Blue Jay and Jim Crow, and several others, came to Doctor Rabbit when he was in the pea patch one morning and wanted him to tell them what the scheme was; but he only laughed, and said he would have to be going right home, because he was so busy.
“Pretty soon I’ll be ready, and then I’ll tell you about it,” Doctor Rabbit said as he hurried away.
Finally, after a day or two, Blue Jay became so curious he could not wait any longer. So he hid in a tree near Doctor Rabbit’s house and watched. Perhaps Blue Jay ought not to have done this, but it seemed as if he just couldn’t wait. He hid in the tree and watched all day, but he did not see anything until along toward evening. Then he saw Doctor Rabbit open his kitchen door. He had in his hand a bucket of paint and a paint brush. But that was all that Blue Jay saw, for Doctor Rabbit wiped the sweat off his face and went back into the house, shutting the door behind him.
Well, that was a little news anyway, and busy Blue Jay slipped around and told what he had seen. Then all of the little creatures were curious. They couldn’t imagine what Doctor Rabbit was doing with that paint. Cheepy Chipmunk said perhaps Doctor Rabbit was going to paint himself all up terribly black, and scare Tom Wildcat away. But the others said this could not be so, because Doctor Rabbit had had plenty of time to paint himself, if that was what he intended. “No,” Blue Jay said, scratching his head, “that’s not it. I can’t figure out what he’s doing.”
CHATTY RED SQUIRREL HAS AN ADVENTURE
Next day, while all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods were wondering just what Doctor Rabbit could be doing, Chatty Red Squirrel had an exciting time. It was a beautiful morning. The sun shone bright, and everything in the woods smelled so fresh and sweet that it was very fine to be out.
Chatty Red Squirrel was out, jumping about on the limbs of his tree and enjoying himself generally. He would frisk about first on one big limb, then on another, and every now and then he would bark a little. This was his way of laughing sometimes when he was as glad to be alive as he was this morning.
Pretty soon Chatty Squirrel scrambled down his tree and went frisking around on the ground. Sometimes he would pick up an old worm-eaten nut and bite into it, and laugh, and throw it away. Then he would frisk around again, so fast that it would almost make anyone dizzy to look at him. And as sure as anything, some one was watching Chatty Squirrel, and watching him very closely, too. Not far away—just behind the nearest dogwood thicket, in fact—Tom Wildcat lay hiding and watching every movement that Chatty made. Old Tom was very hungry, and he believed here was a fine chance for a breakfast.