The Adventures of Johnny Chuck
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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Johnny Chuck
Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team.
THE BEDTIME STORY BOOKS
THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUCK
BY
THORNTON W. BURGESS
Author of "Old Mother West Wind,"
"The Adventures of Reddy Fox," etc.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. GENTLE SISTER SOUTH WIND ARRIVES
II. JOHNNY CHUCK RECEIVES CALLERS
III. THE SINGERS OF THE SMILING POOL
IV. JOHNNY CHUCK FINDS OUT WHO THE SWEET SINGERS ARE
V. JOHNNY CHUCK BECOMES DISSATISFIED
VI. JOHNNY CHUCK TURNS TRAMP
VII. JOHNNY'S FIRST ADTENTURE
VIII. JOHNNY HAS ANOTHER ADVENTURE
IX. ANOTHER STRANGE CHUCK
X. WHY JOHNNY CHUCK DIDN'T FIGHT
XI. THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD
XII. JOHNNY CHUCK PROVES HIS LOVE
XIII. POLLY AND JOHNNY CHUCK GO HOUSE HUNTING
XIV. A NEW HOME AT LAST
XV. SAMMY JAY FINDS THE NEW HOME
XVI. SAMMY JAY PLANS MISCHIEF
XVII. MORE MISCHIEF
XVIII. FARMER BROWN'S BOY MAKES A DISCOVERY
XIX. JOHNNY CHUCK'S PRIDE
XX. SAMMY JAY UNDERSTANDS
XXI. SAMMY JAY HAS A CHANGE OF HEART
XXII. JOHNNY CHUCK IS KEPT BUSY
XXIII. THE SCHOOL IN THE OLD ORCHARD
XXIV. SAMMY JAY PROVES THAT HE IS NOT ALL BAD
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
JOHNNY CHUCK BADE CHATTERER GOOD-BY AND STARTED ON Frontispiece
"IS IT REALLY AND TRULY YOU, JOHNNY CHUCK?" HE CRIED
"HO, HO, HO! THAT'S THE BEST JOKE THIS SPRING!" SHOUTED JERRY MUSKRAT
WITH A SQUEAL OF RAGE, JOHNNY SPRANG AT THE GRAY OLD CHUCK
IF POLLY WANTED TO LIVE THERE SHE SHOULD
"HAVE YOU CALLED ON JOHNNY CHUCK AT HIS NEW HOME YET?" ASKED SAMMY JAY
I
GENTLE SISTER SOUTH WIND ARRIVES
"Good news, good news for every one, above or down below,
For Master Winsome Bluebird's come to whistle off the snow!"
All the Green Meadows and all the Green Forest had heard the news.
Peter Rabbit had seen to that. And just as soon as each of the little
meadow and forest folks heard it, he hurried out to listen for himself
and make sure that it was true. And each, when he heard that sweet
voice of Winsome Bluebird, had kicked up his heels and shouted
"Hurrah!"
You see they all knew that Winsome Bluebird never is very far ahead of
gentle Sister South Wind, and that when she arrives, blustering, rough
Brother North Wind is already on his way back to the cold, cold land
where the ice never melts.
Of course Winsome Bluebird doesn't really whistle off the snow, but
after he comes, the snow disappears so fast that it seems as if he
did. It is surprising what a difference a little good news makes. Of
course nothing had really changed that first day when Winsome
Bluebird's whistle was heard on the Green Meadows and in the Green
Forest, but it seemed as if everything had changed. And it was all
because that sweet whistle was a promise, a promise that every one
knew would come true. And so there was joy in all the hearts on the
Green Meadows and in the Green Forest. Even grim old Granny Fox felt
it, and as for Reddy Fox, why, Reddy even shouted good-naturedly to
Peter Rabbit and hoped he was feeling well.
And then gentle Sister South Wind arrived. She came in the night, and
in the morning there she was, hard at work making the Green Meadows
and the Green Forest ready for Mistress Spring. She broke the icy
bands that had bound the Smiling Pool and the Laughing Brook so long;
and the Smiling Pool began to smile once more, and the Laughing Brook
to gurgle and then to laugh and finally to sing merrily.
