The
Tracks in the Snow
Written
by: Arthur Scott Bailey, 1915
Recorded by: Patricia Thornton-Houser
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One
fine winter's day Fatty Coon came upon the strangest tracks in the
snow. They were huge--a
great deal bigger, even, than bear
tracks,
which Fatty had sometimes seen. For once
in a while, before the weather grew too cold, and he fell into
his winter's sleep, a bear would come down into the valley from
his home on Blue Mountain.
But
these were six
times as big as bear tracks. And Fatty felt a shiver
of fear
run up and down his back.
He
followed the trail
a little way. But he was very careful. He was always ready to scramble
up a tree, in
case he should suddenly see the strange animal--or rather, in
case the strange animal should see HIM.
The
great tracks led straight
toward Farmer Green's house. And Fatty did not want to go there.
So he hurried
home to ask his mother what he had found. Mrs. Coon listened
to Fatty's story.
"I
think it must be the monster
that almost caught
me in the road last summer," said Fatty, meaning the automobile
that had given him a great fright.
"Maybe he's come back again to catch Farmer Green and his family...
Do you suppose
he's eaten them up?"
Mrs.
Coon was puzzled.
And she was somewhat alarmed,
too. She wanted to see those strange tracks herself. So she told
her other children not to step a foot out of the house until she
came back. And then she asked Fatty to run along and show her where
he had come upon the monster's trail.
Fatty
Coon felt very important, as he led the way across the swamp
and into the woods.
It was not often that he could show his mother anything. And he
was so proud
that he almost forgot
his fright. "I guess you're glad I have sharp
eyes," he said, as they hurried along.
"If
the tracks are as big as you say they are, your eyes wouldn't have
to be very sharp to see them," his mother told him. Mrs. Coon
never liked to hear her children boast.
She knew that boasting is one of the most unpleasant
things anyone can do.
"Well--maybe
you don't think I saw the monster's tracks at all," said Fatty.
"Maybe you don't think I heard him screech--"
"When
did you hear him screech?" Mrs. Coon asked. "This is the
first you've said about SCREECHING. When was it?"
"Last
summer," Fatty answered.
Mrs.
Coon didn't smile. Perhaps she was too worried
for that.
"It
may not be the same monster," she said. "It may not be
a monster at all."
But
by this time Fatty was sure he was right. He was sure he knew more
than his mother.
"Why
can't we go right
over to Farmer Green's and take some of his chickens?" he asked.
"The monster has probably eaten him by this time, and all his
family, too."
But
Mrs. Coon would do no such thing.
"Show
me the tracks," she said firmly.
And so they went on into the woods.
"There
they are!" Fatty cried,
a few minutes later. "See, Mother! They're even bigger than
I said." He heard a funny
noise
behind him, then. And when Fatty Coon looked around he saw that
his mother was actually
holding
her sides,
she was laughing so hard.
"Those
are Farmer Green's tracks," she said, as soon as she could
stop laughing long enough to speak.
"What--as
big as that?" Fatty pointed at the huge tracks in the snow.
"Snowshoes!"
Mrs. Coon said. "He was wearing
snowshoes--great frames
made of thongs
and sticks,
to keep him from sinking
into the snow."
So
that was all there was to Fatty's monster. Somehow, he was disappointed.
But he was very glad he had said nothing to Jasper Jay about his
strange animal. For if he had, he knew he
would never have heard the end of it.
And
Fatty was glad
about another thing, too. He felt very happy that his mother had
not let him go after Farmer Green's chickens.
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