{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14958/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14958","id":"gutenberg_14958","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14958","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Children's Book Series","Children's Literature","Children's stories, American"],"text":"Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Richard J. Shiffer and the PG Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  MOTHER WEST WIND \"WHY\" STORIES\n\n  by\n\n  THORNTON W. BURGESS\n\n  Author of \"Old Mother West Wind,\" and\n  \"The Bed Time Story-Books.\"\n\n  _Illustrations in Color by HARRISON CADY_\n\n  BOSTON\n\n  LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY\n\n  1920\n\n\n  [Illustration: \"He went right on about his business.\" FRONTISPIECE.]\n\n\n  BOOKS BY THORNTON W. BURGESS\n\n  BEDTIME STORY-BOOKS\n\n   1. THE ADVENTURES OF REDDY FOX\n   2. THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUCK\n   3. THE ADVENTURES OF PETER COTTONTAIL\n   4. THE ADVENTURES OF UNC' BILLY POSSUM\n   5. THE ADVENTURES OF MR. MOCKER\n   6. THE ADVENTURES OF JERRY MUSKRAT\n   7. THE ADVENTURES OF DANNY MEADOW MOUSE\n   8. THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDFATHER FROG\n   9. THE ADVENTURES OF CHATTERER, THE RED SQUIRREL\n  10. THE ADVENTURES OF SAMMY JAY\n  11. THE ADVENTURES OF BUSTER BEAR\n  12. THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD\n  13. THE ADVENTURES OF PRICKLY PORKY\n  14. THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MAN COYOTE\n  15. THE ADVENTURES OF PADDY THE BEAVER\n  16. THE ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK\n  17. THE ADVENTURES OF BOBBY COON\n  18. THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY SKUNK\n  19. THE ADVENTURES OF BOB WHITE\n  20. THE ADVENTURES OF OL' MISTAH BUZZARD\n\n\n  MOTHER WEST WIND SERIES\n\n   1. OLD MOTHER WEST WIND\n   2. MOTHER WEST WIND'S CHILDREN\n   3. MOTHER WEST WIND'S ANIMAL FRIENDS\n   4. MOTHER WEST WIND'S NEIGHBORS\n   5. MOTHER WEST WIND \"WHY\" STORIES\n   6. MOTHER WEST WIND \"HOW\" STORIES\n   7. MOTHER WEST WIND \"WHEN\" STORIES\n   8. MOTHER WEST WIND \"WHERE\" STORIES\n\n\n  GREEN MEADOW SERIES\n\n   1. HAPPY JACK\n   2. MRS. PETER RABBIT\n   3. BOWSER THE HOUND\n   4. OLD GRANNY FOX\n\n  THE BURGESS BIRD BOOK FOR CHILDREN\n\n  THE BURGESS ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN\n\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS\n\n  CHAPTER\n\n     I. WHY STRIPED CHIPMUNK IS PROUD OF HIS STRIPES\n    II. WHY PETER RABBIT CANNOT FOLD HIS HANDS\n   III. WHY UNC' BILLY POSSUM PLAYS DEAD\n    IV. WHY REDDY FOX WEARS RED\n     V. WHY JIMMY SKUNK NEVER HURRIES\n    VI. WHY SAMMY JAY HAS A FINE COAT\n   VII. WHY JERRY MUSKRAT BUILDS HIS HOUSE IN THE WATER\n  VIII. WHY OLD MAN COYOTE HAS MANY VOICES\n    IX. WHY MINER THE MOLE LIVES UNDER GROUND\n     X. WHY MR. SNAKE CANNOT WINK\n    XI. WHY BOBBY COON HAS RINGS ON HIS TAIL\n   XII. WHY THERE IS A BLACK HEAD IN THE BUZZARD FAMILY\n  XIII. WHY BUSTER BEAR APPEARS TO HAVE NO TAIL\n   XIV. WHY FLITTER THE BAT FLIES AT NIGHT\n    XV. WHY SPOTTY THE TURTLE CARRIES HIS HOUSE WITH HIM\n   XVI. WHY PADDY THE BEAVER HAS A BROAD TAIL\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n\"HE WENT RIGHT ON ABOUT HIS BUSINESS\"\n\n\"AS THEY WERE ALL VERY HUNGRY, THEY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THE FEAST\n    WOULD BE READY\"\n\n\"YOU DON'T MEAN TO SAY SO, PETER,\" INTERRUPTED GRANDFATHER FROG\n\nHE WOULD MAKE NO REPLY, SAVE TO RUN OUT HIS TONGUE AT THEM\n\n\"THEN OLD KING BEAR WISHED THAT HE HADN'T A TAIL\"\n\n\"IT MUST BE FINE TO FLY,\" THOUGHT PETER. \"I WISH I COULD FLY\"\n\n\"HI, SPOTTY!\" HE SHOUTED, \"WHERE DO YOU LIVE?\"\n\nTHE FIRST THING PETER LOOKED TO SEE WAS WHAT KIND OF A TAIL PADDY HAS\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nWHY STRIPED CHIPMUNK IS PROUD OF HIS STRIPES\n\n\nThe Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind are great friends of\nStriped Chipmunk. They hurry to call on him the very first thing every\nmorning after Old Mother West Wind has brought them down from the\nPurple Hills. They always beg him to stop and play with them, but\noften he refuses. But he does it in such a merry way and with such a\ntwinkle in his eyes that the Merry Little Breezes never get cross\nbecause he won't play. No, Sir, they never get cross. If anything,\nthey think just a little bit more of Striped Chipmunk because he won't\nplay. You see, they know that the reason he won't play is because he\nhas work to do, and Striped Chipmunk believes and says:\n\n    \"When there is work for me to do\n     The sooner started, sooner through.\"\n\nSo every morning they ask him to play, and every morning they laugh\nwhen he says he has too much to do. Then they rumple up his hair and\npull his whiskers and give him last tag and race down to the Smiling\nPool to see Grandfather Frog and beg him for a story. Now Grandfather\nFrog is very old and very wise, and he knows all about the days when\nthe world was young. When he is feeling just right, he dearly loves to\ntell about those long-ago days.\n\nOne morning the Merry Little Breezes found Grandfather Frog sitting\nas usual on his big green lily-pad, and they knew by the way he folded\nhis hands across his white and yellow waistcoat that it was full of\nfoolish green flies.\n\n\"Oh, Grandfather Frog, please do tell us why it is that Striped\nChipmunk has such beautiful stripes on his coat,\" begged one of the\nMerry Little Breezes.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! They are stripes of honor,\" replied Grandfather Frog, in\nhis deep, gruff voice.\n\n\"Honor! Oh, how lovely! Do tell us about it! Please do!\" begged the\nMerry Little Breezes.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" began Grandfather Frog, his big, goggly eyes twinkling.\n\"Once upon a time, when the world was young, old Mr. Chipmunk, the\ngrandfather a thousand times removed of Striped Chipmunk, lived very\nmuch as Striped Chipmunk does now. He was always very busy, very\nbusy, indeed, and it was always about his own affairs. 'By attending\nstrictly to my own business, I have no time to meddle with the affairs\nof my neighbors, and so I keep out of trouble,' said old Mr.\nChipmunk,\"\n\n\"Just what Striped Chipmunk says now,\" broke in one of the Merry\nLittle Breezes.\n\n\"That shows that he is just as wise as was his grandfather a thousand\ntimes removed, about whom I am telling you,\" replied Grandfather Frog.\n\"Old Mr. Chipmunk wore just a little, plain brown coat. It didn't\nworry him a bit, not a bit, that his coat was just plain brown. It\nkept him just as warm as if it were a beautiful red, like that of Mr.\nFox, or handsome black and white, like that of Mr. Skunk. He was\nperfectly satisfied with his little plain brown coat and took the best\nof care of it.\n\n\"One day as he was hurrying home to dinner, he climbed up on an old\nstump to look around and make sure that the way was clear. Over in a\nlittle path in the meadow grass was walking old Mr. Meadow Mouse. He\nwas strolling along as if there was nothing in the world to fear. Way\nback behind him in the same little path, walking very fast but very\nquietly, was big Mr. Bob Cat. His eyes were yellow, and a hungry look\nwas in them. He didn't see Mr. Meadow Mouse, but he would in a few\nminutes. Mr. Chipmunk saw that he would, and that there was no place\nfor Mr. Meadow Mouse to hide.\n\n\"'Humph! I never meddle in other people's affairs, and this is none of\nmy business,' said little Mr. Chipmunk.\n\n\"But old Mr. Meadow Mouse was a friend. He thought a great deal of Mr.\nMeadow Mouse, did little Mr. Chipmunk. He couldn't bear to think of\nwhat would happen to Mr. Meadow Mouse if big Mr. Bob Cat should catch\nhim. Then, almost without realizing what he was doing, little Mr.\nChipmunk began to shout at big Mr. Bob Cat and to call him names. Of\ncourse big Mr. Bob Cat looked up right away and saw little Mr.\nChipmunk sitting on the old stump. His eyes grew yellower and\nyellower, he drew his lips back from his long, sharp teeth in a very\nangry way, and his little bob tail twitched and twitched. Then, with\ngreat leaps, he came straight for the old stump on which little Mr.\nChipmunk was sitting.\n\n\"Little Mr. Chipmunk didn't wait for him to get there. Oh, my, no! He\ntook one good look at those fierce, hungry, yellow eyes and long,\ncruel teeth, and then he whisked into a hole in the old stump. You\nsee, there wasn't time to go anywhere else. Big Mr. Bob Cat found the\nhole in the stump right away. He snarled when he saw it. You see it\nwas too small, very much too small, for him to get into himself. But\nhe could get one hand and arm in, and he did, feeling all around\ninside for little Mr. Chipmunk. Little Mr. Chipmunk was frightened\nalmost to death. Yes, Sir, he was frightened almost to death. He made\nhimself just as flat as he could on the bottom of the hollow and held\nhis breath.\n\n\"'You'd better come out of there, Mr. Chipmunk, or I'll pull you out!'\nsnarled Mr. Bob Cat.\n\n\"Little Mr. Chipmunk just snuggled down flatter than ever and didn't\nsay a word. Mr. Bob Cat felt round and round inside the hollow stump\nand raked his long claws on the sides until little Mr. Chipmunk's hair\nfairly stood up. Yes, Sir, it stood right up on end, he was so\nscared. When it did that, it tickled the claws of Mr. Bob Cat. Mr.\nBob Cat grinned. It was an ugly grin to see. Then he reached in a\nlittle farther and made a grab for little Mr. Chipmunk. His\nwide-spread, sharp claws caught in little Mr. Chipmunk's coat near the\nneck and tore little strips the whole length of it.\n\n\"Of course little Mr. Chipmunk squealed with pain, for those claws\nhurt dreadfully, but he was glad that his coat tore. If it hadn't, Mr.\nBob Cat would surely have pulled him out. After a long time, Mr. Bob\nCat gave up and went off, growling and snarling. When he thought it\nwas safe, little Mr. Chipmunk crawled out of the old stump and hurried\nhome. He ached and smarted terribly, and his little plain brown coat\nwas torn in long strips.\n\n\"'This is what I get for meddling in the affairs of other folks!'\nsaid little Mr. Chipmunk bitterly. 'If I'd just minded my own\nbusiness, it wouldn't have happened.'\n\n\"Just then he happened to look over to the house of Mr. Meadow Mouse.\nThere was Mr. Meadow Mouse playing with his children. He didn't know a\nthing about what his neighbor, little Mr. Chipmunk, had done for him,\nfor you remember he hadn't seen Mr. Bob Cat at all. Little Mr.\nChipmunk grinned as well as he could for the pain.\n\n\"'I'm glad I did it,' he muttered. 'Yes, Sir, I'm glad I did it, and\nI'm glad that Neighbor Meadow Mouse doesn't know about it. I'm glad\nthat nobody knows about it.\n\n    'A kindly deed's most kindly done\n     In secret wrought, and seen of none.\n\nAnd so I'm glad that no one knows.'\n\n\"Now just imagine how surprised little Mr. Chipmunk was, when in the\nfall it came time to put on a new coat, to have Old Mother Nature hand\nhim out a beautiful striped coat instead of the little plain brown\ncoat he had expected. Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled as she said:\n\n\"'There's a stripe for every tear made in your old coat by the claws\nof Mr. Bob Cat the day you saved Mr. Meadow Mouse. They are honor\nstripes, and hereafter you and your children and your children's\nchildren shall always wear stripes.'\n\n\"And that is how it happens that Striped Chipmunk comes by his striped\ncoat, and why he is so proud of it, and takes such good care of it,\"\nconcluded Grandfather Frog.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nWHY PETER RABBIT CANNOT FOLD HIS HANDS\n\n\nHappy Jack Squirrel sat with his hands folded across his white\nwaistcoat. He is very fond of sitting with his hands folded that way.\nA little way from him sat Peter Rabbit. Peter was sitting up very\nstraight, but his hands dropped right down in front. Happy Jack\nnoticed it.\n\n\"Why don't you fold your hands the way I do, Peter Rabbit?\" shouted\nHappy Jack.\n\n\"I--I--don't want to,\" stammered Peter.\n\n\"You mean you can't!\" jeered Happy Jack.\n\nPeter pretended not to hear, and a few minutes later he hopped away\ntowards the dear Old Briar-patch, lipperty-lipperty-lip. Happy Jack\nwatched him go, and there was a puzzled look in Happy Jack's eyes.\n\n\"I really believe he can't fold his hands,\" said Happy Jack to\nhimself, but speaking aloud.\n\n\"He can't, and none of his family can,\" said a gruff voice.\n\nHappy Jack turned to find Old Mr. Toad sitting in the Lone Little\nPath.\n\n\"Why not?\" asked Happy Jack.\n\n\"Ask Grandfather Frog; he knows,\" replied Old Mr. Toad, and started on\nabout his business.\n\nAnd this is how it happens that Grandfather Frog told this story to\nthe little meadow and forest people gathered around him on the bank of\nthe Smiling Pool.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said Grandfather Frog. \"Old Mr. Rabbit, the grandfather\na thousand times removed of Peter Rabbit, was always getting into\ntrouble. Yes, Sir, old Mr. Rabbit was always getting into trouble.\nSeemed like he wouldn't be happy if he couldn't get into trouble. It\nwas all because he was so dreadfully curious about other people's\nbusiness, just as Peter Rabbit is now. It seemed that he was just born\nto be curious and so, of course, to get into trouble.\n\n\"One day word came to the Green Forest and to the Green Meadows that\nOld Mother Nature was coming to see how all the little meadow and\nforest people were getting along, to settle all the little troubles\nand fusses between them, and to find out who were and who were not\nobeying the orders she had given them when she had visited them last.\nMy, my, my, such a hurrying and scurrying and worrying as there was!\nYou see, everybody wanted to look his best when Old Mother Nature\narrived, Yes, Sir, everybody wanted to look his best.\n\n\"There was the greatest changing of clothes you ever did see. Old King\nBear put on his blackest coat. Mr. Coon and Mr. Mink and Mr. Otter sat\nup half the night brushing their suits and making them look as fine\nand handsome as they could. Even Old Mr. Toad put on a new suit under\nhis old one, and planned to pull the old one off and throw it away as\nsoon as Old Mother Nature should arrive. Then everybody began to fix\nup their homes and make them as neat and nice as they knew\nhow--everybody but Mr. Rabbit.\n\n\"Now Mr. Rabbit was lazy. He didn't like to work any more than Peter\nRabbit does now. No, Sir, old Mr. Rabbit was afraid of work. The very\nsight of work scared old Mr. Rabbit. You see, he was so busy minding\nother people's business that he didn't have time to attend to his own.\nSo his brown and gray coat always was rumpled and tumbled and dirty.\nHis house was a tumble-down affair in which no one but Mr. Rabbit\nwould ever have thought of living, and his garden--oh, dear me, such a\ngarden you never did see! It was all weeds and brambles. They filled\nup the yard, and old Mr. Rabbit actually couldn't have gotten into his\nown house if he hadn't cut a path through the brambles.\n\n\"Now when old Mr. Rabbit heard that Old Mother Nature was coming, his\nheart sank way, way down, for he knew just how angry she would be when\nshe saw his house, his garden and his shabby suit.\n\n\"'Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?' wailed Mr. Rabbit, wringing\nhis hands.\n\n\"'Get busy and clean up,' advised Mr. Woodchuck, hurrying about his\nown work.\n\n\"Now Mr. Woodchuck was a worker and very, very neat. He meant to have\nhis home looking just as fine as he could make it. He brought up some\nclean yellow sand from deep down in the ground and sprinkled it\nsmoothly over his doorstep.\n\n\"'I'll help you, if I get through my own work in time,' shouted Mr.\nWoodchuck over his shoulder.\n\n\"That gave Mr. Rabbit an idea. He would ask all his neighbors to help\nhim, and perhaps then he could get his house and garden in order by\nthe time Old Mother Nature arrived. So Mr. Rabbit called on Mr. Skunk\nand Mr. Coon and Mr. Mink and Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Chipmunk, and all\nthe rest of his neighbors, telling them of his trouble and asking them\nto help. Now, in spite of the trouble Mr. Rabbit was forever making\nfor other people by his dreadful curiosity and meddling with other\npeople's affairs, all his neighbors had a warm place in their hearts\nfor Mr. Rabbit, and they all promised that they would help him as soon\nas they had their own work finished.\n\n\"Instead of hurrying home and getting to work himself, Mr. Rabbit\nstopped a while after each call and sat with his arms folded, watching\nthe one he was calling on work. Mr. Rabbit was very fond of sitting\nwith folded arms. It was very comfortable. But this was no time to be\ndoing it, and Mr. Skunk told him so.\n\n\"'If you want the rest of us to help you, you'd better get things\nstarted yourself,' said old Mr. Skunk, carefully combing out his big,\nplumy tail.\n\n\"'That's right, Mr. Skunk! That's right!' said Mr. Rabbit, starting\nalong briskly, just as if he was going to hurry right home and begin\nwork that very instant.\n\n\"But half an hour later, when Mr. Skunk happened to pass the home of\nMr. Chipmunk, there sat Mr. Rabbit with his arms folded, watching Mr.\nChipmunk hurrying about as only Mr. Chipmunk can.\n\n\"Finally Mr. Rabbit had made the round of all his friends and\nneighbors, and he once more reached his tumble-down house. 'Oh, dear,'\nsighed Mr. Rabbit, as he looked at the tangle of brambles which almost\nhid the little old house, 'I never, never can clear away all this! It\nwill be a lot easier to work when all my friends are here to help,'\nSo he sighed once more and folded his arms, instead of beginning work\nas he should have done. And then, because the sun was bright and warm,\nand he was very, very comfortable, old Mr. Rabbit began to nod, and\npresently he was fast asleep.\n\n\"Now Old Mother Nature likes to take people by surprise, and it\nhappened that she chose this very day to make her promised visit. She\nwas greatly pleased with all she saw as she went along, until she came\nto the home of Mr. Rabbit.\n\n\"'Mercy me!' exclaimed Old Mother Nature, throwing up her hands as she\nsaw the tumble-down house almost hidden by the brambles and weeds.\n'Can it be possible that any one really lives here?'\n\nThen, peering through the tangle of brambles, she spied old Mr.\nRabbit sitting on his broken-down doorstep with his arms folded and\nfast asleep.\n\n\"At first she was very indignant, oh, very indignant, indeed! She\ndecided that Mr. Rabbit should be punished very severely. But as she\nwatched him sitting there, dreaming in the warm sunshine, her anger\nbegan to melt away. The fact is, Old Mother Nature was like all the\nrest of Mr. Rabbit's neighbors--she just couldn't help loving\nhappy-go-lucky Mr. Rabbit in spite of all his faults. With a long\nstick she reached in and tickled the end of his nose.