82 KaggyCii^ 





All around for a long way were smooth 

 fields, and the only wild tracks that ever 

 crossed these fields were those of a thorough- 

 ly bad and unscrupulous fox that lived only 

 too near. 



The chief indwellers of the swamp were 

 Molly and Rag. Their nearest neighbors were 

 far away, and their nearest kin were dead. 

 This was their home, and here they lived to- 

 gether, and here Rag received the training 

 that made his success in life. 



Molly was a good little mother and gave 

 him a careful bringing up. The first thing he 

 learned was * to lay low and say nothing.* His 

 adventure with the snake taught him the wis- 

 dom of this. Rag never forgot that lesson; 

 afterward he did as he was told, and it made 

 the other things come more easily. 



The second lesson he learned was * freeze/ 

 It grows out of the first, and Rag was taught 

 it as soon as he could run. 



* Freezing' is simply doing nothing, turning 

 into a statue. As soon as he finds a foe near, 

 no matter what he is doing, a well-trained Cot- 

 tontail keeps just as he is and stops all move- 

 ment, for the creatures of the woods are of the 

 same color as the things in the woods and catch 

 the eye only while moving. So when enemies 



