“Now you know as well as I do that no one with a mean disposition has any friends.  It was so with Mr. Wolverine.  When his neighbors found out what a mean disposition he had, they let him severely alone.  They would go out of their way to avoid meeting him.  This made his disposition all the meaner.  He didn’t really care because his neighbors would have nothing to do with him.  No, he didn’t really care, for the simple reason that he didn’t want anything to do with them.  But just the same it made him angry to have them show that they didn’t want to have anything to do with him.  Every time he would see one of them turn aside to avoid meeting him, he would snarl under his breath, and his eyes would glow with anger; he would resolve to get even.

“Being slow in his movements because of his stout build, he early realized that he must make nimble wits make up for the lack of nimble legs.  He also learned very early in life that patience is a virtue few possess, and that patience and nimble wits will accomplish almost anything.  So, living alone in the Great Forest, he practised patience until no one in all the Great World could be more patient than he.  No one knew this because, you see, everybody kept away from him.  And all the time he was practising patience, he was studying and studying the other people of the Great Forest, both large and small, learning all their habits, how they lived, where they lived, what they ate, and all about them.

“‘One never knows when such knowledge may be useful,’ he would say to himself.  ’The more I know about other people and the less they know about me the better.’

“So Mr. Wolverine kept out of sight as much as possible, and none knew how he lived or where he lived or anything about him save that he had a mean disposition.  Patiently he watched the other people, especially those of nimble wits who lived largely by their cunning and cleverness—­Mr. Fox, Mr. Coyote, Mr. Lynx and his own cousins, Mr. Mink and Mr. Weasel.  From each one he learned something, and at last he was more cunning and more clever than any of them or even than all of them, for that matter.

“Living alone as he did, and having a mean disposition, he grew more and more sullen and savage until those who at first had avoided him simply because of his mean disposition now kept out of his way through fear, for his claws were long and his strength was great and his teeth were sharp.  It didn’t take him long to discover that there were few who did not fear him, and he cunningly contrived to increase this fear, for he had a feeling that the time might come when it would be of use to him.

“The time did come.  As you know, there came a time when food was scarce, and everybody, or almost everybody, had hard work to get enough to keep alive.  Mr. Wolverine didn’t.  The fact is, Mr. Wolverine lived very well indeed.  He simply reaped the reward of his patience in learning all about the ways of his neighbors, of his nimble wits and of the fear which he inspired.  Instead of hunting for food himself, he depended on his neighbors to hunt for him.  They didn’t know they were hunting for him, but somehow whenever one of them had secured a good meal, Mr. Wolverine was almost sure to happen along.  A growl from him was enough, and that meal was left in his possession.