"ThorntonWBurgess-OldGrannyFox" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burgess Thornton W)

not because of what he had done to her but because of what he had
not done. You see, nothing could make her believe that he wanted to
be her friend. She thought he had let her get away just to show her
that he was smarter than she. Instead of thankfulness, hate and
fear filled Granny's heart. You know --

People who themselves do ill
For others seldom have good will.



CHAPTER IX: Reddy Fox Hears About Granny Fox

Though you may think another wrong
And be quite positive you're right,
Don't let your temper get away;
And try at least to be polite.
- Old Granny Fox.

Sammy Jay hurried through the Green Forest, chuckling as he flew.
Sammy was brimming over with the news he had to tell, -- how
Old Granny Fox had been caught napping by Farmer Brown's boy.
Sammy wouldn't have believed it if any one had told him. No, Sir,
he wouldn't. But he had seen it with his own eyes, and it tickled
him almost to pieces to think that Old Granny Fox, whom everybody
thought so sly and clever and smart, had been caught actually asleep
by the very one of whom she was most afraid, but at whom she always
had turned up her nose.

Presently Sammy spied Reddy Fox trotting along the Lone Little Path.
Reddy was forever boasting of how smart Granny Fox was. He had
boasted of it so much that everybody was sick of hearing him.
When he saw Reddy trotting along the Lone Little Path, Sammy
chuckled harder than ever. He hid in a thick hemlock-tree and as
Reddy passed he shouted:

"Had I such a stupid old Granny
As some folks who think they are smart,
I never would boast of my Granny,
But live by myself quite apart!"

Reddy looked up angrily. He couldn't see Sammy Jay, but he knew
Sammy's voice. There is no mistaking that. Everybody knows the
voice of Sammy Jay. Of course it was foolish, very foolish of
Reddy to be angry, and still more foolish to show that he was angry.
Had he stopped a minute to think, he would have known that Sammy
was saying such a mean, provoking thing just to make him angry, and
that the angrier he became the better pleased Sammy Jay would be.
But like a great many people, Reddy allowed his temper to get the
better of his common sense.