{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17250/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17250","id":"gutenberg_17250","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17250","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Book Series","Children's Literature"],"text":"E-text prepared by Janet Blenkinship, Brian Sogard, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations.\n      See 17250-h.htm or 17250-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/2/5/17250/17250-h/17250-h.htm)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/2/5/17250/17250-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nMOTHER WEST WIND \"WHERE\" STORIES\n\nby\n\nTHORNTON W. BURGESS\n\nIllustrations by Harrison Cady\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: \"Then there was a crash, and everybody's eyes flew open.\"\nFRONTISPIECE. _See Page 243._]\n\nBurgess Trade Quaddies Mark\n\nGrosset & Dunlap\nPublishers     New York\nBy arrangement with Little, Brown, and Company\nCopyright, 1918,\nby Thornton W. Burgess.\nAll rights reserved\nPrinted in the United States of America\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n  CHAPTER                                                   PAGE\n\n    I.  WHERE GRANDFATHER FROG GOT\n        HIS BIG MOUTH                                          1\n\n   II.  WHERE MISER THE TRADE RAT\n        FIRST SET UP SHOP                                     17\n\n  III.  WHERE YAP-YAP THE PRAIRIE DOG\n        USED HIS WITS                                         31\n\n   IV.  WHERE YELLOW-WING GOT HIS\n        LIKING FOR THE GROUND                                 47\n\n    V.  WHERE LITTLE CHIEF LEARNED TO MAKE HAY                61\n\n   VI.  WHERE GLUTTON THE WOLVERINE GOT HIS NAME              77\n\n  VII.  WHERE OLD MRS. 'GATOR MADE\n        THE FIRST INCUBATOR                                   91\n\n VIII.  WHERE MR. QUACK GOT HIS\n        WEBBED FEET                                          107\n\n   IX.  WHERE THUNDERFOOT THE BISON\n        GOT HIS HUMP                                         123\n\n    X.  WHERE LIMBERHEELS GOT HIS\n        LONG TAIL                                            139\n\n   XI.  WHERE OLD MR. GOBBLER GOT THE\n        STRUTTING HABIT                                      155\n\n  XII.  WHERE SEEK-SEEK GOT HIS\n        PRETTY COAT                                          169\n\n  XIII. WHERE OLD MR. OSPREY LEARNED\n        TO FISH                                              185\n\n  XIV.  WHERE OLD MR. BOB-CAT LEFT HIS\n        HONOR                                                199\n\n   XV.  WHERE DIPPY THE LOON GOT THE\n        NAME OF BEING CRAZY                                  213\n\n  XVI.  WHERE BIG-HORN GOT HIS CURVED\n        HORNS                                                229\n\n\n\n\n     LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n                                                             PAGE\n\n  \"THEN THERE WAS A CRASH, AND EVERYBODY'S\n   EYES FLEW OPEN\"                                      _FRONTISPIECE_\n\n  \"LITTLE CHIEF'S FATHER TAUGHT HIM HOW\n   TO MAKE HAY\"                                               74\n\n   PETER NOTICED THOSE FEET THE FIRST TIME\n   HE MET MR. AND MRS. QUACK                                 122\n\n  \"DON'T CALL ME STRIPED CHIPMUNK, AND\n   DON'T CALL ME GOPHER!\" SAID HE                            170\n\n\n\n\nMOTHER WEST WIND \"WHERE\" STORIES\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nWHERE GRANDFATHER FROG GOT HIS BIG MOUTH\n\n\nEverybody knows that Grandfather Frog has a big mouth. Of course! It\nwouldn't be possible to look him straight in the face and not know that\nhe has a big mouth. In fact, about all you see when you look Grandfather\nFrog full in the face are his great big mouth and two great big goggly\neyes. He seems then to be all mouth and eyes.\n\nAnyway, that is what Peter Rabbit says. Peter never will forget the\nfirst time he saw Grandfather Frog. Peter was very young then. He had\nrun away from home to see the Great World, and in the course of his\nwanderings he came to the Smiling Pool. Never before had he seen so much\nwater. The most water he had ever seen before was a little puddle in the\nLone Little Path. So when Peter, who was only half grown then, hopped\nout on the bank of the Smiling Pool and saw it dimpling and smiling in\nthe sunshine, he thought it the most wonderful thing he ever had seen.\nThe truth is that in those days Peter was in the habit of thinking\neverything he saw for the first time the most wonderful thing yet, and\nas he was continually seeing new things, and as his eyes always nearly\npopped out of his head whenever he saw something new, it is a wonder\nthat he didn't become pop-eyed.\n\nPeter stared and stared at the Smiling Pool, and little by little he\nbegan to see other things. First he noticed the bulrushes growing with\ntheir feet in the water. They looked to him like giant grass, and he\nbegan to be a little fearful lest this should prove to be a sort of\nmagic place--a place of giants. Then he noticed the lily-pads, and he\nstared very hard at these. They looked like growing things, and yet they\nseemed to be floating right on top of the water. It wasn't until a Merry\nLittle Breeze came along and turned the edge of one up so that Peter saw\nthe long stem running down in the water out of sight, that he was able\nto understand how those lily-pads could be growing there. He was still\nstaring at those lily-pads when a great deep voice said:\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! Chug-a-rum! Don't you know it isn't polite to stare at\npeople?\"\n\nThat voice was so unexpected and so deep that Peter was startled. He\njumped, started to run, then stopped. He wanted to run, but curiosity\nwouldn't let him. He simply couldn't run away until he had found out\nwhere that voice came from and to whom it belonged. It seemed to Peter\nthat it had come from right out of the Smiling Pool, but look as he\nwould, he couldn't see any one there.\n\n\"If you please,\" said Peter timidly, \"I'm not staring at anybody.\" All\nthe time he was staring down into the Smiling Pool with eyes fairly\npopping out of his head.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum! Have a care, young fellow! Have a care how you talk to your\nelders. Do you mean to be impudent enough to tell me to my face that I\nam not anybody?\" The voice was deeper and gruffer than ever, and it made\nPeter more uncomfortable than ever.\n\n\"Oh, no, Sir! No, indeed!\" exclaimed Peter. \"I don't mean anything of\nthe kind. I--I--well, if you please, Sir, I don't see you at all, so how\ncan I be staring at you? I'm sure from the sound of your voice that you\nmust be somebody very important. Please excuse me for seeming to stare.\nI was just looking for you, that is all.\"\n\nA little movement in the water close to a big green lily-pad caught\nPeter's eyes, and then out on the big green lily-pad climbed Grandfather\nFrog. If Peter had stared before he doubly stared now, eyes and mouth\nwide open. Grandfather Frog was looking his very best in his handsome\ngreen coat and white-and-yellow waistcoat. But Peter had hardly noticed\nthese at all.\n\n\"Why, you're all mouth!\" he exclaimed, and then looked very much ashamed\nof his impoliteness.\n\nGrandfather Frog's great goggly eyes twinkled. He knew that Peter was\nvery young and innocent and just starting out in the Great World. He\nknew that Peter didn't intend to be impolite.\n\n\"Not quite,\" said he good-naturedly. \"Not quite all mouth, though I must\nadmit that it is of good size. The fact is, I wouldn't have it a bit\nsmaller if I could. If it were any smaller, I should miss many a good\nmeal, and if I were forced to do that, I am afraid I should be very\nill-tempered indeed. The truth is, I am very proud of my big mouth. I\ndon't know of any one who has a bigger one for their size.\"\n\nHe opened his mouth wide, and it seemed to Peter that Grandfather\nFrog's whole head simply split in halves. He hadn't supposed anybody in\nall the Great World possessed such a mouth.\n\n\"Where did you get it?\" gasped Peter, and then felt that he had asked a\nvery foolish question.\n\nGrandfather Frog chuckled. \"I got it from my father, and he got his from\nhis father, and so on, way back to the days when the world was young and\nthe Frogs ruled the world,\" said he. \"Would you like to hear about it?\"\n\n\"I'd love to!\" cried Peter. So he settled himself comfortably on the\nbank of the Smiling Pool for the first of many, many stories he was to\nhear from Grandfather Frog.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" began Grandfather Frog. You know he always begins a story\nthat way. \"Chug-a-rum! Once upon a time the Great World was mostly\nwater, and most of the people lived in the water. It was in those days\nthat my great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather lived. Those were happy\ndays for the Frogs. Yes, indeed, those were happy days for the Frogs. Of\ncourse they had enemies, but those enemies were all in the water. They\ndidn't have to be watching out for danger from the air and from the\nland, as I do now. There was plenty to eat and little to do, and the\nFrog tribe increased very fast. In fact, the Frogs increased so fast\nthat after a while there wasn't plenty to eat. That is, there wasn't\nplenty of the kind of food they had been used to, which was mostly water\nplants, and water bugs and such things.\n\n\"Of course there were many fish, and these also increased very fast,\nand the big fish ate the Frogs whenever they could catch them, just as\nthey do to this day. The big fish also ate the little fish, and it\nwasn't long before the Frogs and the little fish took to living where\nthe water was not deep enough for the big fish to swim, and this made it\nall the harder to get enough to eat. The mouths of the Frogs in those\ndays were not big. In fact, they were quite small. You see, living on\nthe kind of food they did, they had no need of big mouths.\n\n\"One day as a Great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather Frog sat with just\nhis head out of water, wondering what it would seem like to have his\nstomach really filled, a school of little fish came swimming about him,\nand it popped into his head that if little fish were good for big fish\nto eat, they might be good for a Frog to eat. So he caught the first\none that came within reach, and he found it was good to eat. He liked it\nso well that after that he caught fish whenever he could. Of course he\nswallowed them whole. He had to, because he had no chewing or biting\nteeth.\n\n\"Now the Frogs always have been famous for their appetites, and\nGreat-grandfather Frog found that it took a great many of these teeny\nweeny fish to make a comfortable meal. He was thinking of this one day\nwhen a larger fish came within reach, and almost without realizing what\nhe was doing Great-grandfather snapped at and caught him. He caught the\nfish by the tail and at once began to swallow it, which, of course, was\nno way to swallow a fish. But Great-grandfather Frog had much to learn\nin those day, and so he tried to swallow that fish tail first instead\nof head first. He got the tail down and the smallest part of the body,\nand then that fish stuck. Yes, Sir, that fish stuck. The fact was,\nGreat-grandfather Frog's mouth wasn't wide enough. It was bad enough not\nto be able to swallow all of that fish, but what was worse was the\ndiscovery that he couldn't get up again what he had swallowed. That fish\nwas stuck! It would go neither down nor up.\n\n\"Poor Great-grandfather Frog was in a terrible fix. Big tears rolled\ndown his cheeks. He choked and choked and choked, until it looked very\nmuch as if he might choke to death. Just in time, in the very nick of\ntime, who should come along but Old Mother Nature. She saw right away\nwhat the trouble was, and she pulled out the fish. Then she asked how\nthat fish had happened to be in such a place as Great-grandfather Frog's\nmouth. When he could get his breath, he told her all about it--how food\nhad been getting scarce and how he had discovered that fish were good to\neat, and how he had make a mistake in catching a fish too big for his\nmouth. Old Mother Nature looked thoughtful. She saw the great numbers of\nyoung fish. Suddenly she reached over and put a finger in\nGreat-grandfather Frog's mouth and stretched it sideways. Then she did\nthe same thing to the other corner. Great-grandfather Frog's mouth was\nthree times as big as it had been before.\n\n\"'Now,' said she, 'I don't believe you'll have any more trouble, and I'm\ngoing to do the same thing for all the other Frogs.'\n\n\"She did that very day, and from then on the Frogs no longer had any\ntrouble in getting plenty to eat. So that is where I got my big mouth,\nand I tell you right now I wouldn't trade it for anything anybody else\nhas got,\" concluded Grandfather Frog, as he snapped up a foolish green\nfly who came too near.\n\n\"I think it is splendid, perfectly splendid,\" cried Peter. \"I wish I had\none just like it.\" And then he wondered why Grandfather Frog laughed so\nhard.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nWHERE MISER THE TRADE RAT FIRST SET UP SHOP\n\n\nIt was quite by accident that Peter Rabbit first heard of Miser the\nTrade Rat. You know how it is with Peter; he is forever using those big\nears of his to learn interesting things. That is what ears are for; but\nthere is a right way and a wrong way to use them, and I am afraid that\nPeter isn't always over-particular in this respect. I suspect, in fact I\nknow, that Peter sometimes listens when he has no business to listen and\nknows he has no business to listen. Again he sometimes overhears things\nquite by accident when he cannot very well help hearing. It was in this\nway that he first heard of Miser the Trade Rat.\n\nPeter had crept into a hollow log in the Green Forest to rest and to\nfeel absolutely safe while he was doing it. He had been there only a\nlittle while when he heard light footsteps outside and a moment later a\nvoice which made him shiver a little in spite of himself and the\nknowledge that he was perfectly safe. The footsteps and the voice were\nOld Man Coyote's.\n\nVery carefully Peter peeped out. Old Man Coyote had sat down close by\nthe log in which Peter was hiding. On a dead tree close at hand sat Ol'\nMistah Buzzard, who had come up from way down south for the summer, and\nit was to him that Old Man Coyote was talking.\n\n\"I was over by Farmer Brown's barn last night,\" said Old Man Coyote,\n\"and I caught a glimpse of Robber the Brown Eat. What a disgrace he is\nto the whole Rat tribe! For that matter, he is a disgrace to all who\nlive on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest. He isn't much like\nhis cousin, Miser the Trade Rat.\"\n\n\"Mah goodness! Do yo' know Miser?\" exclaimed Ol' Mistah Buzzard.\n\n\"Do I know Miser? I should say I do!\" replied Old Man Coyote. \"I've\ntried to catch him enough times to know him. He kept a junk shop very\nnear where I used to live way out west. Do you know him, Mr. Buzzard?\"\n\n\"Ah cert'nly does,\" chuckled Ol' Mistah Buzzard. \"Ah cert'nly does. Ah\nnever did see such a busy fellow as he is. Ah done see his junk shop\nmany times, and always it done be growin' bigger. Ah wonders, Brer Coyote,\nif yo' ever heard the story of his Great-great-ever-so-great-gran'-daddy,\nthe first of the family, and how and where he started the business that's\nbeen kept in the family ever since.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Old Man Coyote, \"I never did, and I've wondered about it a\ngreat deal.\"\n\nPeter Rabbit almost forgot that he was hiding. He was so eager to hear\nthat story that he was right on the point of speaking up and begging Ol'\nMistah Buzzard to tell it when he remembered Old Man Coyote. Just in the\nnick of time he clapped a hand over his mouth. It seemed to Peter a\nlong, long time before Old Man Coyote said:\n\n\"I'd like to hear that story, Mr. Buzzard, if it isn't too much to ask\nof you.\"\n\n\"Not at all, Brer Coyote; not at all. Ah'll be mor'n pleased to tell it\nto yo'. Ah cert'nly will,\" said Ol' Mistah Buzzard, and Peter settled\nhimself comfortably to listen.\n\n\"Yo' see it was this way,\" began Ol' Mistah Buzzard. \"Ah got it from mah\ngran'daddy, and he got it from his gran'daddy, and his gran'daddy got it\nfrom--\"\n\n\"I know,\" interrupted Old Man Coyote. \"It was handed down from your\ngreatest-great-grandfather, who lived in the days when the world was\nyoung and what you are going to tell me about happened. Isn't that it?\"\n\n\"Yes, Suh,\" replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard. \"Yes, Suh, that's it. Ol' Mother\nNature treat 'em all alike in those days. She's a right smart busy\nperson, and she ain't got no time fo' to answer foolish questions. No,\nSuh, she ain't. So, quick as she get a new kind of critter made, she\nturn him loose and tell him if he want to live he got to be right smart\nand find out for hisself how to do it. Ah reckons yo' know all about\nthat, Brer Coyote.\"\n\nOld Man Coyote nodded, and Ol' Mistah Buzzard scratched his bald head\ngently as if trying to stir up his memory. Peter Rabbit almost squealed\naloud in his impatience while he waited for Ol' Mistah Buzzard to go on.\n\n\"When Ol' Mother Nature made Brer Trade Rat in the beginning and turned\nhim loose in the Great World, he was just plain Mistah Rat and nothing\nmore, same as his no 'count cousin, Robber the Brown Rat,\" continued Ol'\nMistah Buzzard. \"He had to win a name for hisself same as ev'ybody else.\nHe had mighty sharp wits, had this Mistah Rat, and directly he found he\nhad to shift for hisself he began to study and study and study what he\ngwine to do to live well and be happy. He watched his neighbors to see\nwhat they did, and it didn't take him long to find out that if he would\nbe respected he must have a home. Those without homes were mostly no\n'count folks, same as they are today.\n\n\"So Brer Rat made a nest close to the trunk of a tree on the edge of the\nGreen Forest, a soft, warm nest, and in collectin' the stuff to make it\nof he learned the joy of bein' busy. Person'ly, yo' understand, Ah\nthinks he was all wrong. Ah never am so happy as when Ah can take a\nsun-bath with nothin' to do. But Brer Rat was never so happy as when he\nwas busy, and when he got that li'l nest finished time began to hang\nheavy on his hands. Yes, Suh, it cert'nly did. Just because he didn't\nhave anything else to do he began to add a little more to his house. One\nday he stepped on a thorn. 'Ouch!' cried Brer Rat, and then right away\nforgot the pain in a new idea. He would cover his house with thorns,\nleavin' just a little secret entrance for hisself! Then he would be\nsafe, wholly safe from his big neighbors, some of whom had begun to look\nat him with such a hungry look in their eyes that they made him right\nsmart uncomfortable. So he spent his time, did Brer Rat, in huntin' for\nthe longest and sharpest thorns and in cuttin' the branches on which\nthey grew. These he carried to his house and piled them around it and on\nit until it had become a great pile with sharp thorns stickin' out in\nevery direction, and the hungriest of the big people of the forest\npassed it at a respectful distance.