\n\n\"Mr. Rabbit sneezed, and this made him wake up. He yawned and blinked,\nand then his eyes suddenly flew wide open with fright. He had\ndiscovered Old Mother Nature frowning at him. She pointed a long\nforefinger at him and said:\n\n    'In every single blessed day\n     There's time for work and time for play.\n     Who folds his arms with work undone\n     Doth cheat himself and spoil his fun.'\n\n\"'Hereafter, Mr. Rabbit, you and your children and your children's\nchildren will never again be able to sit with folded arms until you or\nthey have learned to work.'\n\n\"And that is why Peter Rabbit cannot fold his arms and still lives in\na tumble-down house among the brambles,\" concluded Grandfather\nFrog.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nWHY UNC' BILLY POSSUM PLAYS DEAD\n\n\nOne thing puzzled Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk a\ngreat deal after they had come to know Unc' Billy Possum and his funny\nways. They had talked it over and wondered and wondered about it, and\ntried to understand it, and even had asked Unc' Billy about it. Unc'\nBilly had just grinned and said that they would have to ask his mammy.\nOf course they couldn't do that, and Unc' Billy knew they couldn't,\nfor Unc' Billy's mammy had died long before he even thought of coming\nup from Ol' Virginny to the Green Forest and the Green Meadows where\nthey lived. He said it just to tease them, and when he said it, he\nchuckled until they chuckled too, just as if it really were the best\nkind of a joke.\n\nNow you know it always is the thing that you try and try to find out\nand can't find out that you most want to find out. It was just so with\nPeter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk. The more they\ntalked about it, the more they wanted to know. Why was it that Unc'\nBilly Possum played dead instead of trying to run away when he was\nsurprised by his enemies? They always tried to run away. So did\neverybody else of their acquaintance excepting Unc' Billy Possum.\n\n\"There must be a reason\" said Peter gravely, as he pulled thoughtfully\nat one of his long ears.\n\n\"Of course there is a reason,\" asserted Johnny Chuck, chewing the end\nof a blade of grass.\n\n\"There's a reason for everything,\" added Striped Chipmunk, combing out\nthe hair of his funny little tail.\n\n\"Then of course Grandfather Frog knows it,\" said Peter.\n\n\"Of course! Why didn't we think of him before?\" exclaimed the others.\n\n\"I'll beat you to the Smiling Pool!\" shouted Peter.\n\nOf course he did, for his legs are long and made for running, but\nStriped Chipmunk was not far behind. Johnny Chuck took his time, for\nhe knew that he could not keep up with the others. Besides he was so\nfat that to run made him puff and blow. Grandfather Frog sat just as\nusual on his big green lily-pad, and he grinned when he saw who his\nvisitors were, for he guessed right away what they had come for.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! What is it you want to know now?\" he demanded, before\nPeter could fairly get his breath.\n\n\"If you please, Grandfather Frog, we want to know why it is that Unc'\nBilly Possum plays dead,\" replied Peter as politely as he knew how.\n\nGrandfather Frog chuckled. \"Just to fool people, stupid!\" said he.\n\n\"Of course we know that,\" replied Striped Chipmunk, \"but what we want\nto know is how he ever found out that he could fool people that way,\nand how he knows that he will fool them.\"\n\n\"I suspect that his mammy taught him,\" said Grandfather Frog, with\nanother chuckle way down deep in his throat.\n\n\"But who taught his mammy?\" persisted Striped Chipmunk.\n\nGrandfather Frog snapped at a foolish green fly, and when it was\nsafely tucked away inside his white and yellow waistcoat, he turned\nonce more to his three little visitors, and there was a twinkle in his\nbig, goggly eyes.\n\n\"I see,\" said he, \"that you _will_ have a story, and I suppose that\nthe sooner I tell it to you, the sooner you will leave me in peace.\nUnc' Billy Possum's grandfather a thousand times removed was--\"\n\n\"Was this way back in the days when the world was young?\" interrupted\nPeter.\n\nGrandfather Frog scowled at Peter. \"If I have any more interruptions,\nthere will be no story to-day\" said he severely.\n\nPeter looked ashamed and promised that he would hold his tongue right\nbetween his teeth until Grandfather Frog was through. Grandfather Frog\ncleared his throat and began again.\n\n\"Unc' Billy Possum's grandfather a thousand times removed was very\nmuch as Unc' Billy is now, only he was a little more spry and knew\nbetter than to stuff himself so full that he couldn't run. He was\nalways very sly, and he played a great many tricks on his neighbors,\nand sometimes he got them into trouble. But when he did, he always\nmanaged to keep out of their way until they had forgotten all about\ntheir anger.\n\n\"One morning the very imp of mischief seemed to get into old Mr.\nPossum's head. Yes, Sir, it certainly did seem that way. And when you\nsee Mischief trotting along the Lone Little Path, if you look sharp\nenough, you'll see Trouble following at his heels like a shadow. I\nnever knew it to fail. It's just as sure as a stomach-ache is to\nfollow overeating.\"\n\nJust here Grandfather Frog paused and looked very hard at Peter\nRabbit. But Peter pretended not to notice, and after slowly winking\none of his big, goggly eyes at Johnny Chuck, Grandfather Frog\ncontinued:\n\n\"Anyway, as I said before, the imp of mischief seemed to be in old Mr.\nPossum's head that morning, for he began to play tricks on his\nneighbors as soon as they were out of bed. He hid Old King Bear's\nbreakfast, while the latter had his head turned, and then pretended\nthat he had just come along. He was very polite and offered to help\nOld King Bear hunt for his lost breakfast. Then, whenever Old King\nBear came near the place where it was hidden, old Mr. Possum would\nhide it somewhere else. Old King Bear was hungry, and he worked\nhimself up into a terrible rage, for he was in a hurry for his\nbreakfast. Old Mr. Possum was very sympathetic and seemed to be doing\nhis very best to find the lost meal. At last Old King Bear turned his\nhead suddenly and caught sight of old Mr. Possum hiding that\nbreakfast in a new place. My, my, but his temper did boil over! It\ncertainly did. And if he could have laid hands on old Mr. Possum that\nminute, it surely would have been the end of him.\n\n\"But old Mr. Possum was mighty spry, and he went off through the Green\nForest laughing fit to kill himself. Pretty soon he met Mr. Panther.\nHe was very polite to Mr. Panther. He told him that he had just come\nfrom a call on Old King Bear, and hinted that Old King Bear was then\nenjoying a feast and that there might be enough for Mr. Panther, if he\nhurried up there at once.\n\n\"Now, Mr. Panther was hungry, for he had found nothing for his\nbreakfast that morning. So he thanked old Mr. Possum and hurried away\nto find Old King Bear and share in the good things old Mr. Possum had\ntold about.\n\n\"Old Mr. Possum himself hurried on, chuckling as he thought of the way\nMr. Panther was likely to be received, with Old King Bear in such a\ntemper. Pretty soon along came Mr. Lynx. Old Mr. Possum told him the\nsame story he had told Mr. Panther, and Mr. Lynx went bounding off in\na terrible hurry, for fear that he would not be in time to share in\nthat good breakfast. It was such a good joke that old Mr. Possum tried\nit on Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fisher and Mr. Fox. In fact, he hunted up every\none he could think of and sent them to call on Old King Bear, and\nwithout really telling them so, he made each one think that he would\nget a share in that breakfast.\"\n\n\"Now, there wasn't any more breakfast than Old King Bear wanted\nhimself, and by the time Mr. Panther arrived, there wasn't so much as\na crumb left. Then, one after another, the others came dropping in,\neach licking his chops, and all very polite to Old King Bear. At first\nhe didn't know what to make of it, but pretty soon Mr. Fox delicately\nhinted that they had come in response to the invitation sent by Mr.\nPossum, and that as they were all very hungry, they would like to know\nwhen the feast would be ready. Right away Old King Bear knew that old\nMr. Possum had been up to some of his tricks, and he told his visitors\nthat they were the victims of a practical joke.\n\n[Illustration: \"As they were all very hungry, they would like to know\nwhen the feast would be ready.\"]\n\n\"My, my, my, how angry everybody grew! With Old King Bear at their\nhead, they started out to hunt for old Mr. Possum. When he saw them\ncoming, he realized that what he had thought was a joke had become no\nlonger a laughing matter for him. He was too frightened to run, so\nhe scrambled up a tree. He quite forgot that Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynx\ncould climb just as fast as he. Up the tree after him they scrambled,\nand he crept as far out as he could get on one of the branches. Mr.\nPanther didn't dare go out there, so he just shook the branch. He\nshook and shook and shook and shook, and the first thing old Mr.\nPossum knew, he was flying through the air down to where the others\nwere all ready to pounce on him.\n\n\"Old Mr. Possum was frightened almost to death. He shut his eyes, and\nthen he landed with a thump that knocked all the wind from his body.\nWhen he got his breath again, he still kept his eyes closed, for he\ncouldn't bear the thought of looking at the cruel teeth and claws of\nOld King Bear and the others. Presently, while he was wondering why\nthey didn't jump on him and tear him to pieces, Old King Bear spoke:\n\n\"'I guess Mr. Possum won't play any more jokes, Mr. Panther,' said he.\n'You just knocked the life out of him when you shook him off that\nbranch.'\n\n\"Mr. Panther came over and sniffed at Mr. Possum and turned him over\nwith one paw. All the time Mr. Possum lay just as if he were dead,\nbecause he was too frightened to move. 'I didn't mean to kill him,'\nsaid Mr. Panther. 'We certainly will miss him. What will we do with\nhim?'\n\n\"'Leave him here as a warning to others,' growled Old King Bear.\n\n\"Each in turn came up and sniffed of Mr. Possum, and then they all\nwent about their business. He waited long enough to make sure that\nthey were out of sight, and then took the shortest way home. When he\ngot there and thought it all over, he thought that the best joke of\nall was the way he had made everybody think that he was dead. And then\na bright idea struck him: he would try the same trick whenever he was\ncaught. So the next time he got in trouble, instead of running away,\nhe tried playing dead. It was such a success that he taught his\nchildren how to do it, and they taught their children, and so on down\nto Unc' Billy, whom you know. Unc' Billy says it is a lot easier than\nrunning away, and safer, too. Besides, it is always such a joke. Now,\ndon't bother me any more, for I want to take a nap,\" concluded\nGrandfather Frog.\n\n\"Thank you!\" cried Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk,\nand started off to hunt up Unc' Billy Possum.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nWHY REDDY FOX WEARS RED\n\n\nPeter Rabbit sat in the middle of the dear Old Briar-patch making\nfaces and laughing at Reddy Fox. Of course that wasn't a nice thing to\ndo, not a bit nice. But Peter had just had a narrow escape, a very\nnarrow escape, for Reddy Fox had sprung out from behind a bush as\nPeter came down the Lone Little Path, and had so nearly caught Peter\nthat he had actually pulled some fur out of Peter's coat. Now Peter\nwas safe in the dear Old Briar-patch. He was a little out of breath,\nbecause he had had to use his long legs as fast as he knew how, but he\nwas safe. You see, Reddy Fox wouldn't run the risk of tearing his\nhandsome red coat on the brambles. Besides, they scratched terribly.\n\n\"Never mind, Peter Rabbit, I'll get you yet!\" snarled Reddy, as he\ngave up and started back for the Green Forest.\n\n    \"Reddy Fox is very sly!\n     Reddy Fox is very spry!\n     But sly and spry, 'tis vain to try\n     To be as sly and spry as I.\"\n\nWhen Peter Rabbit shouted this, Reddy looked back and showed all his\nteeth, but Peter only laughed, and Reddy trotted on. Peter watched him\nout of sight.\n\n\"My! I wish I had such a handsome coat,\" he said, with a long sigh,\nfor you know Peter's coat is very plain, very plain, indeed.\n\n\"You wouldn't, if you had to wear it for the same reason that Reddy\nFox has to wear his. A good heart and honest ways are better than\nfine clothes, Peter Rabbit.\"\n\nPeter looked up. There was saucy, pert, little Jenny Wren fussing\naround in one of the old bramble bushes.\n\n\"Hello, Jenny!\" said Peter. \"Why does Reddy wear a red coat?\"\n\n\"Do you mean to say that you don't know?\" Jenny Wren looked very hard\nat Peter with her sharp eyes. \"I thought everybody knew that! You\ncertainly are slow, Peter Rabbit. I haven't time to tell you about it\nnow. Go ask Grandfather Frog; he knows all about it.\" Jenny Wren\nbustled off before Peter could find his tongue.\n\nNow, you all know how full of curiosity Peter Rabbit is. Jenny Wren's\nbusy tongue had set that curiosity fairly boiling over. He just\ncouldn't sit still for wondering and wondering why Reddy Fox wears a\nred coat. He had never thought anything about it before, but now he\ncouldn't get it out of his head. He just _had_ to know. So, making\nsure that Reddy Fox had disappeared in the Green Forest, Peter started\nfor the Smiling Pool, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as he could go.\nThere he found Grandfather Frog setting on his big green lily-pad,\njust as usual.\n\n\"If you please, Grandfather Frog, why does Reddy Fox wear a red coat?\"\npanted Peter, quite out of breath.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" grunted Grandfather Frog crossly. \"Don't you know that\nit is very impolite to disturb people when they are having a nap?\"\n\n\"I--I'm very sorry. Indeed I am, Grandfather Frog,\" said Peter very\nhumbly. \"Will you tell me if I come again some time when you are not\nso sleepy?\"\n\nNow, like everybody else, Grandfather Frog is rather fond of Peter\nRabbit, and now Peter looked so truly sorry, and at the same time\nthere was such a look of disappointment in Peter's eyes, that\nGrandfather Frog forgot all about his crossness.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said he. \"You and your questions are a nuisance, Peter\nRabbit, and I may as well get rid of you now as to have you keep\ncoming down here and pestering me to death. Besides, any one who has\nto keep such a sharp watch for Reddy Fox as you do ought to know why\nhe wears a red coat. If you'll promise to sit perfectly still and ask\nno foolish questions, I'll tell you the story.\"\n\nOf course Peter promised, and settled himself comfortably to listen.\nAnd this is the story that Grandfather Frog told:\n\n\"A long time ago, when the world was young, old Mr. Fox, the\ngrandfather a thousand times removed of Reddy Fox, was one of the\nsmartest of all the forest and meadow people, just as Reddy is now. He\nwas so smart that he knew enough not to appear smart, and the fact is\nhis neighbors thought him rather dull. He wore just a common, everyday\nsuit of dull brown, like most of the others, and there wasn't anything\nabout him to attract attention. He was always very polite, very polite\nindeed, to every one. Yes, Sir, Mr. Fox was very polite. He always\nseemed to be minding his own business, and he never went around asking\nfoolish questions or poking his nose into other people's affairs.\"\n\nGrandfather Frog stopped a minute and looked very hard at Peter after\nhe said this, and Peter looked uncomfortable.\n\n\"Now, although Mr. Fox didn't appear to take any interest in other\npeople's affairs and never asked questions, he had two of the\nsharpest ears among all the little meadow and forest people, and while\nhe was going about seeming to be just minding his own business, he was\nlistening and listening to all that was said. Everything he heard he\nremembered, so that it wasn't long before he knew more about what was\ngoing on than all his neighbors together. But he kept his mouth tight\nclosed, did Mr. Fox, and was very humble and polite to everybody.\nEvery night he came home early and went to bed by sundown, and\neverybody said what good habits Mr. Fox had.\n\n\"But when everybody else was asleep, Mr. Fox used to steal out and be\ngone half the night. Yes, Sir, sometimes he'd be gone until almost\nmorning. But he always took care to get home before any of his\nneighbors were awake, and then he'd wait until everybody was up before\nhe showed himself. When he came out and started to hunt for his\nbreakfast, some one was sure to tell him of mischief done during the\ndarkness of the night. Sometimes it was a storehouse broken into, and\nthe best things taken. Sometimes it was of terrible frights that some\nof the littlest people had received by being wakened in the night and\nseeing a fierce face with long, sharp teeth grinning at them.\nSometimes it was of worse things that were told in whispers. Mr. Fox\nused to listen as if very much shocked, and say that something ought\nto be done about it, and wonder who it could be who would do such\ndreadful things.\n\n\"By and by things got so bad that they reached the ears of Old Mother\nNature, and she came to find out what it all meant. Now, the very\nnight before she arrived, Mrs. Quack, who lived on the river bank,\nhad a terrible fright. Somebody sprang upon her as she was sleeping,\nand in the struggle she lost all her tail feathers. She hurried to\ntell Old Mother Nature all about it, and big tears rolled down her\ncheeks as she told how she had lost all her beautiful tail feathers.\nMother Nature called all the people of the forest and the meadows\ntogether. She made them all pass before her, and she looked sharply at\neach one as they went by. Mr. Fox looked meeker than ever, and he was\nvery humble and polite.\n\n\"Now when Mr. Fox had paid his respects and turned his back, Old\nMother Nature saw something red on the tail of his coat. It was\nnothing but a little smear of red clay, but that was enough for Old\nMother Nature. You see, she knew that Mrs. Quack's home was right at\nthe foot of a red claybank. She didn't say a word until everybody had\npaid their respects and passed before her. Then she told them how\ngrieved she was to hear of all the trouble there had been, but that\nshe couldn't watch over each one all the time; they must learn to\nwatch out for themselves.