She touched the little banks of snow that remained, and straightway
they melted and disappeared. She kissed the eight babies of Unc' Billy
Possum, and they kicked off the bedclothes under which old Mrs. Possum
had tucked them and scrambled out of the big hollow tree to play.
She peeped in at the door of Johnny Chuck and called softly, and
Johnny Chuck awoke from his long sleep and yawned and began to think
about getting up. She knocked at the door of Digger the Badger, and
Digger awoke. She tickled the nose of Striped Chipmunk, who was about
half awake, and Striped Chipmunk sneezed and then he hopped out of bed
and hurried up to his doorway to shout good morning after her, as she
hurried over to see if Bobby Coon was still sleeping.
Peter Rabbit followed her about. He couldn't understand it at all.
Peter had smiled to himself when he heard how softly she had called at
the doorway of Johnny Chuck's house, for many and many a time during
the long winter Peter had stopped at Johnny Chuck's house and shouted
down the long hall at the top of his voice without once waking Johnny
Chuck. Now Peter nearly tumbled over with surprise, as he heard Johnny
Chuck yawn at the first low call of gentle Sister South Wind.
"How does she do it? I don't understand it at all," said Peter, as he
scratched his long left ear with his long left hind leg.
Gentle Sister South Wind smiled at Peter. "There are a lot of things
in this world that you will never understand, Peter Rabbit. You will
just have to believe them without understanding them and be content to
know that they are so," she said, and hurried over to the Green Forest
to tell Unc' Billy Possum that his old friend, Ol' Mistah Buzzard, was
on his way up from ol' Virginny.
II
JOHNNY CHUCK RECEIVES CALLERS
The morning after gentle Sister South Wind arrived on the Green
Meadows, Peter Rabbit came hopping and skipping down the Lone Little
Path from the Green Forest. Peter was happy. He didn't know why. He
just was happy. It was in the air. Everybody else seemed happy, too.
Peter had to stop every few minutes just to kick up his heels and try
to jump over his own shadow. He had felt just that way ever since
gentle Sister South Wind arrived.
"I simply have to kick and dance!
I cannot help but gaily prance!
Somehow I feel it in my toes
Whenever gentle South Wind blows."
So sang Peter Rabbit as he hopped and skipped down the Lone Little
Path. Suddenly he stopped right in the middle of the verse. He sat up
very straight and stared down at Johnny Chuck's house. Some one was
sitting on Johnny Chuck's door-step. It looked like Johnny Chuck. No,
it looked like the shadow of Johnny Chuck. Peter rubbed his eyes and
looked again. Then he hurried as fast as he could, lipperty-lipperty-
lip. The nearer he got, the less like Johnny Chuck looked the one
sitting on Johnny Chuck's door-step. Johnny Chuck had gone to sleep
round and fat and roly-poly, so fat he could hardly waddle. This
fellow was thin, even thinner than Peter Rabbit himself. He waved a
thin hand to Peter.
"Hello, Peter Rabbit! I told you that I would see you in the spring.
How did you stand the long winter?"
That certainly was Johnny Chuck's voice. Peter was so delighted that
in his hurry he fell over his own feet. "Is it really and truly you,
Johnny Chuck?" he cried.
"Of course it's me; who did you think it was?" replied Johnny Chuck
rather crossly, for Peter was staring at him as if he had never seen
him before.
"I--I--I didn't know," confessed Peter Rabbit. "I thought it was you
and I thought it wasn't you. What have you been doing to yourself,
Johnny Chuck? Your coat looks three sizes too big for you, and when I
last saw you it didn't look big enough." Peter hopped all around
Johnny Chuck, looking at him as if he didn't believe his own eyes.
[Illustration: "Is it really and truly you, Johnny Chuck?" he cried.]
"Oh, Johnny's all right. He's just been living on his own fat," said
another voice. It was Jimmy Skunk who had spoken, and he now stood
holding out his hand to Johnny Chuck and grinning good-naturedly. He
had come up without either of the others seeing him.
