SHARP EYES,
THE SILVER FOX
CHAPTER I
SHARP EYES SEES SOMETHING
Away up in the North Woods lived a family of foxes. They had big, bushy tails, like a dust brush, and they wore furry coats. Some of these furry coats were of a reddish-yellow color, and some of them a sort of gray. The foxes had long sharp noses and sharp teeth, and they were very sly and cunning, as they had need to be.
For a fox is not strong, like a lion or a tiger, and to get his food he must be quick and sly, and steal up when no one sees him, to get a fat duck or a chicken from the farmyard.
Now in this family of foxes, about which I am going to tell you, there was the father and mother, and three little ones. Mr. and Mrs. Fox were well grown, fleet of foot, and they could both see and smell danger a long way off, just as they could see and smell when they were near some farmer’s house, where they might get a chicken or a duck.
The home of the foxes was in a hollow log, in the deepest and darkest part of the North Woods, and in this hollow log the three little foxes lived. They were named Sharp Eyes, Twinkle and Winkle.
Sharp Eyes was the oldest of the children, though they were all nearly the same age. The reason he was called Sharp Eyes was because he had such sharp, sparkling eyes, which seemed to look right through the bushes and trees at anything he wanted to find.
Twinkle, who was Sharp Eyes’ brother, was so called because when he ran downhill or uphill his feet seemed to twinkle in and out like flashes of light.
Winkle, who was Sharp Eyes’ sister, was so called because she seemed to winkle and blinkle her eyes, sleepy-like, when she looked at anything.