Welcome to Dreamtime Stories with Jackie.
I'm so glad you're here.
We are reading the story of Bob White and in our last chapter,
Chapter seven,
Bob found out Mrs.
Bob was correct in choosing a place to build the nest that was very close to the crooked path.
He didn't think that was very smart,
But she showed him otherwise.
So we're going to get ready to read chapter eight and I hope you snuggle down and get ready for another exciting adventure with Bob White.
Chapter eight,
Bob fools his neighbors.
All's fair in love and war,
It said.
Of course,
This isn't true.
A lot is done that's most unfair and no one ought to do.
Bob was fooling his neighbors.
He didn't think there was anything unfair in trying to fool his neighbors.
No,
Not a bit of it.
You see,
He was doing it for both love and war.
He was doing it for the love of his shy little Mrs.
Bob and their home and for the kind of war that is always going on in the green forest and the green meadows.
Of course,
The little people who live there don't call it war,
But you know how it is.
The big people all the time are trying to catch those smaller than themselves and the little people all the time are trying to get the best of the big people.
So Bob White felt that it was perfectly fair and right that he should fool those of his neighbors who were hunting for his home and so it was.
He would sit on a fence post whistling as only he can whistle and telling all the world that he,
Bob White,
Was right there.
Presently he would see Reddy Fox trotting down the crooked little path and pretending that he was just out for a stroll and not at all interested in Bob or his affairs.
Then Bob would pretend to look all around as if to see that no danger was near.
After that he would fly over to a certain place which looked as if it would be the kind of a place for a nest and there he would hide in the grass.
Just as soon as he disappeared,
Reddy Fox would grin in that sly way of his and say to himself,
Aha!
So that's where your nest is.
I think I'll have a look over there and then he would steal over to where he had seen Bob disappear and poke his sharp little nose into every bunch of grass and peek under every bush.
Bob would wait until he heard those soft footsteps very near and then he would fly up with a great noise of his swift little wings as if he were terribly frightened and from a distant fence post he would call in the most anxious sounding voice.
Reddy would be sure that he was near the nest and he would hunt and hunt and hunt.
All this time little Mrs.
Bob would be sitting comfortably on those precious eggs in the nest in the weed patch close beside the crooked little path chuckling to herself as she listened to Bob's voice.
You see she knew just what he was doing.
It was the same way with Jimmy Skunk and Granny Fox and even Peter Rabbit.
All of them hunted and hunted and hunted for that nest and watched Bob White and they were sure that they knew just where to look for his home and afterward they wondered why it was they couldn't find it.
Jimmy Skunk wanted some of those eggs.
Reddy and Granny Fox wanted to catch Mrs.
Bob.
As for Peter Rabbit,
Well he just wanted to know where that nest was out of curiosity.
He wouldn't have harmed Mrs.
Bob or one of those precious little eggs for the world but Bob knew that if Peter knew where that nest was he might just visit it when someone was watching Peter and something dreadful might happen as a result.
So he thought it was best also to fool Peter just as he did the others and I think that was a good idea.
Don't you?
So come back again soon for chapter nine and now have a good night's sleep.
Sending you so many hugs.
This is Jackie.
Good night.