\n\n\"And so that you may know who to watch out for, from now on never\ntrust the one who wears a bright red coat,\" concluded Old Mother\nNature.\n\n\"All of a sudden Mr. Fox became aware that everybody was looking at\nhim, and in every face was hate. He glanced at his coat. It was bright\nred! Then Mr. Fox knew that he had been found out, and he sneaked away\nwith his tail between his legs. The first chance he got, he went to\nOld Mother Nature and begged her to give him back his old coat. She\npromised that she would when his heart changed, and he changed his\nways. But his heart never did change, and his children and his\nchildren's children were just like him. They have always been the\nsmartest and the sliest and the most feared and disliked of all the\nlittle people on the meadows or in the forest. And now you know why\nReddy Fox wears a red coat,\" concluded Grandfather Frog.\n\nPeter Rabbit drew a long breath. \"Thank you, thank you, Grandfather\nFrog!\" said he. \"I--I think hereafter I'll be quite content with my\nown suit, even if it isn't handsome. Jenny Wren was right. A good\nheart and honest ways are better than fine clothes.\"\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nWHY JIMMY SKUNK NEVER HURRIES\n\n\nThe Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind had just been\nreleased from the big bag in which she carries them every night to\ntheir home behind the Purple Hills and every morning brings them back\nto the Green Meadows to romp and play all day. They romped and raced\nand danced away, some one way, some another, to see whom they could\nfind to play with. Presently some of them spied Jimmy Skunk slowly\nambling down the Crooked Little Path, stopping every few steps to pull\nover a loose stone or stick. They knew what he was doing that for.\nThey knew that he was looking for fat beetles for his breakfast. They\ndanced over to him and formed a ring around him while they sang:\n\n    \"Who is it never, never hurries?\n     Who is it never, never worries?\n     Who is it does just what he pleases,\n     Just like us Merry Little Breezes?\n       Jimmy Skunk! Jimmy Skunk!\"\n\nNow not so far away but that he could hear them very plainly sat Peter\nRabbit, just finishing his breakfast in a sweet-clover patch. He sat\nup very straight, so as to hear better. Of course some of the Merry\nLittle Breezes saw him right away. They left Jimmy to come over and\ndance in a circle around Peter, for Peter is a great favorite with\nthem. And as they danced they sang:\n\n    \"Who is it hops and skips and jumps?\n     Who is it sometimes loudly thumps?\n     Who is it dearly loves to play,\n     But when there's danger runs away?\n       Peter Rabbit! Peter Rabbit!\"\n\nPeter grinned good-naturedly. He is quite used to being laughed at for\nalways running away, and he doesn't mind it in the least.\n\n\"When danger's near, who runs away will live to run another day,\"\nretorted Peter promptly. Then he began the maddest kind of a frolic\nwith the Merry Little Breezes until they and he were quite tired out\nand ready for a good rest.\n\n\"I wish,\" said Peter, as he stretched himself out in the middle of the\npatch of sweet clover, \"that you would tell me why it is that Jimmy\nSkunk never hurries.\"\n\n\"And we wish that you would tell us the same thing,\" cried one of the\nMerry Little Breezes.\n\n\"But I can't,\" protested Peter. \"Everybody else seems to hurry, at\ntimes anyway, but Jimmy never does. He says it is a waste of energy,\nwhatever that means.\"\n\n\"I tell you what--let's go over to the Smiling Pool and ask\nGrandfather Frog about it now. He'll be sure to know,\" spoke up one of\nthe Merry Little Breezes.\n\n\"All right,\" replied Peter, hopping to his feet. \"But you'll have to\nask him. I've asked him for so many stories that I don't dare ask for\nanother right away, for fear that he will say that I am a nuisance.\"\n\nSo it was agreed that the Merry Little Breezes should ask Grandfather\nFrog why it is that Jimmy Skunk never hurries, and that Peter should\nkeep out of sight until Grandfather Frog had begun the story, for they\nwere sure that there would be a story. Away they all hurried to the\nSmiling Pool. The Merry Little Breezes raced so hard that they were\nquite out of breath when they burst through the bulrushes and\nsurrounded Grandfather Frog, as he sat on his big green lily-pad.\n\n\"Oh, Grandfather Frog, why is it that Jimmy Skunk never hurries?\" they\npanted.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" replied Grandfather Frog in his deepest, gruffest voice.\n\"Chug-a-rum! Probably because he has learned better.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said one of the Merry Little Breezes, in a rather faint,\ndisappointed sort of voice. Just then he spied a fat, foolish, green\nfly and blew it right over to Grandfather Frog, who snapped it up in a\nflash. Right away all the Merry Little Breezes began to hunt for\nfoolish green flies and blow them over to Grandfather Frog, until he\ndidn't have room for another one inside his white and yellow\nwaistcoat. Indeed the legs of the last one he tried to swallow stuck\nout of one corner of his big mouth.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said Grandfather Frog, trying very hard to get those\nlegs out of sight. \"Chug-a-rum! I always like to do something for\nthose who do something for me, and I suppose now that I ought to tell\nyou why it is that Jimmy Skunk never hurries. I would, if Peter Rabbit\nwere here. If I tell you the story, Peter will be sure to hear of it,\nand then he will give me no peace until I tell it to him, and I don't\nlike to tell stories twice.\"\n\n\"But he is here!\" cried one of the Little Breezes. \"He's right over\nbehind that little clump of tall grass.\"\n\n\"Humph! I thought he wasn't very far away,\" grunted Grandfather Frog,\nwith a twinkle in his great, goggly eyes.\n\nPeter crept out of his hiding-place, looking rather shamefaced and\nvery foolish. Then the Merry Little Breezes settled themselves on the\nlily-pads in a big circle around Grandfather Frog, and Peter sat down\nas close to the edge of the bank of the Smiling Pool as he dared to\nget. After what seemed to them a very long time, Grandfather Frog\nswallowed the legs of the last foolish green fly, opened his big\nmouth, and began:\n\n\"Of course you all know that long, long ago, when the world was young,\nthings were very different from what they are now, very different\nindeed. The great-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Jimmy Skunk was\nslimmer and trimmer than Jimmy is. He was more like his cousins, Mr.\nWeasel and Mr. Mink. He was just as quick moving as they were. Yes,\nSir, Mr. Skunk was very lively on his feet. He had to be to keep out\nof the way of his big neighbors, for in those days he didn't have any\nmeans of protecting himself, as Jimmy has now. He was dressed all in\nblack. You know it wasn't until Old Mother Nature found out that he\nwas taking advantage of that black suit to get into mischief on dark\nnights that she gave him white stripes, so that the darker the night,\nthe harder it would be for him to keep from being seen.\n\n\"Now Mr. Skunk was very smart and shrewd, oh, very! When the hard\ntimes came, which made so many changes in the lives of the people who\nlived in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadows, Mr. Skunk was very\nquick to see that unless he could think of some way to protect\nhimself, it was only a matter of time when he would furnish a dinner\nfor one of his fierce big neighbors, and of course Mr. Skunk had no\ndesire to do that. It was then that he asked Old Mother Nature to give\nhim a bag of perfume so strong that it would make everybody ill but\nhimself. Mother Nature thought it all over, and then she did, but she\nmade him promise that he would never use it unless he was in great\ndanger.\n\n\"Mr. Skunk had to try his new defence only once or twice before his\nenemies took the greatest care to let him alone. He found that he no\nlonger had to run for a safe hiding-place when he met Mr. Wolf or Mr.\nLynx or Mr. Panther. They just snarled at him and passed without\noffering to touch him. So Mr. Skunk grew very independent and went\nwhere he pleased when he pleased. And, because he no longer had to run\nfrom his enemies, he got out of the habit of running. Then he made a\ndiscovery. He watched those of his neighbors who were forever hurrying\nabout looking for food, hurrying because all the time there was great\nfear upon them that an enemy might be near, hurrying because each was\nfearful that his neighbor would get more than he. It wasn't long\nbefore Mr. Skunk saw that in their hurry they overlooked a great deal.\nIn fact, by just following after them slowly, he found all he wanted\nto eat.\n\n\"So Mr. Skunk began to grow fat. His neighbors, who were having hard\nwork to make a living, grew envious, and said unkind things about him,\nand hinted that he must be stealing, or he never could have so much to\neat. But Mr. Skunk didn't mind. He went right on about his business.\nHe never worried, because, you know, he feared nobody. And he never\nhurried, because he found that it paid best to go slowly. In that way\nhe never missed any of the good things that his hurrying, worrying\nneighbors did. So he grew fatter and fatter, while others grew\nthinner. After a while he almost forgot how to run. Being fat and\nnever hurrying or worrying made him good-natured. He kept right on\nminding his own affairs and never meddling in the affairs of others,\nso that by and by his neighbors began to respect him.\n\n\"Of course he taught his children to do as he did, and they taught\ntheir children. And so, ever since that long-ago day, when the world\nwas young, that little bag of perfume has been handed down in the\nSkunk family, and none of them has ever been afraid. Now you know why\nJimmy Skunk, whom you all know, is so independent and never hurries.\"\n\n\"Thank you! Thank you, Grandfather Frog!\" cried the Merry Little\nBreezes. \"When you want some more foolish green flies, just let us\nknow, and we'll get them for you.\"\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! What are you looking so wistful for, Peter Rabbit?\"\ndemanded Grandfather Frog.\n\n\"I--I was just wishing that I had a--\" began Peter. Then suddenly he\nmade a face. \"No, I don't either!\" he declared. \"I guess I'd better be\ngetting home to the dear Old Briar-patch now. Mrs. Peter probably\nthinks something has happened to me.\" And away he went,\nlipperty-lipperty-lip.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nWHY SAMMY JAY HAS A FINE COAT\n\n\nSammy Jay has a very fine coat, a very beautiful coat. Everybody knows\nthat. In fact, Sammy's coat has long been the envy of a great many of\nhis neighbors in the Green Forest. Some of them, you know, have very\nmodest coats. They are not beautiful at all. And yet the owners of\nsome of these plain coats are among the most honest and hard-working\nof all the little people who live in the Green Forest. They find it\nhard, very hard indeed, to understand why such a scamp and\nmischiefmaker as Sammy Jay should be given such a wonderful blue coat\nwith white trimmings.\n\nPeter Rabbit often had thought about it. He has a number of feathered\nfriends whom he likes ever so much better than he does Sammy Jay. In\nfact, he and Sammy are forever falling out, because Sammy delights to\ntease Peter. He sometimes makes up for it by warning Peter when Granny\nor Reddy Fox happens to be about, and Peter is honest enough to\nrecognize this and put it to Sammy's credit. But in spite of this, it\nnever seemed to him quite right that Sammy Jay should be so handsomely\ndressed.\n\n\"Of course,\" said Peter to Grandfather Frog, \"Old Mother Nature knows\na great deal more than I do--\"\n\n\"Really! You don't mean to say so! Chug-a-rum! You don't mean to say\nso, Peter!\" interrupted Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very much\nsurprised at what Peter said.\n\n[Illustration: \"You don't mean to say so, Peter,\" interrupted\nGrandfather Frog.]\n\nPeter grinned and wrinkled his nose at Grandfather Frog.\n\n\"Yes,\" said he, \"Old Mother Nature knows a great deal more than I do,\nbut it seems to me as if she had made a mistake in giving Sammy Jay\nsuch a handsome coat. There must be a reason, I suppose, but for the\nlife of me I cannot understand it. I should think that she would give\nsuch a thief as Sammy Jay the very homeliest suit she could find. You\nmay depend I would, if I were in her place.\"\n\nGrandfather Frog chuckled until he shook all over.\n\n\"It's lucky for some of us that you are not in her place!\" said he.\n\"Chug-a-rum! It certainly is lucky!\"\n\n\"If I were, I would give you a handsome coat, too, Grandfather Frog,\"\nreplied Peter.\n\nGrandfather Frog suddenly swelled out with indignation. \"Chug-a-rum!\nChug-a-rum! What's the matter with the coat I have got, Peter Rabbit?\nTell me that! Who's got a handsomer one?\" Grandfather Frog glared with\nhis great, goggly eyes at Peter.\n\n\"I didn't mean to say that you haven't got a handsome coat. Your coat\n_is_ handsome, very handsome indeed, Grandfather Frog,\" Peter hastened\nto say. \"I always did like green. I just love it! And I should think\nyou would be ever so proud of your white and yellow waistcoat. I would\nif it were mine. What I meant to say is, that if I were in Old Mother\nNature's place, I would give some plain folks handsome suits.\nCertainly, I wouldn't give such a rascal as Sammy Jay one of the\nhandsomest coats in all the Green Forest. Knowing Sammy as well as I\ndo, it is hard work to believe that he came by it honestly.\"\n\nGrandfather Frog chuckled way down deep in his throat.\n\n\"Sammy came by it honestly enough, Peter. Yes, Sir, he came by it\nhonestly enough, because it was handed down to him by his father, who\ngot it from his father, who got it from his father, and so on, way\nback to the days when the world was young, but--\" Grandfather Frog\npaused, and that dreamy, far-away look which Peter had seen so often\ncame into his great, goggly eyes.\n\n\"But what, Grandfather Frog?\" asked Peter eagerly, when he could keep\nstill no longer.\n\nGrandfather Frog settled himself comfortably on his big green lily-pad\nand looked very hard at Peter.\n\n\"I'm going to tell you a story, Peter Rabbit,\" said he, \"so that never\nagain will you be led to doubt that Old Mother Nature knows exactly\nwhat she is about. In the first place, Sammy Jay is not wholly to\nblame for all his bad habits. Some of them were handed down to him\nwith his fine coat, just the same as your troublesome curiosity was\nhanded down to you with the white patch on the seat of your trousers.\"\n\nPeter nodded. He had felt a great many times that he just couldn't\nhelp this habit of poking that wobbly little nose of his in where it\nhad no business to be, any more than he could change that funny little\nbunch of white cotton, which he called a tail, for a really, truly\ntail.\n\n\"Of course, you have heard all about what a very fine gentleman Sammy\nJay's great-great-ever-so-great grandfather was thought to be until it\nwas discovered that he was all the time stealing from his neighbors\nand putting the blame on others, and how Old Mother Nature punished\nhim by taking away the beautiful voice of which he was so proud, and\ngiving him instead the harsh voice which Sammy has now, and making him\ntell just what he is by screaming 'thief, thief, thief!' every time he\nopens his mouth to speak.\n\n\"At first Old Mother Nature had intended to take away the fine coat of\nwhich Mr. Jay was so proud, but when he discovered that he had lost\nhis fine voice, he was so ashamed that he hurried away to hide himself\nfrom the eyes of his neighbors, so that Old Mother Nature didn't have\ntime to change his coat just then.\n\n'I'll wait a bit,' said she to herself, 'and see how he behaves.\nPerhaps he is truly sorry for what he has done, and I will not have to\npunish him more.'\n\n\"But if Mr. Jay was truly sorry, he gave no signs of it. You see, he\nhad cheated his neighbors, and had stolen from them for so long, that\nhe found this the easiest way to get a living. His bad habits had\nbecome fixed, as bad habits have a way of doing. Besides, right down\nin his heart, he wasn't sorry for what he had done, only angry at\nhaving been found out. Now that he had been found out, of course every\none was on the watch for him, and it wasn't so easy to steal as it had\nbeen before. So now, instead of going about openly, with his head held\nhigh, he grew very crafty, and sneaked quietly about through the Green\nForest, trying to keep out of sight, that he might the easier steal\nfrom his neighbors and make trouble for them.\n\n\"When Old Mother Nature saw this, she changed her mind about taking\naway his handsome suit. 'If I do that,' thought she, 'it will make it\nall the easier for him to keep out of sight, and all the harder for\nhis neighbors to know when he is about.'\n\n\"So instead of giving him the plain, homely suit that she had thought\nof giving him, she made his coat of blue brighter than before and\ntrimmed it with the whitest of white trimmings, so that Mr. Jay had\none of the very handsomest coats in all the Green Forest. At first he\nwas very proud of it, but it wasn't long before he found that it was\nvery hard work to keep out of sight when he wanted to. That bright\nblue coat was forever giving him away when he was out on mischief.\nEverybody was all the time on the watch for it, and so where in the\npast Mr. Jay had been able, without any trouble, to steal all he\nwanted to eat, now he sometimes actually had to work for his food, and\nget it honestly or else go hungry.\n\n\"You would suppose that he would have mended him ways, wouldn't you?\"\n\nPeter nodded.\n\n\"But he didn't. He grew more sly and crafty than ever. But in spite of\nthis, he didn't begin to make as much trouble as before. He couldn't,\nyou know, because of his bright coat. When Old Mother Nature found\nthat Mr. Jay had passed along his bad habits to his children, she\npassed along his handsome blue coat, too, and so it has been from that\nlong-ago day right down to this. Sammy Jay's fine coat isn't a reward\nfor goodness, as is Winsome Bluebird's, but is to help the other\nlittle people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows to protect\nthemselves, and keep track of Sammy when he is sneaking and snooping\naround looking for mischief. Now what do you think, Peter Rabbit?\"\n\nPeter scratched one long ear and then the other long ear thoughtfully,\nand he looked a wee bit ashamed as he replied: \"I guess Old Mother\nNature makes no mistakes and always knows just what she is doing.