MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE'D JUST GET ON AND HOLD THE THINGS
Well, it wasn't so hard to move after that. They just set the cook-stove on Mr. Turtle's back and piled on as much as would stay on, and he kept telling them to put on more, until pretty soon Mr. 'Possum said that he would just get on and hold the things from slipping off, which he did, and sat on the stove and rode and swung his feet and held the other things, while Mr. Crow and the rest walked and carried what was left.
And when they got to the Hollow Tree it was just about sun-up, and Mr. 'Possum said if they didn't have breakfast pretty soon he would starve to death with being up all night and working so hard holding on those things.
MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. 'COON TRIED TO PUT UP THE STOVE
So then Mr. Crow told him that he and Mr. 'Coon could set up the stove, and that he would unpack the food and stir up something as quick as he could if the others would bring a little wood and some water from the spring, and place the things around inside; for he saw a cloud coming, he said, and it might rain. And Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon tried to put up the stove in a hurry, and the pieces of pipe didn't fit very well, and they came as near having a quarrel over it as they ever did over anything, for even the best friends can't always put up stovepipe together without thinking and sometimes saying unpleasant things about each other, especially when they are hungry and not very warm and the house is all upset. Mr. 'Coon said he only wished he had another hand and he would do that job alone, and Mr. 'Possum told him that if he'd been provided with a handy and useful tail he'd have the same as another hand, and could work more and not wish so much.
Then Mr. Rabbit came to help them, and just as they got it about up it all came down again, and Mr. Crow said that if they'd all go away he'd set up the stove himself; which he did in about a minute, and had a fire in it and the coffee on in no time.