Show STORY m Ill L By v Y m I fl UNO UNC Hll L Y L-Y Ill HE IAU STAYED D AT 1101 11 X possessed Unc One Bil Billy VV ty ly y possum to go wandering oft oly way way into Inlo the deepest part of the tho Green Forest he did not know hImself tie lie just went that was s all Perhaps It was something in inthe inthe the air all that made him It seemed d as it U everybody was doing a great deal of ot wandering about these beau beautiful early spring days Its It's a way the tho little meadow and forest people have In the glad springtime So S pr s rf a w rv C res e et t 0 w w now Bow Did pfd Ya 1 Pass the tho Winter Brer Beaver BeverT Asked Uno lII Bitty you will meet them In the tho most un tin unexpected unexpected expected places very busy dolo doing nothing at all but looking around So tine Unc Billy Possum wandered along poking over sticks and plies piles of leaves peering with his shrewd sharp little eyes Into every hollow bollow log and stump and watching for to signs of nest neat builders b tor for you know Unc Billy has a weakness for or fresh tresh ergs aggs He just cant can't pass a B fresh egg no matter who tt it t belongs to to He H always himself on the ground that whoever laid ll it can lay la another and so no harm is done 1 of course is no excuse at atall atall aall all But Unc tine Billy Dilly seems to think it is and whenever lie he goes out to t walk In the spring ho has bas his eyes eye open for tor new homes bomes oi ot his feathered neighbors This particular morning be had bad come as tar far as ns the pond of of Paddy the Beaver before be he stopped to test rest There ho he sat down o on 00 Paddys Paddy's dam iam to pass the time of ot day with Paddy who was swimming about In 10 WI his pond Just as If it he be hadn't anything any anything thing else In particular to do How did yo fO pass tho the winter asked Unc line Beaver Billy BUly Very comfortably thank you Tine Unc Billy replied Paddy polItely T I had plenty to eat eat a comfortable bed bcd and plenty of ot time to sleep What more could I ask Unc tine Billy BlUy grinned Yo could have asked to fo warmer weather said uld ald he Ah Ab Ah done thought Ab was going to freeze to death Ab done wish a good many times Umes that i Ah h was way down soul sout In Oh 01 Ah don like Uke such a long cold winter Did Did you call can that a long winter and a hard bard winter exclaimed I Paddy Pooh You ought to spend I Ia a winter up where 1 I came from fromI I 1 dont don't believe that Mistress Spring has bas reached there yet Then Ah dont don't want to be any an nearer to It than I 1 am this very minute declared tine Unc Billy By the way Br Dr er or Beaver have yo bees Leu f-eu f any strangers up this way Brer Jay and Brer Crow done go crazy In their holds Ah guess for fOt all they can talk about is a big black stranger who A ho stands on two legs and walks on four tour legs and Is Isas isas as big as Farmer Browns Brown's Boy Bo They say they saw him somewhere up around hero Have Hava yo- yo yo Unc Billy DUly didn't finish what he be had started to ask He lie didn't finish because the snapping of a stick be behind behind hind him made him turn his head There stood the stranger in black as big as Farmer Brown Browns Brown's Boy Day stand standing lag ing on two legs and with the iba big claws Unc tine Billy ever had seen scent I It was all nU that Sammy Jay had said Unc tine Billy gave a frightened little gun gasp and shut his eyes tight for just a 0 wee lIttle minute hoping that when he opened them again he would find that he was mistaken mistake and that there w-is w no great black stranger thare after atter all alt alL But when tine Unc Billy BlUy opened his bis eyes he found that they had not been playing him tricks The stranger was Will there worse till still he was coming straight toward Unc Billy BlUy grinning In tn the th most friendly way But Dut Unc line Dilly didn't notice that that grin was wal a friendly grin A All he noticed were the great big teeth that showed He lIe took just one look loo and then he started across Paddys Paddy's dam as fast as ho he could which wasn't very fast because he ha was afraid of falling In In He lIe didn't once look took behind and as he hit scrambled along he be kept saying over and over Ah wish Ah Ab Au done stay at home homel Ah wish with Au Ah done stay at homel C T W Burgess S |