diff options
Diffstat (limited to '21286.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 21286.txt | 3246 |
1 files changed, 3246 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/21286.txt b/21286.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be1e1c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/21286.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3246 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Mother West Wind "How" Stories, by Thornton W. Burgess + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mother West Wind "How" Stories + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Illustrator: Harrison Cady + +Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21286] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Thomas Strong, Linda McKeown +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: "Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" yelled Blacky at the top of +his voice. FRONTISPIECE. _See page_ 132.] + + BURGESS TRADE QUADDIES MARK + + MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES + + BY + + THORNTON W. BURGESS + + _Illustrations by HARRISON CADY_ + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + _By arrangement with Little, Brown, and Company_ + + _Copyright, 1916_, + BY THORNTON W. BURGESS. + + _All rights reserved_ + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +To the cause of conservation of wild life and to increase of love for +our little friends of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows through +awakened interest in them and a better understanding of their value to +us as faithful workers in carrying out the plans of wise Old Mother +Nature, this little book is dedicated. + + + + CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. HOW OLD KING EAGLE WON HIS WHITE HEAD 3 + + II. HOW OLD MR. MINK TAUGHT HIMSELF TO SWIM 17 + + III. HOW OLD MR. TOAD LEARNED TO SING 31 + + IV. HOW OLD MR. CROW LOST HIS DOUBLE TONGUE 45 + + V. HOW HOWLER THE WOLF GOT HIS NAME 59 + + VI. HOW OLD MR. SQUIRREL BECAME THRIFTY 73 + + VII. HOW LIGHTFOOT THE DEER LEARNED TO JUMP 87 + +VIII. HOW MR. FLYING SQUIRREL ALMOST GOT WINGS 103 + + IX. HOW MR. WEASEL WAS MADE AN OUTCAST 117 + + X. HOW THE EYES OF OLD MR. OWL BECAME FIXED 131 + + XI. HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER 145 + + XII. HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE 161 + +XIII. HOW DRUMMER THE WOODPECKER CAME BY HIS RED CAP 175 + + XIV. HOW OLD MR. TREE TOAD FOUND OUT HOW TO CLIMB 191 + + XV. HOW OLD MR. HERON LEARNED PATIENCE 205 + + XVI. HOW TUFTY THE LYNX HAPPENS TO HAVE A STUMP OF A TAIL 219 + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + +"CAW, CAW, CAW, CAW, CAW!" YELLED BLACKY + AT THE TOP OF HIS VOICE _Frontispiece_ + +"OLD KING BEAR, WHO WAS KING NO LONGER, + WOULD GROWL A DEEP, RUMBLY-GRUMBLY GROWL" 64 + +"ONE DAY MR. RABBIT SURPRISED MR. WEASEL + MAKING A MEAL OF YOUNG MICE" 120 + +"HIS LEGS WERE SO LONG AND HIS NECK WAS SO + LONG THAT ALL HIS NEIGHBORS LAUGHED AT HIM" 216 + + + + + I + + HOW OLD KING EAGLE WON HIS WHITE HEAD + + + + MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES + + I + + HOW OLD KING EAGLE WON HIS WHITE HEAD + + +Peter Rabbit sat on the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch, staring up +into the sky with his head tipped back until it made his neck ache. Way, +way up in the sky was a black speck sailing across the snowy white face +of a cloud. It didn't seem possible that it could be alive way up there. +But it was. Peter knew that it was, and he knew who it was. It was King +Eagle. By and by it disappeared over towards the Great Mountain. Peter +rubbed the back of his neck, which ached because he had tipped his head +back so long. Then he gave a little sigh. + +"I wonder what it seems like to be able to fly like that," said he out +loud, a way he sometimes has. + +"Are you envious?" asked a voice so close to him that Peter jumped. +There was Sammy Jay sitting in a little tree just over his head. + +"No!" snapped Peter, for it made him a wee bit cross to be so startled. + +"No, I'm not envious, Sammy Jay. I'm not envious of any bird. The ground +is good enough for me. I was just wondering, that's all." + +"Have you ever seen King Eagle close to?" asked Sammy. + +"Once," replied Peter. "Once he came down to the Green Meadows and sat +in that lone tree over there, and I was squatting in a bunch of grass +quite near and could see him very plainly. He is big and