Sammy had become well known by the animals in the deep forest. He had sprayed Mr. Fox as only a skunk can do, and the fox stayed away from the other animals and the animals stayed away from him. Once in a while they would see Mr. Fox in the river washing, and the animals would grin and walk away.

Sammy thought about Mr. Fox often. It was true that all the forest animals knew just where Mr. Fox was at all times, but they also deliberately stayed away from him. They laughed at Mr. Fox from a distance. Sammy knew how it felt to be made fun of. He certainly didn’t like it, and he wondered what he could do to help Mr. Fox.

One day Sammy went to visit Mr. and Mrs. Owl to discuss Mr. Fox. He wanted to know if they had seen him and how he was doing. Under his arm Sammy carried a can of tomato juice. Sammy knew if Mr. Fox could wash himself with tomato juice it would take the skunk smell away.

As he entered the deep woods, Mr. and Mrs. Owl were not in the tree. It was unusually quiet and Sammy began to be concerned.

“Is anyone here?” he asked. He started walking deeper into the woods, hoping to find someone.

“Hello, your friend Sammy is here,” he called, but nobody answered.

He had gone only a short distance when he saw Miss Deer. She seemed very confused and was talking to herself.

“Let’s see, it’s down this path for a little ways. Then I must turn and take another path, and then I come to the bend and turn either left or right. Oh, this is terrible. It is awful. I’m lost in my own woods!” She began to cry. “I don’t know where the surprise party is going to be.”

Just then she looked up and saw Sammy. “Oh, Sammy, how nice of you to come to the surprise party. The surprise party is for everyone, but I haven’t the slightest idea where everyone is! Can you help, Sammy?”

Do you think that Sammy can help Miss Deer?

Buy the Book