Granny Fox Shows Reddy a Trick
Reddy Fox lived with Granny Fox in the Green Meadows. Granny is teaching Reddy the things that every fox should know. So she taught him how to steal Farmer John’s chickens without waking Bowser the guard dog. Now she is teaching him not to be afraid of crossing the railroad bridge. Every day she made him run back and forth across the bridge until he had no fear of it at all. “What good is it to cross a bridge?” Reddy grumbled. “Anybody can do that.” Granny picked up her ears. “Shhh,” she said. “Listen.” Reddy picked his ears, too, and heard the bark of a dog. Bowser the Hound! “Now, Reddy,” Granny said, “you run across the bridge and watch from the top of the little hill over there. Perhaps I can show you a little trick that will teach you why I made you learn to run across the bridge.”
Reddy trotted across the long bridge and up to the top of the hill, as Granny had told him to. He sat down to watch. Granny trotted over to a clearing and sat down. Pretty soon Bowser the Hound broke through the bushes. He spotted Granny and started to bark, and run toward her. As soon as Granny was sure the hound had seen her, she started to run too, but she did not run very fast. Reddy didn’t know what to make of it. It was almost like Granny was playing with the hound, and not really trying to get away at all. Then Reddy heard another sound. It was a long, low rumble. Then there was a distant whistle. It was a train! Granny heard it, too. She started to work her way back to the bridge. The train was in sight now, behind her.
Suddenly Granny Fox ran across the bridge so fast that she looked like a little red streak. The hound was close at her heels, and he was so eager to catch her that he didn’t notice either the bridge ahead of him or the train behind him.
But Bowser the Hound could not run as fast as Granny Fox! When she reached the other side of the bridge, he wasn’t even halfway across, and right behind him, whistling for him to get out of the way, was the train. The hound gave one frightened yelp, and jumped down into the river below, which carried him far downstream before he could swim ashore. “Now you know why I wanted you to learn to cross a bridge. It’s a very nice way of getting rid of dogs,” said Granny Fox, as she climbed up beside Reddy.