\n\n\"When Brer Rat had all the thorns he needed and more, he began to\ncollect other things and added these to his pile. Yo' see, he had found\nthat it was great fun to collect things; to find the queerest things he\ncould and bring them home and look at them and wonder about them. So\nlittle by little his house became a sort of junk shop, the very first\none in all the Great World. Bright stones and shells, bones, anything\nthat caught his bright eyes and pleased them, he brought home. When he\nwas tired of huntin' fo' food or more strange things he would sit and\ngloat over his treasures and play with them. And then the first thing he\nknew he had a name. Yes, Suh, he had a name. He was called Miser.\n\n\"Of course Brer Miser hadn't lived ve'y long befo' he found out that\none law of the Great World was that things belonged to whoever could get\nthem and keep them. He saw that some thought themselves ve'y smart when\nthey stole from their neighbors. Brer Miser didn't like this at all. He\nwas ve'y, ye'y honest, was Brer Miser. Perhaps he wasn't really much\ntempted, not fo' a long time anyway.\n\n\"But at last came a time when he was tempted. Quite by accident he found\none of Mr. Squirrel's storehouses. In it were some nuts different from\nany he ever had seen befo'. 'Brer Squirrel won't mind if Ah taste just\none,' said he, and did it. It tasted good; it tasted ve'y good indeed.\nBrer Miser began to wish he had some nuts like those. When he got home\nhe couldn't think of anything but how good those nuts tasted. He knew\nthat all he had to do was to watch until Brer Squirrel was away and\nthen go he'p hisself. He knew that was just what any of his neighbors\nwould do in his place. But Brer Miser couldn't make it seem just right\nany way he looked at it. He was too honest, was Brer Miser, to do\nanything like that.\n\n\"He was sitting staring at his treasures but thinking about those nuts\nwhen an idea popped into his head, an idea that made him smile until Ah\nreckons he most split his cheeks. 'Ah knows what Ah'll do,' said he.\n'Ah'll just he'p mahself to some of those nuts and Ah'll leave something\nof mine in place of them. That's what Ah'll do.'\n\n\"And that's what he did do. He picked out a bright shell of which he was\nvery fond and he left it in Brer Squirrel's storehouse to pay fo' the\nnuts that he took. After that he always helped himself to anything he\nwanted, but he always left something to pay fo' it. It wasn't long befo'\nhis neighbors found out what he was doing, and then they called him\nMiser the Trade Rat. Whenever anybody found something he didn't want\nhisself, he took it to the little junk shop of Miser the Trade Rat and\ntraded it fo' something else, or left it where Miser would find it,\nknowing that Miser would leave something in its place.\n\n\"And it's been just so with Miser's family ever since. There is one Rat\nwho is a credit to his family instead of a disgrace,\" concluded Ol'\nMistah Buzzard.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nWHERE YAP-YAP THE PRAIRIE DOG USED HIS WITS\n\n\nPeter Rabbit had just had a great fright. He is used to having great\nfrights, but this time it was a different kind of a fright. It was not\nfor himself that he had been afraid but for one of his old friends and\nneighbors. Now that it was over, Peter drew a little breath of sheer\nrelief.\n\nYou see it was this way: Peter had started over for a call on Johnny\nChuck. When he reached Johnny Chuck's house he found no one at home. At\nfirst he thought he would go look for Johnny, for he knew that Johnny\nmust be somewhere near, as he never goes far from his own doorstep. Then\nhe changed his mind and decided to wait for Johnny to return. So he\nstretched himself out in some tall grass beside Johnny Chuck's house,\nintending to jump out and give Johnny a scare when he came home. Hardly\nhad he settled himself when he heard Johnny coming, and he knew by the\nsounds that Johnny was running from some danger.\n\nVery, very carefully Peter raised his head to see. Then he ducked it\nagain and held his breath. Johnny Chuck was running as Peter never had\nseen him run before and with very good reason. Just a few jumps behind\nJohnny's twinkling little black heels was Old Man Coyote. It looked to\nPeter as if Old Man Coyote certainly would catch Johnny Chuck this time.\nHe was so frightened for Johnny that he quite forgot that he himself\nmight be in danger. Head first through his doorway plunged Johnny, and\nOld Man Coyote's teeth snapped together on nothing.\n\nOld Man Coyote backed away a few steps and sat down with his head on one\nside as he studied Johnny Chuck's house in the ground. It was plain to\nbe seen that he was trying to make up his mind whether it would be worth\nwhile to try to dig Johnny out. Presently Johnny came half-way up his\nlong hall where he could look out. Then he began to scold Old Man\nCoyote. Old Man Coyote grinned.\n\n\"I give up, Johnny Chuck,\" said he. \"You did well when you made your\nhome between the roots of this old tree. If it wasn't for those roots,\nI certainly would dig you out. As it is you are safe. You remind me very\nmuch of your cousin, Yap-Yap the Prairie Dog, who lives out where I came\nfrom. There's a fellow who certainly knows how to make a house in the\nground. He doesn't have to depend on the roots of trees to keep from\nbeing dug out. Well, I guess it is a waste of time to hang around here.\nYou'll make just as good a dinner some other time as you would now, so\nI'll wait until then.\" Old Man Coyote grinned wickedly and trotted off.\n\nNow at the mention of Yap-Yap the Prairie Dog, the long ears of Peter\nRabbit had pricked up at once. It was the first time he had heard of\nYap-Yap, and when at last Johnny Chuck ventured out Peter was as full of\nquestions as a pea-pod is of peas. But Johnny Chuck knew nothing about\nhis cousin, Yap-Yap, and wasn't even interested in him. So finally Peter\nleft him and went back home to the dear Old Briar-patch. But he couldn't\nget Yap-Yap out of his mind, and he resolved that the first chance he\ngot he would ask Old Man Coyote about him. The chance came that very\nnight. Old Man Coyote came along by the dear Old Briar-patch and stopped\nto peer in and grin at Peter. Peter grinned back, for he knew that under\nthose friendly brambles he was quite safe.\n\n\"I heard what you said to Johnny Chuck about his cousin, Yap-Yap,\" said\nPeter.\n\nOld Man Coyote looked as surprised as he felt. \"Where were you?\" he\ndemanded gruffly.\n\n\"Lying flat in the grass close by Johnny Chuck's house,\" replied Peter,\nand grinned more broadly than ever.\n\n\"And to think I didn't know it!\" sighed Old Man Coyote. \"When I failed\nto catch Johnny Chuck, I thought I had missed only one dinner, but it\nseems I missed two. Next time I shall look around a little more sharply.\nDo you know, the sight of Johnny Chuck always makes me homesick, he\nreminds me so much of his cousin, Yap-Yap, and the days when I was\nyoung.\"\n\n\"I didn't know that Johnny Chuck had a cousin until you mentioned it,\"\nsaid Peter. \"Does he look like Johnny? Won't you tell me about him, Mr.\nCoyote?\"\n\n\"Seeing that I haven't anything in particular to do, I don't know but I\nwill,\" replied Old Man Coyote, who happened to be feeling very\ngood-natured. \"Many and many a time I have chased Yap-Yap into his\nhouse. Seems as if I can hear the rascal scolding me and calling me\nnames right this minute. He used to get me so provoked that it was all I\ncould do to keep from trying to dig him out.\"\n\n\"Why didn't you?\" asked Peter.\n\n\"Because it would have meant a waste of time, sore feet, and nothing to\nshow for my trouble,\" retorted Old Man Coyote. \"Yap-Yap never has\nforgotten what his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather learned when he\nfirst took to living on the open prairie.\"\n\n\"What did he learn? Tell me about it, Mr. Coyote,\" begged Peter.\n\n\"He learned to use his wits,\" replied Old Man Coyote, with a provoking\ngrin. \"He learned to use his wits, that's all.\"\n\n\"Please tell me about it, Mr. Coyote. Please,\" begged Peter.\n\n\"Once upon a time,\" began Old Man Coyote, \"so my grandfather told me,\nand he got it from his grandfather, who got it from his grandfather,\nwho--\"\n\n\"I know,\" interrupted Peter. \"It happened in the days when the world was\nyoung.\"\n\nOld Man Coyote looked at Peter very hard as if he had half a mind not to\ntell the story, but Peter looked so innocent and so eager that he began\nagain. \"Once upon a time lived the great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather\nof Yap-Yap, the very first of all the Prairie Dogs, and his name was\nYap-Yap too. He was own cousin to old Mr. Woodchuck, who of course\nwasn't old then, and the two cousins looked much alike, save that\nYap-Yap was a little smaller than Mr. Woodchuck and perhaps a little\nsmarter looking.\n\n\"From the very beginning Yap-Yap was a keen lover of the great open\nspaces. Trees were all very well for those who liked them, but he\npreferred to have nothing above him but the blue, blue sky. It seemed to\nhim that he never could find a big enough open space, so he never stayed\nvery long in any one place, but kept pushing on and on, looking for a\nspot in the Great World that would just suit him. At last he came to the\nedge of the Green Forest, and before him, as far as he could see,\nstretched the Green Meadows. At least it was like the Green Meadows,\nonly a million thousand times as big as the Green Meadows we are on now,\nPeter, and was really the Great Prairie.\n\n\"Yap-Yap looked and looked, then he drew a long breath of pure joy and\nstarted out across the green grass. On and on he went, until when he sat\nup and looked this way or that way or the other way he could see nothing\nbut grass and flowers, and over him was naught but the blue, blue sky.\nHe had found the great open space of which he had dreamed, and he was\nhappy. So he ate and slept and played with the Merry Little Breezes and\ngrew fat.\n\n\"Then one day came Skimmer the Swallow and brought him news of the hard\ntimes which had come to the rest of the Great World and how as a result\nthe big and the strong were hunting the small and the weak in order that\nthey themselves might live. When Skimmer had gone, Yap-Yap grew uneasy.\nWhat if some of the big and strong people he had known should come out\nthere in quest of food and should find him? There was no place in which\nto hide. There was no cave or hollow log.\n\n\"Yap-Yap looked at the strong claws Old Mother Nature had given him and\nan idea came to him. He would dig a hole in the ground. So he dug a hole\non a long slant very much like the hole of Johnny Chuck; but when it was\nfinished a little doubt crept into his head and grew and grew. What was\nto prevent some one who was very hungry from digging him out? So he\nmoved on a little way and started another hole, and this time he made it\nalmost straight down. Every day he made that hole deeper until it was\nmany feet deep. Then he made a turn in it and dug a long tunnel, at the\nend of which he hollowed out a comfortable bedroom and lined it with\ngrass. When it was finished he was quite satisfied.\n\n\"'I don't believe,' said he, 'that any one will have the patience to dig\nto the bottom of this.'\n\n\"So at night he slept in his bed at the end of his long hall far below\nthe surface, but all day he spent above ground, for he dearly loved the\nsunshine. All went well until there came a time of heavy rains. Then\nYap-Yap discovered that the water ran down his hole, and if he didn't do\nsomething, he was likely to be drowned out. Right away he set his sharp\nwits to work. He noticed that when the water on the surface reached the\nlittle piles of sand he had made, it ran around them. So he made a great\nmound of sand around his hole with the entrance in the middle and\npressed it firm on the inside so that the rain would not wash it down\nin. Then, although the water stood all around, it no longer ran down in\nhis house. In fair weather that mound was a splendid place on which to\nsit and watch for danger. So once more Yap-Yap was happy and care-free,\nall because he had used his wits.\n\n\"And from that day to this the Prairie Dogs have made their houses in\njust that way, and no one that I know cares to try to dig one out,\"\nconcluded Old Man Coyote.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nWHERE YELLOW-WING GOT HIS LIKING FOR THE GROUND\n\n\nPeter Rabbit was hopping along on the edge of the Green Meadows, looking\nfor a new patch of sweet clover. It was very beautiful that morning, and\nPeter was in the best of spirits. It was good just to be alive. Every\nonce in a while Peter would jump up and kick his long heels together\njust from pure happiness. He was so happy that he didn't pay particular\nattention to where he was going or what was about him. The result was\nthat Peter got a fright. Right from under his very nose something sprang\nout of the grass so suddenly and so wholly unexpectedly that Peter very\nnearly tumbled over backward. He made two long jumps off to one side and\nthen turned to see what had startled him so. But all he saw was an old\nfeathered acquaintance headed towards the Old Orchard. He seemed to\nbound along through the air much as Peter bounds along over the ground\nwhen he is in a hurry. It was Yellow-Wing the Flicker.\n\nPeter grinned and looked a little foolish. He felt a little foolish. You\nknow it always makes you feel foolish to be frightened when there is\nnothing to be afraid of. Peter watched Yellow-Wing until he disappeared\namong the trees of the Old Orchard, from which presently his voice\nsounded clear and loud, and in it there was a mocking note as if\nYellow-Wing were laughing at him. Peter suspected that he was. But\nPeter was feeling too happy to mind being laughed at. In fact, he\nchuckled himself. It was something of a joke to be frightened by one who\nwas so wholly harmless. Peter recalled how many times he had frightened\nother people and thought it the best of jokes.\n\nPeter went on until he found a new patch of sweet clover. Then he forgot\nall about Yellow-Wing. He was too busy filling that big stomach of his\nto think of anything else. When he couldn't find room for another leaf\nof clover he went home to the dear Old Briar-patch, and there in his\nfavorite spot he settled himself to rest and think or dream as the case\nmight be. Presently his thoughts returned to Yellow-Wing, and he\nchuckled again at the memory of his fright that morning. And then for\nthe first time it struck Peter as queer that Yellow-Wing should have\nbeen out there on the Green Meadows on the ground. He often had seen\nYellow-Wing on the ground, but until that moment there never had seemed\nanything queer about that. Now, however, it suddenly came to Peter that\nYellow-Wing belonged in trees, not on the ground.\n\nPeter scratched his long left ear with his long left hind foot, which\nwas a sign that he was thinking of something that puzzled him. \"He\nbelongs to the Woodpecker family,\" thought Peter, \"and never have I seen\nany of his relatives on the ground. They get all their food in the\ntrees. Now why is Yellow-Wing so different from his relatives?\"\n\nThe more Peter thought about it, the queerer it seemed that a Woodpecker\nshould spend so much time on the ground, or visit the ground at all,\nfor that matter. But just wondering about it didn't get him anywhere,\nand at last Peter decided that the only way to find out would be to ask\nquestions. So Peter made up his mind to watch for Yellow-Wing and ask\nhim all about it the first chance he got.\n\nThe chance came the very next day in the very same place where Peter had\nbeen so startled. This time he was on the watch and saw Yellow-Wing very\nbusy about something. Peter stole up within speaking distance.\n\n\"Good morning, Yellow-Wing,\" said he. \"I wonder if you will tell me\nsomething.\"\n\nIt was Yellow-Wing's turn to be startled, for he had not seen Peter\napproaching. He half lifted his wings to fly, but when he saw who it\nwas, he changed his mind.\n\n\"It all depends on what it is you want me to tell you,\" he replied\nrather shortly.\n\n\"It is just this,\" replied Peter. \"Why do you spend so much time on the\nground?\"\n\n\"That's easily answered,\" laughed Fellow-Wing. \"I do it because it is\nthe easiest way to get enough to eat.\"\n\nPeter looked as surprised as he felt. \"I thought that all your family\ngot their living in the trees!\" he exclaimed.\n\n\"All do but me,\" replied Yellow-Wing a wee bit testily. \"But I don't\nhave to do what they do just because they do it. No, Siree, I'm\nindependent! Do you like ants, Peter?\"\n\n\"What?\" exclaimed Peter.\n\n\"I asked if you like ants,\" repeated Yellow-Wing.\n\n\"I've never tried them,\" Peter replied, \"but I've heard Old Mr. Toad\nsay they are very nice.\"\n\n\"They are,\" said Yellow-Wing. \"They are more than nice--they are\nde-li-cious. It is because of them that I spend so much time on the\nground. Ants changed the habits of the Flicker branch of the Woodpecker\nfamily. I wouldn't be surprised if we became regular ground birds one of\nthese days.\"\n\nPeter looked puzzled. He kept turning it over in his mind as he watched\nYellow-Wing plunge his long stout bill into an ant hill and then gobble\nup the ants as they came rushing out to see what the trouble was.\n\n\"I don't see how ants could change the habits of anybody,\" he ventured\nafter a while.\n\nYellow-Wing's eyes twinkled. \"Why don't you learn to eat them?\" he\ndemanded. \"If you would, they might change _your_ habits. The beginning\nof the change in the habits of my folks began a long time ago.\"\n\n\"Way back in the beginning of things, when the world was young?\" asked\nPeter.\n\n\"No, not quite so far back as that,\" replied Yellow-Wing.\n\"Great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather, who was the first Flicker, was,\nof course, a member of the Woodpecker family, and he got his living in\nregular Woodpecker fashion. It never entered his head to look for food\nanywhere but in the trees, and I don't suppose that it ever entered his\nhead to set foot on the ground. It was the same with his children and\nhis children's children for a long time.\n\n\"But though they lived as true Woodpeckers should, the Flickers always\nwere a bit sharper-witted and more independent than most of their\nrelatives. For one thing they had discovered that ants were fine eating\nand that great numbers of them were to be found running up and down the\ntrunks of certain trees. So the Flickers used to look for these trees\nand feast on the ants. It saved a lot of labor. A stomachful of ants\ncould be picked from the trunk of a tree in the time it would take to\ndig out one worm in the wood, to say nothing of the saving of hard work.\n\n\"One day a few years ago my great-great-great-grandfather, so the story\ngoes, had stuffed himself with ants from the trunk of a tree and had\nsettled himself for a rest. From where he sat he could see a procession\nof ants going up and down the tree, and he got to wondering where they\nall came from and where they all went to. So he watched and presently\ndiscovered that that double line of ants led out along the ground from\nthe foot of the tree. This made him still more curious and he followed\nit, flying along just over it. He had gone but a short distance when he\ncame to a little mound of sand, and there the line of ants ended.