More frequently than not,

   Brought on by naught¹ but carelessness;

   By some one who forgot.

     —Old Granny Fox.

Granny Fox had hoped that those two hens she and Reddy had stolen from Farmer Brown's henhouse would not be missed, but they were. They were missed the very first thing the next morning when Farmer Brown's boy went to feed the biddies. He discovered right away that the little sliding door which should have closed the opening through which the hens went in and out of the house was open, and then he remembered that he had left the henyard gate open the night before. Carefully Farmer Brown's boy examined the hole with the sliding door.

 

“Ha!” said he presently, and held up two red hairs which he had found on the edge of the door. “Ha! I thought as much. I was careless last night and didn't fasten this door, and I left the gate open. Reddy Fox has been here, and now I know what has become of those two hens. I suppose it serves me right for my carelessness, and I suppose if the truth were known, those hens were of more real good to him than they ever could have been to me, because the poor fellow must be having pretty hard work to get a living these hard winter days. Still, I can't have him stealing any more. That would never do at all. If I shut them up every night and am not careless, he can't get them. But accidents will happen, and I might do just as I did last night—think I had locked up when I hadn't. I don't like to set a trap for Reddy, but I must teach the rascal² a lesson. If I don't, he will get so bold that those chickens won't be safe even in broad daylight.”

 

Now at just that very time over in their home, Granny and Reddy Fox were talking over plans for the future, and shrewd³ old Granny was pointing out to Reddy how necessary it was that they should keep away from that henyard for some time. “We've had a good dinner, a splendid dinner, and if we are smart enough we may be able to get more good dinners where this one came from,” said she. “But we certainly won't if we are too greedy.”

 

“But I don't believe Farmer Brown's boy has missed those two chickens, and I don't see any reason at all why we shouldn't go back there to-night and get two more if he is stupid enough to leave that gate and little door open,”

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