fierce-looking, +but he looks his name, every inch a king. I've wondered a good many +times since how it happens that he has a white head." + +"Because," replied Sammy, "he is just what he looks to be,--king of the +birds,--and that white head is the sign of his royalty given his +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather by Old Mother Nature, way back in +the beginning of things." + +Peter's eyes sparkled. "Tell me about it, Sammy," he begged. "Tell me +about it, and I won't quarrel with you any more." + +"All right, Peter. I'll tell you the story, because it will do you good +to hear it. I supposed everybody knew it. All birds do. That is why we +all look up to King Eagle," replied Sammy. + +"Way back in the beginning of things, old King Bear ruled in the Green +Forest, as you know. That is, he ruled the animals and all the little +people who lived on the ground, but he didn't rule the birds. You see +the birds were not willing to be ruled over by an animal. They wanted +one of their own kind. So they refused to have old King Bear as their +king and went to Old Mother Nature to ask her to appoint a king of the +air. Now Mr. Eagle was one of the biggest and strongest and most +respected of all the birds of the air. There were some, like Mr. Goose +and Mr. Swan, who were bigger, but they spent most of their time on the +water or the earth, and they had no great claws or hooked beak to +command respect as did Mr. Eagle. So Old Mother Nature made Mr. Eagle +king of the air, and as was quite right and proper, all the birds +hastened to pay him homage. + +"So King Eagle ruled the air and none dared to cross him or to disobey +him. Unlike old King Bear, he accepted no tribute from his subjects but +hunted for himself, and instead of growing fat and lazy, as did old King +Bear, he grew stronger of wing and feared no one and nothing. Now this +was in the days when the world was young, and Old Mother Nature was very +busy trying to make the world a good place to live in, so she had very +little time to look after the birds and the animals. Thus she left +matters very much to King Eagle and old King Bear. They settled all the +quarrels between their subjects, and for a while everything went +smoothly. + +"King Eagle made his home on the cliff of a mountain, so that he could +look down on all below and see what was going on. Every day he went down +to the Green Forest and sat on the tallest tree while he listened to the +complaints of the other birds and settled their disputes, and none +questioned his decisions. Now after a while, this little part of the +earth where the animals and the birds first lived became overcrowded. It +became harder and harder to get enough to eat. Quarrels became more +frequent, until King Eagle had little time for anything but +straightening out these troubles and trying to keep peace. + +"Old Mother Nature had been away a long time trying to make other parts +of the world fit to live in. No one knew when she was coming back or +just where she was. King Eagle, sitting on the edge of the cliff on the +mountain, thought it all over. Old Mother Nature ought to know how +things were. He would send a messenger to try to find her. So the next +day he called all the birds together and asked who would go out into the +unknown Great World to look for Old Mother Nature and take a message to +her. + +"No one offered. This one had a family to look after. That one was not +feeling well. Another had a pain in his wings. One and all they had an +excuse until Hummer, the tiniest of all the birds, was reached. He +darted into the air before King Eagle. 'I'll go,' said he. + +"All the others laughed. The very idea of such a tiny fellow going out +to dare the dangers of the unknown Great World seemed to them so absurd +that they just had to laugh. But King Eagle didn't laugh. He thanked +Hummer and told him that his heart was as big as his body was small, +but that he would not send him out into the Great World, for he would go +himself. He had been but trying out his subjects, and he had found but +one who was worthy, and that one was the smallest of them all. Then King +Eagle said things that made all the other birds hang their heads for +shame and want to sneak out of sight. + +"After that, he told them that no king who was worthy to be king would +ask his subjects to do what he would not do himself, and that where +there was danger to be faced or something hard to do, it was the king's +place to do it, so he himself was going out into the unknown Great World +to find Mother Nature and see what could be done to make things better +and happier for them. Then he spread his great wings and sailed away, +every inch a king. They watched him until he was a speck in the sky, +and finally he disappeared altogether. + +"Day after day they watched for him to come back, but there was no sign +of him; they began to shake their heads and openly talk of choosing a +new king. Only little Mr. Hummer kept his faith and day after day flew +away in the direction old King Eagle had gone, hoping to meet him coming +back. At last a day was set to choose a new king. That morning, as soon +as it was light enough to see, little Mr. Hummer darted away, and his +heart was heavy. He would take no part in choosing a new king. He would +go until he found King Eagle or until something happened to him. Pretty +soon he saw a speck way up against a cloud, a speck no bigger than +himself. It grew bigger and bigger, and at last he knew that it was +King Eagle himself. Little Mr. Hummer turned and flew as he never had +flown before. He wanted to get back before a new king was chosen, so +that King Eagle might never know that his subjects had lost faith in +him. + +"He was so out of breath when he reached the other birds that he +couldn't say a word for a few minutes. Then he told them that King Eagle +was coming. The other birds had proved that they were not brave when +they had refused to go out in search of Old Mother Nature, and now they +proved it again. Instead of waiting to give King Eagle a royal welcome, +they hurried away, one after another. They were afraid to meet him, +because in their hearts they knew that they had done a cowardly thing in +deciding to choose a new king. So when King Eagle, weary and with torn +wings and broken tail feathers, dropped down to the tall tree in the +Green Forest, there was none to give him greeting save little Mr. +Hummer. + +"King Eagle said nothing about the failure of the other birds to give +him greeting but at once sent little Mr. Hummer around to tell all the +others that far away he had found Old Mother Nature preparing a new land +for them, and that when she gave the word, he would lead them to it. +Then King Eagle flew to his home on the cliff of the mountain, and not +one word did he ever say of his terrible journey, of how he had gone +hungry, had been beaten by storms, and had suffered from cold and +weariness, yet never once had turned back. + +"But when Old Mother Nature came later and announced that the new land +was ready for the birds, she first called them together and told them +all that King Eagle had suffered, and how he had proved himself a royal +king. As a reward she promised that his family should be rulers over the +birds forever, and as a sign that this should be so, she reached forth +and touched his black head, and it became snowy white, and all the birds +cried 'Long live the king!' + +"Then Old Mother Nature turned to tiny Mr. Hummer and touched his +throat, and behold a shining ruby was there, the reward of loyalty, +faith, and bravery. + +"Then King Eagle mounted into the air and proudly led the way to the +promised land. And so the birds went forth and peopled the Great World, +and King Eagle and his children and his children's children have ruled +the air ever since and have worn the snowy crown which King Eagle of +long ago so bravely won." + + + + II + + HOW OLD MR. MINK TAUGHT HIMSELF TO SWIM + + + + II + + HOW OLD MR. MINK TAUGHT HIMSELF TO SWIM + + +Of all the little people who live in the Green Forest or on the Green +Meadows or around the Smiling Pool, Billy Mink has the most +accomplishments. At least, it seems that way to his friends and +neighbors. He can run very swiftly; he can climb very nimbly; his eyes +and his ears and his nose are all wonderfully keen, and--he can swim +like a fish. Yes, Sir, Billy Mink is just as much at home in the water +as out of it. So, wherever he happens to be, in the Green Forest, out on +the Green Meadows, along the Laughing Brook, or in the Smiling Pool, he +feels perfectly at home and quite able to look out for himself. + +Once Billy Mink had boasted that he could do anything that any one else +who wore fur could do, but boasters almost always come to grief, and +Grandfather Frog had brought Billy to grief that time. He had invited +every one to meet at the Smiling Pool and see Billy Mink do whatever any +one