Part 4 (1/2)

”Ah reckons Ah knows a right smart lot of folks bigger than yo', Brer Skunk,” replied Unc' Billy, with a grin. You know Jimmy Skunk really is a little fellow compared with some of his neighbors.

”And I haven't very long claws or very big teeth, have I?” continued Jimmy.

”Ah reckons mine are about as long and about as big,” returned Unc'

Billy, looking more puzzled than ever.

”But you never see anybody bothering me, do you?” went on Jimmy.

”No,” replied Unc' Billy.

”And it's the same way with p.r.i.c.kly Porky the Porcupine. You never see anybody bothering him or offering to do him any harm, do you?” persisted Jimmy.

”No,” replied Unc' Billy once more.

”Why?” demanded Jimmy.

Unc' Billy grinned broadly. ”Ah reckons, Brer Skunk,” said he, ”that there isn't anybody wants to go fo' to meddle with yo' and Brer Porky.

Ah reckons most folks knows what would happen if they did, and that yo'

and Brer Porky are folks it's a sight mo' comfortable to leave alone.

Leastways, Ah does. Ah ain't aiming fo' trouble with either of yo'. That li'l bag of scent yo' carry is cert'nly most powerful, Brer Skunk, and Ah isn't hankering to brush against those little spears Brer Porky is so free with. Ah knows when Ah's well off, and Ah reckons most folks feel the same way.”

Jimmy Skunk chuckled. ”One more question, Unc' Billy,” said he. ”Did you ever know me to pick a quarrel and use that bag of scent without being attacked?”

Unc' Billy considered for a few minutes. ”Ah can't say Ah ever did,” he replied.

”And you never knew p.r.i.c.kly Porky to go hunting trouble either,”

declared Jimmy. ”We don't either of us go hunting trouble, and trouble never comes hunting us, and the reason is that we both are always prepared for trouble and everybody knows it. Buster Bear could squash me by just stepping on me, but he doesn't try it. You notice he always is very polite when we meet. p.r.i.c.kly Porky and I are armed for _defence_, but we never use our weapons for _offence_. n.o.body bothers us, and we bother n.o.body. That's the beauty of being prepared.”

Unc' Billy thought it over for a few minutes. Then he sighed and sighed again.

”Ah reckons yo' and Brer Porky are about the luckiest people Ah knows,”

said he. ”Yes, Sah, Ah reckons yo' is just that. Ah don't fear anybody mah own size, but Ah cert'nly does have some mighty scary times when Ah meets some people Ah might mention. Ah wish Ol' Mother Nature had done gone and given me something fo' to make people as scary of me as they are of yo'. Ah cert'nly believes in preparedness after seein' yo', Brer Skunk. Ah cert'nly does just that very thing. Have yo' found any nice fresh aiggs lately?”

XIV

A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT EGGS

”An egg,” says Jimmy Skunk, ”is good; It's very good indeed to eat.”

”An egg,” says Mrs. Grouse, ”is dear; 'Twill hatch into a baby sweet.”

So in the matter of eggs, as in a great many other matters, it all depends on the point of view. To Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy Possum eggs are looked on from the viewpoint of something to eat. Their stomachs prompt them to think of eggs. Eggs are good to fill empty stomachs. The mere thought of eggs will make Jimmy and Unc' Billy smack their lips.

They say they ”love” eggs, but they don't. They ”like” them, which is quite different.

But Mrs. Grouse and most of the other feathered people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows and the Old Orchard really do ”love” eggs.

It is the heart instead of the stomach that responds to the thought of eggs. To them eggs are almost as precious as babies, because they know that some day, some day very soon, those eggs will become babies. There are a few feathered folks, I am sorry to say, who ”love” their own eggs, but ”like” the eggs of other people--like them just as Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy Possum do, to eat. Blacky the Crow is one and his cousin, Sammy Jay, is another.