angry, and that the angrier he became the better
pleased Sammy Jay would be. But like a great many people, Reddy allowed
his temper to get the better of his common sense.

"Who says Granny Fox is stupid?" he snarled.

"I do," replied Sammy Jay promptly. "I say she is stupid."

"She is smarter than anybody else in all the Green Forest and on all the
Green Meadows. She is smarter than anybody else in all the Great World,"
boasted Reddy, and he really believed it.

"She isn't smart enough to fool Farmer Brown's boy," taunted Sammy.

"What's that? Who says so? Has anything happened to Granny Fox?" Reddy
forgot his anger in a sudden great fear. Could Granny have been shot by
Farmer Brown's boy?

"Nothing much, only Farmer Brown's boy caught her napping in broad
daylight," replied Sammy, and chuckled so that Reddy heard him.

"I don't believe it!" snapped Reddy. "I don't believe a word of it!
Nobody ever yet caught Old Granny Fox napping, and nobody ever will."

"I don't care whether you believe it or not; it's so, for I saw him,"
retorted Sammy Jay.

"You--you--you--" began Reddy Fox.

"Go ask Tommy Tit the Chickadee if it isn't true. He saw him too,"
interrupted Sammy Jay.

"Dee, dee, dee, Chickadee! It's so, and Farmer Brown's boy only threw a
snowball at her and let her run away without shooting at her," declared
a new voice. There sat Tommy Tit himself.

Reddy didn't know what to think or say. He just couldn't believe it,
yet he had never known Tommy Tit to tell an untruth. Sammy Jay alone
he wouldn't have believed. Then Tommy Tit and Sammy Jay told Reddy
all about what they had seen, how Farmer Brown's boy had surprised Old
Granny Fox and then allowed her to go unharmed. Reddy had to believe
it. If Tommy Tit said it was so, it must be so. Reddy Fox started off to
hunt up Old Granny Fox and ask her about it. But a sudden thought popped
into his red head, and he changed his mind.

"I won't say a thing about it until some time when Granny scolds me for
being careless," muttered Reddy, with a sly grin. "Then I'll see what
she has to say. I guess she won't scold me so much after this."

Reddy grinned more than ever, which wasn't a bit nice of him. Instead of
being sorry that Old Granny Fox had had such a fright, he was planning
how he would get even with her when she should scold him for his own
carelessness.

CHAPTER X: Reddy Fox Is Impudent

A saucy tongue is dangerous to possess;
Be sure som