I return. I'll see what I can do."

"Let me go along," begged Reddy.

"No," replied Granny in such a decided tone that Reddy knew it would
be of no use to tease. "Sometimes two can do what one cannot do alone,
and sometimes one can do what two might spoil. Now we may as well
take a nap until it is time for Mr. Sun to go to bed. Just you
leave it to your old Granny to take care of the first of those ifs.
For the other one we'll have to trust to luck, but you know we are
lucky sometimes."

With this Granny curled up for a nap, and having nothing better to do,
Reddy followed her example.



CHAPTER XXIII: Farmer Brown's Boy Forgets To Close The Gate

How easy 't is to just forget
Until, alas, it is too late.
The most methodical of folks
Sometimes forget to shut the gate.
- Old Granny Fox.

Farmer Brown's Boy is not usually the forgetful kind. He is pretty
good about not forgetting. But Farmer Brown's boy isn't perfect by
any means. He does forget sometimes, and he is careless sometimes.
He would be a funny kind of boy otherwise. But take it day in and
day out, he is pretty thoughtful and careful.