\nGrandfather Flicker flew up in a tree from which he could look right\ndown on that mound, and it didn't take him long to discover that those\nants were going in and out of little holes in that mound.\n\n\"'As I live, that must be their home!' exclaimed he. 'That place is\nalive with them. What a place to fill one's stomach! I never was on the\nground in my life, but the next time I'm hungry, I'm going to see what\nthe ground is like. I won't have to stay on it long to get my dinner\nhere.'\n\n\"Grandfather Flicker was as good as his word. When he was ready for\nanother meal, he flew down to that ant hill. He found that when he\nplunged his bill into it, the ants fairly poured out to see what was\nhappening, and all he had to do was to thrust out his long sticky tongue\nand lick them up. Never in all his life before had he filled his stomach\nso easily. After that, instead of wasting time hunting for worms and\ninsects in the trees where he could find only one at a time, Grandfather\nFlicker kept his eyes open for ant hills on the ground. He taught his\nchildren to do the same thing. That was the beginning of the change of\nhabits with the Flickers. Ever since we have spent more and more time on\nthe ground, so that now we feel quite at home there. We still get some\nof our food in the trees by way of variety, and we make our homes there,\nbut a good big part of our food we get just as I am doing now.\"\n\nWith this Yellow-Wing once more plunged his bill into the ant hill and\nlicked up a dozen ants who had come rushing out to see what was going\non. And so once more the curiosity of Peter Rabbit was satisfied, and he\nhad learned something.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nWHERE LITTLE CHIEF LEARNED TO MAKE HAY\n\n\nNo one in all the Great World thinks more of the present and less of the\nfuture than does careless, happy-go-lucky Peter Rabbit. Everybody who\nknows Peter at all knows that Peter doesn't waste any time worrying over\nwhat may happen in a day that may never be. So Peter isn't thrifty as\nare Happy Jack Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Whitefoot the\nWood Mouse and Paddy the Beaver and Striped Chipmunk.\n\n\"I've got enough to eat today, and enough is enough, so what is the use\nof working when I don't have to?\" says Peter. \"I don't believe in\nworking today so that I won't have to work tomorrow, because when\ntomorrow comes there may be no need of working, and then I would feel\nthat I had wasted all this good time today.\" No, Peter isn't the least\nbit thrifty.\n\nIt is the same way with Peter's big cousin, Jumper the Hare. The truth\nis the whole family is happy-go-lucky. Happy Jack Squirrel says that\nevery blessed one of them is shiftless. It does look that way. It is a\npity that Peter and Jumper never have learned a lesson from Little Chief\nHare, who is commonly supposed to be a relative of theirs, although, as\na matter of fact, he is neither a Hare nor a Rabbit, but is a Pika,\nwhich is another family altogether. He is also called a Coney and\nsometimes the Calling Hare. But if you want sure-enough proof that he\nis neither a Rabbit nor a Hare, just watch him, if you are lucky enough\nto have a chance, cut and dry and store away a great pile of hay for\nwinter use. No true member of Peter's family ever would think of doing\nsuch a thing as that, more is the pity.\n\nPeter never has seen Little Chief, because Little Chief lives high up on\na mountain of the Far West among the rocks where Peter would never go,\neven if he could, but he has heard all about him. Old Man Coyote told\nhim all about him, and he got the story from his grandfather, who got it\nfrom his grandfather, who had one time visited the great mountain where\nLittle Chief's ever-so-great-grandfather lived in the very place where\nLittle Chief lives now. Old Man Coyote had chased Peter into the dear\nOld Briar-patch one cold winter day, and as he peered through the\nbrambles at Peter he noticed that Peter was very thin, very thin indeed.\nOld Man Coyote grinned.\n\n\"I'm just as well pleased not to have caught you this time, Peter,\" said\nhe. \"You wouldn't make much of a dinner just now. When I dine I want\nsomething more than skin and bones. It must be that you are having as\nhard work as I am to get a living these days.\"\n\n\"I am,\" replied Peter. \"With all this snow and ice on the ground, there\nis nothing to eat but bark and such tender twigs as I can reach, and\nthey are not very filling. But they'll keep me alive until better times\ncome, and then perhaps I'll get fat enough to suit you.\" It was Peter's\nturn to grin.\n\nOld Man Coyote grinned back good-naturedly. \"I should think, Peter,\"\nsaid he, \"that when there is so much sweet grass and clover in the\nsummer, you would make some of it into hay and store it away for winter,\nas Little Chief Hare does. There's the thrifty little hay-maker for\nyou!\"\n\n\"Who is Little Chief, and where did he learn to make hay?\" demanded\nPeter, his ears standing straight up with curiosity.\n\nOld Man Coyote likes to tell a story once in a while, and having nothing\nelse to do just then, he sat down just outside the dear Old Briar-patch\nand told Peter all about Little Chief and his hay-making.\n\n\"Of course,\" said he, \"Little Chief's father taught him how to make hay,\nand his father's father taught him, and so on way back to the days when\nthe world was young and Old Mother Nature made the first Pika or Coney,\nwhichever you please to call him, and set him free on a great mountain\nto prove whether he was worthy to live or was so helpless that there was\nno place for him in the Great World. Now Mr. Pika, who was promptly\ncalled Little Chief, no one remembers now just why, was exactly like\nLittle Chief of today. He was just about a fourth as big as you, Peter.\nIn fact, he looked a lot like one of your babies, excepting his legs and\nhis ears. His legs were short and rather weak, and his ears were short\nand rounded. He was very gentle and timid. He had neither the kind of\nteeth and claws for fighting nor long legs for running away, and it did\nseem as if Little Chief's chances of a long life and a happy one were\nvery slim indeed, especially as it happened that he was set free to\nshift for himself just at the beginning of the hard times, when the big\nand strong had begun to hunt the small and weak.\n\n\"For a while Little Chief had a hard time of it and so many narrow\nescapes that his heart was in his mouth most of the time. In trying to\nkeep out of the way of his enemies he kept climbing higher and higher up\nthe mountain, for the higher he got the fewer enemies he found. At last\nhe came to a big rock-slide above where the trees grew, and where there\nwas nothing but broken stone and big rocks. The sun lay there very warm,\nand Little Chief crept out among the stones to take a sun-bath; as he\nsquatted there it would have taken keen eyes indeed to tell him from a\nstone himself, though he didn't know this.\n\n\"After he had had a good rest, and jolly Mr. Sun had moved so that\nLittle Chief was no longer in the warm rays, Little Chief decided to\nlook about a little. It didn't take him long to discover that there were\nwonderful little winding galleries and hiding-places down among the\nstones. These led to little cracks and caves deep down in the mountain\nside. Little Chief was tickled almost to death.\n\n\"'This is the place for me!' he cried. 'No one ever will think to look\nfor me up here, and if they should they couldn't find me, for no one,\nnot even King Bear, could pull away these stones fast enough to catch\nme. All day long I can enjoy the sun, and at night I can sleep in\nperfect safety in one of these little caves.'\n\n\"So Little Chief made his home in the rock-slide high up on the mountain\nand was happy, for it was just as he thought it would be--no one\nthought of looking in that bare place for him. For food he ate the pea\nvines and grasses and other green things that grew just at the edge of\nthe rock-slide and was perfectly happy. One day he decided he would take\nsome of his dinner into his little cave and eat it there. So he cut a\nlittle bundle of pea vine and other green things. He left his little\nbundle on a flat rock in the sun while he went to look for something\nelse and then forgot all about it. It didn't enter his head again until\na few days later he happened along by that flat rock and discovered that\nlittle bundle. The pea vines and grasses were quite dry, just like the\nhay Farmer Brown's boy helps his father store away in the barn every\nsummer.\n\n\"'I guess I don't want to eat that,' said Little Chief, 'but it will\nmake me a very nice bed.' So he carried it home and made a bed of it.\nThere wasn't quite enough, so the next day he cut some more and carried\nit home at once. But this, being green, soon soured and smelled so badly\nthat he was forced to take it out and throw it away. That set him to\nthinking. Why was the first he had brought in so dry and sweet and\npleasant? Why didn't it spoil as the other had done? He cut some more\nand spread it out on the big flat rock and once again he forgot. When he\nremembered and went to look at it two or three days later, he found it\njust like the first, dry and sweet and very pleasant to smell. This he\ntook home to add to his bed. Then he took home some more that was green,\nand this spoiled just as the other had done.\n\n\"Little Chief was puzzling over this as he squatted on a rock taking a\nsun-bath. The sun was very warm and comforting. After a while the rock\non which he sat grew almost hot. Little Chief had brought along a couple\nof pieces of pea vine on which to lunch, but not being hungry he left\nthem beside him on the rock. By and by he happened to glance at them.\nThey had wilted and already they were beginning to dry. An idea popped\ninto his funny little head.\n\n\"'It's the sun that does it!' he cried.\n\n\"Up he jumped and scampered away to cut some more and spread it out on\nthe rocks. Then he discovered that the pea vine which he spread in the\nsun dried as he wanted it to, while any that happened to be left in the\nshadow of a rock didn't dry so well. He had learned how to make hay. He\nwas the first hay-maker in the Great World. He soon had more than\nenough for a bed, but he kept on making hay and storing it away just\nfor fun. Then came cold weather and all the green things died. There was\nno food for Little Chief. He hunted and hunted, but there was nothing.\nThen because he was so hungry he began to nibble at his hay. It tasted\ngood, very good indeed. It tasted almost as good as the fresh green\nthings. Little Chief's heart gave a great leap. He had food in plenty!\nHe had nothing to worry about, for his hay would last him until the\ngreen things came again, as come they would, he felt sure.\n\n\"And so it proved. And that is how Little Chief the Pika learned to make\nhay while the sun shone in the days of plenty. He taught his children\nand they taught their children, and Little Chief of today does it just\nas his great-great-ever-so-great-grand-daddy did. I don't see why you\ndon't do the same thing, Peter. You would make me a great deal finer\ndinner if you did.\"\n\n\"Perhaps that is the reason I don't,\" replied Peter with a grin.\n\n[Illustration: \"Little Chief's father taught him how to\nmake hay.\" _Page 67._]\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nWHERE GLUTTON THE WOLVERINE GOT HIS NAME\n\n\nGlutton the Wolverine is a dweller in the depths of the Great Forests of\nthe Far North, and it is doubtful if Peter Rabbit would ever have known\nthat there is such a person but for his acquaintance with Honker the\nGoose, who spends his summers in the Far North, but each spring and fall\nstops over for a day or two in a little pond in the Green Forest, a pond\nPeter often visits. This acquaintance with Honker and Peter's\neverlasting curiosity have resulted in many strange stories. At least\nthey have seemed strange to Peter because they have been about furred\nand feathered people whom Peter has never seen. And one of the strangest\nof these is the story of how Glutton the Wolverine got his name.\n\nOf course you know what a glutton is. It is one who is very, very, very\ngreedy and eats and eats as if eating were the only thing in life worth\nwhile. It is one who is all the time thinking of his stomach. No one\nlikes to be called a glutton. So when Honker the Goose happened to\nmention Glutton, it caused Peter to prick up his ears at once.\n\n\"Who's a glutton?\" he demanded.\n\n\"I didn't say any one was a glutton,\" replied Honker. \"I was speaking of\nGlutton the Wolverine who lives in the Great Forests of the Far North,\nand whom everybody hates.\"\n\n\"Is Glutton his name?\" asked Peter, wrinkling his brows in perplexity,\nfor it seemed a very queer name for any one.\n\n\"Certainly,\" replied Honker. \"Certainly that is his name, and a very\ngood name for him it is. But then of course it is because he _is_ a\nglutton that he is named Glutton. Rather I should say that is the reason\nthe first Wolverine was named Glutton. The name has been handed down\never since, and it fits Mr. Wolverine of today quite as well as ever it\ndid his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather.\"\n\n\"Tell me about it,\" Peter begged. \"Please tell me about it.\"\n\n\"Tell you about what?\" asked Honker, pretending not to understand.\n\n\"About how the first Wolverine got the name of Glutton,\" replied Peter\npromptly. \"There must have been a very good reason, and if there was a\nvery good reason, there must be a story. Please, Honker, tell me all\nabout it.\"\n\nHonker swam a little way out from shore, and with head held high and\nvery still, he looked and listened and listened and looked until he was\nquite certain that no danger lurked near. Then he swam back to where\nPeter was sitting on the bank.\n\n\"Peter,\" said he, \"I never in all my born days have seen such a fellow\nfor questions as you are. If I lived about here, I think I should swim\naway every time I saw you coming. But as I only stop here for a day or\ntwo twice a year, I guess I can stand it. Besides, you really ought to\nknow something about some of the people who live in the Great Forest. It\nis shameful, Peter, that you should be so ignorant. And so if you will\npromise not to ask for another story while I am here, I will tell you\nabout Glutton the Wolverine.\"\n\nOf course Peter promised. He wanted that story so much that he would\nhave promised anything. So Honker told the story, and here it is just as\nPeter heard it.\n\n\"Once upon a time long, long, long ago, the first Wolverine was sent out\nto find a place for himself in the Great World just as every one else\nhad been sent out. Old Mother Nature had told him that he was related to\nMr. Weasel and Mr. Mink and Mr. Fisher and Mr. Skunk, but no one would\nhave guessed it just to look at him. In fact, some of his new neighbors\nwere inclined to think that he was related to Old King Bear. Certainly\nhe looked more like King Bear than he did like little Mr. Weasel. But\nfor his bushy tail he would have looked still more like a member of the\nBear family. He was clumsy-looking. He was rather slow moving, but he\nwas strong, very strong for his size. And he had a mean disposition.\nYes, Sir, Mr. Wolverine had a mean disposition. He had such a mean\ndisposition that he would snarl at his own reflection in a pool of\nwater.\n\n\"Now you know as well as I do that no one with a mean disposition has\nany friends. It was so with Mr. Wolverine. When his neighbors found out\nwhat a mean disposition he had, they let him severely alone. They would\ngo out of their way to avoid meeting him. This made his disposition all\nthe meaner. He didn't really care because his neighbors would have\nnothing to do with him. No, he didn't really care, for the simple reason\nthat he didn't want anything to do with them. But just the same it made\nhim angry to have them show that they didn't want to have anything to do\nwith him. Every time he would see one of them turn aside to avoid\nmeeting him, he would snarl under his breath, and his eyes would glow\nwith anger; he would resolve to get even.\n\n\"Being slow in his movements because of his stout build, he early\nrealized that he must make nimble wits make up for the lack of nimble\nlegs. He also learned very early in life that patience is a virtue few\npossess, and that patience and nimble wits will accomplish almost\nanything. So, living alone in the Great Forest, he practised patience\nuntil no one in all the Great World could be more patient than he. No\none knew this because, you see, everybody kept away from him. And all\nthe time he was practising patience, he was studying and studying the\nother people of the Great Forest, both large and small, learning all\ntheir habits, how they lived, where they lived, what they ate, and all\nabout them.\n\n\"'One never knows when such knowledge may be useful,' he would say to\nhimself. 'The more I know about other people and the less they know\nabout me the better.'\n\n\"So Mr. Wolverine kept out of sight as much as possible, and none knew\nhow he lived or where he lived or anything about him save that he had a\nmean disposition. Patiently he watched the other people, especially\nthose of nimble wits who lived largely by their cunning and\ncleverness--Mr. Fox, Mr. Coyote, Mr. Lynx and his own cousins, Mr. Mink\nand Mr. Weasel. From each one he learned something, and at last he was\nmore cunning and more clever than any of them or even than all of them,\nfor that matter.\n\n\"Living alone as he did, and having a mean disposition, he grew more and\nmore sullen and savage until those who at first had avoided him simply\nbecause of his mean disposition now kept out of his way through fear,\nfor his claws were long and his strength was great and his teeth were\nsharp. It didn't take him long to discover that there were few who did\nnot fear him, and he cunningly contrived to increase this fear, for he\nhad a feeling that the time might come when it would be of use to him.\n\n\"The time did come. As you know, there came a time when food was scarce,\nand everybody, or almost everybody, had hard work to get enough to keep\nalive. Mr. Wolverine didn't. The fact is, Mr. Wolverine lived very well\nindeed. He simply reaped the reward of his patience in learning all\nabout the ways of his neighbors, of his nimble wits and of the fear\nwhich he inspired. Instead of hunting for food himself, he depended on\nhis neighbors to hunt for him. They didn't know they were hunting for\nhim, but somehow whenever one of them had secured a good meal, Mr.\nWolverine was almost sure to happen along. A growl from him was enough,\nand that meal was left in his possession.\n\n\"Knowing how scarce food was and the uncertainty of when he would get\nthe next meal, Mr. Wolverine always made it a point on these occasions\nto stuff himself until it was a wonder his skin didn't burst. If there\nwas more than he could eat, he would take a nap right there, and because\nof fear of him the rightful owner of the food would not dare take what\nwas left. When he awoke Mr. Wolverine would finish what remained.\n\n\"Those who secured more food than they could eat and tried to store away\nthe rest found that no matter how cunningly they chose a hiding-place\nfor it and covered their tracks, Mr. Wolverine was sure to find it. In\nfact, he made a business of robbing storehouses, and the habit of\ngreediness became so strong that he would stuff himself at one\nstorehouse and immediately start for another. When it did happen that he\ncouldn't eat all he found and yet didn't want to stay until he could\nfinish it, he would tear to bits all that remained and scatter it all\nabout. You know I told you he had a mean disposition.