me, for he never felt easy
near the home of man in broad daylight. Granny and Reddy Fox went home
too, and there was hate in their hearts,--hate for Old Man Coyote. But
once they reached home, Old Granny Fox stopped growling, and presently
she began to chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" demanded Reddy.

"At the way Old Man Coyote stole that dinner from us," replied Granny.

"I hate him! He's a sneaking robber!" snapped Reddy.

"Tut, tut, Reddy! Tut, tut!" retorted Granny. "Be fair-minded. We stole
that dinner from Bowser the Hound, and Old Man Coyote stole it from us.
I guess he is no worse than we are, when you come to think it over. Now
is he?"

"I--I--well, I don't suppose he is, when you put it that way," Reddy
admitted grudgingly.

"And he was smart, very smart, to outwit two such clever people as we
are," continued Granny. "You will have to agree to that."

"Y-e-s," said Reddy slowly. "He was smart enough, but--"

"There isn't any but, Reddy," interrupted Granny. "You know the law of
the Green Meadows and the Green Forest. It is everybody for himself, and
anything belongs to one who has the wit or the strength to take it.
We had the wit to take that dinner from Bowser the Hound, and Old Man
Coyote had the wit to take it from us and the strength to keep it. It
was all fair enough, and you know there isn't the least use in crying
over spilled milk, as the saying is. We simply have got to be smart
enough not to let him fool us again. I guess we won't get any more of
Bowser's dinners for a while. We've got to think of some other way of
filling our stomachs when the hunting is poor. I think if I could have
just one of those fat hens of Farmer Brown's, it would put new strength
into my old bones. All summer I warned you to keep away from that
henyard, but the time has come now when I think we might try for a
couple of those hens."

Reddy pricked up his ears at the mention of fat hens. "I think so too,"
said he. "When shall we try for one?"

"To-morrow morning," replied Granny. "Now don't bother me while I think
out a plan."

CHAPTER XXII: Granny Fox Plans To Get A Fat Hen

Full half success for Fox or Man
Is won by working out a plan.
--Old Granny Fox.

Granny Fox knows this. No one knows it better. Whatever she does is
first carefully planned in her wise old head. So now after she had
decided that she and Reddy would try for one of Farmer Brown's fat hens,
she lay down to think out a