Then she jumped out in front of Jimmy Skunk, her eyes snapping,
her teeth showing, and the hair on her back standing on end so as
to make her look very fierce. But all the time old Granny Fox
took the greatest care not to get too near to Jimmy Skunk.
"Where's my chicken?" snarled old Granny Fox, and she looked
very, very fierce.
Jimmy Skunk looked up as if very much surprised. "Hello, Granny
Fox!" he exclaimed. "Have you lost a chicken?"
"You've stolen it! You're a thief, Jimmy Skunk!" snapped Granny
Fox.
"Words can never make black white;
Before you speak be sure you're right,"
said Jimmy Skunk. "I'm not a thief."
"You are!" cried Granny working herself into a great rage.
"I'm not!"
"You are!"
All the time Jimmy Skunk was chuckling to himself, and the more
he chuckled the angrier grew old Granny Fox. And all the time
Jimmy Skunk kept moving toward old Granny Fox and Granny Fox kept
backing away, for, like all the other little meadow and forest
people, she has very great respect for Jimmy Skunk's little bag
of scent.
Now, backing off that way, she couldn't see where she was going,
and the first thing she knew she had backed into a bramble bush.
It tore her skirts and scratched her legs. "Ooch!" cried old
Granny Fox.
"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Jimmy Skunk. "That's what you get for
calling me names.
XIV. Granny Fox Finds What Became of the Chicken
Old Granny Fox was in a terrible temper. Dear, dear, it certainly
was a dreadful temper! Jimmy Skunk laughed at her, and that made
it worse.
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