Green Meadow Stories by Thornton W. Burgess (good short books .txt) ๐
Description
Thornton W. Burgess was an American naturalist and the author of dozens of books for children, the most enduring of which are Old Mother West Wind and The Burgess Bird Book for Children. Burgess was a passionate twentieth-century conservationist who dedicated his life to teaching children and their families about the importance of the natural life of the northern North American forest.
The Green Meadow Stories compilation is made up of four distinct but entwined tales: those of Happy Jack Squirrel, Mrs. Peter Rabbit, Bowser the Hound, and Old Granny Fox. Through the adventures of these focal characters readers are introduced to the wider territory of the Green Meadows, the Green Forest, and the Smiling Pond as well as to the animalsโ Great World.
The animals of Burgessโs stories are anthropomorphized, undoubtedly, but not caricatured: these are not the twee creatures of Disney cartoons. Their behaviour is explained in ways that would be understandable to a human childโthis is fiction, after allโbut Burgessโs โlittle people of the forestโ are not simply humans dressed in fur and feathers. The original illustrations in Burgessโs books (by Harrison Cady, not reproduced in this edition) show the animals wearing clothes, but Burgessโs own descriptions of animals are more natural and metaphorical, and less fantastic. For example, he describes Chatterer the Red Squirrel, โwho always wears a red coat with vest of white,โ a compact way of communicating the look of a squirrel that many of todayโs children will never have seen with their own eyes. Less pleasantly, it is Peter Rabbitโs fur and flesh that is rent when Hooty the Owl tears Peterโs โcoatโ one night on the Old Pasture.
Burgess has tremendous respect for the creatures he depicts, as well as for their natural home. While the presentation of the Green Meadow is hardly โNature, red in tooth and claw,โ it is surprisingly unsentimental. Peter Rabbit, for example, lives a highly anxious life under threat from the many predators who would enjoy having him for dinner; similarly, Happy Jack Squirrel experiences days and nights of terror when Shadow the Weasel discovers Happy Jackโs home and hunts him relentlessly. During a long, hard winter, Granny Fox and Reddy Fox come close to starving, and Old Man Coyote leads Bowser the Hound on a dangerous chase that may result in one or the other dying. Despite other fanciful, sentimental elements of storytelling, Burgess does not sugarcoat prey/predator relationships or the precarity of wild animalsโ lives.
Burgess is a clear conservationist in his representations of hunting. The animals are highly aware of hunters and their โdreadful guns.โ It is a notable moment in this collection when Farmer Brownโs Boy decides he will no longer use his gun to harm the little people of the Green Meadow and the Green Forest. The stories are also notable in their detailed representation of a largely intact forest, something few children in the twenty-first century will experience.
On the other hand, these are books for children, and they contain plenty of sweetness and light. Animal pairingsโsuch as when Peter Rabbit meets the dainty Little Miss Fuzzytail, the future Mrs. Rabbitโare vague but sentimental and soon lead to proud new families of Rabbits, Ducks, Deer, and Owls. The โlittle peopleโ celebrate the arrival of each springโs babies, mark each otherโs new relationships and homes, play together, and even help each other survive. They laugh, tease, and trick each otherโa fanciful interpretation of animal behaviour that could lead to a readerโs life-long fascination with, and respect for, forest creaturesโand for generations of readers, they did just that.
The stories are also more didactic than most twenty-first-century authors would dare to be. There are morals associated with most stories, often attributed to the animal about whom the story is being told. Through this practical teaching, Burgess suggests a correspondence between how animals and humans live; but he consistently clarifies that animal intelligence is different from, but certainly no less than, human intelligence.
Unlike the bouncy rhyming verses of many of todayโs childrenโs books, Burgessโs sentences have a somewhat old-fashioned cadence, creating the distinct and appealing music of traditional storytelling. Burgessโs episodic chapters are eminently readable and particularly come to life when they are voiced by animated reading-aloud. For older readers looking for something different to share with children, or for new readers beginning to tackle โchapter books,โ the tales of the Green Meadow Stories collection are a delightful place to discover Burgess and his animal friends.
