laughing at me?"

"We aren't!" they cried. "You've no reason to be angry with us."

"'Tis well," said Turkey Proudfoot with a toplofty toss of his bald
head. "Since you're not laughing at me, you needn't laugh at all. I
don't like your sniggering."

"We can't help laughing," a few of the more daring ones told him. "It's
so funny!"

"What is?"

"He is!"

"Who is?"

"Master Meadow Mouse!"

"Master Meadow Mouse!" repeated Turkey Proudfoot in a bewildered
fashion.

He looked in front of him. He looked to the left. He looked to the
right. He couldn't see Master Meadow Mouse anywhere.

"Look behind you!" cried Henrietta Hen.

Turkey Proudfoot turned his head.

"I don't see any Master Meadow Mouse," he grumbled.

"How can you, when your tail's spread like that?" Henrietta Hen asked
him. "Close up your tail and then you'll see what we're laughing at."

But Turkey Proudfoot declined to do anything of the sort.

"It's just a trick," he squalled. "You're all jealous of me and my
beautiful tail. You don't want me to carry my tail this way."

Behind Turkey Proudfoot's tail Master Meadow Mouse did a very naughty
thing. He stuck out his tongue. And all the onlookers shrieked with
merriment.

VII

HALF WRONG

It was no wonder that Turkey Proudfoot was angry. Everybody in the
farmyard was laughing and looking his way--or so it seemed to him.

Since he couldn't see any joke, he decided to leave his silly neighbors
and go off into the fields where he could be alone. So he walked slowly
away, holding his head high and stepping in his most elegant manner.

To his great disgust peals of laughter followed him. And though he had
intended to march off without saying a word, this last outburst so
filled him with rage that he couldn't resist spinning about to glare
and gobble at his tormentors.

He turned so quickly that he surprised Master Meadow Mouse with one of
his tiny feet lifted high in the air. He surprised him so much that
Master Meadow Mouse stood stock still and didn't even bring his foot
down, but held it off the ground as if it had frozen stiff and couldn't
be moved.

At first there was a most joyful look on Master Meadow Mouse's face. But
it faded instantly into one of doubt and dismay. To tell the truth,
Master Meadow Mouse hadn't expected Turkey Proudfoot to turn around and
catch him right in his mimicking act.

"Ah, ha!" cried Turkey Proudfoot. "So it's you that they're laughing at,
eh?"