Welcome to Dreamtime Stories with Jackie.
I'm so glad you joined me this evening for another chapter in Old Granny Fox.
We're gonna join them in chapter 10,
Where Ready Fox is impotent.
And we left them last in chapter nine,
Where Ready Fox discovered Granny had been found sleeping by old Farmer Brown's boy.
And he is keeping that information to bring out the next time she is going to scold him.
So chapter 10,
Ready Fox is impotent.
A saucy tongue is dangerous to possess.
Be sure someday it will get you in a mess.
Old Granny Fox.
Ready Fox is headstrong.
And like most headstrong people,
Is given to thinking that his way is the best way just because it is his way.
He is smart.
Oh yes,
Ready Fox is smart.
Yes,
Indeed.
He has to be in order to live.
But a great deal of what he knows he learned from Old Granny Fox.
The very best tricks he knows,
She taught him.
She began teaching him when he was so little that he tumbled over his own feet.
It was she who taught him how to hunt,
That it is better never to grab chickens from near home,
But to go a long way off for them.
And how to fool Bowser the dog.
It was Granny who taught Ready Fox to use his little black nose to follow the tracks of young rabbits and how to catch meadow mice under the snow.
In fact,
There is little Ready knows which he didn't learn from wise,
Shrewd Old Granny Fox.
But as he grew bigger and bigger,
Until he was quite as big as Granny herself,
He forgot what he owed to her.
He grew to have a very good opinion of himself and to feel that he knew just about all there was to know.
So sometimes when he had done foolish or careless things and Granny scolded him,
Telling him he was big enough and old enough to know better,
He would sulk and go off muttering to himself.
But he never quite dared to be openly disrespectful to Granny.
And this,
Of course,
Was quite as it should have been.
Oh,
If only I could catch Granny doing something foolish or careless,
He would say to himself,
But he never could.
And he had begun to think that he never would.
But now at last Granny,
Clever Old Granny Fox had been careless.
She had allowed Farmer Brown's boy to catch her napping.
Reddy did wish he had been there to see it himself.
But anyway,
He had been told about it and he made up his mind that the next time Granny said anything sharp to him about his carelessness,
He would have something to say back to her.
Oh,
Yes,
Yes,
Sir.
Reddy Fox was deliberately planning to answer back,
Which,
As you know,
Is always disrespectful to one's elders.
At last,
The chance came.
Reddy did a thing no truly wise fox ever will do.
He went two nights in a row to the same hen house.
And the second time he had barely escaped,
Old Granny Fox found out about it.
Oh,
How she found out about it,
Reddy doesn't know to this day.
But she did find out and she gave him such a scolding as even her sharp tongue had seldom given him.
You are the silliest fox I ever heard of,
Scolded Granny.
I'm no more silly than you are,
Retorted Reddy,
In the most impotent way.
What's that?
Demanded Granny.
What is that you said?
I said,
I am no more silly than you are.
And what is more,
I hope I'm not so silly.
I know better than to take a nap in broad daylight right under the very nose of Farmer Brown's boy.
Reddy grinned in the most impotent way as he said this.
Granny was furious.
She was so very upset with Reddy's disrespectful answer.
She scolded him and scolded him and scolded him and told him that he was being very impotent.
Perhaps that scolding will teach you to be respectful to your elders.
Yes,
I was careless and silly and I am perfectly ready to admit it because it has taught me a lesson.
Wisdom often is gained through our mistakes,
But never ever when one is not willing to admit those mistakes.
No fox can live long who makes the same mistake twice.
And those who are impotent to their elders come to no good end.
I've got a big fat goose hidden away for dinner,
But you will get none of it.
I wish I never heard of Granny's mistake,
Whined Reddy to himself as he crept without his dinner to bed.
You ought to wish that you hadn't been impotent,
Whispered a small voice down inside him.
So snuggle down in your covers and have a wonderful night's sleep.
And join us again really soon for chapter 11,
Dreamtime Stories with Jackie and old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox.
Good night now.
Sleep tight.
