`` The joke certainly is on me , and it served me right . Hereafter I 'll mind my own business . If I had spent half as much time looking for hickory nuts as I did looking for Striped Chipmunk 's storehouse , I would be ready for winter now , and Chatterer could n't call me a thief . '' Then he laughed again as he thought how Striped Chipmunk must have enjoyed seeing him pulled out of Chatterer 's storehouse by the tail . `` What 's the joke ? '' asked Bobby Coon , who happened along just then . `` I 've just learned a lesson , '' replied Happy Jack . `` What is it ? '' asked Bobby . Happy Jack grinned as he answered : `` I 've found that greed will never , never pay . It makes one cross and ugly , and it drives one 's friends away . And being always selfish and always wanting more , One 's very apt to lose the things that one has had before . '' `` Pooh ! '' said Bobby Coon . `` Have you just found that out ? I learned that a long time ago . '' CHAPTER XIII HAPPY JACK GETS A WARNING It matters not how smart you are , So be it you are heedless too . It is n't what you know that counts So much as what it is to you . Happy Jack . A fat Gray Squirrel is very tempting to a number of people in the Green Forest , particularly in winter , when getting a living is hard work .
Almost every day Reddy and Granny Fox stole softly through that part of the Green Forest where Happy Jack Squirrel lived , hoping to surprise and catch him XXXXX the ground .
Chipmunk Coon If as by of on right that to