is home, and then rudely defied her,
And e'en bang'd his door in her face to deride her.

The marmot was "tchatting" away without end,
With a burrowing owl, his old neighbour and friend,
Who, being a bird in whom marmot confided,
Had hired his cottage, in which he resided.
The landlord just hinted, that when he lived there,
He had kept the old hovel in charming repair;
The walls neatly mended, the parlour swept clean,
And never a cobweb nor grain to be seen;
But that now this once pleasant and rural retreat,
By his tenant, the owl, was no longer kept neat;
That the little round chamber, and long slanting hall,
For the want of attention, were likely to fall;
Such a mess and confusion he could but deplore,
And he thought, at the least, she might plaster the floor,
Just turn out of doors all the shells of her eggs,
And those heaps of dried beetles' and butterflies' legs.
The poor owl, who spoke well in the prairie-dog tongue,
Now found an excuse, in the care of her young;
Alleged the hard times; that is, beetles were few,
So to find them in food she had plenty to do.

The raccoon stood apart in a beautiful glade,
Much disturb'd by the noise that the company made,
And there with a friend he stay'd fretting and pining,
To hear such a bellowing, howling, and whining.
"Oh! those red-monkeys' shrieks," his old friend would begin,
"Niagara surely don't make such a din;
Let us get in this tree, 'tis the squirrel's old barn,
And (as Captain Seal says) I'll there spin a yarn.
I awoke very early to come to this feast,
Ere the sun warm'd the top of that hill in the east,
And forth from my lodging proceeded to creep,
For the wild turkey's 'gobble' had broken my sleep.
Then I climb'd some tall maize plants, and ate up the ears,
And enjoy'd the repast, notwithstanding my fears;
For great is my awe of the red Indian's gun,
And I thought I had caught a slight glimpse of one.
I saw, too, a rattlesnake creeping hard by,
And heard his tail clatter, and mark'd his red eye.
He coil'd himself up, for he spied me right soon,
And was wishing, no doubt, for a bit of raccoon;
Then, thinking the risk of a rifle in truth,
Was better by far than his poisonous tooth,
I hasten'd away from the much dreaded place,
That I might not be coil'd in his slimy embrace.
I rambled along to our nook in the beach,
And swallow'd the oysters that lay within reach.