But by the time
it reached his ears--after it had been told by one person to another
almost forty times--the story was somewhat different from what it had
been when Mr. Crow first told it to Jasper Jay. This is what Sandy heard:
The thing on the tree was a mailbox. Every day a man drove from the
village in a wagon drawn by twelve horses. He had a load of letters as
big as six haystacks. And he left a handful of letters in that box,
because he wanted to get rid of them so he could go back to the village
for more. And any one could take a letter--if it happened to be for him.
It was Frisky Squirrel who told the story to Sandy. Of course, after so
much telling it had changed a good deal. But Sandy Chipmunk didn't know
that. And he hurried to the cross-roads at once, to watch for the man
driving the twelve horses.
When he reached the oak, where the box was, Sandy climbed the tree and
perched himself on a limb and waited. He had not sat there long before he
saw a man drive up the road. Sandy Chipmunk was surprised when the man
stopped beneath the tree and dropped some letters and newspapers into the
box.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50