Mother West Wind's Children

up at the round, yellow moon and barked. Way over across the broad White Meadows, which in summer time are

rked Reddy Fox, a

Bowser the Hound i

ery night old Mother Fox had warned him that noisy children would come to no good end, and every night Reddy had promised that he would bark no more. But every night when the first silver flood of witching light crept over the hill and cast strange shadows from the naked branches of the tre

be made fun of any more than little boys and girls do, and he made up his mind that if ever he could break his chain,

ooty the Owl. Close by him Jack Frost was busy snapping sticks. Down on the White Meadows he could see Jimmy Skunk prowling about. Once he heard a rooster crow sleepily in Farmer Brown's hen-house, but he thought of

r, "now I'll teach Reddy Fox to make fun of me," and like a shadow he sli

isy crack of Jack Frost, and Reddy stopped a yap right in the middle and whirled about to see what it might be. There was Bowser

as his legs could carry him. Bowser baying at the moon he liked to hear, but Bowser baying at his heels was another matter, and Reddy ran as he had

nd how he did wish that he was safely there! But it would never do to go there now, for that would tell Bowser where he lived, and B

in great pants now. His bushy tail, of which he was so proud, had become very heavy. How Reddy Fox did wish and wish that he had m

wn. Then she had heard the "yap" of Reddy Fox cut short in the middle and the roar of Bowser's big voice as he started to chase Reddy Fox. She knew that Reddy could run fast, but she also knew that Bowser the Hound had a wonderful

longer she would help him. So for a few minutes he ran faster than ever and he gained a long way on Bowser the Hound. As he passed a shock of corn that had been left standing on the White Meadows, Mother Fox stepp

nce in a while to see where he was going, so he did not see Reddy Fox slip behind the co

ollowing, or he would have known better than to waste his time following old Mother Fox. He would have just hunted around until he had found where

then springing to one side, she trotted off a little way. At once Bowser the Hound started after her.

jumped up on the stone wall and ran along it, just like a squirrel. Every once in a while she would make a long jump and then trot along a little way again. She knew that stones do not carry the scent well, and that Bowser the Hound would have hard work to smell her

o. He looked up at old Mother Moon and bayed and bayed, but old Mother Moon did not help him a bit. Then he jumped over the stone wall and looked, and looked, and smelled, and smelled, but no track of Mother F

him, she made a long jump out into the field and trotted off home to punish Reddy Fox for his disobedience. When she got there s