The Tale of Turkey Proudfoot Slumber-Town Tales   By: Arthur Scott Bailey (1877-1949)

TURKEY PROUDFOOT

SLUMBER TOWN TALES

(Trademark Registered)

BY

ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

AUTHOR OF

SLEEPY TIME TALES

(Trademark Registered)

TUCK ME IN TALES

(Trademark Registered)

THE TALE OF THE MULEY COW THE TALE OF OLD DOG SPOT THE TALE OF GRUNTY PIG THE TALE OF HENRIETTA HEN THE TALE OF TURKEY PROUDFOOT THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS THE TALE OF MISS KITTY CAT

[Illustration: The Geese Hissed at Turkey Proudfoot. Frontispiece ( Page 16)]

SLUMBER TOWN TALES (Trademark Registered)

THE TALE OF TURKEY PROUDFOOT

BY

ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

Author of "SLEEPY TIME TALES" (Trademark Registered) AND "TUCK ME IN TALES" (Trademark Registered)

ILLUSTRATED BY

HARRY L. SMITH

NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS

Made in the United States of America

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I A STRUTTER 1 II THE SILLY SIX 6 III THE MEDDLER 11 IV SCARING THE GEESE 16 V A SAFE PERCH 20 VI THE MIMIC 25 VII HALF WRONG 30 VIII HARD TO PLEASE 35 IX A STRANGE GOBBLE 39 X THE WORM TURNS 45 XI BLUSTER 50 XII MR. CROW'S NEWS 56 XIII THE NEW PET 61 XIV A PROUD PERSON 66 XV MRS. WREN'S ADVICE 71 XVI DRUMMING ON A LOG 75 XVII A GAME BIRD 80 XVIII RED LIGHTNING 85 XIX NIGHT IN THE WOODS 90 XX BEAKS AND BILLS 95 XXI FARMYARD MANNERS 100 XXII CRANBERRY SAUCE 105 XXIII VACATION TIME 110 XXIV BROTHER TOM 115

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Geese Hissed at Turkey Proudfoot Frontispiece Polly Imitates Turkey Proudfoot 40 The Peacock Ignores Turkey Proudfoot 64 Turkey Proudfoot Has a Chat With Mr. Grouse 80

THE TALE OF TURKEY PROUDFOOT

I

A STRUTTER

All the hen turkeys thought Turkey Proudfoot a wonderful creature. They said he had the most beautiful tail on the farm. When he spread it and strutted about Farmer Green's place the hen turkeys were sure to nudge one another and say, "Ahem! Isn't he elegant?"

But the rest of the farmyard folk made quite different remarks about him. They declared Turkey Proudfoot to be a silly, vain gobbler, noisy and quarrelsome.

Now, there was truth in what everybody thought and said about this lordly person, Turkey Proudfoot. He did have a huge tail, when he chose to spread it; and his feathers shone with a greenish, coppery, bronzy glitter that might easily have turned the head of anybody that boasted such beautiful colors. Certainly the hen turkeys turned their heads and craned their necks whenever Turkey Proudfoot came near them. And when he spoke to them, saying " Gobble, gobble, gobble! " in a loud tone, they were always pleased.

The hen turkeys seemed to find that remark, " Gobble, gobble, gobble! " highly interesting. But everybody else complained about the noise that Turkey Proudfoot made, and said that if he must gobble they wished he would go off by himself, where people didn't have to listen to him.

And nobody but the hen turkeys liked the way Turkey Proudfoot walked. At every step he took he raised a foot high in the air, acting for all the world as if the ground wasn't good enough for him to walk upon. And when he wasn't picking up a seed, or a bit of grain, or an insect off the ground, he held his head very high. Often Turkey Proudfoot seemed to look right past his farmyard neighbors, as if he were gazing at something in the next field and didn't see them. But they soon learned that that was only an odd way of his. Really, he saw about everything that went on. If anybody happened to grin at him Turkey Proudfoot was sure to take notice at once and try to pick a quarrel.