ARTY 35

VII THE STRANGE LIGHT 39

VIII MRS. DEER EXPLAINS 44

IX A SPIKE HORN 49

X AT THE CARROT PATCH 54

XI CUFFY AND THE CAVE 60

XII CUFFY IS MISSING 65

XIII CUFFY BEAR WAKENS 70

XIV ANTLERS 75

XV A MOCK BATTLE 79

XVI MR. CROW LOOKS ON 84

XVII WHAT BROWNIE WANTED 90

XVIII THE MULEY COW 96

XIX THE JUMPING CONTEST 100

XX SOLVING A PROBLEM 104

XXI AN UNTOLD SECRET 109

XXII THE NEW HAT-RACK 113

XXIII HOW NIMBLE HELPED 118

XXIV UNCLE JERRY CHUCK 123

THE TALE OF
NIMBLE DEER

I

THE SPOTTED FAWN

When Nimble's mother first looked at him she couldn't believe she would
ever be able to raise him. He was such a tiny, frail, spotted thing that
he seemed too delicate for a life of adventure on the wooded ridges and
in the tangled swamps under the shadow of Blue Mountain.

"Bless me!" cried the good lady. "This child's not much taller than an
overgrown beet top and he can't be any heavier than one of Farmer
Green's prize cabbages. And his legs--" she exclaimed--"his legs are no
thicker than pea pods.... They'll be ready to eat in another month," she
added, meaning _not_ her child's legs, as you might have supposed, but
Farmer Green's early June peas. For Nimble's mother was very fond of
certain vegetables that did not grow wild in the woods.

Of course young Nimble did not know what she was talking about. He had a
great deal to learn. And he would have to wait until he was a good deal
bigger before his mother took him on an excursion, by night, across the
fields to Farmer Green's garden patch.

All at once Nimble leaped quickly upon his slightly wobbly legs. He
trembled and gazed up at his mother with a look of fear in his great
eyes. At the same time his mother, too, lifted her head and listened
for a few moments. "Don't be afraid!" she said then, to Nimble. "That's
old Spot--Farmer Green's dog--barking. But he's down near the barns, so
we don't need to worry."

That was the first time Nimble had ever heard a dog's voice. Yet no one
needed to tell him that it wasn't a pleasant sound.

Even his mother couldn't help feeling that she had better put a wide
stretch of rough country betw