"By and by things got so bad that they reached the ears of Old Mother
Nature, and she came to find out what it all meant. Now, the very
night before she arrived, Mrs. Quack, who lived on the river bank,
had a terrible fright. Somebody sprang upon her as she was sleeping,
and in the struggle she lost all her tail feathers. She hurried to
tell Old Mother Nature all about it, and big tears rolled down her
cheeks as she told how she had lost all her beautiful tail feathers.
Mother Nature called all the people of the forest and the meadows
together. She made them all pass before her, and she looked sharply at
each one as they went by. Mr. Fox looked meeker than ever, and he was
very humble and polite.

"Now when Mr. Fox had paid his respects and turned his back, Old
Mother Nature saw something red on the tail of his coat. It was
nothing but a little smear of red clay, but that was enough for Old
Mother Nature. You see, she knew that Mrs. Quack's home was right at
the foot of a red claybank. She didn't say a word until everybody had
paid their respects and passed before her. Then she told them how
grieved she was to hear of all the trouble there had been, but that
she couldn't watch over each one all the time; they must learn to
watch out for themselves.

"And so that you may know who to watch out for, from now on never
trust the one who wears a bright red coat," concluded Old Mother
Nature.

"All of a sudden Mr. Fox became aware that everybody was looking at
him, and in every face was hate. He glanced at his coat. It was bright
red! Then Mr. Fox knew that he had been found out, and he sneaked away
with his tail between his legs. The first chance he got, he went to