REDDY HIDES THE FAT HEN

Dishonesty will run away
Where Honesty will boldly stay.

_Bowser the Hound._


Reddy Fox was in a fix! He certainly was in a fix! Here he was with the
fat hen which he had come such a long, long way to get, and no chance to
eat it, for Bowser the Hound was on his trail. Ordinarily Reddy Fox can
run faster than can Bowser, but it is one thing to run with nothing to
carry, and another thing altogether to with a burden as heavy as a fat
hen. Reddy's wits were working quite as fast as his legs.

"I can't carry this fat hen far," thought Reddy, "for Bowser will surely
catch me. I don't want to drop it, because I have come such a long way
to get it, and goodness knows when I will be able to catch another. The
thing for me to do is to hide it where I can come back and get it after
I get rid of that pesky dog. Goodness, what a noise he makes!"

As he ran, Reddy watched sharply this way and that way for a place to
hide the fat hen. He knew he must find a place soon, because already
that fat hen was growing very heavy. Presently he spied the hollow stump
of a tree. He didn't know it was hollow when he first saw it, but from
its looks he thought it might be. The top of it was only about two feet
above the ground. Reddy stopped and stood up on his hind legs so as to
see if the top of that stump was hollow. It was. With a quick look this
way and that way to make sure he wasn't seen, he tossed the fat hen over
into the hollow and then, with a sigh of relief, darted away.