else who wore fur could do, and then, when Billy had run and jumped +and climbed and swum, Grandfather Frog had called Flitter the Bat. There +was some one wearing fur who could fly, and of course Billy Mink +couldn't do that. It cured Billy of boasting,--for a while, anyway. + +Now Peter Rabbit, who can do little but run and jump, used sometimes to +feel a wee bit of envy in his heart when he thought of all the things +that Billy Mink could do and do well. Somehow Peter could never make it +seem quite right that one person should be able to do so many things +when others could do only one or two things. He said as much to +Grandfather Frog one day, as they watched Billy Mink catch a fat trout. + +"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog and looked sharply at Peter. +"Chug-a-rum! People never know what they can do till they try. Once upon +a time Billy Mink's great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather couldn't swim +any more than you can, but he didn't waste any time foolishly wishing +that he could." + +"What did he do?" asked Peter eagerly. + +"Learned how," replied Grandfather Frog gruffly. "Made it his business +to learn how. Then he taught his children, and they taught their +children, and after a long time it came natural to the Mink family to +swim." + +"Did it take old Mr. Mink very long to learn how?" asked Peter +wistfully. + +"Quite a while," replied Grandfather Frog. "Quite a while. Perhaps you +would like to hear about it." + +"Oh, if you please, Grandfather Frog," cried Peter. "If you please. I +should love dearly to hear about it. Perhaps then I can learn to swim." + +Grandfather Frog snapped up a foolish green fly that happened his way, +and Peter heard something that sounded very much like a chuckle. He +looked at Grandfather Frog suspiciously. Was that chuckle because of the +foolish green fly, or was Grandfather Frog laughing at him? Peter wasn't +sure. + +"It all happened a long time ago when the world was young, as a great +many other things happened," began Grandfather Frog. "Old Mr. Mink, the +ever-so-great-grandfather of Billy Mink, couldn't do all the things that +Billy can now. For instance, he couldn't swim. But he could do a great +many things, and he was very smart. It has always run in the Mink family +to be smart. He dressed very much as Billy does now, except that he +didn't have the waterproof coat that Billy has. And he was a great +traveler, just as Billy is. Everybody smaller than he and some who were +bigger were a little bit afraid of old Mr. Mink, for he was quite as sly +and cunning as Mr. Fox, and it was suspected that he knew a great deal +more than he ever admitted about eggs that were stolen and nests that +were broken up, and other strange things that happened in the Green +Forest and along the Laughing Brook. But he never was caught doing +anything wrong and always seemed to be minding his own business, so, all +things considered, he got along very well with his neighbors. + +"Now Mr. Mink was small and spry, and his wits were as nimble as his +feet. He saw all that was going on about him, and he was wise enough to +keep his tongue still, so that it never got him into trouble as gossipy +tongues do some people I know." + +Peter Rabbit fidgeted uneasily. It seemed to him that Grandfather Frog +had looked at him very hard when he said this. But Grandfather Frog just +cleared his throat and went on with his story. + +"Yes, Sir, old Mr. Mink kept his eyes wide open and his ears wide open +and the wits in his little brown head always working. He noticed that +those who were fussy about what they ate and insisted on having a +special kind of food often went hungry or had to hunt long and hard to +find what they liked, so he made up his mind to learn to eat many kinds +of food. This is how it happens that he learned to like fish. His big +cousin, Mr. Otter, often caught a bigger fish than he could eat all +himself and would leave some of it on the bank. Mr. Mink would find it +and help himself. + +"But having to depend on Mr. Otter to get the fish for him didn't suit +Mr. Mink at all. In the first place, he didn't have as much as he +wanted. And then again he didn't have it when he wanted it. 'If I could +learn to catch fish for myself, I would be much better off,' thought Mr. +Mink. After this he spent a great deal of time on the banks of the +Smiling Pool watching Mr. Otter swim to see just how he did it. 