“Who are you and what are you doing on my Green Meadows?” he demanded.

“Your Green Meadows!  Your Green Meadows!  Ho, ho, ho!  Your Green Meadows!” The stranger laughed an unpleasant laugh.  “How long since you owned the Green Meadows?  I have just come down on to them from the Old Pasture, and I like the looks of them so well that I think I will stay.  So run along, little boaster!  There isn’t room for both of us here, and the sooner you trot along the better.”  The stranger suddenly showed all his teeth and gritted them unpleasantly.

Now when Johnny Chuck heard this, great anger filled his heart.  A stranger had ordered him to leave the Green Meadows where he had been born and always lived!  He could hardly believe his own ears.  He, Johnny Chuck, would show this stranger who was master here!

With a squeal of rage, Johnny sprang at the gray old Chuck.  Then began such a fight as the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind had never seen before.  They danced around excitedly and cried:  “How dreadful!” and hoped that Johnny Chuck would win, for you know they loved him very much.

Over and over the two little fighters rolled, biting and scratching and tearing and growling and snarling.  Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun hid his face behind a cloud, so as not to see such a dreadful sight.  The stranger had been in many fights and he was very crafty.  For a while Johnny felt that he was getting the worst of it, and he began to wonder if he really would have to leave the Green Meadows.  The very thought filled him with new rage and he fought harder than ever.

Now the stranger was old and his teeth were worn, while Johnny was young and his teeth were very sharp.  After a long, long time, Johnny felt the stranger growing weaker.  Johnny fought harder than ever.  At last the stranger cried “Enough!” and when he could break away, started back towards the Old Pasture.  Johnny Chuck had won!

VIII

JOHNNY HAS ANOTHER ADVENTURE

Johnny Chuck lay stretched out on the cool, soft grass of the Green Meadows, panting for breath.  He was very tired and very sore.  His face was scratched and bitten.  His clothes were torn, and he smarted dreadfully in a dozen places.  But still Johnny Chuck was happy.  When he raised his head to look, he could see a gray old Chuck limping off towards the Old Pasture.  Once in a while the gray old Chuck would turn his head and show his teeth, but he kept right on towards the Old Pasture.  Johnny Chuck smiled.

It had been a great fight, and more than once Johnny Chuck had thought that he should have to give up.  He thought of this now, and then he thought with shame of how he had bragged and boasted just before the fight.  What if he had lost?  He resolved that he would never again brag or boast.  But he also made up his mind that if any one should pick a quarrel with him, he would show that he wasn’t afraid.