f was as bad as the worst when
it came to robbing birds' nests.

Although he felt as if he were about to burst with rage old Mr. Crow
pretended to laugh. He had been having a rather dull time, waiting for
Farmer Green to plant his corn, and he thought that a lively race might
put him in better spirits.

[Illustration: Grumpy Nearly Catches Paddy Muskrat. (_Page 31_)]

"Where do you want to race against Jimmy Rabbit?" Mr. Crow asked.

"We'll start from this wall," said Grumpy sulkily, "because it's always
better to start from where you are than where you aren't."

Mr. Crow said that that seemed reasonable.

"When do you want to race?" he added.

"The sooner we start the quicker we'll finish," Grumpy Weasel snapped.

"Quite true, quite true!" Mr. Crow agreed. "And now may I inquire how
long a race you want to run?"

"No longer than I have to!" Grumpy growled. "Not more than a day or two,
I hope!"

Mr. Crow snickered slightly. "I see you don't understand my question,"
he observed. "Are you going to run a mile, or only a few rods?"

"How do I know?" Grumpy cried, as if he had no patience with his
questioner. "How could anybody tell? I'll let Jimmy Rabbit start twenty
jumps ahead of me and we'll run till I catch him."

Well, Mr. Crow laughed right out loud when he heard that. And he was
about to tell Grumpy that he would have to run till the end of his days
if he raced Jimmy Rabbit in any such fashion as that. But he saw all at
once that such a race would be a great joke. And he said to himself with
a chuckle that the laugh would be on Grumpy Weasel. For Jimmy Rabbit was
so swift a runner that nobody who knew anything at all would ever
consent to give him a start--much less propose such a thing.

"Very well!" said Mr. Crow with a smirk, "I'll report to Jimmy Rabbit.
I'll tell him where, when and how you want to race, and there's no
doubt that your plan will please him."

"I hope it won't!" Grumpy Weasel snarled. "I've never pleased anybody
yet; and I don't mean to."

And that goes to show what an ill-natured scamp he was.

IX

SAVING HIS FEET

Old Mr. Crow and Jimmy Rabbit had a good laugh over Grumpy Weasel's plan
for a race with Jimmy. They thought it a great joke.

"He needn't give me a start," Jimmy said. "I can beat Grumpy easily."

"Never mind that!" Mr. Crow advised. "You might as well let him have his
way. He'll look all the more foolish, trying to catch up with you."

So Jimmy Rabbi