A few days later she came home in a dreadful state of mind.
"I went to take a look at the raspberry patch," she explained to her good husband. "I knew the berries would soon be ripe. In fact I’ve had my eye on one that was almost ready to be picked. And what do you think? Eight before my own eyes that ruffianly Reddy Woodpecker picked it and ate it himself!"
"Don’t worry about that!" said Jolly Robin.
But Mrs. Robin insisted on worrying; nothing he said could stop her.
"Reddy Woodpecker is taking the food out of our children’s mouths!" she wailed. "You’ll have to drive him away from the raspberry patch! You’ll have to fight him!"
Now, Jolly Robin hardly thought that he was a match for Reddy Woodpecker. So when his wife gave him those orders he began to worry, himself.
Jolly Robin’s worrying wife wouldn’t give him a moment’s peace.
"You’d better get along over to the raspberry patch," she kept telling him. "If you don’t hurry that terrible Reddy Woodpecker will eat every berry. He’ll snatch each one as it ripens and we shall not have any to feed our children."
Now, Jolly Robin didn’t care to have any trouble with Reddy Woodpecker. But he soon saw that if he avoided Reddy he would only have trouble with Mrs. Robin. So at last he said, "Very well! I’ll attend to him, my love." And off he flew, looking much braver than he felt. You’d have thought, to see him, that he longed to find Reddy Woodpecker. Really he hoped that he wouldn’t find Reddy anywhere.
Much to Jolly Robin’s dismay he met Reddy Woodpecker among the raspberry bushes. Jolly jumped when he saw that dashing newcomer. But it was too late to dodge out of sight. Reddy Woodpecker saw him. So Jolly Robin made up his mind to put on a bold front. Sitting on a fence post that overlooked the raspberry patch he stared hard at Reddy Woodpecker. He thought perhaps he could frighten him away.
He might as well have stared at the barn door. To his great distress Reddy Woodpecker picked a berry and flew to a near-by post, where he sat and ate the fruit with relish. When he had finished the dainty he pretended to notice Jolly Robin for the first time and he bowed and scraped in the politest fashion.
Still Jolly Robin did not utter a word. Nor did he return any of Reddy’s bows. But he began to feel himself swelling; he began to feel his feathers ruffle up. And he knew then that he must speak soon or burst. For there was no doubt that he was growing angry. So presently he cried: