Chapter 2

THE NEW NEIGHBOR



ALL the neighbors began to call him "Daddy Longlegs." And anyone might naturally think that he had lived in Pleasant Valley a great many years. But it was not so. Late in the summer Daddy Longlegs had appeared from nobody knew where.

Although people often inquired where his old home was, he always pretended that he didn't hear them--and began to talk about the weather.

And as for Daddy Longlegs' new home in Pleasant Valley, nobody knew much about that either. No matter how curious anyone might be, it did him no good at all to ask Daddy Longlegs where he lived. When prying persons put that question to him, Daddy Longlegs always waved his eight legs in every direction and answered "Over there!"

Of course such a reply told nothing to anyone. And it led to a good many disputes among Daddy Longlegs' neighbors. No two could ever agree as to which of Daddy's legs really pointed toward the place where he dwelt.

Anyhow, the wily gentleman was frequently seen scrambling about the stone wall by the roadside, near Farmer Green's house. And little Mr. Chippy, who made his home in the wild grapevine that grew on the wall, always claimed that Daddy Longlegs was a neighbor of his.

"He's a good neighbor, too," Mr. Chippy told his friends. "He's very quiet and he never quarrels. And he's always pleasant and ready for a chat. It's too bad that he's deaf. I've asked him at least a dozen times how old he is; but he never seems to hear me."

Old Mr. Crow, who liked nothing better than prying into other people's affairs, slowly shook his head at that. And coughing slightly he remarked in a hoarse voice that there must be reasons why Daddy Longlegs wouldn't tell where he came from, nor where he was living, nor how old he was.

But Mr. Crow wouldn't say what he thought might be the reasons. Although he was a wise bird, there were some things he didn't know.

Now, in a way Mr. Crow was right. Daddy Longlegs had the best of reasons for keeping some facts to himself. In the first place, he had never lived anywhere except in Pleasant Valley. In the second place, he was scarcely more than two months old when people began to notice him in the neighborhood of the stone wall. And in the third place, since he was somewhat timid he thought it just as well if people didn't know where he made his home.

He was--as his friends often said--an odd person. For instance, he had always looked old, from the very first. And when everyone began to call him "Daddy" it was only to be expected that he would not care to let people know that he was not even a year old--instead of ninety or a hundred, as they supposed. Besides, probably nobody would have believed the truth. So he never told his age.

Indeed, there were some who claimed that Daddy Longlegs must be much more than only a hundred