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

if they are truly wise they will profit from them.
- Old Granny Fox.

There is a saying among the little people of the Green Forest and the
Green Meadows which runs something like this:

"You must your eyes wide open keep
To catch Old Granny Fox asleep."

Of course this means that Old Granny Fox is so smart, so clever, so
keenly on the watch at all times, that he must be very smart indeed
who fools her or gets ahead of her. Reddy Fox is smart, very smart.
But Reddy isn't nearly as smart as Old Granny Fox. You see, he
hasn't lived nearly as long, so of course there is much knowledge of
many things stored away in Granny's head of which Reddy knows little.

But once in a while even the smartest people are caught napping.
Yes, Sir, that does happen. They will be careless sometimes.
It was just so with Old Granny Fox. With all her smartness and
cleverness and wisdom she grew careless, and all the smartness and
cleverness and wisdom in the world is useless if the possessor
becomes careless.

You see, Old Granny Fox had become so used to thinking that she was
smarter than any one else, unless it was Old Man Coyote, that she
actually believed that no one was smart enough ever to surprise her.
Yes, Sir, she actually believed that. Now, you know when a person
reaches the point of thinking that no one else in all the Great
World is quite so smart, that person is like Peter Rabbit when he
made ready one winter day to jump out on the smooth ice of the
Smiling Pool, -- getting ready for a fall. It was this way with Old
Granny Fox.

Because she had lived near Farmer Brown's so long and had been
hunted so often by Farmer Brown's boy and by Bowser the Hound, she
had got the idea in her head that no matter what she did they would
not be able to catch her. So at last she grew careless. Yes, Sir,
she grew careless. And that is something no Fox or anybody else can
afford to do.

Now on the edge of the Green Forest was a warm, sunny knoll, which,
as you know, is a sort of little hill. It overlooked the Green
Meadows and was quite the most pleasant and comfortable place for a
sun-nap that ever was. At least, that is what Old Granny Fox
thought. She took sun-naps there very often. It was her favorite
resting place. When Bowser the Hound had found her trail and had
chased her until she was tired of running and had had quite all the
exercise she needed or wanted, she would play one of her clever
tricks by which to make Bowser lose her trail. Then she would hurry
straight to that knoll to rest and grin at her own smartness.