“I’ll tell you, little Sharp Eyes,” said Mr. Fox. “And you listen also, Twinkle and Winkle. For you must soon learn to catch your own dinners and suppers, as well as breakfasts.”
So the little foxes listened while their father told them how to make a living in the woods, where there are no stores at which animals can buy what they want to eat.
“I was coming along under the trees,” said Mr. Fox, “and I was looking on both sides of me for something to bring home to your mother and you to eat. Up to then I had not caught anything. I sprang after a muskrat, but it jumped into the brook and got away from me. Then I tried to creep softly up behind a young wild turkey in the woods, but he heard me and flew away.
“So I was beginning to think I’d never get a meal for my family, and I knew you were hungry, when, all at once, I saw this partridge. I walked as softly as I knew how over the leaves and sticks in the woods, and, without his hearing me, I got so close to the bird that I could jump on him, pin him down with my feet, and catch him in my sharp teeth. Then I brought him home to you. That’s how I got your dinner, Sharp Eyes.”
“And a very good dinner it is, too,” said Mrs. Fox. “You animal children ought to be very glad you have such a smart father. It is not every fox that can catch a partridge.”
“Oh, well, we mustn’t be proud,” said Mr. Fox, as, with his tail, he brushed smooth a place inside the log, where he could lie down. “Our children will soon be grown, and they will learn how to catch wild turkeys, partridges, quail and muskrats for themselves.”
“How do you catch wild things in the woods?” asked Sharp Eyes.
“Yes, tell us, so we may learn,” begged Twinkle.
“I will,” answered Mr. Fox. “It is time you little fox puppies learned to hunt for yourselves. You are old enough. After you have had a nap we will go outside the log house, and your mother and I will give you lessons.”
So the little foxes went to sleep after their meal, as nearly all wild animals do, and as even your cat and dog do after they have eaten. They always seem to feel sleepy after eating. And when Sharp Eyes, Twinkle and Winkle awakened after their nap, they felt fine and fresh, and felt like jumping around.