Hare was still confused. He was pretty sure Dog and Bear had tricked him with their sniffing contest, but he couldn’t figure out how they’d done it. He sniffed his four crayons again and again, but couldn’t smell any differences between the green, blue, red, and yellow ones. Sometimes he thought the yellow one might smell a bit different, but when he tried again he could never be sure. But Bear and Dog said they could smell the colors, and even knew which crayons were new and which were used.
“What’s wrong?” asked Magpie. “You’re missing the party. Ferret, Otter, and Muskrat are doing pirate dances now.”
“It’s these crayons,” said Hare. “Well, no, it’s not really the crayons. It’s Bear and Dog. They can smell different colors of crayons, and whether they’ve been used or not, and even what they were used for!”
“Why are you letting that bother you?” said Magpie.
“I think they were tricking me,” said Hare, “but I don’t know how they did it.”
“Is that all?” laughed Magpie. “Of course they tricked you, Hare. You can’t smell colors, and you can’t smell what a crayon’s been used for.”
“I know I can’t,” said Hare, “I’ve been trying. I just want to know whether Dog and Bear can smell those things.”
“Oh come on,” said Magpie, “When I said ‘you’ I didn’t mean ‘you’, I meant anybody. And when I say ‘anybody’, I mean ‘nobody.’”
“What are you talking about?” said Hare, looking sideways at Magpie.
“I’m trying to tell you,” said Magpie, “that nobody can smell those things. Not Bear, not Dog, and not anybody. They tricked you.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Hare, “but how did they do it?”
“Where do you keep your crayons?” asked Magpie.
“When I’ve been using them, I just leave them here on the table,” said Hare.
“And when did you last use them?”
“This morning; I made some signs about the party.”
“Aha,” said Magpie, “so you had the crayons out on your table. Did Bear or Dog come into your house today?”
“Bear came in,” said Hare, “to help me carry out some trays of snacks.”
“Aha,” said Magpie again. “And did Bear or Dog see one of your signs?”
“Probably. There was one right outside,” said Hare.
“Aha,” said Magpie for a third time.
“That’s three ‘ahas’,” said Hare, “does that mean you’re going to tell me how I’ve been tricked?”
“I think you can figure it out,” said Magpie.
“Hmmm,” said Hare. “I guess Bear could have seen my crayons when he came in. And if they saw the sign, maybe they knew I’d used my crayons to draw it.”
“And…?” said Magpie.
“Oh, then they’d know the colors, and what letter’s I’d drawn,” said Hare. His ears quivered. “So they didn’t really smell the colors or which crayons I’d used.”
“Nope,” said Magpie. “Bear saw the crayons and the colors, and Dog saw the sign. They were just lucky it was Bear who came into your house; the trick wouldn’t have worked if Dog had seen the crayons. Because…” Magpie paused to let Hare fill in the last detail.
“Because Dog can’t see colors,” said Hare. “Thanks, Magpie. Do you think it was just a good guess when they said they could smell the crayon colors?”
“Could have been, but they really do have sensitive noses. They probably really did smell the crayons” said Magpie. “Now, the question is, do you want to fool them right back?”
“Of course I do,” said Hare, “but if I try to pretend I’m smelling something they can’t, everybody will know it’s a trick.”
“But what if you hear something?” said Magpie.
“Hey, that just might work,” said Hare.
“Of course it will,” said Magpie. “All you have to do is remember this: ‘Mary had a little lamb.’”
“Why do I have to remember that?”
“Because,” said Magpie, “that’s what I’m going to whisper to someone so that you can’t possibly hear it, and then you’re going to pretend you DID hear it. That’s the trick. Just in case, remember this too: ‘three little kittens lost their mittens.’ If we have to do it twice to prove it to everybody, that’ll be the second thing you pretend to hear.”
“Okay,” said Hare, “I’m ready. You’d better go out the back door and fly around the other way so nobody sees us together. I’ll go out the front door and go back to the party. When you arrive, I’ll start the trick and start bragging to Bear and Dog about my ears.”
That evening, the party was winding down. Everyone had had plenty to eat and plenty of fun. Dog and Bear were talking in low voices so as not to wake Ferret, who was asleep on Dog’s back, still dressed up like a pirate.
“I still say Hare tricked us,” whispered Dog. “I think he figured out that we tricked him, and got us back.”
“I just don’t see how he could have done it,” whispered Bear. “But it is hard to believe Hare’s ears are THAT good. Magpie and I were all the way on the other side of the meadow, and Magpie whispered in my ear so software I almost couldn’t hear it, and I was right there. But Hare heard it. And then he did it again.”
“Hmmm,” whispered Dog. “Then they did it again, you mean. I think Magpie helped Hare with that trick, the same as she helped us.”
“Magpie does like tricks,” whispered Bear. “And that would mean if she helped us trick Hare, then helped Hare trick us, then she was really tricking all of us the whole time. That would be a pretty good trick.”
“I should be getting back,” whispered Dog, “but we should think about some way to trick Magpie.”
Magpie was back in her nest after her busy day. Before she went to sleep, she rummaged around in her nest and found a notebook. She opened it to a page labeled “Tricked”, and at the bottom of the list of names wrote Hare, Dog, and Bear. She chuckled to herself, then put away the notebook and went to sleep.
