s chasing me," Nimble told her. "When I saw the Fox I hurried
back here."

"The Fox!" his mother exclaimed. "Well, he won't dare touch you while I
am with you." She began to breathe easily again. If it was only a Fox
she certainly didn't intend to run. "Where did you see the Fox?" she
demanded.

"He was right over my head," Nimble said.

"My goodness!" his mother gasped. "That was dangerous. Was he on a bank
above you?"

"He was in a tree," Nimble replied.

His mother gave him a queer look.

"What's that?" she asked him sharply. "In a tree? What did he look like?
Was he red?"

"He was grayish and he had black rings around his long bushy tail; and
his long pointed nose stuck out from under a black mask."

"Nonsense!" cried Nimble's mother. "You didn't see a Fox. You saw a
Coon!"

Nimble was puzzled.

"You told me once," he reminded his mother, "that a Fox was a sly fellow
with a bushy tail and a long pointed nose. And this person in the tree
had----"

"Yes! Yes!" said his mother. "Now listen to what I say: A Fox is red.
And his tail has no rings at all. And Foxes don't climb trees."

"Yes, Mother!" was Nimble's meek answer.

He was glad to learn all that. And he was glad, too, that his mother
hadn't asked him how he happened to stray off alone into the woods.

IV

PLANNING A PICNIC

While he was only a fawn Nimble became very fond of water lilies. But he
didn't carry them as a bouquet, nor wear one in his buttonhole. He was
fond of lilies in a different way: he liked to eat them, and their flat,
round, glossy pads. At night his mother often led him to the edge of the
lake on the other side of Blue Mountain and there they feasted.

It was wonderful to stand in the cool water, not too far from the shore,
with the moonlight shimmering on the ruffled lake, and breathe in the
sweet scent of the lilies while nibbling at their pads.

"There's nothing," said Nimble to his mother one night, "nothing so good
to eat as water lilies."

His mother said, "Humph! Wait till you've tasted carrots!"

"Carrots!" Nimble echoed. "What are carrots and where can I find some?
Do they grow in this lake?"

"Carrots," his mother explained, "are vegetables and they grow in Farmer
Green's garden."

When he heard that, Nimble wanted to start for Farmer Green's place at
once. But his mother said, "No!" And he soon saw that she meant it, too.

However, the word _carrots_ was in his mouth a good deal of the time,