“I guess Winkie is a little afraid,” said Larry. “I’ll get her something to eat. That will make her tame quicker than anything else.”
Out to the barn ran Larry, and soon he came back with some yellow carrots. He cut off little pieces of them and tossed them into the pen through the open meshes of the chicken wire on top.
At first Winkie was a bit timid about taking these chunks of carrot. But they smelled so good, and she was so hungry, that she at last ventured to nibble one. Then, finding no harm came to her, she grew bold and took more. She limped a little on the leg that had been caught in the trap, but it was quickly getting over its soreness.
“Oh, isn’t Winkie cute!” cried Alice, as she watched the woodchuck eat.
“Yes,” agreed Larry. “And I want to teach her soon to eat out of my hand.”
“We want to be careful that she doesn’t bite us,” said his sister. “See what sharp teeth she has.”
Indeed Winkie had very sharp teeth and Larry knew this.
For two or three days Winkie would not take any food from Larry’s hand or that of Alice. But she grew bolder when she saw that the boy and his sister meant to be kind, and one day, about a week after being caught and put in the pen, Winkie took a piece of carrot right from Larry’s fingers.
“Oh, she’s getting tame! She’s getting tame!” cried the boy. “Now I can teach her some tricks!”
“Let me feed her!” begged Alice. And the little girl was delighted when Winkie took some pieces of carrot from her fingers.
It was several days longer before either Larry or his sister dared reach in to stroke Winkie’s fur. The first time this was tried Winkie scurried back into her sleeping box as though Buster were after her. But the next time she was not so timid, and soon the little woodchuck came to know that the children intended no harm.
“Though why they want to fuss over me and rub me is more than I can tell,” thought Winkie to herself. “I wish I had some one to talk animal talk to――Squinty, the pig, or Slicko, the squirrel. Or even Tum Tum, the elephant. I wish he were here!”
Winkie had never seen an elephant like Tum Tum, and of course she did not know how large elephants are.
Tum Tum could hardly have gotten more than one of his big feet in Winkie’s pen!