friends to go with him to the hemlock grove where Solomon Owl had always
lived, “to have some fun,” as Reddy had explained.

For a long time he had knocked and hammered and pounded at Solomon Owl’s
door. But for once Solomon’s great pale face did not appear.

“Where’s the fun?” Reddy’s friends had wanted to know, after they had
waited until they were impatient.

And Reddy Woodpecker could only shake his head and say:

“I can’t understand it! It’s never happened like this before. I’m afraid
Solomon Owl has lost his hearing.”

Reddy Woodpecker’s friends were no more polite than he. And they began to
jeer at him.

“You didn’t hammer loud enough,” one of them told him.

So he set to work again and rapped and rapped until his head felt as if it
would fly off, and his neck began to ache.

Still, Solomon Owl did not appear. And the party broke up in something
very like a quarrel. For Reddy Woodpecker lost his temper when his friends
teased him; and a good many unpleasant remarks passed back and forth.

Somehow, Reddy felt that it was all Solomon Owl’s fault, because he hadn’t
come to the door.

Of course, Reddy had no means of knowing that all that time Solomon Owl