The Tale of Reddy Woodpecker

by Arthur Scott Bailey

"One grub!" Reddy Woodpecker exclaimed scornfully. "What's one grub?"

"I should think," Cuffy Bear answered, "one grub was a good meal for anybody of your size."

"It's not," Reddy declared. He looked very sullen and glum.

Cuffy Bear was sure that Reddy was mistaken. He even tried to show Reddy that he was wrong.

"One ought to be a big meal for you," he insisted. "Why, last week I went out for my supper one night and I ate only one. And it was all I wanted."

"Then you had already had a big dinner," said Reddy Woodpecker.

"I hadn't had any dinner at all!"

Reddy Woodpecker stared at him. He couldn't believe it. There must be something queer about that story, somewhere. At last he asked Cuffy a blunt question.

"You say you ate one," he observed. "One what?"

"Let me see," said Cuffy Bear. "Let me think a moment.... Oh, yes! Now I remember. It was one pig!"