Teller is not quite ready to answer. He has to fill his pipe
first, and puff a little and look into the fire before he sits down, and
the Little Lady climbs into her place. The Little Lady knows the Story
Teller, and waits. When he begins to rock a little she knows he has
remembered, and then pretty soon he tells her about the Snowed-In
Literary Club.

Well, the Hollow Tree People went to sleep there by the fire and they
stayed asleep a long while, for they were tired with all the good times
and all the good things to eat they had been having. And when they woke
up once, they thought it was still night, for it was dark, though they
thought it must be about morning, because the fire was nearly out, and
Mr. 'Possum said if there was anybody who wasn't too stiff he wished
they'd put on a stick of wood, as he was frozen so hard that he knew if
he tried to move he'd break.

So Mr. Turtle, who had been drawn up mostly into his shell, and Mr. Dog,
who was used to getting up at all hours of the night, stretched and
yawned and crept down after some sticks and dry pieces and built up a
good fire, and pretty soon they were all asleep again, as sound as ever.

And when they woke up next time it was still just as dark, and the fire
had gone almost out again, and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow, too, said they
didn't understand it, at all, for a fire like that would generally keep
all night and all day too, and here two fires had burned out and it was
still as dark as ever. Then Mr. Crow lit a splinter and looked at the
clock, and said he must have forgotten to wind it, or maybe it was
because it was so cold, as it had stopped a little after twelve, and Mr.
'Possum said that from the way he felt it was no wonder the clock had
stopped, for if he could tell anything by his feelings it must be at
least day after to-morrow. He said he felt so empty that every time he
breathed he could hear the wind whistle through his ribs.

That made Mr. Rabbit think of something, and he stepped over to the
window. Then he pushed it up a little, and put out his hand. But he
didn't put it out far, for it went right into something soft and cold.
Mr. Rabbit came over to where Mr. Crow was poking up the fire, bringing
some of the stuff with him.

"Now," he said, "you can all see what's the matter. We're snowed in. The
snow is up over the window, and that's why it's so dark. It may be up
over the top of the tree, and we may have been asleep here for a week,
for