when prickly porky the porcupine and old man coyote the prairie wolf met beside the laughing brook, it was a case of slow wit meeting quick wit. you see, prickly porky is very slow in everything he does, that is everything but flipping that queer tail of his about when there is an enemy near enough for it to reach. but in everything else he is oh, so slow! he walks as if he had all the time in the world to get to the place he has started for. he climbs in just the same way. and because he never moves quickly, he never thinks quickly. the fact is, he doesn't see any need of hurrying, not even in thinking.

but old man coyote is just the opposite. yes, sir, he is just the opposite. no one moves quicker than he does. he is nimble on his feet, and his wit is just as quick.

his nimble wit and nimble feet

are very, very hard to beat.

digger the badger, who also comes from the great west, says that to beat old man coyote in anything, you should start the day before he does and not let him know it.

so here was slow wit facing quick wit, with most of the little meadow people and forest folk looking on. suddenly old man coyote sprang forward with his ugliest snarl, a snarl that made everybody but prickly porky shiver, even those who were perfectly safe up in the trees.

but prickly porky didn't shiver.

no, sir, he just grunted angrily and rattled this thousand little spears.

now, old man coyote had sprung with that ugly snarl just to try to frighten prickly porky, and he had taken care not to spring too close to those rattling spears. when he found that prickly porky wasn't frightened the least little bit, he tried another plan. perhaps he could get prickly porky from behind. as quick as a flash and as light as a feather, he leaped right over prickly porky and turned to seize him from behind. but he didn't! oh, my, no! you see, the thousand little spears covered every inch of prickly porky's back.

slowly and clumsily prickly porky turned so as to face his enemy.

“got fooled that time, didn't you, mr. smarty?” he grunted, while his eyes snapped with anger.

old man coyote didn't say anything. he just grinned. but all the time he was using his eyes, and now he discovered that while prickly porky was fully protected on his back and sides by the thousand little spears carried in his coat, there wasn't a single little spear in his waistcoat.

“i've got to get him where i can seize him from underneath,” thought he, and straightway he began to run in a circle around prickly porky while the latter turned slowly round and round, trying to keep his face turned always towards old man coyote. faster and faster ran old man coyote, and faster and faster turned prickly porky. in his slow mind he was trying to understand what it meant, but he couldn't. and for a while the little meadow and forest people looking on were just as much puzzled. it was a most surprising thing.

then suddenly unc' billy possum understood.

“he's trying to make prickly porky dizzy,” he whispered to bobby coon.

“let's warn prickly porky; he'll never think of it himself until it's too late,” whispered bobby coon.

but before they could do this, the queer performance came to an end. prickly porky hadn't discovered what old man coyote was trying to do, but he had become tired of such foolishness, and he suddenly decided to take a rest. so he stopped turning around, and then curled himself up in a ball on the ground, where he looked like a great chestnut burr. everybody held their breath to see what old man coyote would do next.

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《thornton w. burgess》