When Fatty Coon came to Farmer Green’s yard he had no trouble at all in finding the spreading oak.  He could see the turkeys plainly where they dozed on the bare branches.  And in less time than it takes to tell it Fatty had climbed the tree.  On the very lowest limb there was a row of four plump turkeys, all sound asleep.  And Fatty reached out and seized the nearest one.  He seized the turkey by the neck, so that the big bird could not call out.  But Fatty was not quite quick enough.  Before he could pull her off her perch the turkey began to flap her wings, and she struck the turkey next her, so that that turkey woke up and began to gobble and flap her wings.  Then the next turkey on the limb woke up.  And the first thing that Fatty Coon knew, every one of the thirty-nine turkeys that were left was going gobble-gob-gob-gob-gobble!  And some of them went sailing off across the yard.  One of them lighted on top of the porch just outside Farmer Green’s window and it seemed to Fatty that that one made the greatest racket of all.

Farmer Green’s window flew up; and Farmer Green’s voice called “Spot!  Spot!”

Fatty Coon did not wait to hear anything more.  He dropped the turkey he had seized and slipped down to the ground.  And then he ran toward the woods as fast as he could go.

Farmer Green’s dog Spot was barking now.  And Fatty wanted to climb one of the trees by the roadside.  But he remembered, the narrow escape he had had when the dog had treed him near the cornfield.  So he never stopped until he reached the woods.  Then he went nimbly up into the trees.  And while Spot was barking at the foot of the first tree he climbed, Fatty was travelling through the tree-tops toward home.

He never said anything to his mother about Farmer Green’s turkeys.  But the next time he saw Jasper Jay Fatty told him exactly what he thought of him.

“Ha! ha!” Jasper Jay only laughed.  And he did not seem at all surprised that Fatty had fallen into trouble.  To tell the truth, he was only sorry because Fatty had escaped.  Jasper Jay did not like Fatty Coon.  And he had told him about the forty fat turkeys because he hoped that Fatty would get caught if he tried to steal one of them.

“Wait till I catch you!” Fatty said.

But Jasper Jay only laughed harder than ever when Fatty said that.  He seemed to think it was a great joke.  He was most annoying.

XIII

FATTY MEETS JIMMY RABBIT

For once Fatty Coon was not hungry.  He had eaten so much of Farmer
Green’s corn that he felt as if he could not swallow another mouthful.  He was strolling homewards through the woods when someone called to him.  It was Jimmy Rabbit.

“Where are you going, Fatty?” Jimmy Rabbit asked.

“Home!” said Fatty.

“Are you hungry?” Jimmy Rabbit asked anxiously.

“I should say not!” Fatty answered.  “I’ve just had the finest meal I ever ate in my life.”