Then Bobby Coon told Ol’ Mistah Buzzard all about the trouble on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest; how Sammy Jay had moved away to the Old Pasture so that no one could say that he screamed in the night, and yet how his voice was still heard; how Sticky-toes the Tree Toad was almost crazy because his neighbors said he was noisy, when all the time he was sitting with his mouth tight closed; and finally, how all the little meadow and forest people refused to speak to one another because of the many unkind things which had been overheard.  And Bobby told what he had overheard the night before when Unc’ Billy Possum and a stranger had sat on the very log in which Bobby had been taking, a nap.  Ol’ Mistah Buzzard chuckled.

“Yo’ might have known Unc’ Billy was behind all that trouble,” said he.  “Yes, Sah, yo’ might have known that ol’ rascal was behind it.  When Unc’ Billy Possum and Mockah get their haids together, there sho’ly is gwine to be something doing.”

XXI

BOBBY COON HAS A BUSY DAY

Bobby Coon had left Ol’ Mistah Buzzard sitting on his favorite dead tree.  Every few minutes Ol’ Mistah Buzzard would chuckle.  “Brer Coon is right smart, and Ah reckon Unc’ Billy Possum is gwine to get a taste of his own medicine.  Yes, Sah, Ah reckon he is!” said Ol’ Mistah Buzzard.  Then he chuckled and chuckled, as he spread his broad wings and said:  “Ah reckon Ah better be up in the blue, blue sky where Ah can look right down and see all the fun.”

In the meantime Bobby Coon was hurrying back and forth across the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest, calling on all the little people who live there.  He whispered a few words in the ear of one and then hurried on to whisper to the next one.  When Bobby would first begin to whisper, the one to whom he was whispering would shake his head and look as if he didn’t believe a word of what Bobby was saying.  Then Bobby would point to Ol’ Mistah Buzzard sailing ’round and ’round high up in the blue, blue sky where everybody could see him, and whisper some more.  When he got through, he always carried away with him a promise that just what he had asked should be done.

Bobby Coon had thought of a plan to turn the joke on Unc’ Billy Possum, and this was why he was hurrying back and forth whispering in the ears of every one who lived on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest; that is everybody excepting Unc’ Billy Possum and his family.  It was the busiest day that Bobby Coon could remember.

It was the very next morning that Unc’ Billy Possum was trotting along the Crooked Little Path down the hill.  He was just starting out on his daily round of calls, and he was grinning as only Unc’ Billy Possum can grin.

  “Mah name is Billy Possum and mah home’s a hollow tree! 
  By day or night Ah wander forth—­it’s all the same to me! 
  Ah fill mah stomach with an egg, or sometimes it is fish;
  In fact Ah always helps mahself to anything Ah wish. 
  Fo’ mah name is Billy Possum and mah other name is Smart;
  To catch yo’ Uncle Billy yo’ must make an early start.”