The Tale of Reddy Woodpecker

Tuck-Me-In Tales

by Arthur Scott Bailey

In the spring Reddy Woodpecker liked to drum.

He never felt that a pleasant day was rightly begun unless he played a tattoo early in the morning. So upon his arrival in Pleasant Valley he began promptly to look about for a good drumming place.

It wasn't long before he discovered a strip of tin nailed upon the roof of Farmer Green's barn.

"Ah!" cried Reddy the moment he spied this treasure. "Just what I need!" And settling himself down upon it he hammered out a long, rolling tattoo with his strong bill.

It mattered not to him that Farmer Green's family was sound asleep. He didn't care whether he disturbed anybody. He liked to hear his own drumming; and he intended to drum.

"This is the finest drumming place I've ever had!" Reddy Woodpecker cried aloud. "I don't care if the neighbors are disagreeable to me. I'm glad I came here to spend the summer."

So he made good use of that bit of tin with which Farmer Green had mended the roof of the barn. Each morning (if it wasn't raining) he flew to the barn to beat his tattoo. And he began to speak of "My tin," and "My roof"—and even of "My barn!"

Then, one morning, Reddy was a bit lazy. He was late about his morning drumming. And before he had left the orchard where he had decided to live he heard a sound that gave him a great start. From the direction of the barn came a rolling beat which filled him with dismay.

"Who's that drumming?" he exclaimed. "It can't be myself, because I'm here in the orchard." Then all at once he became terribly angry. "It's somebody else!" he muttered.

"Somebody has stolen my drumming place—my piece of tin—my roof—my barn!"

He flung himself off the old, dead apple tree where he had been looking for grubs for his breakfast and flew straight towards the rolling sound which still beat upon the air.

It was just as he had feared. A stranger sat upon the strip of tin pounding away with his bill as if it were his duty to waken everybody in Pleasant Valley. He wasn't as handsomely dressed as Reddy Woodpecker. He wore a brown and gray and black suit, with a patch of white low down upon his back and a splash of red on the back of his head. From each side of his bill reached a black mustache. This mustache gave the strange drummer a brigandish air which made Reddy Woodpecker think twice before he spoke to him. But Reddy was so angry that he just had to say something.

Genres: Classics, School, Childrens, Fiction

51 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

Arthur Scott Bailey (1877 – 1949) was an American writer. He was the author of more than forty children's books. He was born on November 15, 1877, in St. Albans, Vermont, United States, the second child of Winfield Scott Bailey and Harriet Sarah Goodhue (a girl, Ellen was born in 1876). Winfield Bailey owned a dry goods shop that was stated to be "one of the most reputable of St. Albans mercantile concerns" and specialized in furs; namely ladies' fur coats, muffs and scarves. Bailey attended St. Albans Academy and graduated in 1896, in a class of only eleven other students. He then went on to the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont, where he became involved in a fraternal organization, Sigma Phi (with which he was very active through at least 1915; he joined the organization's Catalogue Committee in 1914 as a vice chairman, after the resignation of Dr. Alexander Duane).

However, he left UVM in 1901 and transferred to Harvard, where he earned his bachelor's degree. After graduating Harvard in 1902, Bailey traveled to Chicago and put his knowledge of growing up in his father's store to good use, becoming a wholesale grocery merchant. This lasted until 1904, when Bailey travelled to New York City and became an editor for various publishers. Which publishers these were is unknown, with the exception of the Macaulay Company, where he was working in early 1915. He was married around this time (on September 14, 1913) to Estella W. Goodspeed, a St. Albans woman; the wedding was held in his hometown. Estella Goodspeed, whose maiden name had been Crampton, had been married once before to an unknown Mr. Nelson Allen Goodspeed, and had a son, Allen Wright Goodspeed and daughter, Estella Joanne Goodspeed. Allen Goodspeed was born on August 5, 1906, and would have been nine when the first Sleepy-Time Tales were written (Estella was born in 1908.) As Bailey did not write prior to his marriage to Estella, it can be surmised that he first started crafting his stories for Allen and Estella, whom he treated as his own children. Estella Joanne later married a Mr. Lennox Stuart and moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Bailey's writing has been thus described by the Newark Evening News: "Mr. Bailey centered all his plots in the animal, bird and insect worlds, weaving natural history into the stories in a way that won educator's approval without arousing the suspicions of his young readers. He made it a habit to never 'write down' to children and frequently used words beyond the average juvenile vocabulary, believing that youngsters respond to the stimulus of the unfamiliar."

His work also includes the comic strip Animal Whys, which was syndicated in 1937.

Bailey was also known for being an intellectual, and was a member of the Salamagundi Club of New York. When it came to religion, Bailey was a Unitarian (who have long had a presence in St. Albans) and politically, he was a Republican of the old school.

Bailey died on October 17, 1949, at 71 years of age.

Reviews

[Mummy Cat Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son and I read this book, along with the other books that take place in Pleasant Valley, through his home school program. I've never read anything by Bailey before until this year.

Reddy Woodpecker is new to Pleasant Valley. He was flying over and decided to land for a spell. He found that he liked the area so he decided to stay. Once the locals and neighbors discovered him, they were very rude and unwelcoming. Reddy took it all in stride.

This book has recurring characters from the other books by Bailey. This is why I consider them a series together.

I still haven't figured out Bailey and his motivations to his writing. I'm not saying his stories are bad, because they're not. My son was entertained by them but not overly so. They are clearly older by design, language and feel of the stories. So, I don't know if the age has something to do with it or the way the characters interact with each other. They are all freakin rude!

Overall, Bailey's books are interesting to children. My son likes how the characters are all animals. We have learned about new species and species of birds through reading his books. We have learned about manners...HOLY COW...manners. The chapters are not very long, which is good for children. The chapters are not overly complex but Bailey is the master at leaving something for the reader to ponder about. Something that happens between the lines.

Content: clean

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book as much or more than Jolly Robin. The birds were arguing and doing silly antics that made us giggle. Cuffy Bear went hunting with Reddy Woodpecker and learned lessons about greed. Cute stories.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very entertaining and sweet short children’s story. Too bad there aren’t any illustrations in the Kindle version.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute story