n and making fun of him, he thought the whole
Deep Woods was full of the strange magic, and he piled down out of that
tree and took out for the bushes, and was never seen in the Big Deep
Woods again.

[Illustration: TOOK HIM ALL THE AFTERNOON TO PRY THE REST OF MY
ANCESTORS LOOSE]

"My folks called after him just as far as they could see him, and when
they were sure he was gone they thought they would come down and
celebrate. But they didn't do it--not just yet. There wasn't one of them
that could unwind himself from his limb, except old Mr. Waters, who had
got only a teaspoonful of the medicine, which very likely was just about
the right amount. Mr. Waters swung quite loose and free from his limb,
and got down without much trouble, and it took him all the afternoon to
go around from tree to tree and pry the rest of my ancestors loose, and
unwind them, because those new-fangled tails would snap together like
springs, and it took several days' steady practice and straightening
before they were really useful at a moment's notice. By that time,
another strange thing had happened: The fur on them had curled so tight
at first that it was like very close wool; then it kept right on getting
tighter and tighter until it seemed to curl itself clear out, and by the
end of the week there wasn't one of our family whose tail wasn't as bare
as your hand, except old Mr. Waters, who had a handsome curly plume,
like Somers's, and became a great curiosity, the only one that we ever
had like that in our tribe.

"All the others thought the fur would grow again, but it never did, and
when they got used to its absence they decided they were much better off
without it, especially since they had learned the Somers habit, which
they said worked easier and better in the new, smooth form. They were
sorry, at first, that Mr. Somers had not left them the recipe for that
medicine, on account of the new little 'Possums that would be coming
along. But they didn't need the recipe. That medicine was strong enough,
the amount they took, to do our family at least a thousand generations,
and maybe more. Somers never came back, and they never heard of him
again. Some of my ancestors used to say that he was not a real person at
all, but something that could take different shapes and work magic, just
as Mr. Painter believed he did. Anyhow, he was a great blessing to our
family, as you may have noticed."

Mr. 'Possum moved over to the Edge of the World in