When you meet an adversary¹

 

Bold and brave be, also wary².

 

 

If the weapons you may hear of,

 

Teeth and claws, you have no fear of,

 

 

Don't be heedless and rush blindly

 

Lest you be received unkindly,

 

 

And, like Prickly Porky, find him

 

With a dangerous tail behind him.

 

 

NOW Old Man Coyote knew nothing about that dangerous tail. He had never heard how Bowser the Hound had been sent yelping³ home with his face stuck full of those sharp little spears. But Old Man Coyote is wary. Oh, my, yes! He certainly is wary. To be wary, you know, is to be very, very careful where you go and what you do until you know for sure that there is no possible danger. And there is no one more wary than Old Man Coyote, not even wise, sly, old Granny Fox.

 

So now, though Prickly Porky, curled up in a ball in front of him, looked harmless enough except for the thousand little spears sticking out all over him, Old Man Coyote was too wary—too smart and too careful—to take any chances as Bowser the Hound had rashly done. And this is why, as he stole forward with his nose stretched out as if to sniff⁴ of Prickly Porky, he suddenly stopped just when the little meadow and forest people looking on were holding their breath and hugging themselves with joy and excitement because they expected to see the same thing happen to Old Man Coyote that had happened to Bowser.

 

Yes, Sir, Old Man Coyote stopped. He studied Prickly Porky a few minutes. Then slowly he walked around him, just studying and studying.

 

“It looks safe enough to go closer and sniff at him,” thought Old Man Coyote, “but I learned a long time ago that you cannot always tell just by looks, and that the most harmless looking thing is sometimes the most dangerous. Now it looks to me as if this stupid Porcupine⁵ couldn't hurt a flee so long as he keeps curled up this way, but I don't know, and I'm not going any nearer until I do know.”

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