The Tale of Major Monkey

I

Strange Whispers


The wild folk in Pleasant Valley were whispering strange stories to
one another. If the stories were true, they were most amazing. And if
they were merely made up to cause talk, certainly they succeeded.

Perhaps if somebody less tricky than Peter Mink and Tommy Fox had
started these odd tales, the rest of the wild folk might have been
quicker to believe them.

Anyhow, the news offered the best of excuses for gossip. And many of
the field- and forest-people repeated it so often that they almost
began to believe it themselves.

All but old Mr. Crow. He declared stoutly that the whole thing was
nothing but a hoax.

"You can't fool me!" he told people. But when they said that they had
no intention of trying to, he had to change his statement. "I mean"--he
explained--"I mean that neither Tommy Fox nor Peter Mink can fool me.
They can't make me believe that they've seen anybody hanging by his
tail in a tree-top."

"Why not?" asked Mr. Crow's cousin, Jasper Jay.