted to do that they might invite Mr. Man himself.
FORGOT HE'D EVER HAD ANY TROUBLE IN HIS LIFE.
Of course all the others laughed at first when they heard that, and then, all at once, they quit laughing, for speaking of Mr. Man made them think of Mr. Dog, and they knew how he was always trapesing around the country where he wasn't wanted, and just as likely as not would walk right in on them at dinner time and make it unpleasant for everybody.
They all felt pretty lonesome when they thought of that, and then the Crow laughed again and said he would send over a note by Mr. Robin to Mr. Dog inviting him to go and see some friends of his that had just moved across the Wide Grass Lands. He said Mr. Dog would be glad to go, and that his friends would be glad to see him, and that it would take all day to make the trip and do no harm to anybody. Then all of them felt well again.
Mr. Crow wrote the note right away, and when he invited the Robin to the May party next morning he asked him if he would take Mr. Dog's invitation over to him and slip it under his door before he was up. He said it was to be a surprise for Mr. Dog, and he didn't want him to know just who sent the invitation. He didn't tell the Robin that it was an invitation for Mr. Dog to get out of the country, because the Robin is a good bird and wouldn't help to deceive anybody for the world.
AT MR. FOX'S HOUSE THE FEATHERS WERE FLYING.
Mr. Robin was tickled 'most to death at his own invitation, and slipped Mr. Dog's in his pocket, and hurried off with it just as fast as ever he could. He was so excited that he forgot he had a hole in the pocket of his coat, and never thought of it till he got to Mr. Man's yard, where Mr. Dog's house was. Then he remembered all at once, and when he felt for the invitation and turned his pocket inside out there was the hole all right, but the invitation was gone.
TOOK ONE MORE LOOK AT HIMSELF IN THE GLASS.
Mr. Robin at first didn't know what to do. Then he happened to think that all Mr. Crow had said was that he didn't want Mr. Dog to know just who sent it to him, so he went right up to Mr. Dog's house and rapped. Mr. Dog came out yawning, but when he heard that he was invited to a May party he forgot that he'd ever had any trouble in his life, and danced and rolled over and wagged his tail, till the Robin thought he was having a fit. Then when Mr. Dog heard that the party was gotten up mostly on his own account, and was to be a kind of a surprise, he had another fit, and said he never was so happy in the world. Mr. Robin said he couldn't tell him just who sent the invitation, but he told him a few of those invited, and Mr. Dog grew six inches taller and said he must certainly have some more new clothes for a party like that.
Then Mr. Robin set off home to get ready, for there were only two days more in April and everybody had to scramble around to be ready in time, especially Mr. Jack Rabbit, who had to write a poem. Over at Mr. Fox's house the feathers were flying, and at the Hollow Tree Mr. Crow had his sleeves rolled up, baking all day long. The 'Coon sat in his room and rocked and planned games, and the 'Possum followed Mr. Crow about and told him new things to cook. Everywhere in the woods, and even out in the Wide Grass Lands, folks were staying up nights to get ready, but none of them felt as happy or took as much trouble to look well as Mr. Dog. He knew there couldn't be any joke this time, because Mr. Robin had invited him, and Mr. Robin wouldn't play a joke on anybody. Every little while he would go out and roll on the grass in the sun and then go in and put on his new clothes and stand before the glass. Then he would march up and down and try to see if his coat wrinkled under the arms and if his trousers fitted neatly around the waist. As he thought the party was to be given for him, of course he wasn't expected to bring anything except all the style he could put on, and when the morning came Mr. Dog did put on all he could carry, and took one more look at himself in the glass and started. He had never felt so happy in his life.