Solomon spent several nights looking for a good place to pass his days.And in the end he decided on the meadow. It would be convenient, hethought, when he was hunting meadow mice at dawn, if he could stay rightthere, without bothering to go into the woods to sleep.
Since there were no trees in the meadow, but only a few scrubby bushesalong the stone wall, one might naturally make the mistake of thinkingthat there could not possibly be a nook of any kind that would suitSolomon Owl, who could never sleep soundly unless his bedroom was quitedark.
But there was one hiding place that Solomon liked almost as well as hishome in the hollow hemlock. And that was Farmer Green's haystack. Heburrowed into one side of it and made himself a snug chamber, which was asdark as a pocket--and ever so much quieter. What pleased Solomon most,however, was this: Nobody knew about that new retreat except himself.
Even if Reddy Woodpecker should succeed in finding it, he never coulddisturb Solomon by drumming upon the haystack. If Reddy tried that trick,his bill would merely sink noiselessly into the hay.
So Solomon Owl at last had a good day's rest. And when he met ReddyWoodpecker just after sunset, Solomon was feeling so cheerful that he said"Good-evening!" quite pleasantly, before he remembered that it was Reddywho had teased him so often.
"Good-evening!" Reddy Woodpecker replied. He seemed much surprised thatSolomon Owl should be so agreeable. "Can you hear me?" Reddy asked him.
"Perfectly!" said Solomon.
"That's strange!" Reddy Woodpecker exclaimed. "I was almost sure you hadsuddenly grown deaf." And he could not understand why Solomon Owl laughedloud and long.
"_Wha-wha! Whoo-ah!_" Solomon's deep-voiced laughter rolled and echoedthrough the woodland.
But Reddy Woodpecker did not laugh at all.
XXIIIT WAS SOLOMON'S FAULT
Reddy Woodpecker had a very good reason for not laughing when he metSolomon Owl. Of course, he knew nothing whatever of Solomon's new hidingplace in the haystack. And that very morning Reddy had invited a party offriends to go with him to the hemlock grove where Solomon Owl had alwayslived, "to have some fun," as Reddy had explained.
For a long time he had knocked and hammered and pounded at Solomon Owl'sdoor. But for once Solomon's great pale face did not appear.
"Where's the fun?" Reddy's friends had wanted to know, after they hadwaited until they were impatient.
And Reddy Woodpecker could only shake his head and say:
"I can't understand it! It's never happened like this before. I'm afraidSolomon Owl has lost his hearing."
Reddy Woodpecker's friends were no more polite than he. And they began tojeer at him.
"You didn't hammer loud enough," one of them told him.
So he set to work again and rapped and rapped until his head felt as if itwould fly off, and his neck began to ache.
Still, Solomon Owl did not appear. And the party broke up in somethingvery like a quarrel. For Reddy Woodpecker lost his temper when his friendsteased him; and a good many unpleasant remarks passed back and forth.
Somehow, Reddy felt that it was all Solomon Owl's fault, because he hadn'tcome to the door.
Of course, Reddy had no means of knowing that all that time Solomon Owlwas sleeping peacefully in Farmer Green's haystack in the meadow, aquarter of a mile away.
It was a good joke on Reddy Woodpecker. And though no one had told SolomonOwl about it, he was not so stupid that he couldn't guess at least _alittle_ that had happened.
Solomon Owl continued to have a very pleasant time living in the meadow.Since there were many mice right close at hand, little by little hevisited the woods less and less. And there came a time at last when hehardly left the meadow at all.
Not flying any more than he could help, and eating too much, and sleepingvery soundly each day, he grew stouter than ever, until his friends hardlyknew him when they saw him.
"Solomon Owl is a sight--he's so fat!" people began to say.
But his size never worried Solomon Owl in the least. When he became toobig for his doorway in the haystack, it was a simple matter to make theopening larger--much simpler than it would have been to make himself_smaller_. And that was another reason why he was delighted with his newhome.
At last, however, something happened to put an end to his lazy way ofliving. One day the sound of men's voices awakened him, when he was havinga good nap in the haystack. And he felt his bedroom quiver as if anearthquake had shaken it.
Scrambling to his doorway and peeping slyly out, Solomon saw a sight thatmade him very angry. A hayrack stood alongside the stack; and on it stoodFarmer Green and his hired man. Each had a pitchfork in his hands, withwhich he tore great forkfuls of hay off the stack and piled it upon thewagon.
Solomon Owl knew then that his fine hiding place was going to be spoiled.As soon as the horses had pulled the load of hay away, with Farmer Greenand the hired man riding on top of it, Solomon Owl crept out of his snugbedroom and hurried off to the woods.
He was so fat that it was several days before he could squeeze inside hisold home in the hollow hemlock. And for the time being he had to sit on alimb and sleep in the daylight as best he could.
But to his surprise, Reddy Woodpecker troubled him no more. Reddy haddrummed so hard on Solomon's door, in the effort to awake him when hewasn't there, that Aunt Polly Woodchuck told him he would ruin his bill,if he didn't look out. And since the warning thoroughly alarmed him, Reddystopped visiting the hemlock grove.
In time Solomon Owl grew to look like himself again. And people neverreally knew just what had happened to him. But they noticed that he alwayshooted angrily whenever anybody mentioned Farmer Green's name.
THE END
The Tale of Solomon Owl Page 5
