ted, _inside_, he managed usually to appear happy, _outside_.
And now his remark put his wife in a pleasanter frame of mind.

"Imagine a pig up a tree!" Mrs. Robin tittered.

"Umph! Umph! Are you talking about me?" a voice inquired right beneath
them. It gave Mrs. Robin such a start that she almost tumbled off the
limb.

"No! No! We're not talking about you--not exactly!" Jolly Robin
answered.

It was Grunty Pig that had spoken.

"Pardon me!" he said. "I thought I heard you mention the name, 'Pig'."

"Er--yes! We did speak of your family, in a general way," Jolly Robin
admitted.

"Ah!" said Grunty Pig. "And what was it you said about us? Weren't you
and your wife laughing about our climbing trees?"

Somehow Jolly Robin thought that Grunty's little eyes had a spiteful
gleam as he looked upward into the tree top. And Mrs. Robin couldn't
help moving to a higher limb. Grunty's glare sent a most uncomfortable
shiver over her.

Jolly Robin tried his best to act at his ease.

"It was just an odd thought that popped into my head," he assured Grunty
Pig. "It made Mrs. Robin giggle when I mentioned it." He laughed merrily
enough. And his wife managed to smile faintly. But Grunty Pig frowned.

"I thought so!" he cried. "You Robins were poking fun at me and my
brothers and sisters. Yes! And no doubt at my mother, too!"

"Oh, no!" Jolly Robin assured him. "We weren't thinking of any one in
particular."

"Aha!" Grunty snorted. "You were laughing at all of us, then." And Jolly
Robin could say nothing to change his opinion. "You can't fool me,"
Grunty declared. "You have insulted my whole family. And it's time that
you learned better manners. I see that I shall have to teach you a
lesson."

Well, when they heard that speech Jolly Robin and his wife had to laugh.
The idea of a lesson in manners from Grunty Pig was the funniest thing
on the farm.

[Illustration: "Always Mind Your Mother," Said Mrs. Pig.

(_Page 57_)]

XV

GRUNTY MEANS MISCHIEF

Jolly Robin and his wife told all their friends that Grunty Pig was
going to teach them a lesson. The birds had many a laugh over the
matter. Not till old Mr. Crow visited the orchard one day did the Robin
family cease chuckling over what they called "the joke of the season."

"Don't laugh too soon!" Mr. Crow croaked. "This Grunty Pig means
mischief. He isn't going to teach you the sort of lesson you've been
snickering about. What he intends to do is to harm you