after unc' billy possum had arranged with skimmer the swallow, who was going south, to take a message to his family in "ol' virginny," telling them to come and join him in the green forest, he at once began to make preparations to receive them. unc' billy isn't any too fond of work. he had a lot rather that some one else should do the work for him, and he is smart enough to fix it so that usually some one else does.
but getting ready to receive his family was different. no one else could arrange things to suit him. this was unc' billy's own job, and he tended right to it every minute of the day. first of all he had to clean house. he had been keeping bachelor's hall so long in the big hollow tree that things were not very tidy. so unc' billy cleaned house, and while he worked he whistled and sang. peter rabbit, passing that way, overheard unc' billy singing:
"mah ol' woman is away down souf—
come along! come along!
ain't nothin' sharper than the tongue in her mouf—
come along! come along!
she once was pretty, but she ain't no mo',
but she cooks mah meals an' she sweeps mah flo';
she darns mah stockings an' she mends mah coat,
an' she knows jes' how mah chillun fer to tote—
come along! come along!
"mah pickaninnies am a-headin' dis way—
come along! come along!
daddy am a-watchin' fo' 'em day by day—
come along! come along!
mah ol' haid aches when ah thinks ob de noise
de's boun' to be wid dem gals an' boys,
but ah doan care if it busts in two
if de good lord brings dem chillun troo—
come along! come along!"
every little while unc' billy possum would sit down to rest, for he wasn't used to so much real work. but finally he got his house clean and made as comfortable as possible, and about that time be began to think how good an egg would taste. the more he thought about it, the more he wanted that egg.
"it's no use talking, ah just naturally has to have that egg," said unc' billy to himself, and off he started for farmer brown's.
now unc' billy was hardly out of sight when along came bobby coon. bobby coon was absent-minded, or else he was so sleepy that he didn't know what he was doing, for bobby coon had been out all night. anyway, when he reached unc' billy possum's hollow tree, he began to climb up it just as if it were his own. he looked in at unc' billy's door. there was the most comfortable bed that he had seen for a long time. he looked this way and he looked that way. nobody was in sight. then he looked in at unc' billy's door once more. that bed certainly did look soft and comfortable. bobby coon chuckled to himself.
"i believe i'll just see if that bed is as comfortable as it looks," said he.
and two minutes later bobby coon was curled up fast asleep in unc' billy possum's bed.
