dgy. Before he went to the
cornfield to live he had been fat enough. And after he had spent two
weeks in and out of his new nest in the cornshock he was a sight to see.
His sides bulged. And he had a look as if his skin weren't big enough
for him.

Life had become very easy for Master Meadow Mouse. He didn't even have
to leave home to get all the corn he could eat. He simply crept out of
his nest, and right there in his cornshock he had two dozen ears of ripe
corn. He didn't need to set foot to the ground, unless he wanted a
drink.

Of course Master Meadow Mouse wasn't content to stay at home morning,
noon and night. He scampered away whenever he pleased. Sometimes he went
for a swim in Broad Brook. Sometimes he visited his cousins, who dwelt
in other shocks in the cornfield. And every night he joined the big
Meadow Mouse family in a frolic. They chased one another around the
pumpkins that strewed the ground, dodged behind the shocked corn, or ran
along the rail fence.

During the daytime Master Meadow Mouse and his companions lay low. When
they went abroad they kept a close watch for Mr. Crow. Late as it was,
the old gentleman still lingered in Pleasant Valley. Although his
cronies had started on their yearly journey to the South, he let it be
known that he was expecting to spend the winter in the North.

"I've noticed signs," he had said, "that tell me we're going to have a
mild winter."

Whenever Mr. Crow visited the cornfield, the Meadow Mouse family
hastened to hide. They didn't try to go to their own homes, but plunged
inside the nearest shocks of corn.

Mr. Crow was far from stupid. He knew what was going on right under his
nose--or his bill. Flapping towards the cornfield from the woods he
could see a great scurrying of small, reddish-brown persons. But when he
settled down in the field there was never a Meadow Mouse anywhere in
sight.

"They're stealing corn!" the old gentleman spluttered. "I'd stop them if
I could. But what can I do when they hide the moment they see me
coming?"

The old fellow pondered over the question.

"Somebody," he said, "will have to tear these shocks apart in order to
catch the Meadow Mouse people. And I don't know anyone that could do it
better than Fatty Coon."

Now, Mr. Crow knew where Fatty Coon lived, in a hollow tree in Cedar
Swamp. And he actually started to fly over to the Swamp and ask Fatty
Coon to rid the cornfield of the Meadow Mouse family.

But on the way