'If he +can swim, I can swim,' said Mr. Mink to himself, and went off up the +Laughing Brook to a quiet little pool where the water was not deep. + +"At first he didn't like it at all. The water got in his ears and up his +nose and choked him. And then it was so dreadfully wet! But he would +grit his teeth and keep at it. After a while he got so that he could +paddle around a little. Gradually he lost his fear of the water. Then he +found that because he naturally moved so quickly he could sometimes +catch foolish minnows who swam in where the water was very shallow. This +was great sport, and he quite often had fish for dinner now. + +"But he wasn't satisfied. No, Sir, he wasn't satisfied. Whatever Mr. +Mink did, he wanted to do well. He could run well and climb well, and +there was no better hunter in all the Green Forest. He was bound that he +would swim well. So he kept trying and trying. He learned to fill his +lungs with air and hold his breath for a long time, while he swam as +fast as ever he could with his head under water as he had seen his +cousin, Mr. Otter, swim. The more he did this, the longer he could hold +his breath. After a while he found that because he was slim and trim and +moved so fast, he could out-swim Mr. Muskrat, and this made him feel +very good indeed, for Mr. Muskrat spent nearly all his time in the water +and was accounted a very good swimmer. There was only one thing that +bothered Mr. Mink. The water was so dreadfully wet! Every time he came +out of it, he had to run his hardest to dry off and keep from getting +cold. This was very tiresome and he did wish that there was an easier +way of drying off. + +"Then came the bad time, the sad time, when food was scarce, and most of +the little people in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadow went +hungry. But Mr. Mink didn't go hungry. Oh, my, no! You see, he had +learned to catch fish, and so he had plenty to eat. When Old Mother +Nature came to see how all the little people were getting along, she was +very much surprised to find that Mr. Mink had become a famous swimmer. +She watched him catch a fish. Then she watched him run about to dry off +and keep from getting cold, and her eyes twinkled. + +"'He who helps himself deserves to be helped,' said Old Mother Nature. +Mr. Mink didn't know what she meant by that, but the next morning he +found out. Yes, Sir, the next morning he found out. He found that he +had a brand new coat over his old one, and the new one was waterproof. +He could swim as much as he pleased and not get the least bit wet, +because the water couldn't get through that new coat. And ever since +that long-ago day when the world was young, the Minks have had +waterproof coats and have been famous fishermen. Hello, Peter Rabbit! +What under the sun are you trying to do, swelling yourself up that way?" + +"I--I was just practising holding my breath," replied Peter and looked +very, very foolish. + +"Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Grandfather Frog. "You can't learn to +swim by holding your breath on dry land, Peter Rabbit." + + + + III + + HOW OLD MR. TOAD LEARNED TO SING + + + + III + + HOW OLD MR. TOAD LEARNED TO SING + + +Peter Rabbit never will forget how he laughed the first time he heard +Old Mr. Toad say that he could sing and was going to sing. Why, Peter +would as soon think of singing himself, and that is something he can no +more do than he can fly. Peter had known Old Mr. Toad ever since he +could remember. He was rather fond of him, even if he did play jokes on +him once in a while. But he always thought of Old Mr. Toad as one of the +homeliest of all his friends,--slow, awkward, and too commonplace to be +very interesting. So when, in the glad joyousness of the spring, Old +Mr. Toad had told Jimmy Skunk that he was going down to the Smiling Pool +to sing because without him the great chorus there would lack one of its +sweetest voices, Peter and Jimmy had laughed till the tears came. + +A few days later Peter happened over to the Smiling Pool for a call on +Grandfather Frog. A mighty chorus of joy from unseen singers rose from +all about the Smiling Pool. Peter knew about those singers. They were +Hylas, the little cousins of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. Peter sat very +still on the edge of the bank trying to see one of them. Suddenly he +became aware of a new note, one he never had noticed before and sweeter +than any of the others. Indeed it was one of the sweetest of all