him well, for all his pains and sorrows had left him, and
he invited them down to help finish up the chicken which had cost him so
much suffering.

So then they all went down to the big room and the Crow brought in the
big platter of dumplings, and a pan of biscuits and some molasses, and
a pot of coffee, and they all sat down and celebrated Mr. 'Possum's
recovery. And when they were through, and everything was put away, they
smoked, and Mr. 'Possum said he was glad he was there to use his
property a little more, and that probably his coat would fit him again
now, as his sickness had caused him to lose flesh. He said that Mr.
Man's medicine was certainly wonderful; but just then Mr. Rabbit dropped
in, and when they told him about it, he said of course the medicine
might have had some effect, but that the dumplings and chicken caused
the real cure. He said there was an old adage to prove that--one that
his thirty-fifth great-grandfather had made for just such a case of this
kind. This, Mr. Rabbit said, was the adage:

"If you want to live forever
Stuff a cold and starve a fever."

Mr. 'Possum's trouble had come from catching cold, he said, so the
dumplings were probably just what he needed. Then Mr. Owl dropped in to
see how his patient was, and when he saw him sitting up, and smoking,
and well, he said it was wonderful how his treatment had worked, and the
Hollow Tree people didn't tell him any different, for they didn't like
to hurt Mr. Owl's feelings.

MR. TURTLE'S FLYING ADVENTURE

MR. TURTLE TELLS ABOUT HIS CHILDHOOD
AND EXPLAINS A VERY OLD FABLE

Once upon a time, when it was early summer in the Big Deep Woods, the
Hollow Tree people and Jack Rabbit went over to spend the day with Mr.
Turtle, who lives in a very nice stone house which he built himself on
the edge of the Wide Blue Water. Mr. Turtle fishes a good deal, and
makes most of his living that way, and knows all the best places, so
when his friends came he said that perhaps they would enjoy fishing a
little--which they could do and sit in a pleasant place at the same
time, and talk, and look out over the Wide Blue Water, which was
especially blue at this season.

[Illustration: A CATFISH NEARLY JERKED HIS POLE OUT OF HIS HANDS]

That just suited the Hollow Tree people, for they enjoyed fishing when
they had somebody to pick out a good place, and Mr. 'Possum found a nice
stump to lean back against, and presently went to sleep, but wa