Peter's big eyes opened wider than ever. "Do you mean to say that he
has been eating his own fat?" he gasped.
Johnny Chuck and Jimmy Skunk both laughed. "No," said Jimmy Skunk, "he
didn't eat it, but he lived on it just the same while he was asleep
all winter. Don't you see he hasn't got a particle of fat on him now?"
"But how could he live on it, if he didn't eat it?" asked Peter,
staring at Johnny Chuck as if he had never seen him before.
Jimmy Skunk shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me. That is one of Old
Mother Nature's secrets; you'll have to ask her," he replied.
"And don't ask me," said Johnny Chuck, "for I've been asleep all the
time. My, but I'm hungry!"
"So am I!" said another voice. There was Reddy Fox grinning at them.
Johnny Chuck dove into the doorway of his house with Peter Rabbit at
his heels, for there was nowhere else to go. Jimmy Skunk just stood
still and chuckled. He knew that Reddy Fox didn't dare touch him.
III
THE SINGERS OF THE SMILING POOL
Mistress Spring was making everybody happy on the Green Meadows and in
the Green Forest and around the Smiling Pool. With her gentle fingers
she wakened one by one all the little sleepers who had spent the long
winter dreaming of warm summer days and not knowing anything at all of
rough, blustering Brother North Wind or Jack Frost. As they wakened,
many began to sing for joy. But the clearest, loudest singers of all
lived in the Smiling Pool.
It was a long time before Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck knew where
they lived. Every night just before going to bed, Johnny Chuck would
sit on his door-step just to listen, and as he listened somehow he
felt better and happier; and he always had pleasant dreams after
listening to the sweet singers of the Smiling Pool. Even after he had
curled himself up for the night deep down in his snug bedroom, he
could hear those sweet voices, and whenever he waked up in the night
he would hear them.
"Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!
So gentle, so loving, so sweet and so fair!
Oh, who can be cross when there's love in the air?
Be happy! Be joyful! And join in our song
And help us to send the glad tidings along!
Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!"
When Johnny Chuck had first heard them, he had looked in all the tree-
tops for the singers, but not one could he see. Then he had thought
that they must be hidden in the bushes; but when he went to look, he
found that the sweet singers were not there. It was very mysterious.
Finally he asked Peter Rabbit if he knew who the sweet singers were
and where they were. Peter didn't know, but he was willing to try to
find out. Peter is always willing to try to find out about things he
doesn't already know about. So Johnny Chuck and Peter Rabbit started
out to find the sweet singers.
"I believe they are down in the old bulrushes around the Smiling
Pool," said Peter Rabbit, as he stood listening with a hand behind one
long ear.
So over to the Smiling Pool they hurried. The nearer they got, the
louder became the voices singing:
"Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!"
But look as they would, they couldn't see a single singer among the
brown bulrushes. It was very strange, very strange indeed! It seemed
as if the voices came right out of the Smiling Pool itself!
When Peter Rabbit made a little noise, as he hopped out on the bank
where he could look all over the Smiling Pool, the singing stopped.
After he had sat perfectly still for a little while, it began again.
There was no doubt about it this time; those voices came right out of
the water.
Johnny Chuck stared at Peter Rabbit, and Peter stared at Johnny Chuck.
Nobody was to be seen in the Smiling Pool, and yet there were those
voices--oh, so many of them--coming right out of the water.
"How can birds stay under water and still sing?" asked Johnny Chuck.
"Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!"
Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck whirled around, to find Jerry Muskrat
peeping up at them from a hole in the bank almost under their feet.
[Illustration: "Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!" shouted
Jerry Muskrat.]
"Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!" shouted Jerry Muskrat,
and laughed until he had to hold his sides. "Birds under water! Ho,
ho, ho!"
