A GREAT SECRET Whoever Katy was, and whatever she might have done, nobody in Pleasant Valley knew anything about her except Kiddie Katydid and his numerous and noisy family. To be sure, many of the wild folk—and the people in the farmhouse, too—remembered hearing her name mentioned the year before. But they had quite forgotten about her, until August came and Kiddie Katydid and his relations... more...

THE SPOTTED FAWN When Nimble's mother first looked at him she couldn't believe she would ever be able to raise him. He was such a tiny, frail, spotted thing that he seemed too delicate for a life of adventure on the wooded ridges and in the tangled swamps under the shadow of Blue Mountain. "Bless me!" cried the good lady. "This child's not much taller than an overgrown beet... more...

A FAMOUS BITER That black rascal, Mr. Crow, was not the oldest dweller in Pleasant Valley. There was another elderly gentleman who had spent more summers—and a great many more winters—under the shadow of Blue Mountain than he. All the wild folk knew this person by the name of Timothy Turtle. And if they didn't see him so often as Mr. Crow it was because he spent much of his time on the muddy... more...

SOMEBODY IS EXPECTED On May Day the feathered folk in Pleasant Valley began to stop, look and listen. They were expecting somebody. "Have you seen him?" Rusty Wren asked Jolly Robin. Jolly Robin said that he hadn't; but he added that he was on the lookout. "Have you heard his song?" little Mr. Chippy inquired eagerly of Mr. Blackbird. "No!" that dusky rascal replied.... more...

A QUEER PLACE TO LIVE The village near one end of Pleasant Valley where Farmer Green often went to sell butter and eggs was not the only village to be seen from Blue Mountain. There was another which Farmer Green seldom visited, because it lay beyond the mountain and was a long distance from his house. Though he owned the land where it stood, those that lived there thought they had every right to stay... more...

A PLEASANT HOME Now, Rusty Wren had found—and shown to his wife—a hollow apple tree and a hole in a fence-rail, either of which he thought would make a pleasant place in which to live. But since the little couple were house wrens, Rusty’s wife said she thought that they oughtn’t to be so far from the farmhouse. “Why not build our nest behind one of the shutters?” she suggested. But Rusty... more...

Jimmy Rabbit wanted a new tail. To be sure, he already had a tail—but it was so short that he felt it was little better than none at all. Frisky Squirrel and Billy Woodchuck had fine, bushy tails; and so had all the other forest-people, except the Rabbit family. Jimmy had tried his hardest to get a handsome tail for himself. And once he had nearly succeeded. For he almost cut off Frisky... more...

NESTLINGS Of course, there was a time, once, when Jolly Robin was just a nestling himself. With two brothers and one sister—all of them, like him, much spotted with black—he lived in a house in one of Farmer Green’s apple trees. The house was made of grass and leaves, plastered on the inside with mud, and lined with softer, finer grass, which his mother had chosen with the greatest care. But... more...