But when Bowser the Hound had gone, Granny remembered. She stopped laughing, and a look of angry disappointment crossed her face as she trotted towards home. But as she trotted along, her face cleared a little. “Any way, Reddy and I will have a good dinner on that fat hen I caught in Farmer Brown's dooryard,” she muttered.
When she reached home, there sat Reddy on the doorstep, but there was no sign of the fat hen, and Reddy looked very uneasy and frightened.
“Where's that fat hen I caught?” demanded Granny crossly.
“I—I—I'm sorry, Granny, but I haven't got it,” said Reddy.
“Haven't got it!” snapped Granny. “What's the matter with you, Reddy Fox? Didn't you see me throw it in the grass when I ran past the place where you were hiding, and didn't you know enough to go and get it?”
“Yes,” replied Reddy, “I saw you throw it in the grass, and I went out and got it, but on my way home I met some one who took it away from me.”
“Took it away from you!” exclaimed Granny. “Who was it? Tell me this instant! Who was it?”
“Old Man Coyote,” replied Reddy in a low, frightened voice.
Old Granny Fox simply stared at Reddy. She couldn't find a word to say. Instead of making trouble for Old Man Coyote, she had furnished him with a good dinner. He was smarter than she. She decided then and there that she could not drive Old Man Coyote out of the Green Forest and that she would either have to leave herself or accept him and make the best of it.
But that's what Old Man Coyote had thought all along, for he quite liked his new home and took a good deal of interest in his new neighbors.