ky asked.

"Hens' eggs!" said Jimmy Rabbit.

That surprised Frisky Squirrel still more. If it had been a joke--a
trick of some sort--that Jimmy was going to play on Henry Skunk, he
could have understood that. But hens' eggs! Why, everyone knew how fond
of hens' eggs Henry Skunk was!

"I thought you didn't like Henry Skunk," Frisky said.

"Well, can't I hang a May basket on his door just the same?" asked
Jimmy.

Frisky Squirrel said he supposed so--but it was a strange thing to do.

"Look out he doesn't catch you when you're doing it!" he warned Jimmy.
Henry Skunk was a quarrelsome fellow. There was no knowing what he
wouldn't do if he caught anyone tying anything to his doorknob. "By the
way," Frisky added, "where did you get the hens' eggs?"

"Down at Farmer Green's!" Jimmy said.

"I suppose there are lots more," said Frisky.

Jimmy Rabbit smiled.

"Not like these!" he said.

"I suppose you had to be careful not to break them--bringing them so
far," Frisky Squirrel remarked.

"Oh, it's easy when you know how," Jimmy Rabbit told him.

"Well, Henry Skunk will break them fast enough, when he finds them,"
Frisky said.

"Yes, he'll break them!" Jimmy Rabbit laughed. "That's just the point!
_He'll break them!_" You notice that Jimmy didn't say what it was that
Henry Skunk would break.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: 4 Making Somebody Happy]

4

Making Somebody Happy

Well, that very evening Jimmy Rabbit made a certain young neighbor very
happy by hanging a May basket on her door. And then he hurried along to
Henry Skunk's house. He hoped Henry was still there; for when Henry
Skunk went out of an evening he seldom came home until morning.

Jimmy hung the basket of eggs on the doorknob, rang the bell, and then
ran and hid behind a tree. He peeped out, as he heard the door open; and
he saw Henry Skunk look all around. He seemed angry, until he caught
sight of the basket. And then Henry Skunk certainly was pleased.

"Ah, ha!" he exclaimed. "A May basket! Now, I wonder what friend of mine
has left this for me!" He looked inside the basket. "Ah, ha! Hens'
eggs!" he cried. "I'll sit down on my front steps and eat them. Then I
won't have to give anybody else a taste."

That was like Henry Skunk. He was a selfish fellow--always greedy, never
offering to share a dainty with anyone.

Jimmy Rabbit was holding his mouth. He knew that if he laughed he would
spoil everything. As he listened, he heard