Indeed Winkie had very sharp teeth and Larry knew this.
“I’ll be careful!” he said.
For two or three days Winkie would not take any food from Larry’s hand or that of Alice. But she grew bolder when she saw that the boy and his sister meant to be kind, and one day, about a week after being caught and put in the pen, Winkie took a piece of carrot right from Larry’s fingers.
“Oh, she’s getting tame! She’s getting tame!” cried the boy. “Now I can teach her some tricks!”
“Let me feed her!” begged Alice. And the little girl was delighted when Winkie took some pieces of carrot from her fingers.
It was several days longer before either Larry or his sister dared reach in to stroke Winkie’s fur. The first time this was tried Winkie scurried back into her sleeping box as though Buster were after her. But the next time she was not so timid, and soon the little woodchuck came to know that the children intended no harm.
“Though why they want to fuss over me and rub me is more than I can tell,” thought Winkie to herself. “I wish I had some one to talk animal talk to—Squinty, the pig, or Slicko, the squirrel. Or even Tum Tum, the elephant. I wish he were here!”
Winkie had never seen an elephant like Tum Tum, and of course she did not know how large elephants are.
Tum Tum could hardly have gotten more than one of his big feet in Winkie’s pen!
One day Larry came running into the house much excited.