\n\n\"Even when good times returned and there was no possible excuse for\nsuch greed, Mr. Wolverine continued to stuff himself until it seemed\nthat instead of eating in order to live, as the rest of us do, he lived\nin order to eat. Of course it wasn't long before some one called him a\nglutton, and presently he was named Glutton, and no one called him\nanything else. Glutton by name and a glutton in habit he remained as\nlong as he lived. Both name and habits he handed down to his children\nand they to their children. So it is that today there is no more cunning\nthief, no greedier rascal, and no one with a meaner disposition in all\nthe Great Woods of the Far North than Glutton the Wolverine.\"\n\n\"Queer how a habit will stick, isn't it?\" said Peter thoughtfully.\n\n\"Particularly a bad habit,\" added Honker.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nWHERE OLD MRS. 'GATOR MADE THE FIRST INCUBATOR\n\n\nPeter Rabbit and Mrs. Quack the Mallard Duck are great friends. They\nhave been great friends ever since Peter tried to help Mrs. Quack when\nshe and Mr. Quack had spent a whole summer on a little pond hidden deep\nin the Green Forest because Mr. Quack had a broken wing and so he and\nMrs. Quack simply couldn't keep on to their home in the Far North for\nwhich they had started. During that long summer Peter had become very\nwell acquainted with them. In fact he visited them very often, for as\nyou know, Peter is simply brimming over with curiosity, and there were\nwonderful things which Mr. and Mrs. Quack could tell him, for they are\ngreat travelers.\n\nNow once, as Mrs. Quack was telling Peter about the far-away Southland\nwhere she and Mr. Quack and many other birds spend each winter, she\nmentioned Old Ally the 'Gator. People who live where he does call him\njust 'Gator, but you and I would call him Alligator.\n\nAt the mention of Old Ally, all Peter's curiosity was awakened, for Mrs.\nQuack had said that foolish young ducks sometimes mistook him for an old\nlog floating in the water and didn't find out the difference until his\ngreat mouth flew open and he swallowed them whole. At that Peter's eyes\nthreatened to pop right out of his head and every time he visited that\nlittle pond he pestered Mrs. Quack with questions about Old Ally the\n'Gator and Mrs. 'Gator. It seemed as if he couldn't think of anything\nelse. And when Mrs. Quack just happened to mention that little 'Gators\nare hatched from eggs just as her own children are, it was almost too\nmuch for Peter to believe.\n\n\"What?\" he squealed, hopping up and down in excitement. \"Do you mean to\ntell me that anything as big as Old Ally, big enough to swallow you\nwhole, can come from an egg? I don't believe it! Besides, only birds lay\neggs.\"\n\n  \"Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack,\n   Peter, you must take that back!\"\n\ncried Mrs. Quack.\n\n\"Why must I take it back?\" demanded Peter.\n\n\"Because as usual you've let your tongue run loose, and that is a bad\nhabit, Peter. It certainly is a bad habit. How about the Snake family?\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said Peter, looking very foolish. \"I forgot all about the Snakes.\nThey do lay eggs.\"\n\n\"And how about Spotty the Turtle? Didn't he come from an egg?\" persisted\nMrs. Quack.\n\nPeter looked more foolish than before, if that were possible. \"Y-e-s,\"\nhe replied slowly and reluctantly.\n\n\"Then don't be so quick to doubt a thing just because you've never seen\nit,\" retorted Mrs. Quack. \"I've seen Mrs. 'Gator build her nest more\nthan once, and I've seen her eggs, and I've seen the baby 'Gators; and\nwhat is more, I'm not in the habit of telling things that I don't know\nare so.\"\n\n\"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Quack.\" Peter was very humble. \"I do indeed.\nPlease forgive me. Is--is Mrs. 'Gator's nest at all like yours?\"\n\nPeter seemed so truly sorry for having doubted her that Mrs. Quack\nrecovered her good nature at once. \"No,\" said she, \"it isn't. If I\nhadn't seen her make it, I wouldn't have known it was a nest. You see,\none spring I got hurt so that I couldn't take my usual long journey to\nthe Far North and had to spend the summer way down in the Southland\nwhere I always lived in the winter, and that is how I happened to learn\nabout Mrs. 'Gator's nest and eggs and a lot of other things. Mrs. 'Gator\nis lazy, but she is smart. She's smart enough to make Mr. Sun do her\nwork. What do you think of that?\"\n\nRight away Peter was all excitement. You see, that sounded as if there\nmight be a story behind it. \"I never have heard of such a thing!\" he\ncried. \"How did she learn to do such a smart thing as that? Of course I\ndon't for a minute believe that she herself discovered a way to get Mr.\nSun to work for her. Probably it was her ever-so-great-grandmother who\nfirst did it. Isn't that so, Mrs. Quack?\"\n\nMrs. Quack nodded. \"You've guessed it, Peter,\" said she. \"It all\nhappened way, way back in the days when the world was young.\"\n\n\"Tell me about it! Please, please tell me about it, Mrs. Quack, and the\nfirst chance I get, I'll do something for you,\" begged Peter.\n\nMrs. Quack carefully went over all her feathers to see that every one\nwas in place, for she is very particular about how she looks. When she\nwas quite satisfied, she turned to Peter, fidgeting on the bank.\n\n\"Way back in the days when the world was young,\" said she, \"Old Mother\nNature made the first Alligators before she made the first birds, or the\nfirst animals, so Old Ally and Mrs. 'Gator, who live way down south now,\nbelong to a very old family and are proud of it. In the beginning of\nthings there was very little dry land, as you may have heard, so old Mr.\nand Mrs. 'Gator, who of course were not old then, were made to live in\nthe water with the fish. Old Mother Nature was experimenting then. She\nwas planning to make a great deal more land, and she wanted living\ncreatures on it, so she gave the 'Gators legs and feet instead of fins,\nand lungs to breathe air instead of gills for breathing in the water as\nfish do. Then, having many other things to attend to, she told them\nthey would have to take care of themselves, and went about her business.\n\n\"It didn't take Mr. and Mrs. 'Gator long to discover that their legs\nwere not of much use in the water, for they used their powerful tails\nfor swimming. Then one day Mrs. 'Gator crawled out on land and right\naway discovered what those legs were for. She could go on dry land while\nfishes could not. It didn't take her long to find out that nothing was\nquite so fine as a sun-bath, as she lay stretched out on the bank, so\nshe and Mr. 'Gator spent most of their time on sunny days taking\nsun-baths.\n\n\"One day Old Mother Nature came along and whispered a wonderful secret\nto Mrs. 'Gator. 'I am going to give you some eggs,' whispered Old\nMother Nature, 'some eggs of your very own, and if you watch over them\nand keep them warm, out of each one a baby 'Gator will some day creep.\nBut if you let those eggs get cold, there will be no babies. Don't\nforget that you must keep them warm.'\n\n\"Old Mother Nature was as good as her word. She gave Mrs. 'Gator twenty\nbeautiful white eggs, and Mrs. 'Gator was perfectly happy. Those eggs\nwere the most precious things in all the Great World. It seemed as if\nshe never would grow tired of looking at them and admiring them and of\ndreaming of the day when her babies should come out of them. It was very\npleasant to lie there in the sun and dream of the babies to come from\nthose wonderful eggs. Suddenly, right into the midst of those pleasant\ndreams, broke the memory of what Old Mother Nature had said about\nkeeping those eggs warm. All in a twinkling happiness was turned to\nworry.\n\n\"'What can I do? What can I do?' Mrs. 'Gator kept saying over and over.\n'However can I keep them warm when Mr. Sun goes to bed at night? Oh,\ndear! Oh, dear! My beautiful eggs never, never will turn to darling\nbabies! What can I do?'\n\n\"All this time Mr. 'Gator was a great deal more interested in making\nhimself comfortable than he was in those eggs. He had picked out a place\nwhere all day long Mr. Sun poured down his warmest rays, and he had dug\na place to sprawl out in comfortably. The sand he had thrown in a pile\nat one side. When Mrs. 'Gator went to consult Mr. 'Gator about those\nprecious eggs and her worries when the cool of evening had come, she\nhappened to put one foot in that loose pile of sand, and she found that\nwhile the sand on the outside was already cool, that down inside the\npile was still warm. A clever idea came to her like a flash.\n\n\"First she sent Mr. 'Gator into the water to get his supper. Then she\nscooped a hole in that pile of warm sand, and in it she put her precious\neggs and carefully covered them up with sand. When this was done she\nstretched out close by to keep watch and see that nothing disturbed\nthose treasures. That was a very anxious night for Mrs. 'Gator. The sand\non which she lay grew very cool. When at last day came and Mr. Sun once\nmore began to shine, she opened that pile of sand and great was her joy\nto find that inside it was still warm. When Mr. 'Gator came crawling out\nof the water to spend the day in that comfortable bed he had dug, she\nchased him away and was so cross that he went off grumbling and dug\nanother bed. Mrs. 'Gator waited until Mr. Sun had made the sand very\nwarm indeed, and then she made a great mound of it, and in the middle\nof it were her precious eggs. Night and day she kept guard, and all the\ntime she worried lest those eggs should not be warm enough. Then one day\ntwenty baby 'Gators dug their way out of that mound of sand. Yes, Sir,\nthey did.\n\n\"All this happened long, long ago when the world was young, and ever\nsince then 'Gators have lived only way down south, where it is very warm\nand where Mr. Sun will hatch their eggs for them. And today it is done\njust as I've told you, for I've seen with my own eyes Mrs. 'Gator build\nher nest, cover her eggs, and then lie around while Mr. Sun did the work\nfor her. What do you think of that?\"\n\n\"I think that if you hadn't told me that you had seen it with your own\neyes, Mrs. Quack, I should think it a fairy story,\" replied Peter.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nWHERE MR. QUACK GOT HIS WEBBED FEET\n\n\nTwice every year, in the early spring and in the late fall, Peter Rabbit\nwatches the Smiling Pool with a great deal of eagerness. Can you guess\nwhy? It is because two very good friends of Peter's are in the habit of\nstopping there for a few days for rest and refreshment before continuing\nthe long journey which they are obliged to make. They are Mr. and Mrs.\nQuack, the Mallard Ducks. Peter is very fond of them, and when the time\nfor their arrival draws near, Peter watches for them with a great deal\nof anxiety. You see they have told him something of the terrible\ndangers which they always encounter on these long journeys, and so Peter\nis always afraid that something terrible may have happened to them, and\nit is a great relief when he finds them swimming about in the Smiling\nPool.\n\nOne reason Peter is so fond of Mr. and Mrs. Quack is because they always\nhave a story for him. Sometimes it is a story of adventure, a tale of\nterrible danger and narrow escapes. Sometimes it is about their home in\nthe far Northland, and again it is about the wonderful Southland where\nthey spend the winter. But the story that Peter likes best is the one\nabout where and how the Quack family got their funny, webbed feet. Mr.\nQuack doesn't think those feet funny at all, but Peter does. He never\ngrows tired of watching Mr. and Mrs. Quack use them, because, you know,\nthey are used so differently from other feet. And always he goes back to\nthe dear Old Briar-patch with renewed admiration for the wisdom of Old\nMother Nature.\n\nPeter noticed those feet the first time he met Mr. and Mrs. Quack. He\ncouldn't help but notice them. It happened that Mr. and Mrs. Quack were\nout on the bank of the Smiling Pool as Peter came hurrying over in his\nusual way, lipperty-lipperty-lip. They heard him coming and not knowing\nat first who it was they at once started for the water. Peter never will\nforget the funny way in which they waddled. He never had seen anybody\nquite so awkward. But when they reached the water he forgot to laugh. He\nsimply stared open-mouthed in astonishment. You see there they were as\ngraceful as they had been awkward on land. Afterward, when Peter had\nbecome acquainted with them and they were the best of friends, he\nventured to speak of their queer feet.\n\n\"Do you know,\" said he, \"you have the most interesting feet of anybody I\nknow of. They are so broad that the first time I saw them I couldn't\nbelieve my own eyes. I didn't suppose anybody had such broad feet. I\nsuppose there is some special reason why they are so broad and why your\nlegs are so short. Do you know how Mother Nature happened to give you\nfeet so different from the feet of other birds, Mr. Quack?\"\n\nMr. Quack chuckled. \"I tell you what it is, Peter,\" said he, \"if you'll\ntell me why it is you have such long hind legs and such a funny short\ntail, I'll tell you why it is that Mrs. Quack and I have such broad\nfeet, though I must confess that I don't see anything odd about them.\"\n\nPeter agreed at once. He told Mr. and Mrs. Quack all about what happened\nto his grandfather a thousand times removed, the very first Rabbit, way\nback when the world was young, and how ever since then all Rabbits have\nhad long hind legs and short tails. When he had finished Mr. Quack\nthoughtfully scratched his handsome green head, looked at his reflection\nin the Smiling Pool to make sure that he was looking his very best,\nlooked behind to see that the feathers in the tip of his tail had the\nproper curl, and then gazed off over the Green Meadows with a far-away\nlook in his eyes as if he were looking way back to the time he was to\ntell about. At last, just as Peter Rabbit was beginning to lose patience\nMr. Quack began.\n\n\"It must be, Peter,\" said he, \"that my\ngreat-great-ever-so-great-grandfather lived just about the same time as\nyour great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather, way back in the days when\nthe world was young. Perhaps they knew each other. Perhaps they were\nacquainted just as you and I are now. Anyway, according to what has been\nhanded down in the family, Grandfather Quack was very much such a\nlooking fellow as I am now, except in the matter of his bill and feet.\nHis bill was not broad like mine but more like the bills of other birds,\nand his feet were like the feet of Mr. Grouse and Bob White. They were\nmade for scratching, and there was nothing between the toes. You see,\nOld Mother Nature was experimenting. She made everybody a little\ndifferent from everybody else and then started them forth in the Great\nWorld to shift for themselves and to find out what they really needed\nthat they hadn't got.\n\n\"Old Mr. Quack, my great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather, soon\ndiscovered one thing, and that was that his legs were too short for him\nto get around very fast. When he walked, everybody laughed at him. When\nhe tried to run, they laughed harder than ever. He didn't mind this so\nvery much, though he did a little. Nobody likes to be laughed at,\nespecially when it is because of something they cannot help. But what he\ndid mind was the fact that his neighbors could run about so much faster\nthan he that they got all the best of the food, and quite often he went\nhungry.\n\n\"One day he happened to be sitting on the bank of the Smiling Pool,\nthinking the matter over and wondering what he had best do, when Mr.\nFox stole up behind him and startled him so that he lost his balance and\ntumbled down the bank into the water. This frightened him more than\never, and he flapped about and squawked and squawked and flapped until\nMr. Fox nearly split his sides laughing at him. And when he was quite\nout of breath, Mr. Quack discovered that he was making all this fuss for\nnothing. He didn't sink, but floated on the water, and what was more the\nwater didn't get under his feathers at all. When he tried to walk, of\ncourse he couldn't, and he had a funny feeling because his feet didn't\ntouch anything and felt so very useless. But he kept moving them back\nand forth, and pretty soon he discovered that he moved ahead. Of course\nhe moved very slowly, because his feet were not made for use in the\nwater, but he moved, and that was enough. He knew then that he could get\nback to land. Then he tried his wings and he found that he could rise\ninto the air from the water quite as easily as from the land. Right then\nand there all fear of the water left him. In fact, he liked it.\n\n\"Little by little, Grandfather Quack began to understand that he had\nmade a great discovery. He had discovered the safest place in all the\nGreat World for him. Out on the water he was safe from Mr. Fox and Mr.\nWolf and all the other four-footed hunters. So he took to spending most\nof his time on the water or near it. When he wanted a nap, he would hide\namong the rushes that grew in the water. 'If only I didn't have to leave\nthe water for food!' sighed Grandfather Quack. 'If only I could find\nfood here, I would never leave the water.'\n\n\"At the time he was squatting at the very edge of the Smiling Pool.\nPresently he noticed a funny water bug crawling on the bottom where the\nwater was only an inch or two deep. 'I wonder if that fellow is good to\neat,' thought he, and almost without thinking he plunged his head under\nwater and caught the bug. It was good. Grandfather Quack at once started\nto look for more, and while doing this he discovered that there were a\ngreat many seeds from the rushes scattered about in the mud at the\nbottom of the Smiling Pool, and that these also were good to eat. Then\nquite by accident he got hold of a tender root in the mud and found that\nthis was especially good.\n\n\"This was enough for Grandfather Quack. He had found that he could get\nplenty to eat without leaving the Smiling Pool. Moreover, he didn't have\nto share it with anybody, because there was no one else who thought of\nlooking for food there. He knew when he was well off. So Grandfather\nQuack grew fat and was happy. The only things that bothered him were the\nslowness with which he had to pick up seeds, one at a time, and the\nslowness with which he could paddle about, for you couldn't really call\nit swimming. But in spite of these things he was happy and made the best\nof his lot.\n\n\"One day he tugged and tugged at a root with his head under water. When\nat last he had to bring his head up for a breath, whom should he\ndiscover but Old Mother Nature watching him from the opposite bank.\n'Come over here, Mr. Quack, and tell me all about it,' she commanded.\n\n\"Grandfather Quack started across the Smiling Pool, but because his feet\nwere not made for swimming, it took him a long time to get there. Old\nMother Nature smiled as she watched him. 'You look better on the water\nthan you do on land,' said she. 'In fact, I believe that is just where\nyou belong. Now tell me how you happened to take to the water.'