At first he had thought he would keep him in a cage the rest of his life . But somehow , whenever he looked into Shadow 's fierce little eyes and saw how unafraid they looked , he got to thinking of how terrible it must be to be shut up in a little narrow cage when one has had all the Green Forest in which to go and come . Then he thought that he would kill Shadow and put him out of his misery at once . `` He killed my pullets , and he is always hunting the harmless little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows , so he deserves to be killed , '' thought Farmer Brown 's boy . `` He 's a pest . '' Then he remembered that after all Shadow was one of Old Mother Nature 's little people , and that he must serve some purpose in Mother Nature 's great plan . Bad as he seemed , she must have some use for him . Perhaps it was to teach others through fear of him how to be smarter and take better care of themselves and so be better fitted to do their parts . The more he thought of this , the harder it was for Farmer Brown 's boy to make up his mind to kill him . But if he could n't keep him a prisoner and he could n't kill him , what could he do ? He was scowling down at Shadow one morning and puzzling over this when a happy idea came to him . `` I know what I 'll do ! '' he exclaimed . Without another word he picked up the cage with Shadow in it and started off across the Green Meadows , which now , you know , were not green at all but covered with snow . Happy Jack watched him out of sight . He had gone in the direction of the Old Pasture . He was gone a long time , and when he did return , the cage was empty . Happy Jack blinked at the empty cage . Then he began to ask in a scolding tone , `` What did you do with him ? What did you do with him ? ''
Farmer Brown 's boy just smiled and tossed a nut to Happy XXXXX .
Brown Forest Jack Meadows Mother first hunting morning pullets use