Old Granny Fox is a spry old lady for her age. If you don't believe
it just try to catch her. But spry as she is, she isn't as spry as
she used to be. No, Sir, Granny Fox isn't as spry as she used to be.
The truth is, Granny is getting old. She never would admit it,
and Reddy never had realized it until the day after the great storm.
All that night they had hunted in vain for something to eat and at
daylight had crept into their house to rest awhile before starting
on another hunt. They had neither the strength nor the courage to
search any longer then. Wading through snow is very hard work at
best and very tiresome, but when your stomach has been empty for so
long that you almost begin to wonder what food tastes like, it
becomes harder work still. You see, it is food that makes strength,
and lack of food takes away strength.

This was why Granny and Reddy Fox just HAD to rest. Hungry as they
were, they HAD to give up for awhile. Reddy flung himself down, and if
ever there was a discouraged young Fox he was that one. "I wish I were
dead," he moaned.

"Tut, tut, tut!" said Granny Fox sharply. "That's no way for a young
Fox to talk! I'm ashamed of you. I am indeed." Then she added more
kindly: "I know just how you feel. Just try to forget your empty
stomach and rest awhile. We have had a tiresome, disappointing,
discouraging night, but when you are rested things will not look quite
so bad. You know the old saying:

'Never a road so long is there
But it reaches a turn at last;
Never a cloud that gathers swift But
disappears as fast.'