Sleepy-Time Tales: The Tale of Fatty c.o.o.n.

by Arthur Scott Bailey.

I

FATTY c.o.o.n AT HOME

Fatty c.o.o.n was so fat and round that he looked like a ball of fur, with a plumelike tail for a handle. But if you looked at him closely you would have seen a pair of very bright eyes watching you.

Fatty loved to eat. Yes--he loved eating better than anything else in the world. That was what made him so fat. And that, too, was what led him into many adventures.

Close by a swamp, which lay down in the valley, between Blue Mountain and Swift River, Fatty c.o.o.n lived with his mother and his brother and his two sisters. Among them all there was what grown people call "a strong family resemblance," which is the same thing as saying that they all looked very much alike. The tail of each one of them--mother and children too--had six black rings around it. Each of them had a dark brown patch of fur across the face, like a mask. And--what do you think?--each of them, even Fatty and his brother and his sisters, had a stiff, white moustache!

Of course, though they all looked so much alike, you would have known which was Mrs. c.o.o.n, for she was so much bigger than her children. And you would have known which was Fatty--he was so much rounder than his brother and his sisters.

Mrs. c.o.o.n's home was in the hollow branch of an old tree. It was a giant of a tree--a poplar close by a brook which ran into the swamp--and the branch which was Mrs. c.o.o.n's home was as big as most tree-trunks are.

Blackie was Fatty's brother--for the mask on his face was just a little darker than the others'. Fluffy was one of Fatty's sisters, because her fur was just a little fluffier than the other children's. And Cutey was the other sister's name, because she was so quaint.

Now, Fatty c.o.o.n was forever looking around for something to eat. He was never satisfied with what his mother brought home for him. No matter how big a dinner Mrs. c.o.o.n set before her family, as soon as he had finished eating his share Fatty would wipe his white moustache carefully--for all the world like some old gentleman--and hurry off in search of something more.

Sometimes he went to the edge of the brook and tried to catch fish by hooking them out of the water with his sharp claws. Sometimes he went over to the swamp and hunted for duck among the tall reeds. And though he did not yet know how to catch a duck, he could always capture a frog or two; and Fatty ate them as if he hadn't had a mouthful of food for days.

To tell the truth, Fatty would eat almost anything he could get--nuts, cherries, wild grapes, blackberries, bugs, small snakes, fish, chickens, honey--there was no end to the different kinds of food he liked. He ate everything. And he always wanted more.

"Is this all there is?" Fatty c.o.o.n asked his mother one day. He had gobbled up every bit of the nice fish that Mrs. c.o.o.n had brought home for him. It was gone in no time at all.

Mrs. c.o.o.n sighed. She had heard that question so many times; and she wished that for once Fatty might have all the dinner he wanted.

"Yes--that's all," she said, "and I should think that it was enough for a young c.o.o.n like you."

Fatty said nothing more. He wiped his moustache on the back of his hand (I hope you'll never do that!) and without another word he started off to see what he could find to eat.

II

FATTY LEARNS SOMETHING ABOUT EGGS

When Fatty c.o.o.n started off alone to find something more to eat, after finishing the fish that his mother had brought home for him, he did not know that he was going to have an adventure. He nosed about among the bushes and the tall gra.s.ses and caught a few bugs and a frog or two. But he didn't think that THAT was much. He didn't seem to have much luck, down on the ground. So he climbed a tall hemlock, to see if he could find a squirrel's nest, or some bird's eggs.

Fatty loved to climb trees. Up in the big hemlock he forgot, for a time, that he was still hungry. It was delightful to feel the branches swaying under him, and the bright sunshine was warm upon his back. He climbed almost to the very tip-top of the tree and wound himself around the straight stem. The thick, springy branches held him safely, and soon Fatty was fast asleep. Next to eating, Fatty loved sleeping. And now he had a good nap.

Fatty c.o.o.n woke up at last, yawned, and slowly unwound himself from the stem of the tree. He was terribly hungry now. And he felt that he simply MUST find something to eat at once.

Without going down to the ground, Fatty climbed over into the top of another big tree and his little beady, bright eyes began searching all the branches carefully. Pretty soon Fatty smiled. He smiled because he was pleased. And he was pleased because he saw exactly what he had been looking for. Not far below him was a big nest, built of sticks and lined with bark and moss. It was a crow's nest, Fatty decided, and he lost no time in slipping down to the crotch of the tree where the nest was perched.

There were four white eggs in the nest--the biggest crow's eggs Fatty had ever seen. And he began to eat them hungrily. His nose became smeared with egg, but he didn't mind that at all. He kept thinking how good the eggs tasted--and how he wished there were more of them.

