<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>MISTER FOX</h2>
<div class='cap'>IT was late in the evening as Puss, Junior,
entered a gloomy forest. It was very
dark beneath the big, tall trees, so by and by
he stopped and looked about him, when all
of a sudden—</div>
<div class='poem'>
"A fox went out in a hungry plight,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And he begged of the moon to give him light,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For he'd many miles to trot that night."</span><br/></div>
<p>Well, as soon as the Fox had finished asking
Lady Moon to show him the way Puss
cried out:</p>
<p>"Oh, Mr. Fox, take me with you, for I'm
lost in this forest." But goodness me! the
Fox was so frightened at the sound of Puss,
Junior's, voice that he jumped behind a tree.</p>
<p>"Who speaks to me?" he asked, faintly.</p>
<p>"Puss in Boots, Junior."</p>
<p>"Ah," replied the Fox, coming out from
his hiding place, "now I'm not afraid. At
first I thought you were a farmer; farmers
don't like me!"</p>
<p>"Why should they?" asked Puss. "You
steal their ducks and chickens."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Softly, softly!" whispered the Fox;
"someone may hear you."</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/gs21.png" width-obs="328" height-obs="400" alt="Fox" title="" /></div>
<p>"Very well," replied Puss, "I'll whisper if
you'll show me the way."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Come along," replied the Fox. So they
walked along through the dark forest, and
every now and then the moon peeped through
the tree tops to help Mr. Fox find his way,
but for all that, the forest was very gloomy
and Puss nearly stumbled two or three times
and so did Mr. Fox.</p>
<div class='poem'>
"At first he came to a farmer's yard,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Where the ducks and geese declared it hard</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That their nerves should be shaken and their rest be marred</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">By the visit of Mister Fox."</span><br/></div>
<p>"Do you hear what they say about me?"
asked the Fox in a whisper.</p>
<p>"They say you give them bad dreams," replied
Puss; "that you keep them awake and
ruin their nerves."</p>
<p>"Ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Fox, "what do
they expect? Do they imagine I come here
to sing them to sleep? To stand under the
coop window and sing a lullaby? Ha, ha!
I'm very fond of duck and very fond of
goose, but not in that way. Oh, my, no!"
And he grinned until all his long white teeth
shone in the moonlight.</p>
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