IV
JOHNNY CHUCK FINDS OUT WHO THE SWEET SINGERS ARE
Johnny Chuck couldn't keep away from the Smiling Pool. No, Sir, Johnny
Chuck couldn't keep away from the Smiling Pool. Ever since he and
Peter Rabbit had gone over there looking for the sweet singers, who
every night and part of the day told all who would listen how glad
they were that Mistress Spring had come to the Green Meadows and the
Green Forest, Johnny Chuck had had something on his mind. And this is
why he couldn't keep away from the Smiling Pool.
You see it was this way: Johnny and Peter had thought that of course
the sweet singers were birds. They hadn't dreamed of anything else. So
of course they went looking for birds. When they reached the Smiling
Pool, the voices came right out of the water. Johnny knew that some
birds, like many of the cousins of Mrs. Quack, can stay under water a
long time, and so he didn't know but some other birds might.
Jerry Muskrat was always watching for Johnny, whenever he came to the
Smiling Pool, and his eyes would twinkle as he would gravely say:
"Hello, Johnny Chuck! Have you seen the birds sing under water yet?"
Johnny would smile good-naturedly and reply: "Not yet, Jerry Muskrat.
Won't you point them out to me?"
Then Jerry would reply:
"Two eyes you have, bright as can be;
Perhaps some day you'll learn to see."
Then Johnny Chuck would sit as still as ever he knew how, and watch
and watch the Smiling Pool, but not a bird did he see in the water,
though the singers were still there. One day a sudden thought popped
into his head. Perhaps those singers were not birds at all! Why hadn't
he thought of that before? Perhaps it was because he was looking so
hard for birds that he hadn't seen anything else. Johnny began to
look, not for anything in particular, but to see everything that he
could.
Almost right away he saw some tiny little dark spots on the water.
They didn't look like much of anything. They were so small that he
hadn't noticed them before. One of them was quite close to him, and as
Johnny Chuck looked at it, it began to look like a tiny nose, and
then--why, just then, Johnny was very sure that one of those singing
voices came right from that very spot!
He was so surprised that he hopped to his feet and excitedly beckoned
to Jerry Muskrat. The instant he did that, the voices near him stopped
singing, and the little spots on the water disappeared, leaving just
the tiniest of little rings, just such tiny little rings as drops of
rain falling on the Smiling Pool would make. And when that tiny spot
nearest to him that looked like a tiny nose disappeared, Johnny Chuck
caught just a glimpse of a little form under the water.
"Why--why-e-e! The singers are Grandfather Frog's children!" cried
Johnny Chuck.
"No, they're not, but they are own cousins to them; they are the
grandchildren of old Mr. Tree Toad! and they are called Hylas!" said
Jerry Muskrat, laughing and rubbing his hands in great glee. "I told
you that if you used your eyes, you'd learn to see."
"My, but they've got voices bigger than they are!" said Johnny Chuck,
as he started home across the Green Meadows. "I'm glad I know who the
singers of the Smiling Pool are, and I mustn't forget their name--
Hylas. What a funny name!" But Farmer Brown's boy, listening to their
song that evening, didn't call them Hylas. He said: "Hear the peepers!
Spring is surely here."
V
JOHNNY CHUCK BECOMES DISSATISFIED
Johnny Chuck was unhappy. Here it was the glad springtime, when
everybody is supposed to be the very happiest, and Johnny Chuck was
unhappy. Why was he unhappy? Well, he hardly knew himself. He had
slept comfortably all the long winter. He had awakened very, very
hungry, but now he had plenty to eat. All about him the birds were
singing or busily at work building new homes. And still Johnny Chuck
felt unhappy. It was dreadful to feel this way and not have any good
reason for it.
One bright morning Johnny Chuck sat on his door-step watching Drummer
the Woodpecker building a new home in the old apple-tree. Drummer's
red head flew back and forth, back and forth, and his sharp bill cut
out tiny bits of wood. It was slow work; it was hard work. But Drummer
seemed happy, very happy indeed. It was watching Drummer that started
Johnny Chuck to thinking about his own home. He had always thought it
a very nice home. He had built it just as he wanted it. From the
doorstep he could look in all directions over the Green Meadows. It
had a front door and a hidden back door. Yes, it was a very nice home
indeed.
