When young Master Robin heard the strange voice that sounded so grumpy and so near him he was terribly frightened. He forgot that he thought himself grown up, and very wise, and quite able to go about alone. He didn't even look to see who was speaking, but fell backwards off the limb of the apple tree.
It was lucky for him, too, that he fell just when he did. For a long brownish person, white underneath, took Master Robin's place on the limb so promptly that you could hardly have said he jumped into it from somewhere else. He seemed to have popped out of the tree somewhat as a freshly popped kernel of corn bursts forth. A moment ago it was not there! You were watching, but did not see it grow big.
Well, all at once there was silence in the orchard. Everybody was holding his breath, waiting to see what happened to young Master Robin. Though he had lost his balance and tumbled backward he righted himself quite like an old-timer and flew off across the orchard.
"I didn't know snakes could climb trees," he stammered to Mr. Chippy, who had followed him.
"Snakes!" Mr. Chippy piped. "That wasn't a snake! That was Grumpy Weasel.... And it's a wonder you ever escaped," he added. "I must learn that backward somersault. It's a good thing to know."
Master Robin Escapes From Grumpy Weasel. You can see that Mr. Chippy was a very humble person. But Mr. Jolly Robin's eldest son was quite proud. Already he began to feel that he had been very skilful in escaping. But of course it was only an accident that he got away.
For once in his life Grumpy Weasel had been careless. It had looked so easy—catching that clumsy young robin! He had spoken to Master Robin, not dreaming that he could save himself. To make matters worse, Grumpy had found Mr. Chippy's nest empty. And Grumpy Weasel was the sort of person that liked to find a bird at home when he called. It always made him more ill-natured than usual to make a call for nothing. And now he had let a stupid young Robin escape him. So it is not surprising that his big black eyes snapped nor that he said something in a fierce voice that sounded like "Chip, chip, chip," but meant something a good deal worse.
And to add to Grumpy Weasel's rage, somebody had laughed hoarsely—somebody that sat in a tall elm across the road.
If he could have caught Mr. Crow there is no doubt that Grumpy would have made that black scamp sorry that he laughed. But old Mr. Crow was too wary to let anybody surprise him. "Haw, haw!" he laughed again. And Grumpy Weasel actually couldn't bear to hear him. Some of the onlookers claimed afterward that they saw Grumpy Weasel start down the tree. And that was as much as they could say. No one knew how he managed to slip out of sight. And the field people say that he was never seen again in that exact spot.