once did Shadow show the least sign of fear. He didn't know what Farmer
Brown's boy would do with him, and he had every reason to fear that if
he was not to be kept a prisoner for the rest of his natural life,
something dreadful would be the end. But he was too proud and too brave
to let any one know that any such fear ever entered his mind. Whatever
his faults, Shadow is no coward. He boldly took bits of meat which
Farmer Brown's boy brought to him, and not once appeared in the least
afraid, so that, much as he disliked him, Farmer Brown's boy actually
had to admire him. He was a prisoner, but he kept just as stout a heart
as ever.

CHAPTER XXXI

WHAT FARMER BROWN'S BOY DID WITH SHADOW

Ribble, dibble, dibble, dab!
Some people have the gift of gab!
Some people have no tongues at all
To trip them up and make them fall.

_Happy Jack._

It is a fact, one of the biggest facts in all the world, that tongues
make the greatest part of all the trouble that brings uncomfortable
feelings, and bitterness and sadness and suffering and sorrow. If it
wasn't for unruly, careless, mean tongues, the Great World would be a
million times better to live in, a million times happier. It is because
of his unruly tongue that Sammy Jay is forever getting into trouble. It
is the same way with Chatterer the Red Squirrel. And it is just the same
way with a great many little boys and girls, and with grown-ups as well.

When the little people of the Green Forest and Green Meadows who fear
Shadow the Weasel found that he was a prisoner, many of them took
particular pains to visit him when the way was clear, just to make fun
of him and tease him and tell him that they were not afraid of him and
that they were glad that he was a prisoner, and that they were sure
something dreadful would happen to him and they hoped it would. Shadow
said never a word in reply. He was too wise to do that. He just turned
his back on them. But all the time he was storing up in his mind all
these hateful things, and he meant, if ever he got free again, to make
life very uncomfortable for those whose foolish tongues were trying to
make him more miserable than he already felt.

But these little people with the foolish tongues didn't stop to think of
what might happen. They just took it for granted that Shadow never again
would run wild and free in the Green Forest, and so they just let their
tongues run and enjoyed doing it. Perhaps they