read famine,
and he only barks and gnaws when they feel it. A famine, you know, is
when one is very hungry and there is nothing to eat. I don't think Mr.
'Possum was very hungry, and he had all those nice things laid away, so
he would not care much about that old shadow wolf, which is only another
name for hunger."

The Little Lady clings very close to the Story Teller.

"Will we ever see Old Hungry-Wolf and hear his bark?"

The Story Teller sits up quite straight, and gathers the Little Lady
tight.

"Good gracious, no!" he says. "He moved out of our part of the country
before you were born, and we'll take good care that he doesn't come back
any more."

"I'm glad," says the Little Lady. "You can sing now--you know--the
'Hollow Tree Song.'"

FOOTNOTES:

[3] See picture on cover.

AN EARLY SPRING CALL ON MR. BEAR

AN EARLY SPRING CALL ON ON MR. BEAR

MR. 'POSSUM'S CURIOUS DREAM AND WHAT CAME OF IT

"What did they do then?" asks the Little Lady. "What did the Deep Woods
People all do after they got through being snowed in?"

"Well, let's see. It got to be spring then pretty soon--early spring--of
course, and Mr. Jack Rabbit went to writing poetry and making garden;
Mr. Robin went to meet Mrs. Robin, who had been spending the winter down
South; Mr. Squirrel, who is quite young, went to call on a very nice
young Miss Squirrel over toward the Big West Hills; Mr. Dog had to help
Mr. Man a good deal with the spring work; Mr. Turtle got out all his
fishing-things and looked them over, and the Hollow Tree People had a
general straightening up after company. They had a big house-cleaning,
of course, with most of their things out on the line, and Mr. 'Possum
said that he'd just about as soon be snowed-in for good as to have to
beat carpets and carry furniture up and down stairs all the rest of his
life."

But they got through at last, and everything was nice when they were
settled, only there wasn't a great deal to be had to eat, because it had
been such a long, cold winter that things were pretty scarce and hard to
get.

One morning Mr. 'Possum said he had had a dream the night before, and he
wished it would come true. He said he had dreamed that they were all
invited by Mr. Bear to help him eat the spring breakfast which he takes
after his long winter nap, and that Mr. Bear had about the best
breakfast he ever sat down to. He said he had eaten it clear through,
from turkey to mince-pie, only he d