MISTER FOX
IT was late in the evening as Puss, Junior, entered a gloomy forest. It was very dark beneath the big, tall trees, so by and by he stopped and looked about him, when all of a sudden—
"A fox went out in a hungry plight,
And he begged of the moon to give him light,
For he'd many miles to trot that night."
Well, as soon as the Fox had finished asking Lady Moon to show him the way Puss cried out:
"Oh, Mr. Fox, take me with you, for I'm lost in this forest." But goodness me! the Fox was so frightened at the sound of Puss, Junior's, voice that he jumped behind a tree.
"Who speaks to me?" he asked, faintly.
"Puss in Boots, Junior."
"Ah," replied the Fox, coming out from his hiding place, "now I'm not afraid. At first I thought you were a farmer; farmers don't like me!"
"Why should they?" asked Puss. "You steal their ducks and chickens."
"Softly, softly!" whispered the Fox; "someone may hear you."
"Very well," replied Puss, "I'll whisper if you'll show me the way."
"Come along," replied the Fox. So they walked along through the dark forest, and every now and then the moon peeped through the tree tops to help Mr. Fox find his way, but for all that, the forest was very gloomy and Puss nearly stumbled two or three times and so did Mr. Fox.
"At first he came to a farmer's yard,
Where the ducks and geese declared it hard
That their nerves should be shaken and their rest be marred
By the visit of Mister Fox."
"Do you hear what they say about me?" asked the Fox in a whisper.
"They say you give them bad dreams," replied Puss; "that you keep them awake and ruin their nerves."
"Ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Fox, "what do they expect? Do they imagine I come here to sing them to sleep? To stand under the coop window and sing a lullaby? Ha, ha! I'm very fond of duck and very fond of goose, but not in that way. Oh, my, no!" And he grinned until all his long white teeth shone in the moonlight.