XXII
It Was Solomon’s Fault
Reddy Woodpecker had a very good reason for not laughing when he met Solomon Owl. Of course, he knew nothing whatever of Solomon’s new hiding place in the haystack. And that very morning Reddy had invited a party of friends to go with him to the hemlock grove where Solomon Owl had always lived, “to have some fun,” as Reddy had explained.
For a long time he had knocked and hammered and pounded at Solomon Owl’s door. But for once Solomon’s great pale face did not appear.
“Where’s the fun?” Reddy’s friends had wanted to know, after they had waited until they were impatient.
And Reddy Woodpecker could only shake his head and say:
“I can’t understand it! It’s never happened like this before. I’m afraid Solomon Owl has lost his hearing.”
Reddy Woodpecker’s friends were no more polite than he. And they began to jeer at him.
“You didn’t hammer loud enough,” one of them told him.
So he set to work again and rapped and rapped until his head felt as if it would fly off, and his neck began to ache.
Still, Solomon Owl did not appear. And the party broke up in something very like a quarrel. For Reddy Woodpecker lost his temper when his friends teased him; and a good many unpleasant remarks passed back and forth.