The heedless young who disobey  
Will for their folly¹ have to pay.
 
             Little Joe Otter².
 
Farmer Brown’s boy watched the family fishing party until it moved on to the next pool. Then he remembered his own fishing and the fat trout³ he had promised to bring back for supper that night.
 
“Now I understand why I haven’t had a bite,” he chuckled⁴. “Little Joe Otter and his family got started earlier than I did. They are welcome to all they have caught, for the fun of seeing those young Otters⁵ get their first fishing lesson is worth more to me than any fish could be. But I can’t allow them to get all the fish. I could frighten them away, but I don’t want to do that. No, Sir, I don’t want to make them afraid of me. I know what I’ll do; I’ll circle around through the woods and get ahead of them.”
 
So Farmer Brown’s boy tramped around through the Green Forest until he reached the Laughing Brook⁶ again at a point where he felt sure of being ahead of the Otter fishing party. In a minute there was a sharp tug⁷ at his line and presently he pulled out a silvery, speckled trout. Then Farmer Brown’s boy forgot all about everything but fishing.
 
Now it just happened that that very morning Old Man Coyote had taken it into his head to visit the Laughing Brook and see what was going on there. It may be that in the back of that shrewd head of his was an idea there might be some helpless young babies or headstrong and careless young children of one kind or another who would furnish him with a tender and easily gotten breakfast. Anyway, he was going up the Laughing Brook and Farmer Brown’s Boy was going down the Laughing Brook. Of course they met. However, Farmer Brown’s boy didn’t know it. He didn’t know a thing about it. You see, he was so intent on fishing that he had no eyes for anything but the water and his fishing line. So he didn’t see Old Man Coyote. But Old Man Coyote saw him and lifted his lips from his long, strong teeth in a most unpleasant manner as he

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