But now, all of a sudden, Johnny Chuck became dissatisfied with his
home. It was too near the Lone Little Path. Too many people knew where
it was. It wasn't big enough. The front door ought to face the other
way. Dear me, what a surprising lot of faults a discontented heart can
find with things that have always been just right! It was so with
Johnny Chuck. That house in which he had spent so many happy days,
which had protected him from all harm, of which he had been so proud
when he first built it, was now the meanest house in the world. If
other people had new houses, why shouldn't he? The more he thought
about it, the more dissatisfied and discontented he became and of
course the more unhappy. You know one cannot be dissatisfied and
discontented and happy at the same time.
Now dissatisfied and discontented people are not at all pleasant to
have around. Johnny Chuck had always been one of the best natured of
all the little meadow people, and everybody liked him. So Jimmy Skunk
didn't know quite what to make of it, when he came down the Lone
Little Path and found Johnny Chuck so out of sorts that he wouldn't
even answer when spoken to.
Jimmy Skunk was feeling very good-natured himself. He had just had a
fine breakfast of fat beetles and he was at peace with all the world.
So he sat down beside Johnny Chuck and began to talk, just as if
Johnny Chuck was his usual good-natured self.
"It's a fine day," said Jimmy Skunk.
Johnny Chuck just sniffed.
"You're looking very fine," said Jimmy.
Johnny just scowled.
"I think you've got the best place on the Green Meadows for a house,"
said Jimmy, pretending to admire the view.
Johnny scowled harder than ever.
"And such a splendid house!" said Jimmy. "I wish I had one like it."
"I'm glad you like it! You can have the old thing!" snapped Johnny
Chuck.
"What's that?" demanded Jimmy Skunk, opening his eyes very wide.
"I said that you can have it. I'm going to move," replied Johnny
Chuck.
Now he really hadn't thought of moving until that very minute. And he
didn't know why he had said it. But he had said it, and because he is
an obstinate little fellow he stuck to it.
"When can I move in?" asked Jimmy Skunk, his eyes twinkling.
"Right away, if you want to," replied Johnny Chuck, and swaggered off
down the Lone Little Path, leaving Jimmy Skunk to stare after him as
if he thought Johnny Chuck had suddenly gone crazy, as indeed he did.
VI
JOHNNY CHUCK TURNS TRAMP
Johnny Chuck had turned tramp. Yes, Sir, Johnny Chuck had turned
tramp. It was a funny thing to do, but he had done it. He didn't know
why he had done it, excepting that he had become dissatisfied and
discontented and unhappy in his old home. And then, almost without
thinking what he was doing, he had told Jimmy Skunk that he could have
the house he had worked so hard to build the summer before and of
which he had been so proud. Then Johnny Chuck had swaggered away down
the Lone Little Path without once looking back at the home he was
leaving.
Where was he going? Well, to tell the truth, Johnny didn't know. He
was going to see the world, and perhaps when he had seen the world, he
would build him a new house. So as long as he was in sight of Jimmy
Skunk, he swaggered along quite as if he was used to traveling about,
without any snug house to go to at night. But right down in his heart
Johnny Chuck didn't feel half so bold as he pretended.
You see, not since he was a little Chuck and had run away from old
Mother Chuck with Peter Rabbit, had he ever been very far from his own
door-step. He had always been content to grow fat and roly-poly right
near his own home, and listen to the tales of the great world from
Jimmy Skunk and Peter Rabbit and Bobby Coon and Unc' Billy Possum, all
of whom are great travelers.
But now, here he was, actually setting forth, and without a home to
come back to! You see, he had made up his mind that no matter what
happened, he wouldn't come back, after having given his house to Jimmy
Skunk.
When he had reached a place where he thought Jimmy Skunk couldn't see
him, Johnny Chuck turned and looked back, and a queer little feeling
seemed to make a lump that filled his throat and choked him. The fact
is, Johnny Chuck already began to feel homesick. But he swallowed very
hard and tried to make himself think that he was having a splendid
time. He stopped looking back and started on, and as he tramped along,
he tried to sing a song he had once heard Jimmy Skunk sing:
"The world may stretch full far and wide--
What matters that to me?