\n\n\"Grandfather Quack told her the whole story and how Old Mother Nature\ndid laugh when he described how frightened he was when he fell in that\ntime. Suddenly she reached out and caught him by the bill. 'I don't\nthink much of that bill for poking about in the mud,' said she. 'How\nwill this do?' She let go, and Grandfather Quack found he had a broad\nbill just suited for getting food out of the mud. Then Old Mother Nature\nbade him hold forth first one foot and then the other. Between the toes\nshe stretched a tough skin clear to the toe nails. 'Now let me see you\nswim,' said she.\n\n\"Grandfather Quack tried. He kicked one foot and then the other, and to\nhis great joy he shot along swiftly. When he drew his feet back for\nanother kick his toes closed together, and so his feet came through the\nwater easily. But when he kicked back they were wide spread, and the\nskin between them pushed against the water, and drove him ahead. It was\nwonderful! It was splendid! He hurried over to Old Mother Nature, and\nwith tears of joy in his eyes he thanked her. And from that day to this\nmembers of my family have had the same broad bills and webbed feet, and\nhave lived on the water,\" concluded Mr. Quack.\n\n[Illustration: Peter noticed those feet the first time he met Mr. and\nMrs. Quack. _Page 111._]\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nWHERE THUNDERFOOT THE BISON GOT HIS HUMP\n\n\nThunderfoot the Bison, often called Buffalo, is not a handsome fellow,\nas you very well know if you have seen him or a picture of him. His head\nis carried low, very near the ground, and on his shoulders is a great\nhump. No, you wouldn't call him handsome. You would hardly call him\ngood-looking even. In fact, you would, I suspect, call him homely.\nCertainly there is nothing about him to suggest pride. Yet according to\nthe story Digger the Badger once told Peter Rabbit, pride and nothing\nless was the cause of that big hump which makes Thunderfoot appear so\nclumsy and homely.\n\nPeter Rabbit, as you know, is very fond of stories. In this respect he\nis very like some other folks I know. Anyway, he never misses a chance\nfor a story if he can help it. He had discovered that Digger the Badger\nand Old Man Coyote, both of whom had come to the Green Meadows from the\nFar West, were full of stories about their neighbors of the distant\nprairies, folk whom Peter never had seen. Sometimes when he had nothing\nelse to do, Old Man Coyote would come over to the dear Old Briar-patch\nand tell stories to Peter, who sat safe behind the brambles. Perhaps Old\nMan Coyote hoped that Peter would become so interested that he would\nforget and come out of the dear Old Briar-patch. But Peter never did.\n\nBut most of the stories of the people of the Far West Peter got from\nDigger the Badger because, you see, he wasn't afraid to go beg for them.\nHe knew that Digger couldn't catch him if he wanted to, and so when\nGrandfather Frog hadn't a story for him, Peter would go tease Digger for\none. It was thus that he heard about Thunderfoot the Bison and where he\ngot that great hump of his.\n\n\"I don't suppose,\" said Peter, \"that there are any very big people out\nthere on those prairies where you used to live any more than there are\nhere on the Green Meadows. All the very big people seem to prefer to\nlive in the Green Forest.\"\n\n\"It is that way now, I must admit,\" said Digger the Badger, \"but it\nwasn't so in the old days, in the good old days when there were no\nterrible guns, and Thunderfoot and his followers shook the ground with\ntheir feet.\" Digger shook his head sadly.\n\nInstantly Peter pricked up his ears. \"Who was Thunderfoot?\" he demanded.\n\nDigger looked at Peter with such a look of pity for Peter's ignorance\nthat Peter felt almost ashamed. \"He doesn't live here and never did, so\nfar as I have heard, so how should I know anything about him?\" he added\na wee bit defiantly.\n\n\"If that's the case,\" replied Digger, \"it is time you learned about the\nLord of the Prairies.\"\n\n\"But I want to know about Thunderfoot first!\" cried Peter. \"You can tell\nme about the Lord of the Prairies another time.\"\n\n\"Were you born stupid or have you grown so?\" asked Digger impatiently.\nThen without waiting for an answer he added: \"Thunderfoot was the Lord\nof the Prairies. He ruled over the Wide Prairies just as Old King Bear\nruled in the Green Forest. He ruled by might. He ruled because no one\ndared deny him the right to rule. He ruled because of his great size and\nhis great strength. And all who lived on the Wide Prairies looked up to\nhim and admired him and bowed before him and paid him the utmost\nrespect. When he and his followers ran the earth shook, and the noise\nwas like thunder, and everybody hastened to get out of the way and to\nwarn his neighbors, crying: 'Here comes my Lord of the Prairies! Make\nway! Make way!' And truly Thunderfoot and his followers were a\nmagnificent sight, so my great-grandfather told me, and he had it from\nhis great-grandfather, who was told so by his great-grandfather, who saw\nit all with his own eyes. But that was in the days before Thunderfoot's\nhead was brought low, and he was given the great hump which none of his\ndescendants have ever been able to get rid of.\"\n\n\"Tell me about that hump and where my Lord of the Prairies, Thunderfoot\nthe Bison, got it!\" begged Peter, with shining eyes. That there was a\nstory he hadn't the least doubt.\n\nDigger the Badger flattened himself out on the ground, and into his eyes\ncrept a dreamy, far-away look as if he were seeing things a great, great\nway off. \"Way back In the days when the world was young, so my\ngreat-grandfather said,\" he began, \"Thunderfoot, the first Bison, was\ngiven the Wide Prairies for a kingdom by Old Mother Nature and strode\nforth to take possession. Big was he, the biggest of all living\ncreatures thereabouts. Strong was he with a strength none cared to test.\nAnd he was handsome. He held his head proudly. All who lived on the Wide\nPrairies admired him with a great admiration and hastened to pay homage\nto him.\n\n\"For a long time he ruled wisely. All the other people brought their\ndisputes to him to be settled, and so wisely did he decide them that the\nfame of his wisdom spread even beyond the Wide Prairies and was talked\nabout in the Green Forest. The humblest of his subjects could come to\nhim freely and be sure of a hearing and that justice would be done. Big\nas he was and mighty as he was, he took the greatest care never to\nforget the rights of others.\n\n\"But there came a time when flattery turned his head, as the saying is.\nMr. Coyote and Mr. Fox were the chief flatterers, and in all the Great\nWorld there were no smoother tongues than theirs. They never lost an\nopportunity to tell him how handsome he was, and how mighty he was, and\nhow they admired him and looked up to him, and how unequaled was his\nwisdom. You see, being themselves dishonest and mischief-makers, they\nfrequently were in trouble with their neighbors and would have to appear\nbefore Thunderfoot for judgment. Even when it went against them they\npraised the wisdom of it, admitting that they were in the wrong and\nbegging forgiveness, all of which was very flattering to Thunderfoot.\n\n\"Little by little, without knowing it, he yielded to the flattery of\nMr. Coyote and Mr. Fox. He liked to hear the pleasant things they said.\nLittle by little it became easier to find them in the right than in the\nwrong when they were accused of wronging their neighbors. Of course they\nflattered him still more. They hinted to him that it was beneath the\ndignity of one so big and strong and handsome to take notice of the very\nsmall and humble people like Mr. Meadow Mouse and Mr. Toad and Mr.\nMeadow Lark and others of his subjects.\n\n\"Gradually the little people of the Wide Prairies began to notice a\nchange in Thunderfoot. He became proud and vain. He openly boasted of\nhis strength and fine appearance. When he met them he passed them\nhaughtily, not seeing them at all, or at least appearing not to. No\nlonger did he regard the rights of others. No longer did he watch out\nnot to crush the nest of Mrs. Meadow Lark or to step on the babies of\nDanny Meadow Mouse. It came about that when the thunder of his feet was\nheard, those with homes on the ground shivered with fright and hoped\nthat my Lord of the Prairies would not come their way.\n\n\"One day, as he raced over the Wide Prairies for no reason but that he\nfelt like running, Mr. Meadow Lark flew to meet him. Mr. Meadow Lark was\nin great distress. 'Turn aside, my Lord!' he begged. 'Turn aside, my\nLord of the Prairies, for before you lies my nest with four precious\neggs, and I fear you will step on them!'\n\n\"Thunderfoot the Bison, Lord of the Wide Prairies, tossed his head. 'If\nyou will build your nest where it can be trodden on, you can't expect me\nto look out for it,' said he. 'If anything so unfortunate happens to it,\nit is your own fault, and you mustn't blame me.' And he neither looked\ndown to see where he was putting his feet nor turned aside so much as an\ninch. On he galloped, and presently with a cry of fright out from\nbeneath his feet flew Mrs. Meadow Lark, and at the very next step he\ntrod on the little nest in the grass and crushed the four eggs.\n\n\"Mr. Coyote, who was racing beside him on one side and saw what had\nhappened, grinned. Mr. Fox, who was racing beside him on the other side\nand saw what had happened, grinned. Seeing them grin, Thunderfoot\nhimself grinned. Thus grinning heartlessly, they continued to run until\nthey came to a place where Mother Nature walked among the flowers of\nthe Wide Prairies. Mr. Coyote and Mr. Fox, whose heads were not held so\nhigh, saw her in time to put their tails between their legs and slink\naway. Thunderfoot, holding his head high, failed to see her until he was\nso close to her that it was with difficulty he stopped before running\nher down.\n\n\"'My Lord of the Prairies seems in fine spirits,' said Mother Nature\nsoftly. 'Is all well with my Lord?'\n\n\"Thunderfoot tossed his head proudly. 'All is well,' said he.\n\n\"'I am sorry that others cannot say as much,' replied Mother Nature, and\nall the softness was gone from her voice, and it was sharp. 'I seem to\nhear the sobs of a broken-hearted little Meadow Lark,' she continued.\n'Little though she be and humble, she is as much to me as is my Lord of\nthe Prairies who has made her suffer.'\n\n\"Stooping swiftly, Mother Nature picked up her staff and with it struck\nThunderfoot on the neck, so that his head was brought low, and in fear\nof another blow he humped his shoulders up. 'Thus shall you be, still\nbig, still strong, but hump-shouldered and carrying your head low in\nshame, no longer Lord of the Prairies, until such time as you restore to\nMrs. Meadow Lark the eggs you destroyed,' said she, and turned her back\non him.\n\n\"It was so. From that day on, Thunderfoot ceased to rule over the Wide\nPrairies. He was hump-shouldered and he carried his head low, looking\nand looking for the eggs he never could find to restore to Mrs. Meadow\nLark. And though his children and his children's children became many,\nthere never was one without the hump or who ceased to carry his head low\nin shame,\" concluded Digger the Badger.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nWHERE LIMBERHEELS GOT HIS LONG TAIL.\n\n\nHave you ever seen Limberheels the Jumping Mouse when he was in a hurry?\nIf you have, very likely the first time you felt very much as Peter\nRabbit did when he saw Limberheels for the first time. He was hopping\nalong across the Green Meadows with nothing much on his mind when from\nright under his wobbly nose something shot into the air over the tops of\nthe grasses for eight or ten feet and then down and out of sight. Peter\nrubbed his eyes.\n\n\"Did I see it, or didn't I? And if I did, what was it?\" gasped Peter.\n\nA squeaky little laugh answered him. \"You saw it all right, Peter, but\nit isn't polite to call any one it. He would be quite provoked if he had\nheard you. That was my cousin, Limberheels,\" replied a voice quite as\nsqueaky as the laugh had been.\n\nPeter turned to see the bright eyes of Danny Meadow Mouse twinkling at\nhim from the entrance to a tiny little path that joined the bigger path\nin which Peter was sitting.\n\n\"Hello, Danny!\" he exclaimed. \"Do you mean to tell me that was a\nrelative of yours? Since when have any of your relatives taken to\nflying?\"\n\nDanny chuckled. \"He wasn't flying,\" he retorted. \"He just jumped, that\nwas all.\" Danny chuckled again, for he knows that Peter considers\nhimself quite a jumper and is inclined to be a bit jealous of any one\nelse who pretends to jump save his cousin, Jumper the Hare.\n\n\"Jumped!\" snorted Peter. \"Jumped! Do you expect me to believe that any\nMouse can jump like that? I didn't get a good look at that fellow, but\nwhoever he is I tell you he flew. Nobody can jump like that.\"\n\nDanny chuckled again. \"Wait a minute, Peter,\" said he. He disappeared,\nand Peter waited. He waited one minute, two minutes, three minutes, and\nthen suddenly Danny poked his head out from the grass beside the path.\n\"Here he is, Peter,\" said he, coming wholly out into the path. \"Let me\nintroduce my cousin, Limberheels.\"\n\nAs he spoke the grass beside him rustled, and out crept some one beside\nwhom Danny Meadow Mouse looked big, clumsy and homely. One glance was\nenough to tell Peter that the stranger was a sure-enough member of the\nMouse family, but such a member as he never had seen before. He was trim\nand slender. He wore a reddish-brown coat with a white waistcoat. But\nthe things that made Peter stare very impolitely were his tail and his\nlegs. His tail was nearly twice as long as his body, slim and tapering,\nand his hind legs were very long, while his fore legs were short. It\ntook only one glance to convince Peter that here was a born jumper. Any\none built like that _must_ jump.\n\n\"You two must become acquainted and be friends,\" continued Danny Meadow\nMouse. \"Peter is one of my best friends, Limberheels. He wouldn't hurt a\nflea. I'm sure that from now on he will be one of your best friends.\"\n\n\"I'll be happy to,\" said Peter promptly. \"Danny has been telling me what\na wonderful jumper you are. Would you mind showing me how you jump? I\nguess you jumped right in front of me a few minutes ago, but I was so\nsurprised that I didn't really see you.\"\n\n\"I guess I did,\" replied Limberheels rather timidly. \"You see, I didn't\nhear you coming until you were almost on top of me, and then I didn't\nknow who it was so I got away as quickly as I could. I'll be ever so\nglad to have you for a friend and next time I won't run away.\"\n\n\"Show him how you can jump,\" interrupted Danny Meadow Mouse. \"He\nwouldn't believe me when I told him that you didn't fly.\"\n\nLimberheels grinned rather sheepishly. \"Of course I didn't fly,\" said\nhe. \"No animal can fly but Flitter the Bat. I just jumped like this.\"\n\nWith a tremendous spring from his long hind legs Limberheels leaped,\nwhile Peter Rabbit stared, his mouth wide open with astonishment. He\nhadn't dreamed that any one could jump so far in proportion to his size\nas this slim, trim little cousin of Danny's. Later, after Limberheels\nhad jumped for Peter's benefit until he was tired and had gone to hunt\nfor a lunch of grass seeds, Peter wanted to know all about Limberheels.\n\n\"Never in my life have I seen such jumping,\" he declared. \"And never\nhave I seen such a tail. I thought Whitefoot the Wood Mouse had a fine\ntail, but it doesn't compare with that of Limberheels.\"\n\n\"It is a fine tail,\" replied Danny, whose own tail, as you know, is\nvery short.\n\n\"It is a fine tail,\" he repeated rather wistfully. \"Would you like to\nhear where he got it?\"\n\n\"I know,\" retorted Peter with a grin. \"He got it from his father, who\ngot it from his father, and so on way back to the days when the world\nwas young.\" Then, seeing a look of disappointment on Danny's face, and\neager for a story as usual, he added: \"But I would like to know how such\na tail as that came in the family.\"\n\nDanny brightened up at once. \"It's funny how things come about in this\nworld,\" he began. \"The great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of\nLimberheels, the first one, you know, was quite an ordinary Mouse when\nOld Mother Nature made him and started him out to make his way in the\nGreat World. He was little, one of the smallest of the family, and his\ntail was short, no longer than mine. His hind legs were like those of\nall his relatives. He ran about just as his relatives did. He was so\nsmall and kept out of sight so much that he didn't even have a name.\nThere was nothing about him to suggest a name.\n\n\"For a long time he was contented and happy. Then one day he happened to\nsee Mr. Hare jump. It seemed to him the most wonderful thing in the\nworld that any one should be able to jump like that. So he began to\nspend most of his spare time where he could watch Mr. Hare. One day Old\nMother Nature happened along unseen by him, as he was watching Mr. Hare\njump, and she overheard him say very, very wistfully, 'How I wish I\ncould jump like that! I wish I had long hind legs like Mr. Hare.'\n\n\"Old Mother Nature's kindly eyes twinkled. 'That's easily arranged,'\nsaid she. 'If you think long hind legs will be of more use to you than\nthe ones you have, you shall have them.'\n\n\"The next morning when little Mr. Mouse awoke, he discovered that in the\nnight something had happened to his hind legs. They were very long and\nstrong, regular jumping legs like those of Mr. Hare. Of course he was in\nsuch a great hurry to try them that he couldn't wait for his breakfast.\nHe began by making little short hops, and in no time at all he was\ngetting about splendidly. At last he got up his courage to try a long\njump. Up in the air he shot, and then something happened. Yes, Sir,\nsomething happened. He couldn't kept his balance. He turned two or\nthree somersaults and landed on his back.\n\n\"'I guess,' said he to himself, 'I've got to _learn_ to make long\njumps.' So he kept trying and trying, but always with the same\nresult--he never knew when, where, or how he was going to land. As long\nas he made short jumps he had no trouble, but every time he tried a long\njump he lost his balance, and try as he would he couldn't discover why.\nSo at last he gave up trying and contented himself with short jumps.\nFinally Old Mother Nature came that way again.\n\n\"'How do you like your long hind legs?' she asked.\n\n\"'Very much, thank you,' replied little Mr. Mouse politely.\n\n\"'Let me see you jump,' said Old Mother Nature.\n\n\"Little Mr. Mouse made half a dozen little jumps. They were not much\nmore than hops. 'You don't call that jumping, do you?' laughed Old\nMother Nature. 'With such long, strong legs as I've given you, you ought\nto be one of the best jumpers anywhere about. Now let me see you make a\nlong jump.'\n\n\"Little Mr. Mouse tried his best to think of some excuse, but he\ncouldn't. So he made a long jump, and the usual thing happened--he\nturned two or three somersaults and landed on his back. Old Mother\nNature looked astonished. Then she laughed until she had to hold her\nsides. 'Do it again,' she commanded.\n\n\"With the most shamefaced air that you can imagine, little Mr. Mouse\njumped again. Old Mother Nature watched him closely. 