So Tommy grew fat and lazy. There was plenty to eat without working very hard for it, and he shuffled about in the Green Forest and along the Laughing Brook, eating whatever tempted him and having a good time generally.
He dearly loved to play along the edge of the water and was as tickled as a child with anything bright and shiny. Once he found a bit of tin shining in the moonlight and spent most of the remainder of that night playing with it. About one thing he was very particular. If he had meat of any kind and there was water near, he always washed it carefully before eating. In fact Tommy was very neat. It was born in him.
Sometimes daylight caught him far from his hollow tree. Then he would look for an old nest of a hawk or crow and curl up in it to sleep the day away. If none was handy and he could find no hollow tree or stump, he would climb a big tree and stretch himself flat along one of the big limbs and there sleep until the Black Shadows came creeping through the Green Forest.
[Once in a while he would be discovered] by the sharp eyes of Sammy Jay or Blacky the Crow, and then life would be made miserable for him until he would be glad to wake up and seek some hiding-place where they could not see him. It was for this reason chiefly that he always tried to get back to his own snug den by the time jolly, round, red Mr. Sun shook his rosy blankets off and began his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky.
[ONCE IN A WHILE, HE WOULD BE DISCOVERED]
One night he met Bobby Coon himself.
“Where do you live?” asked Tommy.
“Over on the Mountain,” replied Bobby.
“In a hollow tree?” asked Tommy.