"I asked you your prices, you
know. And you said: 'An ear of corn for a tooth!'"

Jimmy Rabbit didn't know what to do.

"Why"--he gasped, "I thought _you_ were going to pay _me_!"

"Well, you see you were mistaken," Uncle Jerry told him. "And you had
better give me that ear of corn at once, or it will be the worse for
you."

For all the old fellow was toothless, Jimmy saw that his claws were long
and sharp. He knew that he had got himself into a fix. And he couldn't
think of any way out of it.

"You've got my tooth! I want an ear of corn! You've got my tooth! I want
an ear of corn!" Uncle Jerry Chuck kept saying. And each time he said
it, his voice grew louder, until he was shouting at the top of his
lungs.

Then Jimmy Rabbit had an idea. He picked up Uncle Jerry's tooth off the
floor and placed it in Uncle Jerry's hand.

"There's your tooth!" he cried. "I don't want it!"

"But you promised to give me an ear of corn for my tooth!" said Uncle
Jerry.

"Well, haven't you got your tooth?" asked Jimmy Rabbit.

And Uncle Jerry Chuck was so puzzled that he went home without saying
another word.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: 12 The Strange Man]

12

The Strange Man

A strange man had come to stay at Farmer Green's house. It was Jasper
Jay who brought the news into the woods.

"He doesn't seem to work with Farmer Green, or the hired man, either,"
said Jasper. "When I first saw him he was sitting on the bank of the
river, under a great, brown umbrella. But what he was doing I couldn't
make out."

When Jimmy Rabbit heard that, he knew at once that he wouldn't be able
to sleep a wink that night unless he found out exactly what the strange
man was about. So he went off toward Swift River with a skip and a hop.
He was always like that. Whenever there was a new sight to be seen,
Jimmy Rabbit was sure to be among the first to see it.

He had no trouble in finding what he was looking for. There on the river
bank was a huge umbrella. Jimmy was sure it was the biggest one in the
world. And under the umbrella sat the strange man. In one hand he
grasped a queerly shaped board, and a number of sticks; and in the other
he held one of the sticks, with which he kept dabbing at a big, flat
thing that stood in front of him.

Jimmy Rabbit was puzzled. He stole nearer. And at last he had crept so
close that when he stood on his hind legs he could see what the man was
working at.

To his great surprise, he disc