tood up, shook the shells out of his coat, and started to climb
through the doorway.

Fatty was still smiling as he stuck his head through the opening in
the tree. But all at once his smile faded away. You remember that he
had had hard work to squeeze through the narrow doorway when he
entered the house? Well, now his sides stuck out so far that he
couldn't get through it at all. He tried and tried; but though he
struggled hard, Fatty found that he simply could not squeeze through.
He had stuffed himself so full of beechnuts that he was too big to get
out of the hole. And there he was--caught fast by his own greediness!
Yes! Fatty Coon was a prisoner.

Fatty had smiled because he thought Mrs. Squirrel would be surprised
when she came home. And he had not been mistaken about that. When Mrs.
Squirrel and her son Frisky scampered up the tree about sundown that
evening they had the surprise of their lives--though not just the sort
of surprise Fatty had expected.

They looked in through their doorway and scolded. And they ordered
Fatty to get out of their house at once.

He would have been glad enough to leave, you may be sure. But he
couldn't go just then. And at last Frisky Squirrel and his mother had
to go and spend the night in the house of a friend.

When they came back to the old hickory tree the next morning Fatty
Coon had gone. He had tried the whole night long to get through the
doorway. And at last--just as the sun was rising--he managed to slip
out.

Mrs. Squirrel knew that Fatty had had a hard time, because he had left
a good deal of his fur behind him. It clung to the sides of the
doorway. And Mrs. Squirrel spent half the day picking it off and
throwing the beechnut-shells out of her house. She was a very neat
housekeeper; and she was quite annoyed to find her house upset.

As for Frisky, he began to bring home another store of nuts that very
day. After what had happened neither he nor his mother had any fear
that Fatty Coon would ever trouble them again.

XV

Helpful Mr. Crow

Frisky Squirrel's mother had often told him not to have anything to do
with Mr. Crow. "He's such a tricky old fellow!" she said. "He seems to
have nothing to do but get folks into trouble. Don't go near him, and
don't have anything to say to him."

Now, I'm sure Frisky Squirrel wanted to mind his mother. But he
couldn't help feeling that she was mistaken about Mr. Crow. He was so
solemn, and he always looked so like