“You want to do what, exactly?” asked Hare. “I want to leave this on the ground — well, on the snow — in a place in the forest where Magpie will probably find it, but nobody else probably will,” said Dog.  “Why don’t you just give it to Magpie yourself?” asked Hare. “Because it’s a… Continue reading

Hedgehog was worried.  “I’m worried,” he said to Squirrel. “What is it this time?” asked Squirrel, who sometimes found Hedgehog’s constant worrying a bit tedious. “I’m worried about the invasion.” “What did you say?” asked Squirrel, astonished. “The invasion. I think it’s going to happen today, and I’m worried. Sure, I’m small; I can probably… Continue reading

The next time Dog met Flash the Barn Cat was in Hare’s meadow. Flash was sitting on a stump talking to Magpie.  “I’ve heard about something like that,” Magpie was saying. “The last time Coriolus passed this way he mentioned something about it. He said he and his vee…that’s Lucky, Spruce, and Bruce…they saw some… Continue reading

Dog was visiting the barn when she met someone new.  “Hi,” said the someone, “I’m Flash. Just arrived. I’m the new barn cat.” “Oh hi,” said Dog. She was surprised that Flash introduced himself with a human-sounding name instead of “Cat.” “Do you live in the farmhouse?” asked Dog. She knew that cats usually lived… Continue reading

Dog, Bear, and Hare were having a secret meeting. Not that it was secret from everyone. It was only a secret from Magpie.  It had turned out to be surprisingly hard to have a meeting that Magpie didn’t know about. She flew over the forest every day, and she seemed to notice everything. That’s why… Continue reading

Heading back home from giving Beaver back his book, Raccoon saw Squirrel sitting on the path, tail twitching. “I’ve been waiting for you,” he said. “You’ll never guess what I just saw.” “Um…do I have to really guess?” asked Raccoon. “No way,” said Squirrel, “that’s just something to say when you want to let somebody… Continue reading

“You know,” said Dog, “you folks who live in the forest have a pretty nice setup. It must be really relaxing.” “How do you mean?” asked Hare. “I thought you and Ferret were the ones who had all the best of everything.” “Oh, sure, I’m not saying there aren’t perks,” said Dog, “but they come… Continue reading

One evening, Hortense and Masie the cows were not surprised at all to find their friend Manatee relaxing in the creek that ran through the farm.  “Hi Manatee,” said Masie, “I didn’t know you were visiting these parts.” “Oh yesss,” said Manatee slowly, “felt it wass timmmmme for a bit of a vacationnnn, you knowwww.… Continue reading

Hare was sitting in Raccoon’s parlor. “Somebody’s trying to ferret out what happened at the party in the barn,” he said. “Who?” asked Raccoon carelessly. “Ferret,” said Hare. “I heard you the first time,” said Raccoon, “I meant who’s doing the ferreting.” “Ferret,” said Hare again. “You can’t miss him. He looks like a smaller… Continue reading

“It was pretty frightening,” said Raccoon. “He had me believing I’d done something wrong, and that there was something bad happening at the party in the barn.” “Me too,” said Hare. “I even started thinking he was a policeman.” “And that whistle,” said Raccoon with a shudder. “What about the whistle?” asked Squirrel. “It was…”… Continue reading