"Yes--and the best thing you ever tasted," Mrs. Coon said.

Fatty was greatly excited. His little bright eyes turned green in the
moonlight. He wondered what the surprise would be. And, as usual, he was
very hungry. He walked close beside his mother, for he wanted to be the
first to taste the surprise. You would think that he would have wanted
his two sisters to taste it first, and his brother Blackie, too. But you
must not forget that Fatty was greedy. And greedy people are not
thoughtful of others.

When Mrs. Coon turned out of the lane and crawled through the fence,
Fatty squeezed between the rails very nimbly, for him.

"Here we are!" said his mother.

Fatty looked about him. They stood in a field grown high with tall
stalks of some sort, which turned to green, ribbon-like leaves half way
up from the ground. Fatty grunted. He was very impolite, you see.

"Well--what is there to eat that's so fine?" he asked. "This stuff isn't
good. It's like eating reeds." He had already bitten into one of the
stalks.

"What do you call that?" Mrs. Coon asked. She showed Fatty a long roll
of green that grew out of one of the stalks.

"That's something like a cattail," said Fatty. "It isn't good to eat."

"Have you ever tried one?" asked his mother.