\"\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said Grandfather Frog in his deepest voice. \"You may be\nsure she does. And another thing, Peter Rabbit: Never judge any one by\nhis clothes. It is a great mistake, a very great mistake. Plain\nclothes sometimes cover the kindest hearts, and fine clothes often are\na warning to beware of mischief.\"\n\n\"I--I don't know but you are right,\" admitted Peter.\n\n\"I know I am,\" said Grandfather Frog.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nWHY JERRY MUSKRAT BUILDS HIS HOUSE IN THE WATER\n\n\nPeter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck had gone down to the Smiling Pool for a\ncall on their old friend, Jerry Muskrat. But Jerry was nowhere to be\nseen. They waited and waited, but no Jerry Muskrat.\n\n\"Probably he is taking a nap in that big house of his,\" said Johnny\nChuck, \"and if he is we'll have to sit here until he wakes up, or else\ngo back home and visit him some other time.\"\n\n\"That's so,\" replied Peter. \"I don't see what he has his house in the\nwater for, anyway. If he had built it on land, like sensible people,\nwe might be able to waken him. Funny place to build a house, isn't\nit?\"\n\nJohnny Chuck scratched his head thoughtfully. \"It does seem a funny\nplace,\" he admitted. \"It certainly does seem a funny place. But then,\nJerry Muskrat is a funny fellow. You know how much of the time he\nstays in the water. That seems funny to me. I suppose there is a\nreason for it, and probably there is a reason for building his house\nwhere it is. I've found that there is a reason for most things.\nProbably Jerry's great-great-grandfather built his house that way, and\nso Jerry does the same thing.\"\n\nPeter Rabbit suddenly brightened up. \"I do believe you are right,\nJohnny Chuck, and if you are, there must be a story about it, and if\nthere is a story, Grandfather Frog will be sure to know it. There he\nis, over on his big green lily-pad, and he looks as if he might be\nfeeling very good-natured this morning. Let's go ask him why Jerry\nMuskrat builds his house in the water.\"\n\nGrandfather Frog saw them coming, and he guessed right away that they\nwere coming for a story. He grinned to himself and pretended to go to\nsleep.\n\n\"Good morning, Grandfather Frog,\" said Johnny Chuck. Grandfather Frog\ndidn't answer. Johnny tried again, and still no reply.\n\n\"He's asleep,\" said Johnny, looking dreadfully disappointed, \"and I\nguess we'd better not disturb him, for he might wake up cross, and of\ncourse we wouldn't get a story if he did.\"\n\nPeter looked at Grandfather Frog sharply. He wasn't so sure that that\nwas a real nap. It seemed to him that there was just the least little\nhint of a smile in the corners of Grandfather Frog's big mouth. \"You\nsit here a minute,\" he whispered in Johnny Chuck's ear.\n\nSo Johnny Chuck sat down where he was, which was right where\nGrandfather Frog could see him by lifting one eyelid just the teeniest\nbit, and Peter hopped along the bank until he was right behind\nGrandfather Frog. Now just at that place on the bank was growing a\ntoadstool. Peter looked over at Johnny Chuck and winked. Then he\nturned around, and with one of his long hind-feet, he kicked the\ntoadstool with all his might. Now toadstools, as you all know, are not\nvery well fastened at the roots, and this one was no different from\nthe rest. When Peter kicked it it flew out into the air and landed\nwith a great splash in the Smiling Pool, close beside the big green\nlily-pad on which Grandfather Frog was sitting. Of course he didn't\nsee it coming, and of course it gave him a great start.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" exclaimed Grandfather Frog and dived head first into the\nwater. A minute later Peter's sharp eyes saw him peeping out from\nunder a lily-pad to see what had frightened him so.\n\n\"Ha, ha, ha!\" shouted Peter, dancing about on the bank. \"Ha, ha, ha!\nGrandfather Frog, afraid of a toadstool! Ha, ha, ha!\"\n\nAt first Grandfather Frog was angry, very angry indeed. But he is too\nold and too wise to lose his temper for long over a joke, especially\nwhen he has been fairly caught trying to play a joke himself. So\npresently he climbed back on to his big green lily-pad, blinking his\ngreat, goggly eyes and looking just a wee bit foolish.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! I might have known that that was some of your work,\nPeter Rabbit,\" said he, \"but I thought it surely was a stone thrown\nby Farmer Brown's boy. What do you mean by frightening an old fellow\nlike me this way?\"\n\n\"Just trying to get even with you for trying to fool us into thinking\nthat you were asleep when you were wide awake,\" replied Peter. \"Oh,\nGrandfather Frog, do tell us why it is that Jerry Muskrat builds his\nhouse in the water. Please do!\"\n\n\"I have a mind not to, just to get even with you,\" said Grandfather\nFrog, settling himself comfortably, \"but I believe I will, to show you\nthat there are some folks who can take a joke without losing their\ntemper.\"\n\n\"Goody!\" cried Peter and Johnny Chuck together, sitting down side by\nside on the very edge of the bank.\n\nGrandfather Frog folded his hands across his white and yellow\nwaistcoat and half closed his eyes, as if looking way, way back into\nthe past.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" he began. \"A long, long time ago, when the world was\nyoung, there was very little dry land, and most of the animals lived\nin the water. Yes, Sir, most of the animals lived in the water, as\nsensible animals do to-day.\"\n\nPeter nudged Johnny Chuck. \"He means himself and his family,\" he\nwhispered with a chuckle.\n\n\"After a time,\" continued Grandfather Frog, \"there began to be more\nland and still more. Then some of the animals began to spend most of\ntheir time on the land. As there got to be more and more land, more\nand more of the animals left the water, until finally most of them\nwere spending nearly all of the time on land. Now Old Mother Nature\nhad been keeping a sharp watch, as she always does, and when she found\nthat they were foolish enough to like the land best, she did all that\nshe could to make things comfortable for them. She taught them how to\nrun and jump and climb and dig, according to which things they liked\nbest to do, so that it wasn't very long before a lot of them forgot\nthat they ever had lived in the water, and they began to look down on\nthose who still lived in the water, and to put on airs and hold their\nheads very high.\n\n\"Now, of course, Old Mother Nature didn't like this, and to punish\nthem she said that they should no longer be able to live in the water,\neven if they wanted to. At first they only laughed, but after a while\nthey found that quite often there were times when it would be very\nnice to be at home in the water as they once had been. But it was of\nno use. Some could swim as long as they could keep their heads above\nwater, but as soon as they put their heads under water they were\nlikely to drown. You know that is the way with you to-day, Peter\nRabbit.\"\n\nPeter nodded. He knew that he could swim if he had to, but only for a\nvery little way, and he hated the thought of it.\n\n\"Now there were a few animals, of whom old Mr. Muskrat, the\ngrandfather a thousand times removed of Jerry Muskrat, was one, who\nlearned to walk and run on dry land, but who still loved the water,\"\ncontinued Grandfather Frog. \"One day Old Mother Nature found Mr.\nMuskrat sitting on a rock, looking very mournful.\n\n\"'What's the matter, Mr. Muskrat?' she asked.\n\n\"Mr. Muskrat looked very much ashamed as he finally owned up that he\nwas envious of his cousins and some of the other animals, because they\nhad such fine houses on the land.\n\n\"'Then why don't you build you a fine house on the land?' asked Old\nMother Nature.\n\n\"Mr. Muskrat hesitated. 'I--I--love the water too well to want to stay\non land all the time,' said he, 'and--and--well, I was put in the\nwater in the first place, and I ought to be contented with what I have\ngot and make the best of it.'\n\n\"Old Mother Nature was so pleased with Mr. Muskrat's reply that right\naway she made up her mind that he should have a finer house than any\nof the others, so she took him over to a quiet little pool, where the\nwater was not too deep and she showed him how to build a wonderful\nhouse of mud and rushes and twigs, with a nice warm bedroom lined\nwith grass above the water, and an entrance down under the water, so\nthat no one except those who still lived most of the time in the water\ncould possibly get into it. None of his friends on land had such a\nbig, fine house, and Mr. Muskrat was very proud of it. But with all\nhis pride he never forgot that it was a reward for trying to be\ncontent with his surroundings and making the best of them.\n\n\"So from that day to this, the Muskrats have built their houses in the\nwater, and have been among the most industrious, contented, and happy\nof all the animals. And that is why Jerry Muskrat has built that fine\nhouse in the Smiling Pool and has so few enemies,\" concluded\nGrandfather Frog.\n\nPeter Rabbit drew a long breath, which was almost a sigh. \"I almost\nwish my grandfather a thousand times removed had been content to stay\nin the water, too,\" he said.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" retorted Grandfather Frog. \"If he had, you wouldn't have\nthe dear Old Briar-patch. Be content with what you've got,\"\n\n\"I think I will,\" said Peter.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nWHY OLD MAN COYOTE HAS MANY VOICES\n\n\nOf course Old Man Coyote has only one voice, but that one is such a\nwonderful voice that he can make it sound like a great many voices,\nall yelping and howling and shouting and laughing at the same time. So\nthose who hear him always say that he has many voices, and that\ncertainly is the way it seems. The first time Peter Rabbit heard Old\nMan Coyote, he was sure, absolutely sure, that there was a whole crowd\nof strangers on the Green Meadows, and you may be sure that he kept\nvery close to his dear Old Briar-patch. If you had been there and\ntried to tell Peter that all that noise was made by just one voice,\nhe wouldn't have believed you. No, Sir, he wouldn't have believed you.\nAnd you couldn't have blamed him.\n\nIt was the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind who first told\nPeter who the stranger was and warned him to watch out, because Old\nMan Coyote is just as fond of Rabbit as Granny or Reddy Fox, and is\neven more crafty and sly than they. Peter thanked the Merry Little\nBreezes for the warning, and then he asked them how many of his family\nOld Man Coyote had brought with him. Of course the Merry Little\nBreezes told Peter that Old Man Coyote was all alone, and they became\nvery indignant when Peter laughed at them. He just couldn't help it.\n\n\"Why,\" said he, \"every night I hear a whole crowd yelping and howling\ntogether.\"\n\n\"But you don't!\" insisted the Merry Little Breezes. \"It is Old Man\nCoyote alone who makes all that noise.\"\n\n\"Don't you suppose I know what I hear?\" demanded Peter.\n\n\"No!\" retorted the Merry Little Breezes. \"You may have big ears and be\nable to hear a great deal, sometimes a great deal more than you have\nany business to hear, but you are old enough by this time to have\nlearned that you cannot believe all you hear.\" And with that the Merry\nLittle Breezes indignantly raced away to spread the news all over the\nGreen Meadows.\n\nNow Peter was quite as indignant because they thought he couldn't or\nshouldn't believe his own ears, as they were because he wouldn't\nbelieve what they told him, and all the rest of that day he couldn't\nput the matter out of his mind. He was still thinking of it as the\nBlack Shadows came creeping down from the Purple Hills across the\nGreen Meadows. Suddenly Peter saw a dark form skulking among the Black\nShadows. At first he thought it was Reddy Fox, only somehow it looked\nbigger. Peter, safe in the dear Old Briar-patch, watched. Presently\nthe dark form came out from among the Black Shadows where Peter could\nsee it clearly, sat down, pointed a sharp nose up at the first\ntwinkling little stars, opened a big mouth, and out of it poured such\na yelping and howling as made Peter shiver with fright. And now Peter\nhad to believe his eyes rather than his ears. His ears told him that\nthere were many voices, but his eyes told him that all that dreadful\nsound was coming out of one mouth. It was hard, very hard, to believe,\nbut it was so.\n\n\"The Merry Little Breezes were right,\" muttered Peter to himself, as\nOld Man Coyote trotted away in the direction of the Green Forest, and\nhe felt a wee bit ashamed to think that he had refused to believe\nthem.\n\nAfter that, Peter could think of nothing but Old Man Coyote's\nwonderful voice that sounded like many voices, and at the very first\nopportunity he hurried over to the Smiling Pool to ask Grandfather\nFrog what it meant.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said Grandfather Frog. \"It means simply that Old Man\nCoyote comes of a very smart family, and that he knows how to make the\nmost of the gift of Old Mother Nature to his grandfather a thousand\ntimes removed.\"\n\nThis sounded so much like a story that Peter straightway teased\nGrandfather Frog to tell him all about it. At last, to get rid of him\nand enjoy a little quiet and peace, Grandfather Frog did so.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" he began, as he always does. \"The\ngreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Old Man Coyote, who lived\nlong, long ago when the world was young, was very much as Old Man\nCoyote is to-day. He was just as smart and just as clever. Indeed, he\nwas smart enough and clever enough not to let his neighbors know that\nhe was smart and clever at all. Those were very peaceful times at\nfirst, and everybody was on the best of terms with everybody else, as\nyou know. There was plenty to eat without the trouble to steal, and\neverybody was honest simply because it was easier to be honest than it\nwas to be dishonest. So Old King Bear ruled in the Green Forest, and\neverybody was happy and contented.\n\n\"But there came a time when food was scarce, and it was no longer\neasy to get plenty to eat. It was then that the stronger began to\nsteal from the weaker, and by and by even to prey upon those smaller\nthan themselves. The times grew harder and harder, and because hunger\nis a hard and cruel master, it made the larger and stronger people\nhard and cruel, too. Some of them it made very sly and cunning, like\nold Mr. Fox. Mr. Coyote was another whom it made sly and cunning. He\nwas smart in the first place, even smarter than Mr. Fox, and he very\nearly made up his mind that if he would live, it must be by his wits,\nfor he wasn't big enough or strong enough to fight with his neighbors\nsuch as his big cousin, Mr. Timber Wolf, or Mr. Lynx, or Mr. Panther\nor Old King Bear, who was king no longer. And yet he liked the same\nthings to eat.\n\n\"So he used to study and plan how he could outwit them without danger\nto himself. 'A whole skin is better than a full stomach, but both a\nwhole skin and a full stomach are better still,' said he to himself;\nas he thought and schemed. For a while he was content to catch what he\ncould without danger to himself, and to eat what his bigger and\nstronger neighbors left when they happened to get more than they\nwanted for themselves. Little by little he got the habit of slyly\nfollowing them when they were hunting, always keeping out of sight. In\nthis way, he managed to get many meals of scraps. But these scraps\nnever wholly satisfied him, and his mouth used to water as he watched\nthe others feast on the very best when they had had a successful hunt.\nHe knew it wouldn't be of the least use to go out and boldly ask for\nsome, for in those hard times everybody was very, very selfish.\n\n\"The times grew harder and harder, until it seemed as if Old Mother\nNature had wholly forgotten her little people of the Green Meadows and\nthe Green Forest. Mr. Coyote still managed to pick up a living, but he\nwas hungry most of the time, and the less he had to put in his\nstomach, the sharper his wits grew. At last one day, as he stole\nsoft-footed through the Green Forest, he discovered Mr. Lynx having a\ngreat feast. To keep still and watch him was almost more than Mr.\nCoyote could stand, for he was so hungry that it seemed as if the\nsides of his stomach almost met, it was so empty.\n\n\"'If I could make myself into three, we could take that dinner away\nfrom Mr. Lynx!\" thought he, and right on top of that thought came a\ngreat idea. Why not make Mr. Lynx think he had a lot of friends with\nhim? It would do no harm to try. So Mr. Coyote put his nose up in the\nair and howled. Mr. Lynx looked up and grinned. He had no fear of Mr.\nCoyote. Then Mr. Coyote hurried around to the other side of Mr. Lynx,\nall the time keeping out of sight, and howled again, and this time he\ntried to make his voice sound different. Mr. Lynx stopped eating and\nlooked up a little surprised. 'I wonder if Mr. Coyote has got a\nbrother with him,' thought he. A minute later Mr. Coyote howled again\nfrom the place where he had howled in the first place. 'He certainly\nhas,' thought Mr. Lynx, 'but I'm a match for two of them,' and once\nmore he went on eating.\n\n\"Then Mr. Coyote began to run in a circle around Mr. Lynx, always\nkeeping out of sight in the thick brush, and every few steps he\nyelped or howled, and each yelp or howl he tried to make sound\ndifferent. Now Mr. Coyote could run very fast, and he ran now as hard\nas ever he could in a big circle, yelping and howling and making his\nvoice sound as different as possible each time. Mr. Lynx grew anxious\nand lost his appetite. 'Mr. Coyote must have a whole crowd of\nbrothers,' thought he. 'I guess this is no place for me!' With that he\nstarted to sneak away.\n\n\"Mr. Coyote followed him, still trying to make his voice sound like\nthe voices of many. Mr. Lynx gave a hurried look over his shoulder and\nbegan to run. Mr. Coyote kept after him, yelping and howling, until he\nwas sure that Mr. Lynx was so frightened that he wouldn't dare come\nback. Then Mr. Coyote returned to the dinner Mr. Lynx had left, and\nate and ate until he couldn't hold another mouthful. His throat was\nvery raw and sore because he had strained it trying to make his voice\nchange so often, but he didn't mind this, because, you know, it felt\nso good to have all he could eat at one time once more.