Good evening.
I'm so glad you joined me for Dreamtime Stories with Jackie.
As we continue with the wonderful adventures of old Granny Fox and her little nephew,
Ready Fox.
This wonderful adventure story by Thornton W.
Burgess brings in a lot of characters from some of his other stories,
Such as Peter Rabbit and Bob White.
It's wonderful to feel like this is part of a community that we're reading about.
So snuggle down into your bed and get ready for Dreamtime.
As we read chapter 12,
Granny and Ready Fox hunt in vain.
Old Mother Nature's plans for good quite often are not understood.
Old Granny Fox.
Tommy Tit and Drummer the Woodpecker and Yak Yak the Nuthatch and Sammy J and Shatterer the Red Squirrel were not the only ones who were out and about as soon as that great storm ended.
Oh my,
No,
No indeed.
Everybody who was not sleeping the winter away or who had not a store of food right at hand was out,
But not all were so fortunate as Tommy Tit and his friends in finding a good meal.
Peter Rabbit and Mrs.
Peter came out of the hole in the heart of the dear old briar patch where they had managed to keep comfortably warm and at once began to fill their stomachs with bark from young trees and tender tips of twigs.
It was very coarse food,
But it would take away that empty feeling.
Mrs.
Grouse burst out of the snow and hurried to get a meal before dark.
She had no time to be particular and so she ate spruce buds.
They were very bitter and not much to her liking,
But she was too hungry and night was too near for her to be fussy.
She was thankful to have that much.
Granny Fox and Reddy were out too.
They didn't need to hurry because as you know,
They could hunt all night,
But they were so hungry that they just had to be looking for something to eat now.
They knew of course that everybody else would be out too and they hoped that some of these little people could be easily caught.
That seems like a dreadful hope,
Doesn't it?
But one of the first laws of old mother nature is self-preservation.
That means to save your own life first.
So perhaps Granny and Reddy are not to be blamed for hoping that some of their neighbors might be caught easily because of the great storm.
They were very hungry indeed and they could not eat bark like Peter Rabbit or buds like Mrs.
Grouse or seeds like Whitefoot,
The wood mouse.
Their teeth and stomachs are not made for that kind of food.
It was hard going for Granny and Reddy Fox.
The snow was soft and deep in many places and they had to keep pretty close to those places where rough brother north wind had blown away enough of the snow to make walking fairly easy.
They soon found that their hope that they would find some of their little neighbors too weak to escape was quite in vain.
When jolly round Mr.
Sun dropped below the purple hills to go to bed,
Their stomachs were quite as empty as when they had started out.
We'll go down to the old briar patch.
I don't believe it will be of much use but you can never tell until you try.
Peter Rabbit may take it into his little head to come outside,
Said Granny leading the way.
When they reached the dear old briar patch,
They found that Peter was not outside.
In fact,
Peering between the brambles and bushes,
They could see his little brown form bobbing about as he hunted for tender bark.
He had already made little paths along which he could hop easily and escape.
Peter saw them almost as soon as they saw him.
Hard times these,
Said Peter pleasantly.
I hope your stomachs are not as empty as mine.
He pulled a strip of bark from a young tree and began to chew it.
Oh,
This was more than Reddy could stand to see Peter eating while his own stomach was just.
One great big ache from emptiness was too much.
I'm going in there and catch him or drive him out where you can catch him.
If I tear my coat all to pieces,
I'm going in,
Snarled Reddy.
Peter stopped chewing and sat up.
Oh,
Come right along,
Reddy.
Come right along if you want to.
But I would advise you to save your skin and your coat,
He said.
Reddy's only reply was a snarl as he pushed his way under the brambles.
He yelped as they tore his coat and scratched his face,
But he kept on.
He was so hungry.
Now Peter's paths were very cunningly made.
He had cut them through the very thickest part of the briars,
Just big enough for himself and Mrs.
Peter to hop along comfortably.
But Reddy is so much bigger that he had to force his way through.
And in places,
He had to crawl flat on his stomach,
Which was very slow work,
To say nothing of the painful scratches from the briars.
It was no trouble at all for Peter to keep out of his way.
And before long,
Reddy gave up.
Without a word,
Granny Fox led the way to the green forest.
They would try to find where Mrs.
Grouse was sleeping under the snow.
But though they hunted all night,
They failed to find her,
For she had wisely gone to bed in a spruce tree.
So snuggle down and have a dreamy night's sleep.
This is Jackie.
I hope you come back soon to hear chapter 13.
Good night now.
I'm sending you many hugs.
