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TITLE: SLEEPY-TIME TALES: THE TALE OF FATTY COON
AUTHOR: ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
EBOOK: E02113 (O'Briens Book Cellar)

SLEEPY-TIME TALES

THE TALE OF FATTY COON

BY
ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

ILLUSTRATED BY
HARRY L. SMITH

NEW YORK

1915

CONTENTS

I     FATTY COON AT HOME

II    FATTY LEARNS SOMETHING ABOUT EGGS

III   FATTY DISCOVERS MRS. TURTLE'S SECRET

IV    FATTY COON'S MISTAKE

V     FATTY COON GOES FISHING

VI    FATTY AND THE GREEN CORN

VII   JOHNNIE GREEN IS DISAPPOINTED

VIII  A TERRIBLE FRIGHT

IX    JOHNNIE GREEN LOSES HIS PET

X     FATTY COON AND THE MONSTER

XI    JASPER JAY TELLS SOME NEWS

XII   FORTY FAT TURKEYS

XIII  FATTY MEETS JIMMY RABBIT

XIV   THE BARBER-SHOP AGAIN

XV    FATTY VISITS THE SMOKEHOUSE

XVI   FATTY COON PLAYS ROBBER

XVII  FATTY FINDS THE MOON

XVIII THE LOGGERS COME

XIX   FATTY GROWS EVEN FATTER

XX    THE TRACKS IN THE SNOW

ILLUSTRATIONS

FATTY SAW MRS. TURTLE DIGGING IN THE SAND Frontispiece

FATTY COON CROUCHED CLOSE TO THE WATER'S EDGE

FATTY WISHED THE DOG WOULD GO AWAY

FATTY STOPPED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

"PLEASE, MR. BEAR, LET GO OF MY TAIL!" FATTY CRIED

IT HUNG UNDER A TREE, JUST OVER FATTY'S HEAD

I

FATTY COON AT HOME

Fatty Coon was so fat and round that he looked like a ball of fur, with
a plumelike tail for a handle. But if you looked at him closely you
would have seen a pair of very bright eyes watching you.

Fatty loved to eat. Yes--he loved eating better than anything else in
the world. That was what made him so fat. And that, too, was what led
him into many adventures.

Close by a swamp, which lay down in the valley, between Blue Mountain
and Swift River, Fatty Coon lived with his mother and his brother and
his two sisters. Among them all there was what grown people call "a
strong family resemblance," which is the same thing as saying that they
all looked very much alike. The tail of each one of them--mother and
children too--had six black rings around it. Each of them had a dark
brown patch of fur across the face, like a mask. And--what do you
think?--each of them, even Fatty and his brother and his sisters, had a
stiff, white moustache!

Of course, though they all looked so much alike, you would have known
which was Mrs. Coon, for she was so much bigger than her children. And
you would have known which was Fatty--he was so much rounder than his
brother and his sisters.

Mrs. Coon's home was in the hollow branch of an old tree. It was a giant
of a tree--a poplar close by a brook which ran into the swamp--and the
branch which was Mrs. Coon's home was as big as most tree-trunks are.

Blackie was Fatty's brother--for the mask on his face was just a little
darker than the others'. Fluffy was one of Fatty's sisters, because her
fur was just a little fluffier than the other children's. And Cutey was
the other sister's name, because she was so quaint.

Now, Fatty Coon was forever looking around for something to eat. He was
never satisfied with what his mother brought home for him. No matter how
big a dinner Mrs. Coon set before her family, as soon as he had finished
eating his share Fatty would wipe his white moustache carefully--for all
the world like some old gentleman--and hurry off in search of something
more.

Sometimes he went to the edge of the brook and tried to catch fish by
hooking them out of the water with his sharp claws. Sometimes he went
over to the swamp and hunted for duck among the tall reeds. And though
he did not yet know how to catch a duck, he could always capture a frog
or two; and Fatty ate them as if he hadn't had a mouthful of food for
days.

To tell the truth, Fatty would eat almost anything he could get--nuts,
cherries, wild grapes, blackberries, bugs, small snakes, fish, chickens,
honey--there was no end to the different kinds of food he liked. He ate
everything. And he always wanted more.

"Is this all there is?" Fatty Coon asked his mother one day. He had
gobbled up every bit of the nice fish that Mrs. Coon had brought home
for him. It was gone in no time at all.

Mrs. Coon sighed. She had heard that question so many times; and she
wished that for once Fatty might have all the dinner he wanted.

"Yes--that's all," she said, "and I should think that it was enough for
a young coon like you."

Fatty said nothing more. He wiped his moustache on the back of his hand
(I hope you'll never do that!) and without another word he started off
to see what he could find to eat.

II

FATTY LEARNS SOMETHING ABOUT EGGS

When Fatty Coon started off alone to find something more to eat, after
finishing the fish that his mother had brought home for him, he did not
know that he was going to have an adventure. He nosed about among the
bushes and the tall grasses and caught a few bugs and a frog or two. But
he didn't think that THAT was much. He didn't seem to have much luck,
down on the ground. So he climbed a tall hemlock, to see if he could
find a squirrel's nest, or some bird's eggs.

Fatty loved to climb trees. Up in the big hemlock he forgot, for a time,
that he was still hungry. It was delightful to feel the branches swaying
under him, and the bright sunshine was warm upon his back. He climbed
almost to the very tip-top of the tree and wound himself around the
straight stem. The thick, springy branches held him safely, and soon
Fatty was fast asleep. Next to eating, Fatty loved sleeping. And now he
had a good nap.

Fatty Coon woke up at last, yawned, and slowly unwound himself from the
stem of the tree. He was terribly hungry now. And he felt that he simply
MUST find something to eat at once.

Without going down to the ground, Fatty climbed over into the top of
another big tree and his little beady, bright eyes began searching all
the branches carefully. Pretty soon Fatty smiled. He smiled because he
was pleased. And he was pleased because he saw exactly what he had been
looking for. Not far below him was a big nest, built of sticks and lined
with bark and moss. It was a crow's nest, Fatty decided, and he lost no
time in slipping down to the crotch of the tree where the nest was
perched.

There were four white eggs in the nest--the biggest crow's eggs Fatty
had ever seen. And he began to eat them hungrily. His nose became
smeared with egg, but he didn't mind that at all. He kept thinking how
good the eggs tasted--and how he wished there were more of them.

There was a sudden rush through the branches of the tall tree. And Fatty
Coon caught a hard blow on his head. He felt something sharp sink into
his back, too. And he clutched at the edge of the nest to keep from
falling.

Fatty was surprised, to say the least, for he had never known crows to
fight like that. And he was frightened, because his back hurt. He
couldn't fight, because he was afraid he would fall if he let go of the
nest.

There was nothing to do but run home as fast as he could. Fatty tried to
hurry; but there was that bird, beating and clawing his back, and
pulling him first one way and then another. He began to think he would
never reach home. But at last he came to the old poplar where his mother
lived. And soon, to his great joy, he reached the hole in the big
branch; and you may well believe that Fatty was glad to slip down into
the darkness where his mother, and his brother Blackie, and Fluffy and
Cutey his sisters, were all fast asleep. He was glad, because he knew
that no crow could follow him down there.


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