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- Author: Thornton W. Burgess
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So, like a gray shadow, crafty Old Man Coyote stole after Granny Fox and saw her hide behind the corner of the shed at the end of which was the little house of Bowser the Hound. He crept as near as he dared and then lay flat down behind a little bunch of dead grass close to the shed. For some time nothing happened, and Old Man Coyote was puzzled. Every once in a while Granny Fox would look behind and all about to be sure that no danger was near, but she didnโt see Old Man Coyote. After what seemed to him a long time, he heard a door open on the other side of the shed. It was Mrs. Brown carrying Bowserโs dinner out to him. Of course, Old Man Coyote didnโt know this. He knew by the sounds that someone had come out of the house, and it made him nervous. He didnโt like being so close to Farmer Brownโs house in broad daylight. But he kept his eyes on Granny Fox, and he saw her ears prick up in a way that he knew meant that those sounds were just what she had been waiting for.
โIf she isnโt afraid, I donโt need to be,โ thought he craftily. After a few minutes he heard a door close and knew that whoever had come out had gone back into the house. Almost at once Bowser the Hound began to yelp and whine. Swiftly Granny Fox disappeared around the corner of the shed. Just as swiftly Old Man Coyote ran forward and peeped around the corner. There was Bowser the Hound tugging at his chain, and just beyond his reach was Reddy Fox, grinning in the most provoking manner. And there was Granny Fox, backing and dragging after her Bowserโs dinner. In a flash Old Man Coyote understood the plan, and he almost chuckled aloud at the cleverness of it. Then he hastily backed behind the shed and waited.
In a minute Granny Fox appeared, dragging Bowserโs dinner. She was so intent on getting that dinner that she almost backed into Old Man Coyote without suspecting that he was anywhere about.
โThank you, Granny. You neednโt bother about it any longer; Iโll take it now,โ growled Old Man Coyote in Grannyโs ear.
Granny let go of that dinner as if it burned her tongue, and with a frightened little yelp leaped to one side. A minute later Reddy came racing around from behind the barn eager for his share. What he saw was Old Man Coyote bolting down that twice-stolen dinner while Granny Fox fairly danced with rage.
XXI Granny and Reddy Talk Things OverYouโll find as on through life you go
The thing you want may prove to be
The very thing you shouldnโt have.
Then seeming loss is gain, you see.
If ever two folks were mad away through, those two were Granny and Reddy Fox as they watched Old Man Coyote gobble up the dinner they had so cleverly stolen from Bowser the Hound. It was bad enough to lose the dinner, but it was worse to see someone else eat it after they had worked so hard to get it. โRobber!โ snarled Granny. Old Man Coyote stopped eating long enough to grin.
โThief! Sneak! Coward!โ snarled Reddy. Once more Old Man Coyote grinned. When that dinner had disappeared down his throat to the last and smallest crumb, he licked his chops and turned to Granny and Reddy.
โIโm very much obliged for that dinner,โ said he pleasantly, his eyes twinkling with mischief. โIt was the best dinner I have had for a long time. Allow me to say that that trick of yours was as smart a trick as ever I have seen. It was quite worthy of a Coyote. You are a very clever old lady, Granny Fox. Now I hear someone coming, and I would suggest that it will be better for all concerned if we are not seen about here.โ
He darted off behind the barn like a gray streak, and Granny and Reddy followed, for it was true that someone was coming. You see Bowser the Hound had discovered that something was going on around the corner of the shed, and he made such a racket that Mrs. Brown had come out of the house to see what it was all about. By the time she got around there, all she saw was the empty pan which had held Bowserโs dinner. She was puzzled. How that pan could be where it was she couldnโt understand, and Bowser couldnโt tell her, although he tried his very best. She had been puzzled about that pan two or three times before.
Old Man Coyote lost no time in getting back home, for he never felt easy near the home of man in broad daylight. Granny and Reddy Fox went home too, and there was hate in their heartsโ โhate for Old Man Coyote. But once they reached home, Old Granny Fox stopped growling, and presently she began to chuckle.
โWhat are you laughing at?โ demanded Reddy.
โAt the way Old Man Coyote stole that dinner from us,โ replied Granny.
โI hate him! Heโs a sneaking robber!โ snapped Reddy.
โTut, tut, Reddy! Tut, tut!โ retorted Granny. โBe fair-minded. We stole that dinner from Bowser the Hound, and Old Man Coyote stole it from us. I guess he is no worse than we are, when you come to think it over. Now is he?โ
โIโ โIโ โwell, I donโt suppose he is, when you put it that way,โ Reddy admitted grudgingly.
โAnd he was smart, very smart, to outwit two such clever people as we are,โ continued Granny. โYou will have to agree to that.โ
โY-e-s,โ said Reddy slowly. โHe was smart enough, butโ โโ
โThere isnโt any but, Reddy,โ interrupted Granny. โYou know the law of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest. It is everybody for himself, and anything belongs to one who has the wit or the strength to take
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