'Come here to me,'\nsaid she as he scrambled to his feet after his tumble. 'It's all my\nfault,' said she kindly, as he obeyed her. 'It was very stupid of me.\nWhat you need is a long tail to balance you on a long jump. That short\ntail is all right for short jumps, but it won't do for long jumps. It\nwon't do at all. I should have thought of that when I made your legs\nlong.'\n\n\"She reached down and took hold of the tip of that little short tail and\ndrew it out until it was long, almost twice as long as the body of\nlittle Mr. Mouse. 'Now jump,' she commanded, 'and jump with all your\nmight.'\n\n\"A little fearfully but with the beginning of a little hope Mr. Mouse\njumped with all his might. Away he sailed straight and true and landed\nlightly on his feet so far from where he had left the ground that he\ncould hardly believe his own eyes as he looked back. Mother Nature was\nsmiling.\n\n\"'There you are, Mr. Limberheels. I guess that that will make you quite\nthe most wonderful jumper of all my children,' said she.\n\n\"And so it was that little Mr. Mouse, all at one time, became possessed\nof a long tail, a name, and the ability to out jump all his neighbors,\"\nconcluded Danny Meadow Mouse. \"Do you know,\" he added wistfully,\n\"sometimes I envy my cousin Limberheels.\"\n\n\"I envy him myself,\" declared Peter.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nWHERE OLD MR. GOBBLER GOT THE STRUTTING HABIT\n\n\nPeter Rabbit never will forget the first time he saw Big Tom Gobbler. It\nwas very early one spring morning, when Peter was not yet old enough to\nhave made the acquaintance of all the people who live in the Green\nForest, and when it seemed as if the chief thing in life with him was to\nsatisfy his curiosity about the ways of the Great World. Several times\nwhen he had been hopping along, lipperty-lipperty-lip, through the Green\nForest just after sun-up, he had heard a strange sound quite unlike any\nother of all the many sounds his long ears had learned to know. He knew\nthat it was the voice of some one who lived in the Green Forest, but\nthough he had looked and looked he had been unable to discover the owner\nof that voice.\n\nOn this particular morning Peter happened to be sitting under some ferns\non the edge of a little open space among the trees when again he heard\nthat strange voice. It seemed to come from somewhere back in the woods\nin the very direction from which he had just come. \"Gobble-obble-obble!\"\nsaid the voice, and again a moment later \"Gobble-obble-obble!\"\n\nPeter was just preparing to go back to see if he could find the owner of\nthat voice when the noise of great wings caused him to look up just in\ntime to see a bigger bird than he ever had even dreamed of coming\nswiftly over the tree-tops. With his eyes popping out and his mouth wide\nopen with astonishment, Peter saw the great bird set its wings and sail\ndown into the little opening on the edge of which Peter was sitting. The\ninstant this great bird was on the ground, he stood as still as if he\nwere made of stone, his long neck stretched up. Only the shine of a pair\nof the sharpest eyes Peter ever had seen showed that he was alive.\n\nPeter held his breath, and it was so still that you could have heard a\nleaf drop had you been there. When at last the stranger moved, it was\nhis head only. He turned it suddenly to the right and a moment later to\nthe left. It was plain that he was listening for suspicious sounds. All\nthe time his bright eyes searched the edge of the opening until Peter,\nalthough he was well hidden, felt that he must be seen. At last,\nsatisfied that all was safe, the stranger drew in his neck and began to\nwalk about, pecking at the ground here and there and swallowing what he\npicked up, though what it was Peter couldn't tell.\n\nA sound seemed to catch the stranger's quick ears, for he stopped and\nstared very hard at a little clump of brush. Peter stared at it too. At\nfirst he saw nothing, but presently he saw a head poked out, and this\nalso was a stranger. Peter glanced at the big stranger in the opening,\nand for a minute he wondered if it could be that something was wrong\nwith his eyes. Never had he seen such a change in anybody. This stranger\ndidn't look like the same bird at all. He was swelled up until Peter was\nafraid he would burst. His tail was spread out like a great fan. His\nhead was laid back on his humped shoulders. His wings were dropped until\nthe stiffly spread feathers brushed the ground. His head and neck were\nas red as blood, and there were no feathers on either. All the feathers\nof his body were ruffed out so that the sun shone on them and made them\nshimmer and shine in colors that seemed to constantly change.\n\nBack and forth in front of the brush from which the other stranger was\npeeping very shyly this great bird strutted. He would stand still so\nthat the sun would fall full on his shining coat and show it off to the\nbest advantage, and at the same time he would draw in a great deal of\nair and then puff it out all at once. Then he would walk a few steps,\nturn, drag his wings on the ground to make them rustle, wheel, and run\na few steps. Never had Peter seen such vanity, such conceit, such\nimposing, puffed-up pride. He watched until he grew tired, and then he\nstole away and hurried over to the Smiling Pool to tell Grandfather Frog\nall about it and ask who these strangers were.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" exclaimed Grandfather Frog, opening his big mouth very\nwide to laugh at Peter and his excitement. \"That was Big Tom Gobbler,\nand he was doing all that for the benefit of Mrs. Gobbler, who was\nhiding in that brush. It was her head you saw. Big Tom is the most\nconceited fellow in the Green Forest. He dearly loves to strut. He is\njust like his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather. The\nGobblers never have gotten over strutting since Old Mr. Gobbler, the\nfirst of the family, got the habit.\"\n\n\"Tell me about it. Please, Grandfather Frog, tell me about it,\" begged\nPeter. \"How did Old Mr. Gobbler get the habit?\"\n\nGrandfather Frog chuckled. \"He got it from admiring his own reflection\nin a pool of water,\" said he. \"You see, in those days way back when the\nworld was young, people had more time to form habits than they do now.\nWith plenty to eat and little to do, they had more time to think about\nthemselves than they do now. Old Mr. Gobbler soon discovered that he was\nthe biggest of all the birds in that part of the Great World where he\nlived, and this discovery was, I suspect, the beginning of his vanity.\nThen one day as he was walking along, he came to a little pool of water.\nIt was very clear, and there wasn't a ripple on the surface. There for\nthe first time Mr. Gobbler saw his reflection. The more he looked, the\nbetter he liked his own appearance. He spread his tail just to see how\nit would look in the water. Then he puffed himself out and strutted.\n\n\"'There is nobody to compare with me,' thought he, and strutted more\nthan ever.\n\n\"After that he used to steal away every day to admire himself in that\nlittle pool of water. He tried new ways of strutting and of puffing\nhimself out. After a while he was no longer content to admire himself.\nHe wanted others to admire him. So the first chance he got he began to\nstrut and show off all his grand airs before Mrs. Gobbler. At first she\npaid no attention to him. At least that is the way she appeared. She\nwould turn her back on him and walk off into the bushes. This made Old\nMr. Gobbler very angry until he discovered that she would tiptoe back\nand watch him admiringly when she thought he didn't know it. That made\nhim strut all the more.\n\n\"At first all the neighbors used to gather around and admire him and\ntell him how handsome he was until his head was quite turned, as the\nsaying is, and he spent most of his time strutting and showing off. Then\nhe took to bragging and boasting that there was no bird to compare with\nhim. Thus he became quite unbearable, and all his neighbors would turn\ntheir backs on him when they saw him coming. Only Mrs. Gobbler continued\nto watch in secret and to admire him.\n\n\"Now in those days Mr. Gobbler didn't have a red head and neck. One day\nOld Mother Nature happened along when Mr. Gobbler was strutting and\nboasting how big and brave he was. He didn't see her, and she watched\nhim quietly for a few minutes. Then she slipped away and hunted up Mr.\nWolf.\n\n\"'I want you to steal over where Mr. Gobbler is strutting,' said she,\n'and suddenly spring out at him as if you intended to catch him.'\n\n\"Mr. Wolf grinned and trotted off to do her bidding. He found Mr.\nGobbler swelled up until he looked as if he must burst, and bragging to\nMrs. Gobbler.\n\n\"'I'm the biggest of all the birds,' bragged Mr. Gobbler. 'I'm afraid of\nno one. While you have me with you, my dear, you have nothing in all the\nGreat World to fear.'\n\n\"Just then out sprang Mr. Wolf with all his long, sharp teeth showing.\nMr. Gobbler gave a yelp of fright. He lost his swelled-up appearance as\nsuddenly as a bubble flattens out when it is pricked. With a frantic\nbeating of his wings he took to the air. Being in such a fright, he\ndidn't see where he was going, and struck his head against a sharp twig,\nwhich tore the skin, for there were no feathers to protect it, and made\nit bleed. The blood ran all over his head and down his neck, though he\nreally was hardly hurt at all. From the top of a tall tree he looked\ndown. There stood Old Mother Nature, looking up at him.\n\n\"'Mr. Gobbler,' said she, 'you have acquired a bad habit, a very bad\nhabit. Hereafter, whenever you become vain and strut, your head and neck\nshall become as red as they now are, as a reminder to you and all who\nsee you of how silly it is to be vain and boastful.'\n\n\"And so it was. And so it is with Big Tom Gobbler to this day. There is\nnothing in the world more foolish than vanity,\" concluded Grandfather\nFrog.\n\n[Illustration: \"Don't call me Striped Chipmunk, and don't call me\nGopher!\" said he. _Page 172._]\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nWHERE SEEK-SEEK GOT HIS PRETTY COAT\n\n\nPeter Rabbit never will forget the first time he saw Seek-Seek the\nGround Squirrel, often wrongly called Gopher or Gopher Squirrel, but\nwhose real name is Spermophile, which means seed eater. Peter won't\nforget that meeting, because of the funny mistake he made and the\nfoolish feeling he had as a result of it. You see, Peter didn't know\nthat there was such a person as Seek-Seek. He was hopping along across\nthe Green Meadows in his usual happy-go-lucky way when, right in front\nof him, he saw what at first he took to be a stake, a small stake,\ndriven in the ground. But as he drew nearer, it suddenly moved. It\nwasn't a stake at all, but a very lively small person in a striped coat\nwho had been sitting up very straight and motionless.\n\n\"Hello, Striped Chipmunk! What are you doing way out here so far from\nthe old stone wall?\" exclaimed Peter.\n\nThe small person in the striped coat whirled and faced Peter with\nsnapping eyes. \"Don't call me Striped Chipmunk, and don't call me\nGopher!\" said he very fiercely for so small a person. \"I am neither one.\nI am Seek-Seek the Ground Squirrel, and I'll thank you to call me by my\nown name. I am getting everlastingly tired of being called the names of\nother people.\"\n\nPeter looked very foolish. \"I beg your pardon,\" said he. \"I do indeed.\nI'm sorry. Perhaps you don't know it, but you look very much like\nStriped Chipmunk, who is one of my best friends. You look so much like\nhim that I thought you must be him. I wonder if you are related to him.\"\n\n\"Certainly I'm related to him, or he is related to me, whichever way you\nplease to put it,\" snapped Seek-Seek. \"We are cousins. But he is a Rock\nSquirrel, and I am a Ground Squirrel which is altogether different. You\ndon't find me where there are rocks and stones in the way if I know it.\nBesides, if you used your eyes, you would see that we are not dressed\nalike either. Just because we both happen to wear stripes is no reason\nwhy we should be mistaken for each other.\"\n\nPeter looked at Seek-Seek more closely than he had, and at once he made\na discovery. \"Why!\" he exclaimed, \"your coat has more stripes than\nStriped Chipmunk's has, hasn't it?\"\n\n\"I should hope so,\" retorted Seek-Seek.\n\n\"And it has little rows of spots, too!\" cried Peter. \"If I had noticed\nthose spots at first, I wouldn't have made such a foolish mistake. I do\nbelieve that your coat is prettier than Striped Chipmunk's, and I had\nthought his as pretty as a coat can be.\"\n\nSeek-Seek looked rather pleased, though he tried not to. \"Huh!\" he\nsniffed. \"Of course it's prettier. It took you a long time to find it\nout. I wouldn't trade coats with Striped Chipmunk or anybody else of my\nacquaintance.\"\n\n\"Neither would I if I were in your place,\" declared Peter. \"I wish Old\nMother Nature had given me a coat like that.\" He said this so wistfully\nthat Seek-Seek, who had started to laugh, turned his head so that Peter\nmight not know it. \"I'm afraid it wouldn't look so well on one as big as\nyou,\" he replied. \"Anyway, you wouldn't be able to hide from your\nenemies as you can now.\"\n\n\"That's so,\" said Peter thoughtfully. \"I would be easily seen in a coat\nlike that, for a fact. I hadn't thought of that. I guess Old Mother\nNature knows best. I--I wonder how she ever happened to think of a coat\nlike yours.\"\n\nSeek-Seek chuckled. He had quite forgotten that he had felt offended\nbecause Peter had mistaken him for his cousin, Striped Chipmunk. He\nenjoyed Peter's admiration of his coat. He is naturally rather\ntalkative, and like most folks he enjoyed talking about himself.\n\n\"This coat,\" said he, \"has been in the family a very great while. Of\ncourse, I don't mean this particular coat that I am wearing,\" he\nhastened to add, as he saw Peter beginning to grin. \"I mean this style\nof coat has been in the family a very long time. My father was dressed\njust as I am. So was his father and--\"\n\n\"I know,\" interrupted Peter. \"You were going to say that so were all\nyour grandfathers way back to the days when the world was young, and Old\nMother Nature made the very first one of your family. It's funny to me\nthat all the interesting things happened such a long time ago. Now\nwasn't that what you were going to say?\"\n\nSeek-Seek admitted that it was, and looked a little disappointed that\nPeter had guessed it. But a second later he felt better when Peter\nasked him very politely but very earnestly for the story of how the\nfirst Ground Squirrel got such a pretty coat. \"There is a story. I know\nthere is a story,\" declared Peter. \"Won't you tell it to me please,\nSeek-Seek?\"\n\nNow Peter didn't want to hear it any more than Seek-Seek wanted to tell\nit, so while Peter squatted down comfortably, Seek-Seek sat up very\nstraight and began the story.\n\n\"First of all, you must know that Seek-Seek is an old family name which\nhas been handed down just as the pattern of my coat has been. The very\nfirst of all my great-great-grandfathers was called Seek-Seek. When Old\nMother Nature made Seek-Seek she must have had two families in mind at\none time, the Marmot family and the Squirrel family, for she made him a\nlittle like each, so that in his looks he sort of fitted in between the\ntwo. Mother Nature told him that he was a member of the Squirrel family\nand set him free to find a place for himself in the Great World.\n\n\"Now it didn't take Grandfather Seek-Seek long to find out that though\nhe might be a member of the Squirrel family, Old Mother Nature had\nfailed to furnish him with the right kind of claws for climbing trees,\nas most of his cousins did. True, he could climb a little, but it was\nnot easy, and he felt anything but comfortable off the ground. But if\nthose claws were of little use for climbing they were splendid tools for\ndigging, just as are the claws of the Marmot family. So Old Mother\nNature must have been thinking of the Marmots when she fashioned those\nclaws.\n\n\"At first Seek-Seek wandered about trying to find a place for himself\nin the Great World. Being a Squirrel, he tried to live as did his\ncousins, Mr. Red Squirrel and Mr. Gray Squirrel, but on account of those\nclaws he didn't make much of a success of it. Then one day he met Mr.\nChipmunk. They stopped and stared at each other in surprise because, you\nknow, their coats were so much alike. At that time Seek-Seek was wearing\nplain stripes, just as Striped Chipmunk does to this day.\n\n\"'What do you mean by stealing my coat?' demanded Mr. Chipmunk angrily.\n\n\"'I was just about to ask you the same question,' retorted Seek-Seek.\n\n\"Mr. Chipmunk had a sharp reply right on the tip of his tongue, but he\nchecked it just in time. 'What's the use of quarreling over something\nneither of us had anything to do with?' said he. 'It must be that we are\ncousins. Where do you live?'\n\n\"Seek-Seek explained that he didn't live anywhere in particular but was\ntrying to find his place in the Great World. He told how he had tried to\nlive like the other Squirrels and failed. 'I know! I know all about it,'\ninterrupted Mr. Chipmunk. 'I've been all through it. The place for us is\non the ground or at least close to it. Come see how I live.'\n\n\"So Seek-Seek went with Mr. Chipmunk and saw how he lived among the\nrocks and stones. For a time he tried living there too, but he didn't\nlike the rocks and stones much better than he did the trees. Besides,\nall the neighbors were forever mistaking him for Mr. Chipmunk because\nthey looked so much alike, and he didn't like this. One day he wandered\nout on the Green Meadows. It was very lovely out there among the grasses\nand flowers. He wandered farther and farther, and the farther he\nwandered the better he liked it. By and by he came to the home of\nYap-Yap the Prairie Dog, who is one of the Marmot family, as you know.\n\n\"'A home like that would suit me,' thought Grandfather Seek-Seek\nwistfully, as he journeyed on. 'I wonder if I could dig one. I believe\nI'll try.'\n\n\"So when he found a place to suit him he began to dig. There were no\nstones to hurt his feet and dull his nails, and he actually enjoyed\ndigging. So he dug and dug until he had a wonderful underground home.\nAll about were plenty of seeds and tender grasses to eat, and he was\nhappy. He had found his place in the Great World. Then one day along\ncame Old Mother Nature. 'Hello, Mr. Chipmunk,' she exclaimed, as she\ncaught sight of his striped coat, 'what are you doing way out here?'\n\n\"Then she discovered her mistake. 'Dear me,' said she, 'this will never\ndo at all. If I can't tell my own children apart, how can I expect\nothers to? Your coat is altogether too much like that of Mr. Chipmunk. I\nmust change it. I certainly must change it.'\n\n\"She leaned over and lightly tapped Seek-Seek right down the length of\nthe broadest brown stripe of his coat. Wherever her finger touched a\nlittle spot of yellow was left. Then she did the same thing to each of\nthe other brown stripes. When she had finished Grandfather Seek-Seek had\na coat exactly like the one I am now wearing, and his cup of happiness\nwas filled to the brim. From that day on he never was mistaken for Mr.\nChipmunk or any one else. That's the story of my coat, and now I must\nget busy collecting seeds for my storehouse,\" concluded Seek-Seek. \"Come\nand see me again, Peter Rabbit.