Fatty Coon just loved beechnuts. And he squatted down on the floor
and began to eat. He ate and ate until he was half-buried in
beechnut-shells. And he never stopped until he had finished the very
last beechnut. He wished there had been more, though you would think he
had had quite enough, for Fatty's sides bulged out so that he was
rounder than ever. He smiled as he thought of the surprise Mrs. Squirrel
would have when she came home and found her winter food all gone. And
then he stood up, shook the shells out of his coat, and started to climb
through the doorway.

Fatty was still smiling as he stuck his head through the opening in
the tree. But all at once his smile faded away. You remember that he
had had hard work to squeeze through the narrow doorway when he
entered the house? Well, now his sides stuck out so far that he
couldn't get through it at all. He tried and tried; but though he
struggled hard, Fatty found that he simply could not squeeze through.
He had stuffed himself so full of beechnuts that he was too big to get
out of the hole. And there he was--caught fast by his own greediness!
Yes! Fatty Coon was a prisoner.

Fatty had smiled because he thought Mrs. Squirrel would be surprised
when she came home. And he had not been mistaken about that. When Mrs.
Squirrel and her son Frisky scampered up the tree about sundown that
evening they had the surprise of their lives--though not just the sort
of surprise Fatty had expected.

They looked in through their doorway and scolded. And they ordered
Fatty to get out of their house at once.

He would have been glad enough to leave, you may be sure. But he