She was very gentle, was
old Granny Fox, as she touched the sore places, but all the time
she was at work her tongue flew, and that wasn't gentle at all.
Oh, my, no! There was nothing gentle about that!
You see, old Granny Fox is wise and very, very sharp and shrewd.
Just as soon as she saw Reddy's hurts, she knew that they were
made by shot from a gun, and that meant that Reddy Fox had been
careless or he never, never would have been where he was in
danger of being shot.
"I hope this will teach you a lesson!" said Granny Fox. "What are
your eyes and your ears and your nose for? To keep you out of
just such trouble as this.
"A little Fox must use his eyes
Or get someday a sad surprise.
"A little Fox must use his ears
And know what makes each sound he hears.
"A little Fox must use his nose
And try the wind where'er he goes.
"A little Fox must use all three
To live to grow as old as me.
"Now tell me all about it, Reddy Fox. This is summer and men
don't hunt foxes now. I don't see how it happens that Farmer
Brown's boy was waiting for you with a gun.
So Reddy Fox told Granny Fox all about how he had run too near
the old tree trunk behind which Farmer Brown's boy had been
hiding, but Reddy didn't tell how he had been trying to show off,
or how in broad daylight he had stolen the pet chicken of Farmer
Brown's boy. You may be sure he was very careful not to mention
that.
And so old Granny Fox puckered up her brows and thought and
thought, trying to find some good reason why Farmer Brown's boy
should have been hunting in the summertime.
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