\"\n\n\"I will,\" replied Peter, as he started for the dear Old Briar-patch to\ntell Mrs. Peter all about Seek-Seek and his pretty coat.\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nWHERE OLD MR. OSPREY LEARNED TO FISH\n\n\nPeter Rabbit had seen a very strange thing. It was strange to Peter,\nanyway. It gave him something to think about, and this, I am sure you\nwill agree, was a most excellent thing, for it kept him out of mischief\nfor a while. He had been over to the Smiling Pool for a call on Jerry\nMuskrat and had just started back for the dear Old Briar-patch when he\nchanced to look over in the direction of the Big River. Coming straight\ntowards him, but high in the air, was a big bird, a bird with broad\nwings. Peter didn't have to look twice to know that it was a member of\nthe Hawk family. At first he thought it was Redtail. Then he caught a\nflash of white, and he thought it was Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, in spite\nof the fact that it didn't fly like him. Peter didn't stop to think of\nthat. It was enough for him that a member of the Hawk family was headed\nthat way, and he didn't care a twitch of his funny little tail which\nmember it was. He felt that the stomach of one was quite as undesirable\na place for Peter Rabbit as the stomach of another, and he had no\nintention of filling any if he could help it.\n\nHe remembered that there was an old house of Johnny Chuck's under the\nBig Hickory-tree on the bank of the Smiling Pool, and he wasted no time\nin getting there, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as he could go. He\nwould stay there until the way was clear to get home to the dear Old\nBriar-patch. As soon as he was safe in the old house of Johnny Chuck, he\nturned and poked his head out of the doorway. He wanted to see if any\none would be caught. He hoped not, but if any one was caught, he wanted\nto see. You know Peter never misses anything if he can help it. On came\nMr. Hawk, and when he was right over the Smiling Pool, he turned and\nmade a short circle high in the air. Then Peter saw that he had a white\nwaist-coat and was a stranger.\n\n\"I wonder who he is?\" thought Peter, staring very hard. \"He's bigger\nthan either Redtail or Whitetail. I hope he isn't going to make his home\nhere, because we have trouble enough as it is.\"\n\nSuddenly Mr. Hawk paused high up in the air, then closed his wings and\nshot straight down like an arrow. Plunge! Peter couldn't believe his own\neyes. Mr. Hawk actually had disappeared in the Smiling Pool! A second\nlater there was a great splashing, and out of the water rose Mr. Hawk,\nflapping his great wings heavily, scattering spray in all directions.\nUp, up he went, and then Peter saw that in his great claws was a fish.\nPeter watched him fly away with the fish, and when he felt that it was\nquite safe to do so, he came out. Over on the end of an old log among\nthe bulrushes sat Jerry Muskrat just where Peter had left him. It was\nvery plain that Jerry hadn't been the least bit frightened by Mr. Hawk.\nPeter couldn't understand it. His eyes fairly popped out of his head\nwith excitement and curiosity.\n\n\"Who was that?\" he asked eagerly.\n\n\"That? Why, that was Plunger the Osprey, though some people call him\nFish Hawk,\" replied Jerry. \"I thought everybody knew him. Why did you\nrun away, Peter? He wouldn't hurt you.\"\n\n\"Huh! I wouldn't trust _any_ Hawk!\" snapped Peter.\n\n\"Which goes to show how little you know!\" retorted Jerry Muskrat.\n\"Plunger never bothers anybody but the fish, but he surely is a terror\nto them. Old Mother Nature knew what she was doing when she made\nfishermen out of that family, didn't she?\"\n\n\"She certainly did, though I've never heard how she came to do it. How\ndid it happen, Jerry?\" Peter was doing some fishing himself. He was\nfishing for a story.\n\nJerry Muskrat grinned. \"Think you'll sleep any better if I tell you?\"\nhe inquired.\n\nPeter grinned back and nodded. So Jerry Muskrat told him this story:\n\n\"Way back in the days when the world was young, and the\ngreat-great-ever-so-great-grandfathers of all the little people of the\nGreen Meadows and the Green Forest of today were being started out in\nlife by Old Mother Nature, they had everything to learn. The Great World\nwas a new place, and they were new in it. No one knew exactly his place\nor what was expected of him, and Old Mother Nature was too busy to be\nbothered with questions. She expected each one to work out for himself a\nway in which to make himself useful, or at least to take care of\nhimself, without bothering her. If he couldn't do that, she didn't want\nhim around at all, and the sooner something happened to him the better.\nSo the Great World began to be peopled with birds and animals.\n\n\"It didn't take them long to learn that it wouldn't be possible for all\nto live if they all ate the same kind of food. So some learned to eat\none thing and some another, and all went happily until there came a time\nwhen all food was scarce, and more stomachs were empty than full. You've\nheard about that hard time and sad time?\"\n\nPeter nodded, and Jerry took a drink of water and then went on with his\ntale.\n\n\"Of course, that was really a very dreadful time, for it was then that\nthe strong began to hunt the weak, and fear was born into the world. And\nyet I guess it wasn't wholly bad. Nothing is, so far as I can find out.\nAnyway, because of that hard time, everybody became a little smarter\nthan before. You know an empty stomach sharpens wit, and fear puts a\nfine edge on it. Now Mr. Osprey, who was one of the biggest of the\ncousins of old King Eagle, couldn't get over a feeling of meanness\nwhenever he hunted those smaller than himself. One day he caught little\nMr. Sparrow when little Mr. Sparrow was so busy that he forgot to watch\nout.\n\n\"'I'm powerful sorry, Mr. Sparrow,' apologized Mr. Osprey, 'but there's\nan emptiness just about your size in my stomach, and it won't give me\nany peace of mind until it's filled. I hate to make a neighbor\nuncomfortable, and I'll be just as quick and accommodating about this\nlittle matter as I can. If you'll just shut your eyes, you won't see\nanything unpleasant, and I won't be a minute in getting that peace of\nmind I've been without so long. I just must have it, or I wouldn't\nbother you at all. I hope you won't hold it against me, Mr. Sparrow.'\n\n\"Mr. Osprey was so nice and polite about it that little Mr. Sparrow\nperked up a little and started his wits working. He tried to be just as\nnice and polite as Mr. Osprey. 'I know just how you feel, Mr. Osprey,'\nsaid he, in a trembling voice, 'and during these hard times I've had\nthat same ailment of the mind because of lonesomeness of the stomach,\nwhich is troubling you. So long as that emptiness is filled, I don't\nsuppose it matters to you if I shouldn't happen to fill it.'\n\n\"'Not at all,' replied Mr. Osprey.\n\n\"'Mr. Osprey,' said little Mr. Sparrow very earnestly, 'if I were in\nyour place, I never would go hungry. No, Sir, I never would go hungry.\nAnd I certainly never, never would trouble any of my neighbors who wear\nfeathers. I certainly would feel most happy if Old Mother Nature had\ngiven me what she has given you. Indeed I would.'\n\n\"Mr. Osprey looked down at little Mr. Sparrow and blinked at him in a\npuzzled way. 'What has Old Mother Nature given me that you would be\nhappy to have?' he asked.\n\n\"'Fishhooks!' replied little Mr. Sparrow, pointing to Mr. Osprey's great\nclaws, 'the finest fishhooks in the world. You don't hear Billy Mink or\nLittle Joe Otter or Mr. Heron complaining about hard times. Why? Because\nthey don't know what hard times are. There are plenty of fish to be\ncaught, and when they are hungry they go fishing. Fish are very filling\nand satisfying, I've heard say. When I flew across the Smiling Pool a\nlittle while ago, I saw a fat fish taking a sun-bath right close to the\ntop of the water. Seemed like he was just waiting for some one with\nhooks to come along and snatch him right out of the water.'\n\n\"'Where'd you say that fish was?' asked Mr. Osprey.\n\n\"'If you'll let me go, I'll show you,' replied little Mr. Sparrow.\n\n\"So Mr. Osprey let little Mr. Sparrow go, but he followed him right\nclose. Mr. Sparrow led the way straight to the Smiling Pool. Sure\nenough, there was the big fish taking a sun-bath. Mr. Osprey hardly wet\nhis feet putting those big hooks into that fish. He flew away with it,\nand presently he was rid of that emptiness in his stomach and had back\nhis peace of mind. After that, whenever he was hungry, he went fishing\ninstead of hunting the birds and the animals. By practice he learned how\nto use those big fishhooks of his and became one of the smartest of all\nfishermen. He and little Mr. Sparrow became great friends, in fact, such\nfriends that when Mr. Osprey built a great nest, little Mr. Sparrow\nbuilt his right in the side of it, and there he was perfectly safe from\nothers who might be hunting him. And it's been just that way ever since.\nIf you wore scales instead of fur, and lived in the water instead of on\nthe land, Peter Rabbit, you would have reason to fear Plunger the\nOsprey, but as it is, you are safer when he is about than when he isn't.\nThere comes old Redtail the Hawk. You'd better get out of sight, Peter.\"\n\nPeter did.\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nWHERE OLD MR. BOB-CAT LEFT HIS HONOR\n\n\nOf all those who are forever trying to catch Peter Rabbit, he fears none\nmore than Yowler the Bob-cat. And from that fear has grown hate. You\nwill find it true all through life that hate often springs from great\nfear. Peter isn't much given to hate, but he does hate Yowler the\nBob-cat. It is partly because of his fear of Yowler, but it is still\nmore because he feels that Yowler is not fair in his hunting. He has no\nhonor. There are many others whom Peter fears,--Reddy Fox, Old Man\nCoyote, Hooty the Owl,--and with very good reason. But Peter considers\nthat these hunt him fairly. He knows when and where to be on the watch\nfor them.\n\nBut with Yowler it is altogether different. Yowler hides beside one of\nPeter's favorite little paths, and there he waits patiently for\nunsuspecting Peter to come along. He waits and watches much as Black\nPussy, who is a cousin of Yowler, waits and watches at a mousehole.\nPeter feels that it doesn't give him a chance, and everybody is entitled\nto at least a chance to live.\n\n\"I hate him! hate him! hate him!\" exclaimed Peter fiercely, as he\ncrawled under the very middle of a great pile of brush after the\nnarrowest of narrow escapes. He had been hopping along one of his\nfavorite little paths without a thought of danger. Presently he came to\na little branch path. There he hesitated. He had intended to keep on\nalong the main path, but suddenly he had a feeling that it would be\nbetter to take the branch path. He knew no reason why he shouldn't keep\non as he had planned. It was just a feeling that it would be better to\ntake the other path, a feeling without any real reason. So he hesitated\nand finally turned down the little branch path. As he did so he caught a\nglimpse of a brown form moving stealthily from behind a log farther up\nthe main little path. It was moving swiftly in the direction of the\nlittle branch path. That glimpse was enough for Peter. That stealthy\nform could be but one person--Yowler the Bob-cat. He turned and darted\nback the way he had come and then off to one side to the great pile of\nbrush under which he had crawled.\n\n\"Who is it you hate?\" asked a voice.\n\nFor just a second Peter was startled, then he recognized the voice of\nMrs. Grouse, one of his very best friends. \"Yowler the Bob-cat,\" said he\nas fiercely as before.\n\n\"I don't love him myself,\" replied Mrs. Grouse. \"I suspected that he was\nsomewhere about, and that is why I am here. Did you see him?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Peter, \"I saw him. He was hiding beside my favorite little\npath, and it is a wonder I didn't hop straight into his jaws. That\nfellow doesn't hunt fairly. He doesn't give us a chance. He hasn't any\nhonor.\"\n\n\"Honor!\" exclaimed Mrs. Grouse. \"Honor! Of course he hasn't any honor.\nThere hasn't been any honor in Yowler's family since old Mr. Bob-cat,\nthe first of all the Bob-cats, left his honor in Turkey Wood, way back\nin the days when the world was young, and failed to get it again. Honor!\nOf course Yowler hasn't any. What could you expect?\"\n\nAt once Peter was all ears. \"I've never heard about that,\" said he.\n\"Tell me about it, Mrs. Grouse. We've got to stay right where we are for\na long time to make sure that Yowler has given us up and gone away, so\nyou will have plenty of time to tell me the story. Where was Turkey\nWood, and how did old Mr. Bob-cat happen to leave his honor there?\"\n\n\"He didn't happen to; he did it deliberately,\" replied Mrs. Grouse. \"You\nsee, it was like this: In the beginning of things, when Old Mother\nNature made the first little people and the first big people of the\nGreen Forest and the Green Meadows, she was too busy to watch over them\nall the time, so for a while she put them on their honor not to harm one\nanother or interfere with one another in any way, for she wanted them to\nlive in peace and happiness and raise families to people the Great\nWorld.\n\n\"Now it chanced that Mr. and Mrs. Gobbler, the first of the Turkey\nfamily, chose a certain little grove of trees in which to make their\nhome, and it became known as Turkey Wood. There, in course of time, Mrs.\nTurkey made her nest on the ground, well hidden among some bushes, and\nin it laid twelve big eggs. It was the day on which she laid the twelfth\nbig egg that old Mr. Bob-cat, who, of course, wasn't old then, took it\ninto his head to prowl about in Turkey Wood. Already Mr. Bob-cat had\nbegun to form a sneaky habit of stealth. He was very fond of watching\nhis neighbors to find out what they were about, and it was this fondness\nof minding the business of other people instead of his own that was\nmaking him sneaky and stealthy, for of course he didn't want any one to\nknow what he was doing.\n\n\"It happened that as he stole into Turkey Wood, Mrs. Gobbler left her\nnest to get a bite to eat. Mr. Bob-cat saw her, but she didn't see him.\nHe crouched flat until she was out of sight.\n\n\"'She seemed mighty careful about how she slipped out of those bushes,'\nthought Mr. Bob-cat. 'She acted as if she didn't want to be seen. I\nwonder why. I wonder if she has a secret hidden in those bushes. I\nsuppose the way to find out is to look.'\n\n\"First making sure that no one saw him, Mr. Bob-cat crept in his sneaky\nway into the bushes, and it didn't take him long to find that nest with\nthe twelve big eggs. He didn't know what they were, for they were the\nfirst eggs he had ever seen. He stared at them and wondered if they were\ngood to eat. He glanced this way and that way to be sure that no one was\nwatching him.\n\n\"'Don't touch them,' warned something inside of him. 'These belong to\nMrs. Gobbler, and Old Mother Nature has put you on your honor not to\ninterfere with others or their affairs.'\n\n\"'It won't do any harm just to touch them and see what they are like,'\nsaid another little tempting voice inside of him.\n\n\"'Remember your honor,' warned the first little voice.\n\n\"'Bother my honor! I'm not going to do any harm,' muttered Mr. Bob-cat,\nand picked up one of the eggs in his mouth. He tried it with his teeth\nto see if it was hard, and of course he put his teeth right through the\nshell. He started to put it back in a hurry, but just then he noticed a\ngood taste in his mouth. The inside of that egg was good to eat, very\ngood indeed!\n\n\"'One won't be missed,' thought Mr. Bob-cat, and then, fearing that Mrs.\nGobbler would return, he bounded away, taking the egg with him.\n\n\"When Mrs. Gobbler returned, she did miss that egg. She looked all about\nfor it, but there was nothing to show what had become of it. With a\ntroubled mind she began to sit on her eggs. She was so worried that she\ndidn't leave them until she simply _had_ to get something to eat.\n\n\"Meanwhile Mr. Bob-cat had eaten that egg, and it had tasted so good\nthat he could think of nothing but how he could get another. So at the\nfirst opportunity he sneaked back to Turkey Wood, and without making a\nsound crept in among the bushes until he could see Mrs. Gobbler sitting\non her eggs. There he lay and watched and watched until Mrs. Gobbler\nleft to get something to eat. No sooner was she out of sight than Mr.\nBob-cat stole to the nest.\n\n\"'Remember your honor,' warned the little voice inside.\n\n\"'Bother honor. I'd rather have an egg,' muttered Mr. Bob-cat, and\npulled one out of the nest. He bit a hole in one end and sucked out the\ncontents. It was so good he took another. This led to a third, and\nfinally Mr. Bob-cat had sucked every one of those eggs. Then silently he\nsneaked away--away from Turkey Wood to a distant part of the Green\nForest. Behind him in Turkey Wood he left a nestful of empty shells and\nhis honor.\n\n\"'Nobody knows who did it, and nobody ever will find out,' thought Mr.\nBob-cat, but all the time he knew that he had left his honor behind, and\nthis made him more sneaky than ever. He never would meet any one face to\nface. You know that is something that one who has lost his honor never\ncan do. It wasn't long before all his neighbors knew that he was without\nhonor, and so would have nothing to do with him. They shunned him. He\ngrew to be more and more of a sneak. And all the time he believed that\nno one knew what he had done or where he had left his honor.\n\n\"But Old Mother Nature knew. Of course Mrs. Gobbler told her what had\nhappened to her eggs. Old Mother Nature told her to make a new nest and\nhide it more carefully than before, which Mrs. Gobbler did and hatched\nout ten fine young Gobblers. Meanwhile Old Mother Nature went about her\nbusiness, but all the time she was watching to see who would fail to\nlook her straight in the face. The first time she met Mr. Bob-cat he\ntried to slip past unseen. When Old Mother Nature stepped in front of\nhim, he couldn't look her in the face, try as he would.\n\n\"'Ah-ha!' said she. 'You are the one who left his honor in Turkey Wood.\nFrom this time forth you shall be an outcast, friendless and alone,\nhated by every one.'\n\n\"And so it was, and has been ever since. And so it is with Yowler today.\nYou said truly, Peter, that he hasn't any honor. Isn't it dreadful?\"\n\nAnd Peter agreed that it is.\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nWHERE DIPPY THE LOON GOT THE NAME OF BEING CRAZY\n\n\nAs you all know, Peter Rabbit is out and about at a time when most folks\nare snugly tucked in bed. The fact is, Peter is very fond of roaming\naround at night. He says he feels safer then in spite of the fact that\nsome of his smartest enemies are also out and about, among them Hooty\nthe Owl and Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote. The two latter also hunt by\nday when the fancy takes them or they have been so unsuccessful at night\nthat their stomachs won't give them any peace, and Peter is sure that\nthough they can see very well at night, they can see still better in\nthe light of day. Anyway, that is one of the reasons he gives for his\nown liking for roaming after jolly, round, red Mr. Sun has gone to bed\nbehind the Purple Hills.