r! It
certainly did. And if he could have laid hands on old Mr. Possum that
minute, it surely would have been the end of him.

"But old Mr. Possum was mighty spry, and he went off through the Green
Forest laughing fit to kill himself. Pretty soon he met Mr. Panther.
He was very polite to Mr. Panther. He told him that he had just come
from a call on Old King Bear, and hinted that Old King Bear was then
enjoying a feast and that there might be enough for Mr. Panther, if he
hurried up there at once.

"Now, Mr. Panther was hungry, for he had found nothing for his
breakfast that morning. So he thanked old Mr. Possum and hurried away
to find Old King Bear and share in the good things old Mr. Possum had
told about.

"Old Mr. Possum himself hurried on, chuckling as he thought of the way
Mr. Panther was likely to be received, with Old King Bear in such a
temper. Pretty soon along came Mr. Lynx. Old Mr. Possum told him the
same story he had told Mr. Panther, and Mr. Lynx went bounding off in
a terrible hurry, for fear that he would not be in time to share in
that good breakfast. It was such a good joke that old Mr. Possum tried
it on Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fisher and Mr. Fox. In fact, he hunted up every
one he could think of and sent them to call on Old King Bear, and
without really telling them so, he made each one think that he would
get a share in that breakfast."

"Now, there wasn't any more breakfast than Old King Bear wanted
himself, and by the time Mr. Panther arrived, there wasn't so much as
a crumb left. Then, one after another, the others came dropping in,
each licking his chops, and all very polite to Old King Bear. At first
he didn't know what to make of it, but pretty soon Mr. Fox delicately
hinted that they had come in response to the invitation sent by Mr.
Possum, and that as they were all very hungry, they would like to know
when the feast would be ready. Right away Old King Bear knew that old
Mr. Possum had been up to some of his tricks, and he told his visitors
that they were the victims of a practical joke.

[Illustration: "As they were all very hungry, they would like to know
when the feast would be ready."]

"My, my, my, how angry everybody grew! With Old King Bear at their
head, they started out to hunt for old Mr. Possum. When he saw them
coming, he realized that what he had thought was a joke had become no
longer a laughing matter for him. He was too frightened to run, so
he scrambled up a tree. He quite