III

PRICKLY PORKY MAKES FRIENDS


The Merry Little Breezes soon spread the news over the Green Meadows
and through the Green Forest that a stranger had come from the North.
At once all the little meadow people and forest folk made some excuse
to go over to the big poplar tree where the stranger was so busy
eating. At first he was very shy and had nothing to say. He was a
queer fellow, and he was so big, and his teeth were so sharp and so
long, that his visitors kept their distance.

Reddy Fox, who, you know, is a great boaster and likes to brag of how
smart he is and how brave he is, came with the rest of the little
meadow people.

"Pooh," exclaimed Reddy Fox. "Who's afraid of that fellow?"

Just then the stranger began to come down the tree. Reddy backed away.

"It looks as if _you_ were afraid, Reddy Fox," said Peter Rabbit.

"I'm not afraid of anything," said Reddy Fox, and swelled himself up
to look twice as big as he really is.

"It seems to me I hear Bowser the Hound," piped up Striped Chipmunk.