\n\n\"Now it just happened that Old Mother Nature had come along just in\ntime to see and hear Mr. Coyote, and it tickled her so to think that\nMr. Coyote had been so smart that what do you think she did? Why,\nwhile he slept that night, she healed his sore throat, and she gave\nhim a new voice; and this voice was very wonderful, for it sounded for\nall the world like many voices, all yelping and howling at the same\ntime. After that, all Mr. Coyote had to do when he wanted to frighten\nsome one bigger and stronger than himself was to open his mouth and\nsend forth his new voice, which sounded like many voices.\n\n\"So he had plenty to eat from that time on. And all his children and\nhis children's children had that same wonderful voice, just as Old Man\nCoyote has now. Chug-a-rum! Now scamper home, Peter Rabbit, and see\nthat you don't let Old Man Coyote's sharp wits get you into trouble.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Grandfather Frog!\" cried Peter and scampered as fast as he\ncould go for the dear, safe Old Briar-patch.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nWHY MINER THE MOLE LIVES UNDER GROUND\n\n\nStriped Chipmunk sat staring at a little ridge where the grass was\nraised up. He had often seen little ridges like that without thinking\nmuch about them. He knew that they were made by Miner the Mole. He had\nknown that ever since he was big enough to begin to ask questions. But\nnow as he looked at this one, it suddenly struck him that he had not\nseen Miner the Mole more than once or twice in all his life.\n\n\"What a queer way of living!\" thought Striped Chipmunk. \"It's all very\nwell to have a snug house under the ground, where one can sleep the\nlong cold winter away and be perfectly safe, but what any one wants to\nlive under the ground all the time for, in the beautiful springtime\nand summertime and autumntime, I can't understand. Just think of all\nthat Miner misses--the sunshine, the flowers, the songs of the birds,\nand the Merry Little Breezes to play with! I wonder--\"\n\n\"What do you wonder?\" The voice was so close to Striped Chipmunk that\nit made him jump. He whirled about. There was Johnny Chuck, who had\ntiptoed up as softly as he knew how, to give Striped Chipmunk a scare.\nJohnny grinned. \"What do you wonder?\" he repeated.\n\nStriped Chipmunk made a face at Johnny. \"I wonder something that I bet\nyou don't know,\" he replied.\n\n\"That's easy,\" replied Johnny. \"There are more things I don't know\nthan I do know, but I'm always ready to learn. What is it this time?\"\n\n\"Why does Miner the Mole live under ground all the time?\" Striped\nChipmunk pointed to the ridge made by Miner.\n\nJohnny Chuck scratched his head thoughtfully.\n\n\"I don't know,\" he confessed finally. \"I never thought of it before.\nOf course there must be a reason. He never comes out to play with the\nrest of us--just spends all his time by himself down in the dark,\ndigging and digging. I wonder--\"\n\n\"Well, what do _you_ wonder?\"\n\n\"The same thing you wonder,\" laughed Johnny Chuck. \"If you haven't got\nanything else to do, let's go down to the Smiling Pool and ask\nGrandfather Frog; he'll be sure to know.\"\n\nStriped Chipmunk hadn't anything else to do, so off they started. On\nthe way they met Jimmy Skunk and Danny Meadow Mouse. Neither of them\nknew why Miner the Mole lives under ground, and because they hadn't\nanything better to do, they also started for the Smiling Pool.\n\nGrandfather Frog was sitting on his big green lily-pad in the warm\nsunshine, and for once he didn't have to be teased for a story.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said he in his deep voice. \"It's very strange to me how\nlittle some folks know about their nearest neighbors.\" He looked up\nand winked at jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun.\n\nStriped Chipmunk, Johnny Chuck, Jimmy Skunk, and Danny Meadow Mouse\nlooked as though they felt very foolish, as indeed they did. You see,\nall their lives Miner the Mole had been one of their nearest\nneighbors, and yet they didn't know the first thing about him.\n\n\"It happened a long time ago,\" continued Grandfather Frog.\n\n\"When the world was young?\" interrupted Danny Meadow Mouse.\n\n\"Of course,\" replied Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very much put\nout at such a foolish question. Danny hung his head and resolved that\nhe would bite his tongue before he asked another question.\n\n\"In those days Miner's great-great-grandfather a thousand times\nremoved didn't live under ground,\" continued Grandfather Frog. \"Nobody\ndid. He wasn't so very different from a lot of other animals. Food was\nplenty, and everybody was on the best of terms with everybody else.\nMr. Mole lived just as the rest did. He went and came as he pleased,\nand enjoyed the sunshine and took part in all the good times of his\nneighbors. Everybody liked him, and whenever he made a call, he was\nsure of a welcome. But one thing Mr. Mole never did; he never meddled\nin other people's affairs. No, Sir, Mr. Mole never poked his nose in\nwhere he had no business.\n\n\"For a long time everything went smoothly with all the people of the\nGreen Forest and the Green Meadows. Then came hard times. They grew\nharder and harder. Food was scarce and kept growing more scarce.\nEverybody was hungry, and you know how it is with hungry people--they\ngrow ugly and quarrelsome. Matters grew worse and worse, and then it\nwas that fear was born. The big people, like Old King Bear and Mr.\nWolf and Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynx, began to look with hungry eyes on\nthe little people, and the little people began to grow afraid and hide\nfrom the big people, and all the time they were continually quarreling\namong themselves and stealing from each other to get enough to eat.\n\n\"Now, as I said before, Mr. Mole never had meddled with other people's\nbusiness, and he didn't now. He went off by himself to think things\nover. 'It isn't safe to run around any more,' said he. 'I met Mr. Wolf\nthis morning, and he looked at me with such a hungry look in his eyes\nthat it gave me the cold shivers. I believe he would have eaten me, if\nI hadn't crawled into an old hollow stump. Now I can't run fast,\nbecause my legs are too short. I can't climb trees like Mr. Squirrel,\nand I can't swim like Mr. Muskrat. The only thing I can do is to dig.'\n\n\"You see, Mr. Mole always had been very fond of digging, and he had\ndone so much of it that his front legs and claws had grown very stout.\n\n\"'Now if I dig a hole and keep out of sight, I won't have to worry\nabout Mr. Wolf or anybody else,' continued Mr. Mole to himself. So he\nwent to work at once and dug a hole on the Green Meadows, and, because\nhe wanted to be comfortable, he made a big hole. When it was finished,\nhe was tired, so he curled up at the bottom for a nap. He was awakened\nby hearing voices outside. He knew those voices right away. They were\nthe voices of Mr. Fox and Mr. Badger.\n\n\"'These are terrible times,' said Mr. Fox. 'I'm so hungry that I'm\nwasting away to a shadow. I wonder who has dug this hole.'\n\n\"'Mr. Mole,' replied Mr. Badger. 'I saw him at work here this\nmorning.\n\nHave you noticed how very plump he looks?'\n\n\"'Yes,' replied Mr. Fox. 'He made my mouth water the very last time I\nsaw him. Seems to me I can smell him now. If he had made this hole\njust a little bit bigger I would go down and pull him out, but I am\ntoo tired to do any digging now.'\n\n\"'I tell you what,' replied Mr. Badger. 'We'll hunt together a little\nlonger, and then if we can't find anything to eat, we'll come back,\nand I'll help you dig, I hate to hurt Mr. Mole, because he always\nminds his own business, but these are hard times, and each one must\nlook out for himself.'\n\n\"With that they went away, leaving Mr. Mole shaking with fright at the\nbottom of his hole. 'It's of no use,' thought Mr. Mole. 'If I go\noutside, they will soon find me, and if I stay here, they will dig me\nout. Oh, dear, oh, dear! What ever can I do?'\n\n\"He lay there feeling very helpless and miserable, when all of a\nsudden a thought came to him. If he had made his hole small, just big\nenough for him to crawl into, Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox would have had to\ndo a great deal of digging to make it big enough for either of them to\nget in! He would make a little tunnel off one side and hide in that.\nSo he went to work and made a little tunnel off one side just big\nenough for him to squeeze into. He worked very hard and very fast, and\nby the time Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox returned, Mr. Mole was at the end\nof a long tunnel, so far from the hole he had first dug that he knew\nit would take them a long time to dig him out, even if they noticed\nhis tunnel.\n\n\"But they didn't. They dug down to the bottom of his hole and then,\nbecause they didn't find him there, they straightway fell to\nquarreling, each blaming the other for suggesting such a lot of hard\nwork for nothing. Finally they went away, still calling each other\nnames, and from that day to this, Foxes and Badgers have never been\nfriends.\n\n\"Mr. Mole was very thankful for his narrow escape, and it set him to\nthinking. If he had a lot of these underground tunnels, no one would\nbe able to catch him. It was a splendid idea! He went to work on it at\nonce. And then he made a discovery--such a splendid discovery! There\nwas plenty of food to eat right down under ground--worms and\ngrubs--all he needed. After that, Mr. Mole spent all his time in his\ntunnels and seldom put his nose outside. He was safe, and he was\ncomfortable, and he could always find something to eat by digging for\nit.\n\n\"Little by little his old neighbors forgot all about him. Because he\nhad little use for them, his eyes grew smaller and smaller, and when\nhe did come up into the light, they hurt him so that he was glad to go\nback into the dark again. He was perfectly happy and satisfied there,\nand what is there in life better than to be happy and satisfied?\"\n\n\"Nothing,\" replied Striped Chipmunk, at whom Grandfather Frog happened\nto be looking when he asked the question.\n\n\"Right!\" replied Grandfather Frog. \"And now you know why Miner the\nMole lives under ground--because he is perfectly happy and satisfied\nthere.\"\n\nJust then up came Peter Rabbit, all out of breath.\n\n\"Has Grandfather Frog been telling a story?\" he panted.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Striped Chipmunk, winking at Grandfather Frog, \"and now\nwe are going back home perfectly happy and satisfied.\"\n\nAnd to this day Peter Rabbit wonders what the story was that he\nmissed.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nWHY MR. SNAKE CANNOT WINK\n\n\nPeter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck were playing tag on the Green Meadows.\nOf course Peter can run so much faster than Johnny Chuck that he would\nnever have been \"it\" if he had tried his best to keep out of the way.\nBut he didn't. No, Sir, Peter Rabbit didn't do anything of the kind.\nHe pretended that one of his long hind-legs was lame so that he had to\nrun on three legs, while Johnny Chuck could use all four. It was great\nfun. They raced and dodged and twisted and turned. Sometimes Peter was\nso excited that he would forget and use all four legs. Then Johnny\nChuck would shout \"No fair!\" Peter would say that he didn't mean to,\nand to make up for it would be \"it\" and try to catch Johnny.\n\nNow it happened that curled up on a little grassy tussock, taking an\nearly morning sun-bath, lay little Mr. Greensnake. Of course Peter\nRabbit and Johnny Chuck were not afraid of him. If it had been Mr.\nRattlesnake or Mr. Gophersnake, it would have been different. But from\nlittle Mr. Greensnake there was nothing to fear, and sometimes, just\nfor fun, Peter would jump right over him. When he did that, Peter\nalways winked good-naturedly. But Mr. Greensnake never winked back.\nInstead he would raise his head, run his tongue out at Peter, and hiss\nin what he tried to make a very fierce and angry manner. Then Peter\nwould laugh and wink at him again. But never once did Mr. Greensnake\nwink back.\n\n[Illustration: He would make no reply, save to run out his tongue at\nthem.]\n\nPeter was thinking of this as he and Johnny Chuck stretched out in a\nsunny spot to get their breath and rest. He had never thought of it\nbefore, but now that he had noticed it, he couldn't remember that he\never had seen little Mr. Greensnake wink, nor any of Mr. Greensnake's\nrelatives. He mentioned the matter to Johnny Chuck.\n\n\"That's so,\" replied Johnny thoughtfully. \"I never have seen any of\nthem wink, either. Do you suppose they can wink?\"\n\n\"Let's go ask Mr. Greensnake,\" said Peter.\n\nUp they hopped and raced over to the grassy tussock where Mr.\nGreensnake lay, but to all their questions he would make no reply save\nto run out his tongue at them. Finally they gave up asking him.\n\n\"I tell you what, let's go over to the Smiling Pool and ask\nGrandfather Frog. He'll be sure to know, and perhaps, if he is feeling\ngood, he'll tell us a story,\" said Peter.\n\nSo off they scampered to the Smiling Pool. There they found\nGrandfather Frog sitting on his big green lily-pad just as usual, and\nPeter knew by the look in his great, goggly eyes that Grandfather Frog\nhad a good breakfast of foolish green flies tucked away inside his\nwhite and yellow waistcoat. His eyes twinkled as Peter and Johnny very\npolitely wished him good morning.\n\n\"Good morning,\" said he gruffly.\n\nBut Peter had seen that twinkle in his eyes and knew that Grandfather\nFrog was feeling good-natured in spite of his gruff greeting.\n\n\"If you please, Grandfather Frog, why doesn't Mr. Greensnake wink at\nus when we wink at him?\" he asked.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! Because he can't,\" replied Grandfather Frog.\n\n\"Can't!\" cried Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck together.\n\n\"That's what I said--can't,\" replied Grandfather Frog. \"And no more\ncan Mr. Blacksnake, or Mr. Rattlesnake, or Mr. Gophersnake, or any\nother member of the Snake family.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" cried Peter and Johnny, all in the same breath.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said Grandfather Frog, folding his hands across his\nwhite and yellow waistcoat, \"if you will sit still until I finish,\nI'll tell you; but if you move or ask any foolish questions, I'll stop\nright where I am, and you'll never hear the end of the story, for no\none else knows it.\"\n\nOf course Peter and Johnny promised to sit perfectly still and not say\na word. After they had made themselves comfortable, Grandfather Frog\ncleared his throat as if to begin, but for a long time he didn't say a\nword. Once Peter opened his mouth to ask why, but remembered in time\nand closed it again without making a sound.\n\nAt last Grandfather Frog cleared his throat once more, and with a\nfar-away look in his great, goggly eyes began:\n\n\"Once upon a time, long, long ago, when the world was young, lived old\nMr. Snake, the grandfather a thousand times removed of little Mr.\nGreensnake and all the other Snakes whom you know. Of course he wasn't\nold then. He was young and spry and smart, was Mr. Snake. Now there is\nsuch a thing as being too smart. That was the trouble with Mr. Snake.\nYes, Sir, that was the trouble with Mr. Snake. He was so smart that he\nsoon found out that he was the smartest of all the meadow and forest\npeople, and that was a bad thing. It certainly was a very bad thing.\"\nGrandfather Frog shook his head gravely.\n\n\"You see,\" he continued, \"as soon as he found that out, he began to\ntake advantage of his neighbors and cheat them, but he would do it so\nsmoothly that they never once suspected that they were being cheated.\nMr. Snake would go about all day cheating everybody he met. At night\nhe would go home and chuckle over his smartness. It wasn't long before\nhe began to look down on his neighbors for being so honest that they\ndidn't suspect other people of being dishonest, and for being so\neasily cheated.\n\n\"Now one bad habit almost always leads to another. From cheating, Mr.\nSnake just naturally slipped to stealing. Yes, Sir, he became a thief.\nOf course that made trouble right away, but still no one suspected\nMr. Snake. He was always very polite to every one and always offering\nto do favors for his neighbors. In fact, Mr. Snake was very well liked\nand much respected. When any one had been robbed, he was always the\nfirst to offer sympathy and join in the hunt for the thief. He was so\nspry and slim, and could slip through the tall grass so fast, that he\ncould go almost where he pleased without being seen, and this made him\nvery bold. If he did happen to be found near the scene of trouble, he\nalways had a story ready to account for his presence, and it sounded\nso true, and he told it in such an honest manner, that no one thought\nof doubting it.\n\n\"So Mr. Snake found that lying helped him to cheat and steal, and all\nthe time he kept thinking how smart he was. But even Mr. Snake had a\nlittle bit of conscience, and once in a while it would trouble him. So\nwhat do you think he did? Why, cheating had become such a habit with\nhim that he actually tried to cheat himself--to cheat his conscience!\nWhen he was telling a lie, he would wink one eye. 'That,' said he to\nhimself, 'means that it isn't true, and if these folks are not smart\nenough to see me wink and know what it means, it is their own fault if\nthey believe what I am telling them.' But always he took care to wink\nthe eye that was turned away from the one he was talking to.\n\n\"Dear me, dear me, such terrible times as there were on the Green\nMeadows and in the Green Forest! They grew worse and worse, and when\nat last Old Mother Nature came to see how all the little people were\ngetting along, she heard so many complaints that she hardly knew\nwhere to begin to straighten matters out. She had all the little\npeople come before her in turn and tell their troubles. When it came\nMr. Snake's turn, he had no complaint to make. He seemed to be the\nonly one who had no troubles. She asked him a great many questions,\nand for each one he had a ready reply. Of course a great many of these\nreplies were lies, and every time he told one of these, he winked\nwithout knowing it. You see, it had become a habit.\n\n\"Now, with all his smartness, Mr. Snake had forgotten one thing, one\nvery important thing. It was this: You can't fool Old Mother Nature,\nand it is of no use to try. He hadn't been talking three minutes\nbefore she knew who was at the bottom of all the trouble. She let him\nfinish, then called all the others about her and told them who had\nmade all the trouble. Mr. Snake was very bold. He held his head very\nhigh in the air and pretended not to care. When Old Mother Nature\nturned her head, he even ran out his tongue at her, just as all the\nSnake family do at you and me to-day. When she had finished telling\nthem how cheating and stealing and lying isn't smart at all, but very,\nvery dreadful, she turned to Mr. Snake and said:\n\n\"'From this time on, no one will believe anything you say, and you\nshall have no friends. You will never wink again, for you and your\nchildren and your children's children forever will have no eyelids,\nthat all the world may know that those who make a wrong use of the\nthings given them shall have them taken away.'