go out of their way to avoid meeting him. This made his disposition all
the meaner. He didn't really care because his neighbors would have
nothing to do with him. No, he didn't really care, for the simple reason
that he didn't want anything to do with them. But just the same it made
him angry to have them show that they didn't want to have anything to do
with him. Every time he would see one of them turn aside to avoid
meeting him, he would snarl under his breath, and his eyes would glow
with anger; he would resolve to get even.

"Being slow in his movements because of his stout build, he early
realized that he must make nimble wits make up for the lack of nimble
legs. He also learned very early in life that patience is a virtue few
possess, and that patience and nimble wits will accomplish almost
anything. So, living alone in the Great Forest, he practised patience
until no one in all the Great World could be more patient than he. No
one knew this because, you see, everybody kept away from him. And all
the time he was practising patience, he was studying and studying the
other people of the Great Forest, both large and small, learning all
their habits, how they lived, where they lived, what they ate, and all
about them.

"'One never knows when such knowledge may be useful,' he would say to
himself. 'The more I know about other people and the less they know
about me the better.'

"So Mr. Wolverine kept out of sight as much as possible, and none knew
how he lived or where he lived or anything about him save that he had a
mean disposition. Patiently he watched the other people, especially
those of nimble wits who lived largely by their cunning and
cleverness--Mr. Fox, Mr. Coyote, Mr. Lynx and his own cousins, Mr. Mink