\n\nNow it happened one moonlight night that Peter had ventured way over\nalmost to the Big River. He had heard Hooty the Owl's fierce hunting\ncall far off in the Green Forest. He had heard Reddy Fox barking up in\nthe Old Pasture. So Peter felt quite safe. He felt so safe that he had\nalmost forgotten that there could be such a thing as fear. And then,\nfrom the direction of the Big River, there came such a sound as Peter\nnever had heard before. It was a sound that made his heart seem to quite\nstop beating for an instant. It was a sound that sent cold chills racing\nand chasing all over him. It was a sound that made him wish with all\nhis might that he was that instant right in the heart of the dear Old\nBriar-patch instead of way over there near the bank of the Big River.\n\nHe didn't waste much time getting back to the dear Old Briar-patch, once\nhe was sure his heart hadn't really stopped beating. The way he went\nacross the Green Meadows, lipperty-lipperty-lip, lipperty-lipperty-lip,\nwas positive proof that in spite of his fright his heart was quite all\nright. He didn't run a little way, stop, run a little farther and stop\nagain, as is his usual way. He kept lipperty-lipperty-lipping without a\nsingle stop until he reached the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch and\nonce more felt really safe. Two or three times he had felt that he must\nstop to get his breath, but each time that sound, that dreadful sound,\nhad seemed to be following right at his heels, and he had suddenly\ndiscovered that he didn't need to stop after all.\n\nBut having reached the dear Old Briar-patch Peter stopped and panted for\nbreath while he anxiously watched for the appearance of some unknown\nenemy following him. It was then that he realized that that sound came\nfrom the Big River, and that whoever made it had not left the Big River\nat all. It made Peter feel a wee bit foolish as he thought how he had\nbeen sure that there was danger right at his very heels all the way\nhome, when all the time there hadn't been any danger at all.\n\nPeter sat there and listened, and despite the fact that he now felt\nabsolutely safe, the cold chills ran over him every time he heard it.\nIt was a voice; Peter was sure of that. It was a voice, but such a voice\nas Peter never in his life had heard before. It was quite as bad if not\nworse than the voice of Old Man Coyote. In a way it reminded him of Old\nMan Coyote's voice, but while Old Man Coyote's voice sounded like many\nvoices in one, it was not so fearsome as this voice, for this voice\nsounded like a human voice, yet wasn't. Something inside Peter told him\nthat it wasn't a human voice, in spite of its sounding so.\n\nThe next morning Peter ran over to the Smiling Pool to ask Grandfather\nFrog if he had any idea who could have such a voice as that. When he\ntried to tell Grandfather Frog what that voice was like, he couldn't. He\njust couldn't describe it.\n\n\"It was the lonesomest and craziest sound I've ever heard,\" declared\nPeter, \"and that is all I can tell you. It was crazier than the voice of\nOld Man Coyote.\"\n\n\"That is all you need tell me,\" chuckled Grandfather Frog. \"That was the\nvoice of Dippy the Loon. And let me tell you something, Peter: you are\nnot the first one to think his voice has a crazy sound. Oh, my, no! No,\nindeed! Why, a lot of people think Dippy _is_ crazy, and when any one\ndoes queer things they say of him that he is 'crazy as a Loon.'\n\n\"But is he crazy?\" asked Peter.\n\n\"Chug-a-rum!\" exclaimed Grandfather Frog. \"Chug-a-rum! Not half so\ncrazy as you are, Peter, coming over here to the Smiling Pool in\nbroad daylight. He likes to be thought crazy, just as his\ngreat-great-ever-so-great-grandfather did before him, that's all.\nEverybody thought his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather was crazy,\nand it paid Mr. Loon to have them think so. So he did his best to make\nthem keep thinking so.\"\n\n\"Tell me about it. Do please tell me about it, Grandfather Frog,\" begged\nPeter. \"Please, please, please.\"\n\nNow how could Grandfather Frog resist that? He couldn't. He didn't even\ntry to. He just cleared his throat once or twice and began.\n\n\"Once on a time, long, long ago, lived the very first of all the Loons,\nthe ever-and-ever-and-ever-so-great-grandfather of Dippy, whose voice\nfrightened you so last night.\"\n\n\"How did you know it frightened me?\" exclaimed Peter, for he had taken\ncare not to tell Grandfather Frog anything about that.\n\nGrandfather Frog chuckled and went right on with his story. \"Right from\nthe beginning Mr. Loon was a mighty independent fellow. It didn't take\nhim long to find out that Old Mother Nature had too much to do to waste\nany time on those who didn't try to take care of themselves, and that\nthose would live longest who were smartest and most independent. He had\nsharp eyes, had old Mr. Loon, just as Dippy has today, and he used them\nto good account. He saw at once that with so many birds and animals\nliving on the land it was likely to get crowded after a while, and that\nwhen such became the case, it was going to be mighty hard work for some\nto get a living. So Mr. Loon went to Mother Nature and told her that if\nshe had no objections he would like a pair of swimming feet and would\nlive on the water.\n\n\"Now Old Mother Nature had just fitted out Mr. Duck with a pair of\nwebbed feet that he might swim, so she was quite prepared to fit Mr.\nLoon out in like manner.\n\n\"'I suppose,' said she, 'that you want a bill like Mr. Duck's.'\n\n\"Mr. Loon shook his head. 'Thank you,' said he, 'but I would prefer a\nsharp bill to a broad one.'\n\n\"'How is that?' exclaimed Mother Nature. 'Mr. Duck has been delighted\nwith his bill ever since I gave it to him.'\n\n\"'And with good reason,' replied Mr. Loon. 'Did I propose to live as Mr.\nDuck lives, I should want a bill just like his, but I find that fish are\nmore to my liking. Also I have noticed that there are fewer who eat\nfish.'\n\n\"So Mother Nature gave him the kind of bill he wanted, and Mr. Loon\nwent about his business. He managed to get fish enough to keep from\ngoing hungry, but he found that the only way he could do it was to sit\nperfectly still until a fish swam within reach and then strike swiftly.\nIn fact, his fishing was much like that of Mr. Heron, save that the\nlatter stood instead of sitting. Success was chiefly the result of luck\nand patience.\n\n\"Now this sort of thing was not at all to the liking of Mr. Loon. He\ngloried in his strength and he wanted to hunt for his fish and catch\nthem in fair chase instead of waiting for them to unsuspectingly swim\nwithin reach. He practised and practised swimming and diving, but he\nsoon made up his mind that he never would be able to move through the\nwater fast enough to catch a fish unless there was some change. He\nwatched the fish swim, and he saw that the power which drove them\nthrough the water came from their tails. Mr. Loon grew very thoughtful.\n\n\"The next time Mother Nature came around to see how everybody was\ngetting on, to hear complaints, and to grant such requests as seemed\nwise, Mr. Loon was on hand. 'If you please,' said he when his turn came,\n'I would like my legs moved back to the lower end of my body.'\n\n\"Mother Nature was surprised. She looked it. 'But you'll hardly be able\nto walk at all with your legs there!' she exclaimed.\n\n\"Mr. Loon said that he knew that, and that he didn't want to walk. He\nwould far rather spend all his time on the water. So Mother Nature\ngranted his request. Mr. Loon thanked her and started for the water. He\ncouldn't keep his balance. He simply flopped along, while all his\nneighbors, who had heard his queer request, jeered at him and called him\ncrazy. He just didn't pay any attention, but flopped along until he\nreached the water. Then he swam away swiftly. When he was quite by\nhimself with none to see, he dived, and as he had hoped, he found that\nhe could drive himself through the water at great speed. He practised a\nwhile and then he went fishing. When he caught his first fish in a fair\nchase, he was so delighted that he shrieked and shouted and laughed in\nthe wildest fashion far into the night. And those who had heard his\nstrange request and thought him crazy were sure of it, as they listened\nto his wild laughter.\n\n\"So little by little it was spread about among all the other people\nthat Mr. Loon was crazy, and he was left much to himself, which was\njust what he desired. He was quick to note that the sound of his voice\nsent shivers over some of his neighbors, and so he would shriek and\nlaugh just to drive them away. It pleased him to have them think him\ncrazy, and he kept it up.\n\n\"So it is with Dippy today, and last night you ran from the voice of a\ncrazy Loon who isn't crazy at all, but likes to make people think he\nis,\" concluded Grandfather Frog.\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nWHERE BIG-HORN GOT HIS CURVED HORNS\n\n\nIt was Digger the Badger who told Peter Rabbit the story of the great\nRam who was the first of all the wild Sheep who live on the tops of the\nmountains bounding the great plains of the Far West on which Digger was\nborn. It happened that Farmer Brown's flock of Sheep were grazing in the\nOld Pasture in plain sight of Digger as he sat on his doorstep watching\nhis shadow grow longer. At the head of the flock was a Ram whose horns\ncurved around in almost a circle, and whom Peter Rabbit often had\nadmired.\n\nPeter happened along as Digger sat there on his doorstep watching his\nshadow grow longer, so he sat down at a safe and respectful distance and\nhelped Digger watch his shadow grow longer. Peter delights in doing\nthings like this, because it isn't hard work at all. It is only when\nthere is real work concerned that Peter loses interest. A lot of people\nare just like Peter in this respect.\n\nPeter gazed over at the Old Pasture and he, too, saw Farmer Brown's\nSheep and the big Ram with the curving horns at his head. For a long\ntime Peter had greatly admired those horns, though he never had told any\none so. He had admired those horns because they were different from any\nother horns Peter ever had seen. They looked perfectly useless for\nfighting because they curved so that the points never could be made to\nhurt any one, but just the same Peter admired them. Now as he watched he\nspoke aloud, without thinking what he was doing.\n\n\"I wish I had a pair of horns like those,\" said he wistfully.\n\nDigger the Badger stopped watching his shadow, and turned to stare at\nPeter. Then he laughed until finally he choked. Peter looked at him in\nsurprise.\n\n\"What's the matter with you, Mr. Badger?\" asked he. \"What is there to\nlaugh at?\"\n\n\"Only you, Peter. Only you,\" replied Digger faintly, for he had laughed\nso hard that he had almost lost his voice. \"I am afraid you would find a\npair of horns like those rather heavy, Peter, rather heavy.\"\n\nPeter grinned. \"Of course I didn't really mean that,\" said he. \"Of\ncourse not. I was just thinking how nice it would be to have such fine\nhorns, if one were big enough to have horns. I don't believe there are\nany other such horns in all the Great World.\"\n\n\"And that shows how little you know about the Great World, Peter,\"\nretorted Digger the Badger.\n\n\"Did you ever see such horns before?\" demanded Peter.\n\n\"No, I never did,\" confessed Digger, \"but I've heard my grandfather\ntell of Sheep that live on the tops of the great mountains as free\nas Light-foot the Deer or any other of the Green Forest people,\nand with horns so large that they, the Sheep, are called Big-Horns.\nFrom what I have heard my grandfather say, those horns over there of\nMr. Ram's are nothing to brag about. No, Sir, they are nothing to brag\nabout. One of those wild, free cousins of Mr. Ram over there would\nlaugh at those horns. But they are funny horns, and they've been\nlike that always since the days of the first great Ram, the\ngreat-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of all the Sheep, so my\ngrandfather told me. It was way back in those long-ago days that they\nbecame curved and quite useless for fighting, and all because of old\nBig-Horn going about with a chip on his shoulder.\"\n\nPeter pricked up his ears. \"That was a funny thing for Big-Horn to be\ndoing,\" said he. \"What under the sun did he have a chip on his shoulder\nfor? And what harm was there in that, even if he did?\"\n\nOnce more Digger began to laugh. \"Peter,\" said he, \"you certainly are\nthe funniest fellow I know. Of course old Big-Horn didn't really have a\nchip on his shoulder. That is just a saying, Peter, just a saying. When\nany one goes about looking for trouble and ready to quarrel at the least\npretext, he is said to be carrying a chip on his shoulder and daring\nanybody to knock it off.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said Peter.\n\n\"And so,\" continued Digger, \"Big-Horn didn't have anything to do with a\nreally, truly chip, but just went about always trying to get somebody to\nfight with him. It wasn't that Big-Horn was ugly. He wasn't. You see Old\nMother Nature had given him great strength. Yes, Sir, for his size\nBig-Horn was very strong, and in that strength be took great pride. And\nMother Nature had given him a pair of very large and strong horns with\nwhich to defend himself if there should be need. Those horns were almost\nstraight, and with Big-Horn's great strength behind them, they were\ntruly dangerous weapons. He didn't think of that. No, Sir, he didn't\nthink of that. He was just brimming full of life, and he dearly loved to\ntry his strength against the strength of others. It got so that the\ninstant he saw anybody, down would go his head and at them he would go\nfull tilt.\n\n\"It was great fun--for him. Sometimes he got the worst of it, as when\nOld King Bear stepped aside at the very last instant and hit him such a\nclip with his great paw that Big-Horn was sent rolling over and over and\nlost his breath for a few minutes. But usually it was the other who got\nthe worst of it, for those great, sharp-pointed horns of Big-Horn's tore\nand hurt. Indeed, even when he tried to be gentle with those smaller\nthan himself he was forever hurting some one.\n\n\"Finally some of his neighbors wished to go to Old Mother Nature and\ncomplain about Big-Horn, but others were against this plan because they\nknew that Old Mother Nature was quite loaded down with cares and worries\nas it was. So instead they called a meeting to which everybody except\nBig-Horn was invited. If Big-Horn could have heard all that was said\nabout him, his ears surely would have burned. Every one was of the\nopinion that something must be done, but just what no one could suggest.\nAt last, just when it seemed that the meeting would break up without\nanything being done, Old Man Coyote stepped forward. Now Old Man Coyote\nalready was known as a very clever fellow, more clever even than Mr.\nFox, though it would never have done to say so where it would get back\nto the ears of Mr. Fox.\n\n\"'Friends and neighbors,' said Old Man Coyote, 'it seems to me a very\nsimple matter to teach Neighbor Big-Horn a lesson that he will not soon\nforget. Being rather bashful, I haven't liked to suggest it before,\nbecause I thought surely some one else would do it. I suggest that some\none be selected to fight Big-Horn, and when that one can fight no\nlonger, some one else be selected to fight him, and so on until he gets\ntired, and some one can whip him. Then I think he will have had enough\nof fighting.'\n\n\"Up spoke Mr. Fox and he winked at his neighbor on the right and he\nwinked at his neighbor on the left. 'That is a very good idea of\nNeighbor Coyote's,' said he, 'a very good idea indeed, and I suggest\nthat Mr. Coyote be selected for the honor of being the first one to\nfight Big-Horn.' Mr. Fox grinned in a sly way, and everybody else\ngrinned, for everybody knew that Old Man Coyote never was known to fight\nwhen there was a chance to run away. So with one accord everybody agreed\nwith Mr. Fox, and Old Man Coyote was selected as the first one to face\nBig-Horn. To everybody's surprise, Old Man Coyote made no objections.\nInstead he expressed himself as highly honored, and said that he hoped\nto do so well that there would be no need for others to fight Big-Horn.\nSo it was arranged that Big-Horn should be invited to fight Old Man\nCoyote the very next day.\n\n\"You may be sure that everybody was on hand the next day to see that\nfight. No one expected Old Man Coyote to appear. But he did. Yes, Sir,\nhe did. He was right on hand at the appointed time. Big-Horn hadn't been\ntold whom he was to fight, and when he found that it was Old Man Coyote,\nhe was disappointed. You see, there was no anger in Big-Horn's fighting;\nhe fought just for the love of using his great strength and big horns.\nFighting was fun to him, and he wanted some one who would stand up to\nhim. As soon as it was explained to him that when he had disposed of Old\nMan Coyote there would be some one else for him to fight (Mr. Deer had\noffered to be the next), he felt better. Mr. Deer had horns and was\nsomewhere near his size.\n\n\"Old Man Coyote slipped around until he had his back to a great rock.\n'I'm ready any time,' said he.\n\n\"Big-Horn, who had been stamping with impatience, lowered his head so\nthat his horns pointed straight at Old Man Coyote. He grinned as he did\nit, for he saw that with that great rock behind him, Old Man Coyote\nwould have no chance to run away as he always had done in the past.\nEverybody else saw the same thing, and wondered what could have happened\nto make Old Man Coyote so stupid as to do such a thing as that, he who\nalways had been accounted so clever. But they had hardly time to think\nof this, for with a snort Big-Horn bounded forward. All the others held\ntheir breath as they saw those great horns driving straight at Old Man\nCoyote, who was crouched with his back to the great rock. Then everybody\nclosed their eyes for a second, for nobody wanted to see Old Man Coyote\nkilled, and everybody _knew_ that that was what was going to happen.\n\n\"Then there was a crash, and everybody's eyes flew open. There lay\nBig-Horn on the ground, looking mighty puzzled, as if he wasn't quite\nsure what had happened. And there sat Old Man Coyote, grinning at him!\nThey were still staring at Old Man Coyote as if they couldn't believe\ntheir own eyes when some one cried, 'Look at the horns of Big-Horn!'\n\n\"Instead of being long and straight, those great horns were curved over\nand round into almost a circle, and there was no longer danger from\ntheir sharp points. What had happened? Why, at just the right instant\nOld Man Coyote had leaped over Big-Horn, and Big-Horn had butted into\nthat great rock with all his might. He had hit so hard, biff! bang! that\nhe had bent his horns, just as crafty, clever Old Man Coyote had hoped\nhe would.\n\n\"When Old Mother Nature heard of the affair and saw those bent horns,\nshe chuckled at the cleverness of Old Man Coyote and decided to leave\nthose horns just as they were for the safety of Big-Horn's neighbors.\nAnd so they remained as long as Big-Horn lived, and just so have been\nthe horns in his family from that day to this,\" concluded Digger, and\nonce more began to watch his shadow grow longer.","title":"Mother West Wind \"Where\" Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":28535}