\n\n\"And now you know why little Mr. Greensnake cannot wink at you; he\nhasn't any eyelids to wink with\" finished Grandfather Frog.\n\nPeter Rabbit drew a long breath. \"Thank you, oh, thank you ever so\nmuch, Grandfather Frog,\" he said. \"Will you tell us next time why\nBobby Coon wears rings on his tail?\"\n\n\"Perhaps,\" replied Grandfather Frog.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nWHY BOBBY COON HAS RINGS ON HIS TAIL\n\n\nPeter Rabbit would give Grandfather Frog no peace. Every day Peter\nvisited the Smiling Pool to tease Grandfather Frog for a story--for\none particular story. He wanted to know why it is that Bobby Coon\nwears rings on his tail. You see, Peter had admired Bobby Coon's tail\nfor a long time. Peter has such a funny little tail himself, just a\nlittle white bunch of cotton, that such a handsome tail as Bobby\nCoon's sometimes stirs just a wee bit of envy in Peter's heart.\n\nBut it wasn't envy so much as curiosity that prompted Peter to tease\nfor that story. Bobby Coon's tail is very handsome, you know. It has\nbeautiful rings of black and gray, and Peter didn't know of any other\ntail at all like it. Somehow, he felt right down deep in his heart\nthat there must be a reason for those rings, just as there is a reason\nfor his own long ears and long legs. The more he thought about it, the\nmore he felt that he simply must know, and the only way he could find\nout was from Grandfather Frog, who is very old and very wise. So he\nteased and he teased until finally Grandfather Frog promised him that\non the next afternoon he would tell Peter why Bobby Coon has rings on\nhis tail. Peter hurried away to tell all the little meadow and forest\npeople, and the next afternoon they were all on hand on the bank of\nthe Smiling Pool to hear the story about Bobby Coon's tail.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" began Grandfather Frog, smoothing down his white and\nyellow waistcoat. \"Chug-a-rum! Some folks seem to think that what they\ndo doesn't matter to anybody but themselves. That was the way with old\nMr. Rabbit, who lived a long time ago when the world was young. He\nthought he could make all the trouble he pleased by his dreadful\ncuriosity, and if he was found out, no one would suffer but himself.\nBut it wasn't so. Here is Peter Rabbit, his grandchild a thousand\ntimes removed, with long legs and long ears, and the bad habit of\ncuriosity, all because old Mr. Rabbit had a bad habit and didn't try\nto overcome it.\n\n\"It was the same way with old Mr. Coon. He was dishonest and stole\nfrom Old King Bear. Old Mother Nature punished him by putting mustard\nin his food, and Mr. Coon thought he was so smart that he could get\nahead of Old Mother Nature by washing all his food before he ate it.\nOld Mother Nature didn't say anything, but watched him and smiled to\nherself. You see, she knew that Mr. Coon was beginning a good habit, a\nvery good habit indeed--the habit of neatness. So, though she knew\nperfectly well that he was doing it just to get ahead of her, she was\nglad, for she was fond of Mr. Coon in spite of the bad ways he had\ngrown into, and she knew that good habits are like bad habits--once\nstarted they grow and grow, and are very likely to lead to more good\nhabits.\n\n\"It was so with Mr. Coon. He found that his food tasted better for\nbeing so clean, and he grew very fussy about what he ate. No matter\nwhere he found it or how tempting it looked, he wouldn't eat it until\nhe had carried it to the nearest water and washed it. He still\nremembered the mustard and tried to fool himself into thinking that\nhe was simply spiting Old Mother Nature, but right down in his heart\nhe knew that even if he should be told that never again would there be\nmustard in his food, he would wash it just the same.\n\n\"One day, as he sat beside the Laughing Brook eating his supper, he\nnoticed that while his food had been washed clean, his hands were\ndirty. They spoiled his supper. Yes, Sir, they spoiled his supper.\n\n\"'What good does it do to wash my food, if I eat it out of dirty\nhands?' said Mr. Coon to himself, and he hurried to a quiet little\npool to give them a good scrubbing. Then he washed his face and\nbrushed his coat. 'Now I feel better, and I know my supper will taste\nbetter,' said he.\n\n\"From that time he began to be particular, very particular, about\nkeeping himself clean, until finally there was no one on the Green\nMeadows or in the Green Forest quite so neat as Mr. Coon.\n\n\"Now at this time Mr. Coon had a very plain tail. It was all of one\ncolor, a grayish white, not at all pretty. Mr. Coon used to think a\ngreat deal about that tail and wish and wish that it was handsome.\nSometimes he used to envy Mr. Fox his beautiful red tail with its\nblack and white tip. One day, as he sat on an old log with his chin in\nhis hands, thinking about his tail, who should come along but Old\nMother Nature.\n\n\"'Good morning, Mr. Coon,' said she in her pleasantest voice.\n\n\"Mr. Coon got up and made a very low bow. 'Good morning, Mother\nNature,' he replied in his politest manner, which was very polite\nindeed.\n\n\"'What were you thinking about so hard?' asked Old Mother Nature.\n\n\"Mr. Coon looked a little bit ashamed. Then he sighed. 'I was wishing\nthat my tail was handsomer,' said he. 'But it is a very good tail as\nit is,' he added hastily.\n\n\"Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled. She sat down beside Mr. Coon and\nasked him all about his affairs, just as if she didn't know all about\nthem already. She told him how pleased she was to find him so neat and\nclean, and Mr. Coon just tingled all over with pleasure. At last she\ngot up to go, and her eyes twinkled more than ever, as she said:\n\n\"'By the way, Mr. Coon, I am so pleased with your neatness that I am\nleaving you a reward. I hope you will like it.'\n\n\"Mr. Coon didn't see any reward, but he thanked her just the same, and\nOld Mother Nature went on her way. Mr. Coon watched her out of sight.\nThen he sat down on the old log again and scratched his head\nthoughtfully as he looked this way and that.\n\n\"'I wonder what she meant by reward. I don't see any anywhere,' he\nsaid to himself.\n\n\"By and by he just happened to glance at his tail. 'Oh!' cried Mr.\nCoon, and then for a long time he couldn't say another word, but just\nlooked and looked with shining eyes and such a queer feeling of\nhappiness in his heart. You see, Old Mother Nature had left a\nbeautiful, broad, black ring around his tail. Mr. Coon couldn't do\nanything the rest of that day but look at and admire that ring, until\nhis neck ached from twisting it around so long.\n\n\"After that he was neater than ever, you may be sure, and the next\ntime Old Mother Nature came around, she left another handsome black\nring on his tail, because he hadn't grown careless, but had kept up\nhis good habits.\n\n\"Now about this time, hard times came to all the little people of the\nGreen Forest and the Green Meadows. Every one began to grumble. Mr.\nBear grumbled. Mr. Fox grumbled. Mr. Rabbit grumbled. Mr. Jay\ngrumbled. Mr. Squirrel grumbled. Even Mr. Chuck grumbled. And one and\nall they began to blame Old Mother Nature. Then they began to quarrel\namong themselves and to steal from each other. Some even left their\nhomes and went out into the Great World to try to find a better place\nto live, only to find that the Great World was a harder place to live\nin than the Green Forest and the Green Meadows.\n\n\"But Mr. Coon didn't grumble, and he didn't go away. No, Sir, Mr. Coon\njust stuck to his home and did the best he could to find enough to\neat. He kept himself as neat as ever and was always cheerful. Whenever\nhe met one of his grumbling neighbors, he would say:\n\n\"'Better times coming! Better times coming! Old Mother Nature is doing\nthe best she can. Better times coming!'\n\n\"The others would laugh at him for his faith in Old Mother Nature, and\nsay ugly things about her, and urge Mr. Coon to go with them out into\nthe Great World. But he kept right on minding his own business and\nkeeping neat and cheerful, until at last Old Mother Nature, all\nworried and troubled, came to see what she could do to straighten\nmatters out. It didn't take her long to find out how all the little\nmeadow and forest people, except Mr. Coon, had grumbled and been\ndiscontented and said ugly things about her, for you can't fool Old\nMother Nature, and it's of no use to try. Some she punished one way,\nand some she punished another way, for of course she hadn't been to\nblame for the hard times, but had been working night and day to put an\nend to them.\n\n\"Mr. Coon was the last to be called before her, and instead of being\nfrowning and cross, as she had been to the others, she was all smiles.\nShe said a lot of nice things to him, and when at last she sent him\naway, what do you think she had given him?\"\n\n\"More rings,\" cried Peter Rabbit.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Grandfather Frog, \"Mr. Coon's tail was ringed way to\nthe tip. There was one for cheerfulness, and one for faith, and one\nfor persistence in making the best of a bad matter and staying at\nhome. And ever since that long-ago day when the world was young, the\nCoons have been very proud of their beautiful tails and have kept up\nthe good habits of old Mr. Coon. Now you know, Peter Rabbit, why\nBobby Coon wears rings on his tail,\" concluded Grandfather Frog.\n\nPeter gave a long sigh. \"I think it's perfectly beautiful,\" he said.\n\"I wish I had rings on my tail.\"\n\nAnd then he wondered why everybody laughed.\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nWHY THERE IS A BLACK HEAD IN THE BUZZARD FAMILY\n\n\nOl' Mistah Buzzard had just told the story of why he has a bald head\nand is proud of it. You know he hasn't a feather on it, and it is\nvery, very red. It was a very interesting story, and it had been\nlistened to with the closest attention by a lot of the little meadow\nand forest people. Unc' Billy Possum, who is Ol' Mistah Buzzard's\nparticular friend, both having come from \"way down souf,\" happened\nalong just in time to hear the end of it.\n\n\"May Ah ask yo' a question, Brer Buzzard?\" said he.\n\n\"Cert'nly, Brer Possum. Cert'nly,\" replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard.\n\n\"Is Buzzard really your fam'ly name?\" asked Unc' Billy.\n\n\"No, Brer Possum, it isn't,\" replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard. Everybody\nlooked surprised. You see, no one ever had heard him called anything\nbut Buzzard. But no one said anything, and after a minute or two Ol'\nMistah Buzzard explained.\n\n\"Mah fam'ly name is Vulture,\" said he. \"Yes, Sah, mah fam'ly name is\nVulture, but we-uns done been called Buzzards so long, that Ah don'\nknow as Ah would know Ah was being spoken to, if Ah was called Mistah\nVulture.\"\n\n\"An' do Ah understand that all of your fam'ly have red haids?\"\ninquired Unc' Billy.\n\nOl' Mistah Buzzard looked down at Unc' Billy, and he saw a twinkle in\nUnc' Billy's shrewd little eyes. Ol' Mistah Buzzard grinned.\n\n\"Ah knows jes' what yo' done got in your mind, Brer Possum,\" said he.\n\"It's that trifling, no 'count cousin of mine. He's a Buzzard, or a\nVulture, if yo' like that better, jes' like Ah am, but he belongs to\nanother branch of the fam'ly. He has a bald haid, jes' like Ah have,\nbut his haid is black instead of red. That's because his grandpap was\ntrifling an' po' trash, jes' like he is.\"\n\nPeter Rabbit pricked up his ears. This sounded like another story. He\nwas curious about that black-headed cousin of Ol' Mistah Buzzard, very\ncurious indeed. He wondered if Ol' Mistah Buzzard would have to be\nteased for a story, like Grandfather Frog. Anyway, he would find out.\nThere would be no harm in trying.\n\n\"If you please, how does your cousin happen to have a black head?\"\nasked Peter as politely as he knew how.\n\n\"Because his grandpap asked too many questions,\" replied Ol' Mistah\nBuzzard, slyly winking at the others.\n\nEverybody laughed, for everybody knows that no one asks more questions\nthan Peter Rabbit. Peter laughed with the rest, although he looked a\nwee bit foolish. But he didn't mean to give up just because he was\nlaughed at. Oh, my, no!\n\n\"Please, Mr. Buzzard, please tell us the story,\" he begged.\n\nNow Ol' Mistah Buzzard is naturally good-natured and accommodating,\nand when Peter begged so hard, he just couldn't find it in his heart\nto refuse. Besides, he rather enjoys telling stories. So he shook his\nfeathers out, half spread his wings to let the air blow under them,\nlooked down at all the little meadow and forest people gathered about\nthe foot of the tall, dead tree where he delights to roost, grinned\nat them in the funniest way, and then began this story:\n\n\"Way back in the days when Grandpap Buzzard had his lil falling out\nwith ol' King Eagle and done fly so high he sco'tch the feathers offen\nhis haid, he had a cousin, did Grandpap Buzzard, and this cousin was\njes' naturally lazy and no 'count. Like most no 'count people, he used\nto make a regular nuisance of hisself, poking his nose into ev'ybody's\nbusiness and never 'tending to his own. Wasn't anything going on that\nthis trifling member of the Buzzard fam'ly didn't find out about and\nmeddle in. He could ask mo' questions than Peter Rabbit can, an'\nanybody that can do that has got to ask a lot.\"\n\nEverybody looked at Peter and laughed. Peter made a funny face and\nlaughed too.\n\n\"Seemed like he jes' went 'round from mo'ning to night asking\nquestions,\" continued Ol' Mistah Buzzard, \"Got so that eve'ybody\ndreaded to see that no 'count Buzzard coming, because he bound to\npester with questions about things what don't concern him no ways.\n\n\"Now yo' know that way down in Ol' Virginny where Ah done come from,\nmah fam'ly done got the habit of sitting on the tops of chimneys in\nthe wintertime to warm their toes.\"\n\n\"Why, I thought it was warm down south!\" interrupted Peter Rabbit.\n\n\"So it is, Brer Rabbit! So it is!\" Ol' Mistah Buzzard hastened to say.\n\"But yo' see, ol' Jack Frost try to come down there sometimes, an' he\ncool the air off a right smart lot before he turn tail an' run back\nwhere he belong. So we-uns sit on the chimney-tops whenever ol' Jack\nFrost gets to straying down where he have no business. Yo' see, if\nwe-uns keep our toes warm, we-uns are warm all over.\n\n\"One day this no 'count, trifling cousin of Grandpap Buzzard get cold\nin his feet. He look 'round right smart fo' a chimney fo' to warm his\ntoes, an' pretty soon he see one where he never been before. It was on\na lil ol' house, a lil ol' tumble-down house. Mistah Buzzard fly right\nover an' sit on that chimney-top fo' to warm his toes. Of course he\nright smart curious about that lil ol' tumble-down house and who live\nthere. He hear somebody inside talking to theirself, but he can't hear\nwhat they say, jes' a mumbling sound that come up the chimney to him.\n\n\"He listen an' listen. Then he shift 'round to the other side of the\nchimney an' listen. No matter where he sit, he can't hear what being\nsaid down inside that lil ol' tumble-down house. Then what do yo'\nthink Mistah Buzzard do? Why, he jes' stretch his fool haid as far\ndown that chimney as he can an' listen an' listen. Yes, Sah, that is\njes' what that no 'count Buzzard do. But all he hear is jes' a\nmumbling and a mumbling, an' that make him more curious than ever. It\nseem to him that he must go clean outen his haid 'less he hear what\ngoing on down inside that lil ol' house.\n\n\"Now when he stretch his haid an' neck down the chimney that way, he\nget 'em all black with soot. But he don't mind that. No, Sah, he don'\nmind that a bit. Fact is, he don' notice it. He so curious he don'\nnotice anything, an' pretty soon he plumb fo'get where he is an' that\nhe is listening where he have no business. He plumb fo'get all about\nthis, an' he holler down that chimney. Yes, Sah, he holler right down\nthat chimney!\n\n\"'Will yo'-alls please speak a lil louder,' he holler down the\nchimney, jes' like that.\n\n\"Now the lil ol' woman what lived by herself in that lil ol'\ntumble-down house hadn't seen that no 'count Buzzard light on the\nchimney fo' to warm his toes, an' when she hear that voice coming\nright outen the fireplace, she was some flustrated and scared, was\nthat lil ol' woman. Yes, Sah, she sho'ly was plumb scared. She so\nscared she tip over a whole kettleful of soup right in the fire. Of\ncourse that make a terrible mess an' a powerful lot of smoke an' hot\nashes fly up the chimney. They like to choke that no 'count Buzzard to\ndeath. They burn the feathers offen his haid an' neck, an' the soot\nmake him black, all but his feet an' laigs an' the inside of his\nwings, which he keep closed.\n\n\"Mistah Buzzard he give a mighty squawk an' fly away. When he get\nhome, he try an' try to brush that soot off, but it done get into the\nskin an' it stay there. An' from that day his haid an' neck stay\nblack, an' he never speak lessen he spoken to, an' then he only grunt.\nHis chillen jes' like him, an' his chillen's chillen the same way. An'\nthat is the reason that mah cousin who lives down souf done have a\nblack haid,\" concluded Ol' Mistah Buzzard.\n\nA little sigh of satisfaction went around the circle of listeners. As\nusual, Peter Rabbit was the first to speak.\n\n\"That was a splendid story, Mr. Buzzard,\" said he, \"and I'm ever and\never so much obliged to you. It was just as good as one of Grandfather\nFrog's.\"\n\nOl' Mistah Buzzard grinned and slowly winked one eye at Unc' Billy\nPossum as he replied: \"Thank yo', Brer Rabbit. That's quite the\nnicest thing yo' could say.\"\n\n\"But it's true!\" shouted all together, and then everybody gave three\ncheers for Ol' Mistah Buzzard before starting off to attend to their\nown private affairs.\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nWHY BUSTER BEAR APPEARS TO HAVE NO TAIL\n\n\nPeter Rabbit had something new to bother his bump of curiosity. And it\ndid bother it a lot. He had just seen Buster Bear for the first time,\nand what do you think had impressed him most? Well, it wasn't Buster's\ngreat size, or wonderful strength, or big claws, or deep,\ngrumbly-rumbly voice. No, Sir, it wasn't one of these. It was the fact\nthat Buster Bear seemed to have no tail! Peter couldn't get over that.