Wanted--A Lodging
Afterward old Mr. Crow had to admit that he must have been forgetful.He had told Major Monkey to hide inside the hollow tree. And being atotal stranger in the neighborhood, of course the Major didn't knowthat an owl lived there.
So he entered the dark hole boldly. And soon he came dashing out of itmuch faster than he had gone in, shrieking at the top of his voice.
Old Mr. Crow was poised on a branch, as if he were waiting forsomething. And he almost smiled as he looked at the Major and saw thathe was shaking. The poor fellow's teeth were chattering, too.
"What's the matter?" Mr. Crow called to him.
"There's--there's a Tiger inside this tree!" Major Monkey stammered. "Iknow it's a Tiger, for I saw his eyes."
"Nonsense!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. And he burst into a loud haw-haw."It's nothing but an old Owl. I forgot all about him. A fine soldieryou are--afraid of an old Owl!"
Major Monkey straightened his cap and looked as soldierly as he could.
"You're mistaken, in a way," he told Mr. Crow. "I admit I was afraid.I was afraid I had frightened him, waking him up so suddenly. So Iretreated."
Old Mr. Crow stopped laughing and looked very thoughtful. It occurredto him that Major Monkey was a somewhat slippery person. Certainly hecould slip out of a hole about as easily as anybody Mr. Crow knew.
"You'll have to find some other place for me to hide," the Majorannounced. "I don't want to stay in this tree all day, for I shouldn'tlike to disturb a gentleman's rest."
Mr. Crow pondered for a few moments.
"You see that old haystack?" he said at last, pointing across thefields. "Go and burrow under that. And be back here exactly an hourbefore sunset."
Major Monkey saluted.
"That suits me," he said. And then he turned and scurried down to theground, leaped quickly upon the fence, and galloped off along thetopmost rails.
* * * * * * *
Mr. Crow spent a very busy day inviting everybody to his party, tomeet his old friend, Major Monkey.
"He's a famous soldier," Mr. Crow explained, when people asked himquestions. "And I hope you'll all wear your best clothes, because theMajor himself is very handsomely dressed. There's gold braid on hiscoat, and on his cap, too."
The old gentleman talked so much about the Major's uniform that a goodmany of the neighbors thought that Mr. Crow ought to postpone hisparty for a few days, until they could get Mr. Frog, the tailor, tomake them some new clothes.
But Mr. Crow wouldn't listen to them.
"No!" he said. "We mustn't wait. My friend the Major is a greattraveller. There's no knowing when he will take it into his head tomove on. And if you want to meet him there's no time like thepresent."
Well, people were so busy getting ready for the party that there was agreat flurry everywhere all day long--except at the haystack, whereMajor Monkey was hiding. And even he did not have so dull a time asyou might suppose.
Luckily, he had discovered a lone apple tree near-by. And being fondof fruit he crept out of the haystack every few minutes and gatheredapples.
What he could eat, he ate greedily. And what he couldn't he hid underthe stack.
And on the whole, he had rather a pleasant time.