III
MASTER ROBIN'S LESSON
When young Master Robin heard the strange voice that
sounded so grumpy and so near him he was terribly frightened.
He forgot that he thought himself grown up, and very wise,
and quite able to go about alone. He didn't even look to see
who was speaking,
but fell backwards off the limb of the
apple tree.
It was lucky for him, too, that he fell just when he
did.
For a long brownish person, white underneath, took
Master Robin's place on the limb so promptly
that you could
hardly have said he jumped into it from somewhere else.
He
seemed to have popped out of the tree somewhat as a freshly
popped kernel of corn bursts forth.
A moment ago it was not
there! You were watching, but did not see it grow big.
Well, all at once there was silence in the orchard.
Everybody was holding his breath, waiting to see what
happened to young Master Robin.
Though he had lost his
balance and tumbled backward he righted himself quite like an
old-timer and flew off across the orchard.
"I didn't know snakes could climb trees," he
stammered to Mr. Chippy, who had followed him.
"Snakes!" Mr. Chippy piped. "That wasn't a snake!
That was Grumpy Weasel.... And it's a wonder you ever
escaped," he added. "I must learn that backward somersault.
It's a good thing to know."
You can see that Mr. Chippy was a very humble person.
But Mr. Jolly Robin's eldest son was quite proud. Already he
began to feel that he had been very skilful in escaping.
But
of course it was only an accident that he got away.
For once in his life Grumpy Weasel had been careless.
It had looked so easy---catching that clumsy young robin! He
had spoken to Master Robin, not dreaming that he could save
himself.
To make matters worse, Grumpy had found Mr. Chippy's
nest empty.
And Grumpy Weasel was the sort of person that
liked to find a bird at home when he called.
It always made
him more ill-natured than usual to make a call for nothing.
And now he had let a stupid young Robin escape him.
So it is
not surprising that his big black eyes snapped nor that he
said something in a fierce voice that sounded like "Chip,
chip, chip," but meant something a good deal worse.
And to add to Grumpy Weasel's rage, somebody had
laughed hoarsely---somebody that sat in a tall elm across the
road.
If he could have caught Mr. Crow there is no doubt
that Grumpy would have made that black scamp sorry that he
laughed.
But old Mr. Crow was too wary to let anybody
surprise him.
"Haw, haw!" he laughed again. And Grumpy Weasel
actually couldn't bear to hear him.
Some of the onlookers
claimed afterward that they saw Grumpy Weasel start down the
tree. And that was as much as they could say.
No one knew how
he managed to slip out of sight.
And the field people say
that he was never seen again in that exact spot.
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