XXII GROUND HOG DAY 108

ILLUSTRATIONS

BILLY WOODCHUCK OFTEN DUG
HOLES IN THE PASTURE _Frontispiece_

PAGE

"JUST CRAWL INSIDE THAT OLD
STUMP!" MR. FOX SAID 20

"WHAT'S THE MATTER?" BILLY
ASKED 36

SHE TOOK HOLD OF BILLY'S EAR 50

HE PAINTED TWO WHITE STRIPES ON
UNCLE JERRY'S BACK 68

BILLY CARRIED HER BASKET OF HERBS 88

THE TALE OF BILLY WOODCHUCK

I

THE HOUSE IN THE PASTURE

One day, when Johnnie Green tramped over the fields toward the
woods, he did not dream that he walked right over somebody's
bedroom. The snow was deep, for it was midwinter. And as Johnnie
crossed his father's pasture he thought only of the fresh rabbit
tracks that he saw all about him. He had no way of knowing that
beneath the three feet of snow, and as much further below the top
of the ground too, there was a snug, cozy little room, where Mr.
and Mrs. Woodchuck lay sound asleep on a bed of dried grass.

They had been there all winter, asleep like that. And there they
would stay, until spring came and the grass began to grow again.

In summer Johnnie Green was always on the watch for woodchucks. But
now he never gave them a thought. There would be time enough for
that after the snow was gone and the chucks came crawling out of
their underground houses to enjoy the warm sunshine.

Usually it happened in just that way, though there had been years
when Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck had awakened too soon. And then when
they reached the end of the long tunnel that led from their bedroom
into Farmer Green's pasture they found that they had to dig their
way through a snow-bank before they reached the upper world where
Johnnie Green lived.

But this year their winter's nap came to a close at just the right
time. A whole month had passed since Johnnie walked over their
house. And now when they popped their heads out of their front door
they saw that the snow was all gone and that the sun was shining
brightly. Almost the first thing they did was to nibble at the
tender young grass that grew in their dooryard.

When you stop to remember that neither of them had had so much as a
single mouthful of food since long before Thanksgiving Day you will
understand how hungry they were.

They were very thin, too. But every day they grew a little fatter.