I'll tramp it up; I'll tramp it down!
For I am bold and free."
It was a very brave little song, but Johnny Chuck didn't feel half so
brave and bold as he tried to think he did. Already he was beginning
to wonder where he should spend the night. Then he thought of old
Whitetail the Marshhawk, who had given him such a fright and had so
nearly caught him when he was a little fellow. The thought made him
look around hastily, and there was old Whitetail himself, sailing back
and forth hungrily just ahead of him. A great fear took possession of
Johnny Chuck, and he made himself as flat as possible in the grass,
for there was no place to hide. He made up his mind that anyway he
would fight.
Nearer and nearer came old Whitetail! Finally he passed right over
Johnny Chuck. But he didn't offer to touch him. Indeed, it seemed to
Johnny that old Whitetail actually grinned and winked at him. And
right then all his fear left him.
"Pooh!" said Johnny Chuck scornfully. "Who's afraid of him!" He
suddenly realized that he was no longer a helpless little Chuck who
couldn't take care of himself, but big and strong, with sharp teeth
with which his old enemy had no mind to make a closer acquaintance,
when there were mice and snakes to be caught without fighting. So he
puffed out his chest and went on, and actually began to enjoy himself,
and almost wished for a chance to show how big and strong he was.
VII
JOHNNY'S FIRST ADVENTURE
After old Whitetail the Marshhawk passed Johnny Chuck without offering
to touch him, Johnny began to feel very brave and bold and important.
He strutted and swaggered along as much as his short legs would let
him. He held his head very high. Already he felt that he had had an
adventure and he longed for more. He forgot the terrible lonesome
feeling of a little while before. He forgot that he had given away the
only home he had. He didn't know just why, but right down deep inside
he had a sudden feeling that he really didn't care a thing about that
old home. In fact, he felt as if he wouldn't care if he never had
another home. Yes, Sir, that is the way that Johnny Chuck felt. Do you
know why? Just because he had just begun to realize how big and strong
he really was.
Now it is a splendid thing to feel big and strong and brave, a very
splendid thing! But it is a bad thing to let that feeling turn to
pride, foolish pride. Of course old Whitetail hadn't really been
afraid of Johnny Chuck. He had simply passed Johnny with a wink,
because there was plenty to eat without the trouble of fighting, and
Whitetail doesn't fight just for the fun of it.
But foolish Johnny Chuck really thought that old Whitetail was afraid
of him. The more he thought about it, the more tickled he felt and the
more puffed up he felt. He began to talk to himself and to brag. Yes,
Sir, Johnny Chuck began to brag:
"I'm not afraid of any one;
They're all afraid of me!
I only have to show my teeth
To make them turn and flee!"
"Pooh!" said a voice. "Pooh! It would take two like you to make me run
away!"
Johnny Chuck gave a startled jump. There was a strange Chuck glaring
at him from behind a little bunch of grass. He was a big, gray old
Chuck whom Johnny never had seen on the Green Meadows before, and he
didn't look the least bit afraid. No, Sir, he didn't look the
teeniest, weeniest bit afraid! Somehow, Johnny Chuck didn't feel half
so big and strong and brave as he had a few minutes before. But it
wouldn't do to let this stranger know it. Of course not! So, though he
felt very small inside, Johnny made all his hair bristle up and tried
to look very fierce.
"Who are you and what are you doing on my Green Meadows?" he demanded.
"Your Green Meadows! Your Green Meadows! Ho, ho, ho! Your Green
Meadows!" The stranger laughed an unpleasant laugh. "How long since
you owned the Green Meadows? I have just come down on to them from the
Old Pasture, and I like the looks of them so well that I think I will
stay. So run along, little boaster! There isn't room for both of us
here, and the sooner you trot along the better." The stranger suddenly
showed all his teeth and gritted them unpleasantly.