There was a sudden rush through the branches of the tall tree. And Fatty c.o.o.n caught a hard blow on his head. He felt something sharp sink into his back, too. And he clutched at the edge of the nest to keep from falling.

Fatty was surprised, to say the least, for he had never known crows to fight like that. And he was frightened, because his back hurt. He couldn't fight, because he was afraid he would fall if he let go of the nest.

There was nothing to do but run home as fast as he could. Fatty tried to hurry; but there was that bird, beating and clawing his back, and pulling him first one way and then another. He began to think he would never reach home. But at last he came to the old poplar where his mother lived. And soon, to his great joy, he reached the hole in the big branch; and you may well believe that Fatty was glad to slip down into the darkness where his mother, and his brother Blackie, and Fluffy and Cutey his sisters, were all fast asleep. He was glad, because he knew that no crow could follow him down there.

Mrs. c.o.o.n waked up. She saw that Fatty's back was sadly torn (for c.o.o.ns, you know, can see in the dark just as well as you can see in the daylight).

"What on earth is the matter?" she exclaimed.

Poor Fatty told her. He cried a little, because his back hurt him, and because he was so glad to be safe at home once more.

"What color were those eggs?" Mrs. c.o.o.n inquired.

"White!" said Fatty.

"Ah, ha!" Mrs. c.o.o.n said. "Don't you remember that crows' eggs are a blueish green? That must have been a goshawk's nest. And a goshawk is the fiercest of all the hawks there are. It's no wonder your back is clawed. Come here and let me look at it."

Fatty c.o.o.n felt quite proud, as his mother examined the marks of the goshawk's cruel claws. And he didn't feel half as sorry for himself as you might think, for he remembered how good the eggs had tasted. He only wished there had been a dozen of them.

III

FATTY DISCOVERS MRS. TURTLE'S SECRET

After his adventure with the goshawk Fatty c.o.o.n did not go near the tree-tops for a long time. Whenever he left home he would crawl down the old poplar tree in which he lived; and he wouldn't climb a single tree until he came home again. Somehow, he felt safer on the ground. You see, he hadn't forgotten the fright he had had, nor how the goshawk's claws had hurt his back.

It was just three days after his scare, to be exact, when Fatty c.o.o.n found himself on the bank of the creek which flowed slowly into Swift River. Fatty had been looking for frogs, but he had had no luck at all.

To tell the truth, Fatty was a little too young to catch frogs easily, even when he found one; and he was a good deal too fat, for he was so plump that he was not very spry.

Now, Fatty was hiding behind some tall rushes, and his sharp little eyes were looking all about him, and his nose was twitching as he sniffed the air. He wished he might find a frog. But not one frog appeared. Fatty began to think that some other c.o.o.n must have visited the creek just before him and caught them all. And then he forgot all about frogs.

Yes! Frogs pa.s.sed completely out of Fatty c.o.o.n's mind. For whom should he spy but Mrs. Turtle! He saw her little black head first, bobbing along through the water of the creek. She was swimming toward the bank where Fatty was hidden. And pretty soon she pulled herself out of the water and waddled a short distance along the sand at the edge of the creek.

Mrs. Turtle stopped then; and for a few minutes she was very busy about something. First she dug a hole in the sand. And Fatty wondered what she was looking for. But he kept very quiet. And after a time Mrs. Turtle splashed into the creek again and paddled away. But before she left she scooped sand into the hole she had dug. Before she left the place she looked all around, as if to make sure that no one had seen her. And as she waddled slowly to the water Fatty could see that she was smiling as if she was very well pleased about something. She seemed to have a secret.

Fatty c.o.o.n had grown very curious, as he watched Mrs. Turtle. And just as soon as she was out of sight he came out from his hiding place in the tall reeds and trotted down to the edge of the creek. He went straight to the spot where Mrs. Turtle had dug the hole and filled it up again.

And Fatty was so eager to know what she had been doing that he began to dig in the very spot where Mrs. Turtle had dug before him.

It took Fatty c.o.o.n only about six seconds to discover Mrs. Turtle's secret. For he did not have to paw away much of the sand before he came upon--what do you suppose? Eggs! Turtles' eggs! Twenty-seven round, white eggs, which Mrs. Turtle had left there in the warm sand to hatch.

THAT was why she looked all around to make sure that no one saw her.

THAT was why she seemed so pleased. For Mrs. Turtle fully expected that after a time twenty-seven little turtles would hatch from those eggs--just as chickens do--and dig their way out of the sand.