And he begged of the moon to give him light,
For he'd many miles to trot that night."

Well, as soon as the Fox had finished asking Lady Moon to show him the
way Puss cried out:

"Oh, Mr. Fox, take me with you, for I'm lost in this forest." But
goodness me! the Fox was so frightened at the sound of Puss, Junior's,
voice that he jumped behind a tree.

"Who speaks to me?" he asked, faintly.

"Puss in Boots, Junior."

"Ah," replied the Fox, coming out from his hiding place, "now I'm not
afraid. At first I thought you were a farmer; farmers don't like me!"

"Why should they?" asked Puss. "You steal their ducks and chickens."

"Softly, softly!" whispered the Fox; "someone may hear you."

[Illustration]

"Very well," replied Puss, "I'll whisper if you'll show me the way."

"Come along," replied the Fox. So they walked along through the dark
forest, and every now and then the moon peeped through the tree tops to
help Mr. Fox find his way, but for all that, the forest was very gloomy
and Puss nearly stumbled two or three times and so did Mr. Fox.

"At first he came to a farmer's yard,
Where the ducks and geese declared it hard
That their nerves should be shaken and their rest be marred
By the visit of Mister Fox."

"Do you hear what they say about me?" asked the Fox in a whisper.

"They say you give them bad dreams," replied Puss; "that you keep them
awake and ruin their nerves."

"Ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Fox, "what do they expect? Do they imagine I come
here to sing them to sleep? To stand under the coop window and sing a
lullaby? Ha, ha! I'm very fond of duck and very fond of goose, but not
in that way. Oh, my, no!" And he grinned until all his long white teeth
shone in the moonlight.

MR. SLIPPER-SLOPPER

WHEN Mr. Fox laughed he showed all his long, sharp teeth, and Puss was
mighty glad he had his trusty staff with him in case Mr. Fox became
ugly. But nothing unpleasant happened, and by and by they came to the
hen-house.

Puss was peeking through a crack in the boards, but before he had time
to utter a cry of warning, Mr. Fox,

Seized the black duck by the neck,
And swung her across his back;
The black duck cried out, "Quack! quack! quack!"
With her legs hanging dangling down.

and away he went, out through the door, across the barnyard and up the
hill. And I guess Lady Moon wished she hadn't sh