see if you were brave. I'm delighted to find that you
are. And I suggest that you and I stand by each other and run things in
this yard to suit ourselves. When folks don't do as I tell them to, you
and I will attend to them."

"Agreed!" cried the rooster. He was greatly flattered. "We'll make the
neighbors step lively." And off he went, to find Henrietta Hen and tell
her how he and Turkey Proudfoot were going to help each other.

"You're even sillier than I supposed," she informed the rooster, to his
great astonishment. He had expected nothing but praise from her.

He left her hurriedly. And he felt quite glum.

"She's just like the whole Hen family," he grumbled. "You never can tell
what they're going to do or what they're going to say. They may squawk
and cross the road; they may cross the road and not squawk; they may
squawk and not cross the road; they may not cross the road and not
squawk. I don't believe they know themselves what they are going to do
next."

XII

MR. CROW'S NEWS

There was no denying that the rooster at Farmer Green's place had
handsome tail feathers. But they were as nothing, compared with Turkey
Proudfoot's. Not only were the rooster's fewer in number; but he
couldn't spread them, fan-fashion.

Mr. Grouse, who lived in the woods, beyond the pasture, could spread his
tail. But he was a much smaller bird than Turkey Proudfoot and his tail
wasn't nearly as big.

Turkey Proudfoot often remarked that he had no rival. To be sure, there
were young gobblers on the farm. But in the matter of tails, Turkey
Proudfoot outshone them all.

Farmer Green once had another turkey cock that bade fair to have as fine
a tail as Turkey Proudfoot's. And for a time this gentleman made Turkey
Proudfoot feel a bit uneasy.

"I'll have to fight him and pull out some of his tail feathers," Turkey
Proudfoot decided.

But on the very day, in the fall, when Turkey Proudfoot intended to pick
a quarrel with this person--and spoil his fatal beauty--he was missing.
And oddly enough, nobody ever saw him around the farmyard again.

Turkey Proudfoot went so far as to hint that he had scared the fellow
away. Not many believed that that was what happened, however. For old
dog Spot claimed to have seen one of the missing gobbler's wings
hanging in the kitchen of the farmhouse.

"Mrs. Green uses it for a brush," Spot had explained.

When he heard that story Turkey Proudfoot exclaimed, "Nonsense! A Fox's
tail