\nHe almost pitied Buster Bear. You see, Peter has a great admiration\nfor fine tails. He has always been rather ashamed of the funny little\none he has himself. Still, it is a real tail, and he has often\ncomforted himself with that thought.\n\nSo the first thing Peter did when he saw Buster Bear was to look to\nsee what kind of a tail he had. Just imagine how surprised he was when\nhe couldn't make sure that Buster had any tail at all. There was\nsomething that might, just might, be meant for a tail, and Peter\nwasn't even sure of that. If it was, it was so ridiculously small that\nPeter felt that he had no reason to be ashamed of his own tail.\n\nHe was still thinking about this when he started for home. Half way\nthere, he paused, saw that the way to the Smiling Pool was clear, and\nsuddenly made up his mind to ask Grandfather Frog about Buster Bear's\ntail. Off he started, lipperty-lipperty-lip.\n\n\"Oh, Grandfather Frog,\" he panted, as soon as he reached the edge of\nthe Smiling Pool, \"has Buster Bear got a tail?\"\n\nGrandfather Frog regarded Peter in silence for a minute or two.\n\nThen very slowly he asked: \"What are your eyes for, Peter Rabbit?\nCouldn't you see whether or not he has a tail?\"\n\n\"No, Grandfather Frog. I really couldn't tell whether he has a tail or\nnot,\" replied Peter quite truthfully. \"At first I thought he hadn't,\nand then I thought he might have. If he has, it doesn't seem to me\nthat it is enough to call a really truly tail.\"\n\n\"Well, it is a really truly tail, even if you don't think so,\"\nretorted Grandfather Frog, \"and he has it for a reminder.\"\n\n\"A reminder!\" exclaimed Peter, looking very much puzzled. \"A reminder\nof what?\"\n\nGrandfather Frog cleared his throat two or three times. \"Sit down,\nPeter, and learn a lesson from the tale of the tail of Old King Bear,\"\nsaid he very seriously.\n\n\"You remember that once upon a time, long ago, when the world was\nyoung, Old King Bear ruled in the Green Forest, and everybody brought\ntribute to him.\"\n\nPeter nodded and Grandfather Frog went on.\n\n\"Now Old King Bear was the great-great-ever-so-great grandfather of\nBuster Bear, and he looked very much as Buster does, except that he\ndidn't have any tail at all, not the least sign of a tail. At first,\nbefore he was made king of the Green Forest, he didn't mind this at\nall. In fact, he was rather pleased that he didn't have a tail. You\nsee, he couldn't think of any earthly use he would have for a tail,\nand so he was glad that he hadn't got one to bother with.\n\n\"This was just Old Mother Nature's view of the matter. She had done\nher very best to give everybody everything that they really needed,\nand not to give them things which they didn't need. She couldn't see\nthat Mr. Bear had the least need of a tail, and so she hadn't given\nhim one. Mr. Bear was perfectly happy without one, and was so busy\ngetting enough to eat that he didn't have time for silly thoughts or\nvain wishes.\n\n\"Then he was made king over all the people of the Green Forest, and\nhis word was law. It was a very great honor, and for a while he felt\nit so and did his best to rule wisely. He went about just as before,\nhunting for his living, and had no more time than before for foolish\nthoughts or vain wishes. But after a little, the little people over\nwhom he ruled began to bring him tribute, so that he no longer had to\nhunt for enough to eat. Indeed, he had so much brought to him, that he\ncouldn't begin to eat all of it, and he grew very dainty and fussy\nabout what he did eat. Having nothing to do but eat and sleep, he grew\nvery fat and lazy, as is the case with most people who have nothing to\ndo. He grew so fat that when he walked, he puffed and wheezed. He grew\nso lazy that he wanted to be waited on all the time.\n\n\"It happened about this time that he overheard Mr. Fox talking to Mr.\nWolf when they both thought him asleep. 'A pretty kind of a king, he\nis!' sneered Mr. Fox. 'The idea of a king without a tail!'\n\n\"'That's so,' assented Mr. Wolf. 'Why, even that little upstart, Mr.\nRabbit, has got a make-believe tail.'\"\n\nGrandfather Frog's eyes twinkled as he said this, and Peter looked\nvery much embarrassed. But he didn't say anything, so Grandfather Frog\nwent on.\n\n\"Old King Bear pretended to wake up just then, and right away Mr. Fox\nand Mr. Wolf were as polite and smiling as you please and began to\nflatter him. They told him how proud they were of their king, and how\nhandsome he was, and a lot of other nice things, all of which he had\nheard often before and had believed. He pretended to believe them now,\nbut after they were through paying their respects and had gone away,\nhe kept turning over and over in his mind what he had overheard them\nsay when they thought he was asleep.\n\n\"After that he couldn't think of anything but the fact that he hadn't\nany tail. He took particular notice of all who came to pay him\ntribute, and he saw that every one of them had a tail. Some had long\ntails; some had short tails; some had handsome tails and some had\nhomely tails; but everybody had a tail of some kind. The more he tried\nnot to think of these tails, the more he did think of them. The more\nhe thought of them, the more discontented he grew because he had none.\nHe didn't stop to think that probably all of them had use for their\ntails. No, Sir, he didn't think of that. Everybody else had a tail,\nand he hadn't. He felt that it was a disgrace that he, the king,\nshould have no tail. He brooded over it so much that he lost his\nappetite and grew cross and peevish.\n\n\"Then along came Old Mother Nature to see how things were going in the\nGreen Forest. Of course she saw right away that something was wrong\nwith Old King Bear. When she asked him what the matter was, he was\nashamed to tell her at first. But after a little he told her that he\nwanted a tail; that he could never again be happy unless he had a\ntail. She told him that he hadn't the least use in the world for a\ntail, and that he wouldn't be any happier if he had one. Nothing that\nshe could say made any difference--he wanted a tail. Finally she gave\nhim one.\n\n\"For a few days Old King Bear was perfectly happy. He spent all his\nspare time admiring his new tail. He called the attention of all his\nsubjects to it, and they all told him that it was a very wonderful\ntail and was very becoming to him. But it wasn't long before he found\nthat his new tail was very much in the way. It bothered him when he\nwalked. It was in the way when he sat down. It was a nuisance when he\nclimbed a tree. He didn't have a single use for it, and yet he had to\ncarry it with him wherever he went. Worse still, he overheard little\nMr. Squirrel and Mr. Possum making fun of it. And then he discovered\nthat the very ones who admired his tail so to his face were laughing\nat him and poking fun at him behind his back.\n\n\"And then Old King Bear wished that he _hadn't_ a tail more than ever\nhe wished that he _did_ have a tail. Again he lost his appetite and\ngrew cross and peevish, so that no one dared come near him. So matters\nwent from bad to worse, until once more Old Mother Nature visited the\nGreen Forest to see how things were. Very humbly Old King Bear went\ndown on his knees and begged her to take away his tail. At first Old\nMother Nature refused, but he begged so hard and promised so\nfaithfully never again to be discontented, that finally she relented\nand took away his tail, all but just a wee little bit. That she left\nas a reminder lest he should forget the lesson he had learned and\nshould again grow envious.\n\n[Illustration: \"Then Old King Bear wished that he hadn't a tail.\"]\n\n\"And every bear since that long-ago day has carried about with him a\nreminder--you can hardly call it a real tail--of the silly, foolish\ndiscontent of Old King Bear,\" concluded Grandfather Frog.\n\nPeter Rabbit scratched one long ear thoughtfully as he replied: \"Thank\nyou, Grandfather Frog. I think that hereafter I will be quite content\nwith what I've got and never want things it is not meant that I should\nhave.\"\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nWHY FLITTER THE BAT FLIES AT NIGHT\n\n\n[Illustration: \"It must be fine to fly,\" thought Peter. \"I wish I could\nfly.\"]\n\nFlitter the Bat made Peter Rabbit's head dizzy. Peter couldn't help\nwatching him. He just had to. It seemed so wonderful that Flitter\ncould really fly, that whenever he saw him, Peter had to stop and\nwatch. And then, as he saw Flitter twist and turn, fly high, fly low,\nand go round and round, Peter's head would begin to swim and grow\ndizzy, and he wondered and wondered how it was that Flitter himself\ndidn't grow dizzy.\n\n\"It must be fine to fly,\" thought Peter. \"I wish I could fly. If I\ncould, I wouldn't spend all my time flying around the way Flitter\ndoes. I'd go on long journeys and see the Great World. I'd fly way,\nway up in the blue, blue sky, the way Ol' Mistah Buzzard does, where I\ncould look down and see all that is going on in the Green Forest and\non the Green Meadows. And I'd fly in the daytime, because there is\nmore going on then. I wonder, now, why it is that Flitter never comes\nout until after jolly, round, red Mr. Sun has gone to bed behind the\nPurple Hills. I never see him in the daytime, and I don't even know\nwhere he keeps himself. I never thought of it before, but I wonder why\nit is that he flies only at night. I believe I'll ask Grandfather Frog\nthe very next time I see him.\"\n\nNow you know that once Peter Rabbit's curiosity is aroused, it just\nhas to be satisfied. No sooner did he begin to wonder about Flitter\nthe Bat than he could think of nothing else. So he watched until the\nway was clear, and then he started for the Smiling Pool as fast as he\ncould go, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He hoped he would find Grandfather\nFrog sitting as usual on his big green lily-pad, and that he would be\ngood-natured. If he wasn't feeling good-natured, it would be of no use\nto ask him for a story.\n\nWhen Peter reached the Smiling Pool he was disappointed, terribly\ndisappointed. The big green lily-pad was there, but there was no one\nsitting on it. Somehow the Smiling Pool didn't seem quite like itself\nwithout Grandfather Frog sitting there watching for foolish green\nflies. Peter's face showed just how disappointed he felt. He was just\ngoing to turn away when a great, deep voice said:\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! Where are your manners, Peter Rabbit, that you forget to\nspeak to your elders?\"\n\nPeter stared eagerly into the Smiling Pool, and presently he saw two\ngreat, goggly eyes and the top of a green head, way out almost in the\nmiddle of the Smiling Pool. It was Grandfather Frog himself, having\nhis morning swim.\n\n\"Oh, Grandfather Frog, I didn't see you at all!\" cried Peter, \"If I\nhad, of course I would have spoken. The fact is, I--I--\"\n\n\"You want a story,\" finished Grandfather Frog for him. \"You can't fool\nme, Peter Rabbit. You came over here just to ask me for a story. I\nknow you, Peter! I know you! Well, what is it this time?\"\n\n\"If you please,\" replied Peter politely and happily, for he saw that\nGrandfather Frog was feeling good-natured, \"why is it that Flitter\nthe Bat flies only at night?\"\n\nGrandfather Frog climbed out on his big green lily-pad and made\nhimself comfortable. Peter sat still and tried not to show how\nimpatient he felt. Grandfather Frog took his time. It tickled him to\nsee how hard impatient Peter was trying to be patient, and his big,\ngoggly eyes twinkled.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said he at last, with a suddenness that made Peter jump.\n\"That's very good, Peter, very good indeed! Now I'll tell you the\nstory.\"\n\nOf course he meant that Peter's effort to keep still was very good,\nbut Peter didn't know this, and he couldn't imagine what Grandfather\nFrog meant. However, what he cared most about was the story, so he\nsettled himself to listen, his long ears standing straight up, and his\neyes stretched wide open as he watched Grandfather Frog. The latter\ncleared his throat two or three times, each time as if he intended to\nbegin right then. It was one of Grandfather Frog's little jokes. He\ndid it just to tease Peter. At last he really did begin, and the very\nfirst thing he did was to ask Peter a question.\n\n\"What is the reason that you stay in the dear Old Briar-patch when\nReddy Fox is around?\"\n\n\"So that he won't catch me, of course,\" replied Peter.\n\n\"Very good,\" said Grandfather Frog. \"Now, why do you go over to the\nsweet-clover patch every day?\"\n\n\"Why, because there is plenty to eat there,\" replied Peter, looking\nvery, very much puzzled.\n\n\"Well, now you've answered your own question,\" grunted Grandfather\nFrog. \"Flitter flies at night because he is safest then, and because\nhe can find plenty to eat.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said Peter, and his voice sounded dreadfully disappointed. He\nhad found out what he had wanted to know, but he hadn't had a story.\nHe fidgeted about and looked very hard at Grandfather Frog, but the\nlatter seemed to think that he had told Peter what he wanted to know,\nand that was all there was to it. Finally Peter sighed, and it was\nsuch a heavy sigh! Then very slowly he turned his back on the Smiling\nPool and started to hop away.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said Grandfather Frog in his deepest, story-telling\nvoice. \"A long time ago when the world was young, the\ngreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Flitter the Bat first learned\nto fly.\"\n\n\"I know!\" cried Peter eagerly. \"You told me about that, and it was a\nsplendid story.\"\n\n\"But when he learned to fly, he found that Old Mother Nature never\ngives all her blessings to any single one of her little people,\"\ncontinued Grandfather Frog, without paying the least attention to\nPeter's interruption. \"Old Mr. Bat had wings; something no other\nanimal had, but he found that he could no longer run and jump. He\ncould just flop about on the ground, and was almost helpless. Of\ncourse that meant that he could very easily be caught, and so the\nground was no longer a safe place for him. But he soon found that he\nwas not safe in the air in daytime. Old Mr. Hawk could fly even faster\nthan he, and Mr. Hawk was always watching for him. At first, Mr. Bat\ndidn't know what to do. He didn't like to go to Old Mother Nature and\ncomplain that his new wings were not all that he had thought they\nwould be. That would look as if he were ungrateful for her kindness\nin giving him the wings.\n\n\"'I've got to think of some way out of my troubles myself,' thought\nold Mr. Bat. 'When I'm sure that I can't, it will be time enough to go\nto Old Mother Nature.'\n\n\"Now of course it is very hard to think when you are twisting and\ndodging and turning in the air.\"\n\n\"Of course!\" said Peter Rabbit, just as if he knew all about it.\n\n\"So Mr. Bat went looking for a place where he could be quiet all by\nhimself and think without danger of being gobbled up for some one's\ndinner,\" continued Grandfather Frog. \"He flew and he flew and had\nalmost given up hope of finding any such place when he saw a cave. It\nlooked very black inside, but it was big enough for Mr. Bat to fly\ninto, and in he went. He knew that Mr. Hawk would never come in\nthere, and when he found a little shelf up near the roof, he knew that\nhe was safe from any four-footed enemies who might follow him there.\nIt was just the place to rest and think. So he rested, and while he\nrested, he thought and thought.\n\n\"By and by he noticed that it was growing dark outside. 'My goodness!\nIf I am going to get anything to eat to-day, I shall have to hurry,'\nthought he. When he got outside, he found that Mr. Sun had gone to\nbed. So had all the birds, except Mr. Owl and Mr. Nighthawk. Now Mr.\nNighthawk doesn't belong to the Hawk family at all, so there was\nnothing to fear from him. Then Mr. Bat had a very pleasant surprise.\nHe found the air full of insects, ever so many more than in the\ndaytime. By being very smart and quick he caught a few before it was\ntoo dark for him to see. They didn't fill his stomach, but they kept\nhim from starving. As he flew back to the cave, a great idea came to\nhim, the idea for which he had been thinking so hard. He would sleep\ndays in the cave, where he was perfectly safe, and come out to hunt\nbugs and insects just as soon as Mr. Hawk had gone to bed! Then he\nwould be safe and would not have to complain to Old Mother Nature.\n\n\"At first old Mr. Bat, who wasn't old then, you know, had hard work to\ncatch enough insects before it grew too dark, but he found that every\nnight he could see a little longer and a little better than the night\nbefore, until by and by he could see as well in the dusk as he used to\nsee in the daytime. Then he realized that Old Mother Nature had once\nmore been very good to him, and that she had helped him just as she\nalways helps those who help themselves. She had given him\nnight-seeing eyes, and he no more had to go hungry.\n\n\"Mr. Bat was very grateful, and from that day to this, Bats have been\ncontent to live in caves and fly in the evening. You ask Flitter if it\nisn't so.\"\n\nPeter grinned. \"He never stays in one place long enough for me to ask\nhim anything,\" said he. \"I'm ever so much obliged for the story,\nGrandfather Frog. It pays to make the best of what we have, doesn't\nit?\"\n\n\"It certainly does. Chug-a-rum! It certainly does!\" replied\nGrandfather Frog.\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nWHY SPOTTY THE TURTLE CARRIES HIS HOUSE WITH HIM\n\n\nSpotty the Turtle sat on an old log on the bank of the Smiling Pool,\ntaking a sun-bath. He had sat that way for the longest time without\nonce moving. Peter Rabbit had seen him when he went by on his way to\nthe Laughing Brook and the Green Forest to look for some one to pass\nthe time of day with. Spotty was still there when Peter returned a\nlong time after, and he didn't look as if he had moved. A sudden\nthought struck Peter. He couldn't remember that he ever had seen\nSpotty's house. He had seen the houses of most of his other friends,\nbut think as hard as ever he could, he didn't remember having seen\nSpotty's.\n\n\"Hi, Spotty!\" he shouted. \"Where do you live?\"\n\nSpotty slowly turned his head and looked up at Peter. There was a\ntwinkle in his eyes, though Peter didn't see it.\n\n\"Right here in the Smiling Pool. Where else should I live?\" he\nreplied.\n\n\"I mean, where is your house?\" returned Peter. \"Of course I know you\nlive in the Smiling Pool, but where is your house? Is it in the bank\nor down under water?\"\n\n\"It is just wherever I happen to be. Just now it is right here,\" said\nSpotty. \"I always take it with me wherever I go; I find it much the\nhandiest way.