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"There was an old Possum lived up in a tree; Hi, ho, see the chips fly! The sliest old thief that you ever did see; Hi, ho, see the chips fly! He ate and he ate in the dark of the night, And when the day came not an egg was in sight, But now that I know where he's making his bed, I'll do without eggs and will eat him instead! Hi, ho, see the chips fly!" |
F ARMER BROWN'S boy sang as he swung his keen axe, and the chips did fly. They flew out on the white snow in all directions. And the louder Farmer Brown's boy sang, the faster the chips flew. Farmer Brown's boy had come to the Green Forest bright and early that morning, and he had made up his mind that he would take home a fat Possum for dinner. He didn't have the least doubt about it, and that is why he sang as he made the chips fly. He had tracked that Possum right up to that tree, and there were no tracks going away from it. Right up near the top he could see a hollow, just such a hollow as a Possum likes. All he had to do was to cut the tree down and split it open, and Mr. Possum would be his.
So Farmer Brown's boy swung his axe, chop, chop, chop, and the chips
flew out on the white snow, and Farmer Brown's boy sang, never once
thinking of how the Possum he was after might feel. Of course it was
That had been a long, hard, anxious journey for
Chop, chop, chop! The snow was covered with chips now. Chop, chop,
chop! The tree began to shiver and
then to shake.
Bowser the Hound barked excitedly, and with Farmer Brown's boy rushed
to the hollow near the top to catch
"I guess he's playing dead," said Farmer Brown's boy, and began to
split open the tree, so as to get into the hollow. And as he chopped,
he began to sing again. Pretty soon he had split the tree wide open.
In the bottom of the hollow was an old nest of Chatterer the Red
Squirrel, and that was all. Farmer Brown's boy rubbed his eyes and
stared and stared and stared. There were