er had played on them, and then of course
he couldn't stay in the Green Forest. So Unc' Billy scratched his head and
thought and thought of how he could get Mr. Mocker out of the trouble he
had got him into. Finally he went home and told all his troubles to old
Mrs. Possum and asked her advice, as he should have done in the first
place.

"Serves yo'alls right! It cert'nly does serve yo'alls right!" grunted Mrs.
Possum, who was so busy looking after her eight lively babies that she had
little time for fooling.

"Ah know it. It cert'nly does," replied Unc' Billy meekly.

"Mischief always trots ahead of grim ol' Mistah Trouble,
They look and act enough alike to be each other's double.
Whoever fools with Mischief's gwine to wake some day or other
And find that Trouble's just the same as Mischief's own twin brother."

Unc' Billy Possum listened to this just as if he had never heard it before,
and nodded his head as if he agreed with every word of it. Old Mrs. Possum
grumbled and scolded, but all the time she was thinking, and Unc' Billy
knew that she was. Finally she finished sweeping the doorsteps and looked
thoughtfully at Unc' Billy.

"Why don't yo' give a party fo' Mistah Mocking-bird?" she inquired.

"The very thing!" cried Unc' Billy, and like a flash back came his old-time
grin.

XXIV

UNC' BILLY POSSUM GIVES A PARTY

Unc' Billy Possum's party was the greatest event in the Green Forest since
the famous surprise party which Peter Rabbit gave when Unc' Billy's family
arrived from way down in Ol' Virginny. At first Unc' Billy had been afraid
that no one would come. You see, he had been the cause of a lot of the
trouble on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest, and he knew that now
all the little meadow and forest people had found him out. So he didn't
dare send his invitations around by the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother
West Wind, for fear that no one would pay any heed to them. Of course that
meant that Unc' Billy must take them around himself.

My, but that was hard work! It was the hardest work that Unc' Billy had
ever done in all his life, for you know Unc' Billy is happy-go-lucky and
takes things easy. But getting those invitations around--well, as Unc'
Billy said, he "like to wore holes plumb through the soles of mah feet"
before he got all of them delivered. It took him two whole days. In the
first place there were so many to see. And then it was such hard work to
deliver the i