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Hi, Spotty!\" he shouted. \"Where do you live?\"]\n\nWith that Spotty disappeared. That is to say, his head and legs and\ntail disappeared. Peter stared very hard. Then he began to laugh, for\nit came to him that what Spotty had said was true. His house was\nwith him, and now he had simply retired inside. He didn't need any\nother house than just that hard, spotted shell, inside of which he was\nnow so cosily tucked away.\n\n\"That's a great idea! Ho, ho, ho! That's a great idea!\" shouted Peter.\n\n\"Of course it is,\" replied Spotty, putting nothing but his head out,\n\"You will always find me at home whenever you call, Peter, and that is\nmore than you can say of most other people.\"\n\nAll the way to his own home in the dear Old Briar-patch, Peter thought\nabout Spotty and how queer it was that he should carry his house\naround with him.\n\n\"I wonder how it happens that he does it,\" thought he. \"No wonder he\nis so slow. Of course, it is very handy to have his house always with\nhim. As he says, he is always at home. Still, when he is in a hurry\nto get away from an enemy, it must be very awkward to have to carry\nhis house on his back. I--I--why, how stupid of me! He doesn't have to\nrun away at all! All he has got to do is to go inside his house and\nstay there until the danger is past! I never thought of that before.\nWhy, that is the handiest thing I ever heard of.\"\n\nNow Peter knew that there must be a good story about Spotty and his\nhouse, and you know Peter dearly loves a good story. So at the very\nfirst opportunity the next day, he hurried over to the Smiling Pool to\nask Grandfather Frog about it. As usual, Grandfather Frog was sitting\non his big green lily-pad. No sooner did Peter pop his head above the\nedge of the bank of the Smiling Pool than Grandfather Frog exclaimed:\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! You've kept me waiting a long time, Peter Rabbit. I don't\nlike to be kept waiting. If you wanted to know about Spotty the\nTurtle, why didn't you come earlier?\" All the time there was a twinkle\nin the big, goggly eyes of Grandfather Frog.\n\nPeter was so surprised that he couldn't find his tongue. He hadn't\nsaid a word to any one about Spotty, so how could Grandfather Frog\nknow what he had come for? For a long time he had had a great deal of\nrespect for Grandfather Frog, who, as you know, is very old and very\nwise, but now Peter felt almost afraid of him. You see, it seemed to\nPeter as if Grandfather Frog had read his very thoughts.\n\n\"I--I didn't know you were waiting. Truly I didn't,\" stammered Peter.\n\"If I had, I would have been here long ago. If you please, how did you\nknow that I was coming and what I was coming for?\"\n\n\"Never mind how I knew. I know a great deal that I don't tell, which\nis more than some folks can say,\" replied Grandfather Frog.\n\nPeter wondered if he meant him, for you know Peter is a great gossip.\nBut he didn't say anything, because he didn't know just what to say,\nand in a minute Grandfather Frog began the story Peter so much wanted.\n\n\"Of course you know, without me telling you, that there is a reason\nfor Spotty's carrying his house around with him, because there is a\nreason for everything in this world. And of course you know that that\nreason is because of something that happened a long time ago, way back\nin the days when the world was young. Almost everything to-day is the\nresult of things that happened in those long-ago days. The\ngreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Spotty the Turtle lived\nthen, and unlike Spotty, whom you know, he had no house. He was very\nquiet and bashful, was Mr. Turtle, and he never meddled with any one's\nbusiness, because he believed that the best way of keeping out of\ntrouble was to attend strictly to his own affairs.\n\n\"He was a good deal like Spotty, just as fond of the water and just as\nslow moving, but he didn't have the house which Spotty has now. If he\nhad had, he would have been saved a great deal of trouble and worry.\nFor a long time everybody lived at peace with everybody else. Then\ncame the trying time, of which you already know, when those who lived\non the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest had the very hardest kind\nof work to find enough to eat, and were hungry most of the time. Now\nMr. Turtle, living in the Smiling Pool, had plenty to eat. He had\nnothing to worry about on that score. Everybody who lives in the\nSmiling Pool knows that it is the best place in the world, anyway.\"\n\nGrandfather Frog winked at Jerry Muskrat, who was listening, and Jerry\nnodded his head.\n\n\"But presently Mr. Turtle discovered that the big people were eating\nthe little people whenever they could catch them, and that he wasn't\nsafe a minute when on shore, and not always safe in the water,\"\ncontinued Grandfather Frog. \"He had two or three very narrow escapes,\nand these set him to thinking. He was too slow and awkward to run or\nto fight. The only thing he could do was to keep out of sight as much\nas possible. So he learned to swim with only his head out of water,\nand sometimes with only the end of his nose out of water. When he went\non land, he would cover himself with mud, and then when he heard\nanybody coming, he would lie perfectly still, with his legs and his\ntail and his head drawn in just as close as possible, so that he\nlooked for all the world like just a little lump of brown earth.\n\n\"One day he had crawled under a piece of bark to rest and at the same\ntime keep out of sight of any who might happen along. When he got\nready to go on his way, he found that the piece of bark had caught on\nhis back, and that he was carrying it with him. At first he was\nannoyed and started to shake it off. Before he succeeded, he heard\nsomeone coming, so he promptly drew in his head and legs and tail. It\nwas Mr. Fisher, and he was very hungry and fierce. He looked at the\npiece of bark under which Mr. Turtle was hiding, but all he saw was\nthe bark, because, you know, Mr. Turtle had drawn himself wholly\nunder.\n\n\"'I believe,' said Mr. Fisher, talking out loud to himself, 'that I'll\nhave a look around the Smiling Pool and see if I can catch that\nslow-moving Turtle who lives there. I believe he'll make me a good\ndinner.'\n\n\"Of course Mr. Turtle heard just what he said, and he blessed the\npiece of bark which had hidden him from Mr. Fisher's sight. For a long\ntime he lay very still. When he did go on, he took the greatest care\nnot to shake off that piece of bark, for he didn't know but that any\nminute he might want to hide under it again. At last he reached the\nSmiling Pool and slipped into the water, leaving the piece of bark on\nthe bank. Thereafter, when he wanted to go on land, he would first\nmake sure that no one was watching. Then he would crawl under the\npiece of bark and get it on his back. Wherever he went he carried the\npiece of bark so as to have it handy to hide under.\n\n\"Now all this time Old Mother Nature had been watching Mr. Turtle, and\nit pleased her to see that he was smart enough to think of such a\nclever way of fooling his enemies. So she began to study how she could\nhelp Mr. Turtle. One day she came up behind him just as he sat down to\nrest. The piece of bark was uncomfortable and scratched his back, 'I\nwish,' said he, talking to himself, for he didn't know that any one\nelse was near, 'I wish that I had a house of my own that I could carry\non my back all the time and be perfectly safe when I was inside of\nit.'\n\n\"'You shall have,' said Old Mother Nature, and reaching out, she\ntouched his back and turned the skin into hard shell. Then she touched\nthe skin of his stomach and turned that into hard shell. 'Now draw in\nyour head and your legs and your tail,' said she.\n\n\"Mr. Turtle did as he was told to do, and there he was in the very\nbest and safest kind of a house, perfectly hidden from all his\nenemies!\n\n\"'Oh, Mother Nature, how can I ever thank you?' he cried.\n\n\"'By doing as you always have done, attending wholly to your own\naffairs,' replied Old Mother Nature.\n\n\"So ever since that long-ago day when the world was young, all Turtles\nhave carried their houses with them and never have meddled in things\nthat don't concern them,\" concluded Grandfather Frog.\n\n\"Oh, thank you, Grandfather Frog,\" exclaimed Peter, drawing a long\nbreath. \"That was a perfectly splendid thing for Old Mother Nature to\ndo.\"\n\nThen he started for his own home in the dear Old Briar-patch, and all\nthe way there he wondered and wondered how Grandfather Frog knew that\nhe wanted that story, and to this day he hasn't found out. You see, he\ndidn't notice that Grandfather Frog was listening when he asked Spotty\nabout his house. Of course, Grandfather Frog knows Peter and his\ncuriosity so well that he had guessed right away that Peter would come\nto him for the story, just as Peter did.\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nWHY PADDY THE BEAVER HAS A BROAD TAIL\n\n\nUsually the thing that interests us most is something that we haven't\ngot ourselves. It is that way with Peter Rabbit. Peter is not\nnaturally envious. Oh, my, no! Peter is pretty well satisfied with\nwhat he has, which is quite as it should be. There is only one thing\nwith which Peter is really dissatisfied, and it is only once in a\nwhile, when he hasn't much of anything else to think about, that he is\ndissatisfied with this. Can you guess what it is? Well, it is his\ntail. Yes, Sir, that is the one thing that ever really troubles\nPeter.\n\nYou see, Peter's tail is, nothing but a funny little bunch of cotton,\nwhich doesn't look like a tail at all. The only time he ever sees it\nis when he is back to the Smiling Pool and looks over his shoulder at\nhis reflection in the water, and then, of course, he really doesn't\nsee his tail itself. So sometimes when Peter sees the fine tails of\nhis neighbors, a little bit of envy creeps into his heart for just a\nlittle while. Why, even little Danny Meadow Mouse has a real tail,\nshort as it is. And as for Happy Jack Squirrel and Reddy Fox and Bobby\nCoon and Jimmy Skunk, everybody knows what beautiful tails they have.\nOnce Peter thought about it so much that Grandfather Frog noticed how\nsober he was and asked Peter what the trouble was. When Peter told him\nthat it seemed to him that Old Mother Nature had not been fair in\ngiving him such a foolish little tail when she had given others such\nbeautiful ones, Grandfather Frog just opened his big mouth and laughed\nuntil he had to hold his sides.\n\n\"Why, Peter,\" said he, \"you look so sober, that I thought you really\nhad something to worry about. What would you do with a big tail, if\nyou had one? It would always be in your way. Just think how many times\nReddy Fox or old Granny Fox have almost caught you. They certainly\nwould have before this, if you had had a long tail sticking out behind\nfor them to get hold of. I had a long tail when I was young, and I was\nmighty glad to get rid of it.\"\n\nAfter he heard that, Peter felt better. But he didn't lose interest in\ntails, and he spent a great deal of time in wondering why some of his\nneighbors had big, bushy tails and some had long, slim tails and why\nhe himself had almost no tail at all. So when Paddy the Beaver came\nto live in the Green Forest, and made a pond there by building a\nwonderful dam across the Laughing Brook, the first thing Peter looked\nto see was what kind of a tail Paddy has, and the first time he got a\ngood look at it, his eyes popped almost out of his head. He just\nstared and stared. He hardly noticed the wonderful dam or the equally\nwonderful canals which Paddy had made. All he could think of was that\ngreat, broad, flat, thick tail, which is so unlike any tail he had\never seen or heard of.\n\nThe very next morning he hurried over to the Smiling Pool to tell\nGrandfather Frog about it. Grandfather Frog's big, goggly eyes\ntwinkled.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" said he. \"Paddy the Beaver has one of the most useful\ntails I know of. Would you like to know how he comes by such a queer\ntail?\"\n\n[Illustration: The first thing Peter looked to see was what kind of a\ntail Paddy has.]\n\n\"Oh, if you please! If you please, Grandfather Frog! I didn't suppose\nthere was such a queer tail in all the world, and I don't see what\npossible use it can be. Do tell me about it!\" cried Peter.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! If you had used your eyes when you visited Paddy, you\nmight have guessed for yourself how he came by it,\" replied\nGrandfather Frog gruffly. \"Some people never do learn to use their\neyes.\"\n\nPeter looked a bit sheepish, but he said nothing and waited patiently.\nPresently Grandfather Frog cleared his throat two or three times and\nbegan to talk.\n\n\"Once upon a time, long, long ago, when the world was young--\"\n\n\"It seems to me that everything wonderful happened long ago when the\nworld was young,\" interrupted Peter.\n\nGrandfather Frog looked at Peter severely, and Peter hastened to beg\nhis pardon.\n\nAfter a long time Grandfather Frog began again.\n\n\"Once on a time, long, long ago, lived Mr. Beaver, the\ngreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Paddy up there in the Green\nForest. Old Mr. Beaver was one of the hardest working of all of Old\nMother Nature's big family and one of the smartest, just as Paddy is\nto-day. He always seemed happiest when he was busiest, and because he\nliked to be happy all the time, he tried to keep busy all the time.\n\n\"He was very thrifty, was Mr. Beaver; not at all like some people I\nknow. He believed in preparing to-day for what might happen to-morrow,\nand so when he had all the food he needed for the present, he stored\naway food for the time when it might not be so easy to get. And he\nbelieved in helping himself, did Mr. Beaver, and not in leaving\neverything to Old Mother Nature, as did most of his neighbors. That is\nhow he first came to think of making a dam and a pond. Like his small\ncousin, Mr. Muskrat, he was very fond of the water, and felt most at\nhome and safest there. But he found that sometimes the food which he\nliked best, which was the bark of certain kinds of trees, grew some\ndistance from the water, and it was the hardest kind of hard work to\nroll and drag the logs down to the water, where he could eat the bark\nfrom them in safety.\n\n\"He thought about this a great deal, but instead of going to Old\nMother Nature and complaining, as most of his neighbors would have\ndone in his place, he studied and studied to find some way to make the\nwork easier. One day he noticed that a lot of sticks had caught in\nthe stream where he made his home, and that because the water could\nnot work its way between them as fast as where nothing hindered it, it\nmade a little pool just above the sticks. That made him think harder\nthan ever. He brought some of the logs and sticks from which he had\ngnawed the bark and fastened them with the others, and right away the\npool grew bigger. The more sticks he added, the bigger the pool grew.\nMr. Beaver had discovered what a dam is for and how to build it.\n\n\"'Why,' thought he, 'if I make a pond at the place nearest to my food\ntrees, I can carry the water to the trees instead of the trees to the\nwater; and that will be easier and ever so much safer as well.'\n\n\"So Mr. Beaver built a dam at just the right place, while all the\nother little people laughed at him and made fun of him for working so\nhard. Just as he had thought it would do, the dam made a pond, and the\npond grew bigger and bigger, until it reached the very place where his\nfood trees grew. Mr. Beaver built him a big, comfortable house out in\nthe pond, and then he went to work as hard as ever he could to cut\ndown trees and then cut them up into the right sized pieces to store\naway in his big food pile for the winter.\n\n\"Now cutting down trees is hard work. Yes, Siree, cutting down trees\nis the hardest kind of hard work. Mr. Beaver had to sit up on his hind\nlegs to do it, and his legs grew very, very tired. In those days he\nhad a tail very much like the tail of Jerry Muskrat. It was very\nuseful when he was swimming, but it was of no use at all at any other\ntime. Sometimes he tried to brace himself with it--when he was\nsitting up to cut trees, and found it of no help. But he didn't\ncomplain; he just kept right on working, and only stopped to rest when\nhis legs ached so that he had to.\n\n\"He was working just as usual one day when Old Mother Nature came\nalong to see how he was getting on. She saw the new dam and the new\npond, and she asked Mr. Beaver who had made them. He told her that he\nhad and explained why. Old Mother Nature was greatly pleased, but she\ndidn't say so. She just passed the time of day with him and then sat\ndown to watch him cut a tree. She saw him try to brace himself with\nhis useless tail, and she saw him stop to rest his tired legs.\n\n\"'That looks to me like pretty hard work,' said Old Mother Nature.\n\n\"'So it is,' replied Mr. Beaver, stretching first one leg and then\nanother. 'But things worth having are worth working for,' and with\nthat he began cutting again.\n\n\"'You ought to have something to sit on,' said Old Mother Nature, her\neyes twinkling.\n\n\"Mr. Beaver grinned. 'It would be very nice,' he confessed, 'but I\nnever waste time wishing for things I haven't got and can't get,' and\nwent right on cutting.\n\n\"The next morning when he awoke, he had the greatest surprise of his\nlife. He had a new tail! It was broad and thick and flat. It wasn't\nlike any tail he had ever seen or heard of. At first he didn't know\nhow to manage it, but when he tried to swim, he found that it was even\nbetter than his old tail for swimming. He hurried over to begin his\nday's work, and there he made another discovery; his new tail was just\nthe most splendid brace! It was almost like a stool to sit on, and he\ncould work all day long without tiring his legs. Then was Mr. Beaver\nvery happy, and to show how happy he was, he worked harder than ever.\nLater, he found that his new tail was just what he needed to pat down\nthe mud with which he covered the roof of his house.\n\n\"'Why,' he cried, 'I believe it is the most useful tail in all the\nworld!'\n\n\"And then he wished with all his might that Old Mother Nature would\nreturn so that he might thank her for it. And that,\" concluded\nGrandfather Frog, \"is how Mr. Beaver came by his broad tail. You see,\nOld Mother Nature always helps those who help themselves. And ever\nsince that long-ago day, all Beavers have had broad tails, and have\nbeen the greatest workers in the world.\"","title":"Mother West Wind \"Why\" Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":27304}