the trouble with a quarrel is

that when it's once begun

the whole world tries to push it on,

and seems to think it fun.

it usually is anything but fun for those engaged in it, but their neighbors crowd about and urge them on and do their best to make matters worse. it was just that way when prickly porcupine and old man coyote met beside the laughing brook. now until they met here neither had ever seen the other, for you know old man coyote had come out of the great west, while prickly porky had come down from the north woods. prickly porky took one good look and then he grunted, “i'll soon fix him!” what he saw was some one who looked something like a very large gray fox or a dog, and prickly porky had put too many foxes and dogs to flight to feel the least bit of fear of the stranger grinning at him and showing all his great teeth.

but old man coyote didn't know what to make of what he saw. never in all his life had he seen anything like it. he didn't know whether to laugh or to be frightened. about all he could see was what looked like a tremendous great chestnut-burr on legs, which came towards him in little rushes and with a great rattling of the thousand little spears which made him look like a chestnut-burr. old man coyote had never fought with anybody like this, and he didn't know just how to begin. he didn't like the look of the thousand little spears. the nearer they came, the less he liked the look of them. so he backed away a few steps, growling and snarling angrily.

now it seemed that as if by magic the news that there was trouble between prickly porky and old man coyote had spread all over the green meadows and through the green forest. everybody who dared to go was on hand to see it. sammy jay and his cousin, blacky the crow, were there of course, peering down from the top of a pine-tree and screaming excitedly. happy jack the gray squirrel and chatterer the red squirrel actually sat side by side in the same tree, so interested that they forgot for once to quarrel themselves. unc' billy possum and bobby coon cut their afternoon nap short and looked on from a safe place in a big chestnut-tree.

danny meadow mouse and his cousin, whitefoot the wood mouse, shivered with fright, while they peeped out through a crack in a hollow log. johnny chuck came as near as he dared and peeped over the trunk of a fallen tree. billy mink and jerry muskrat quietly swam up the laughing brook and crawled out on the farther bank where they could see and still be safe. of course reddy and granny fox were there, well hidden so that no one should see them.

and what do you think every one of them was wishing? why, that prickly porky would drive old man coyote away from the green forest and off of the green meadows. you see, every one of them was afraid of old man coyote, and right down in his heart each was hoping that prickly porky would be able to send old man coyote off yelping, with his face stuck full of little spears as once upon a time he had sent bowser the hound.