the +spring songs, as sweet as the love notes of Tommy Tit the Chickadee, +than which there is none sweeter. + +It seemed to come from the shallow water just in front of Peter, and he +looked eagerly for the singer. Then his eyes opened until it seemed as +if they would pop right out of his head, and he dropped his lower jaw +foolishly. There was Old Mr. Toad with a queer bag Peter never had seen +before swelled out under his chin, and as surely as Peter was sitting on +that bank, it was Old Mr. Toad who was the sweet singer! + +Old Mr. Toad paid no attention to Peter, not even when he was spoken to. +He was so absorbed in his singing that he just didn't hear. Peter sat +there a while to listen; then he called Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy +Possum, who were also listening to the music, and they were just as +surprised as Peter. Then he spied Jerry Muskrat at the other end of the +Smiling Pool and hurried over there. Peter was so full of the discovery +he had made that he could think of nothing else. He fairly ached to +tell. + +"Jerry!" he cried. "Oh, Jerry Muskrat! Do you know that Old Mr. Toad can +sing?" + +Jerry looked surprised that Peter should ask such a question. "Of course +I know it," said he. "It would be mighty funny if I didn't know it, +seeing that he is the sweetest singer in the Smiling Pool and has sung +here every spring since I can remember." + +Peter looked very much chagrined. "I didn't know it until just how," he +confessed. "I didn't believe him when he told me that he could sing. I +wonder how he ever learned." + +"He didn't learn any more than you learned how to jump," replied Jerry. +"It just came to him naturally. His father sang, and his grandfather, +and his great grandfather, way back to the beginning of things. I +thought everybody knew about that." + +"I don't. Tell me about it. Please do, Jerry," begged Peter. + +"All right, I will," replied Jerry good-naturedly. "It's something +you ought to know about, anyway. In the first place, Old Mr. Toad +belongs to a very old and honorable family, one of the very oldest. +I've heard say that it goes way back almost to the very beginning of +things when there wasn't much land. Anyway, the first Toad, the +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Old Mr. Toad and own cousin to +the great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Grandfather Frog, was one +of the first to leave the water for the dry land. + +"Old Mother Nature met him hopping along and making hard work of it +because, of course, it was so new. She looked at him sharply. 'What are +you doing here?' she demanded. 'Aren't you contented with the water +where you were born?' + +"Mr. Toad bowed very low. 'Yes'm,' said he very humbly. 'I'll go right +back there if you say so. I thought there must be some things worth +finding out on the land, and that I might be of some use in the Great +World.' + +"His answer pleased Old Mother Nature. She was worried. She had planted +all kinds of things on the land, and they were springing up everywhere, +but she had discovered that bugs of many kinds liked the tender green +things and were increasing so fast and were so greedy that they +threatened to strip the land of all that she had planted. She had so +many things to attend to that she hadn't time to take care of the bugs. +'If you truly want to be of some use,' said she, 'you can attend to some +of those bugs.' + +"Mr. Toad went right to work, and Old Mother Nature went about some +other business. Having so many other things to look after, she quite +forgot about Mr. Toad, and it was several weeks before she came that way +again. Right in the middle of a great bare place where the bugs had +eaten everything was a beautiful green spot, and patiently hopping from +plant to plant was Mr. Toad, snapping up every bug he could see. He +didn't see Old Mother Nature and kept right on working. She watched him +a while as he hopped from plant to plant catching bugs as fast as he +could, and then she spoke. + +"'Have you stayed right here ever since I last saw you?' she asked. + +"Mr. Toad gave a start of surprise. 'Yes'm,' said he. + +"'But I thought you wanted to see the Great World and learn things,' +said she. + +"Mr. Toad looked a little embarrassed. 'So I did,' he replied, 'but I +wanted to be of some use, and the bugs have kept me so busy there was no +time to travel. Besides, I have learned a great deal right here. I--I +couldn't get around fast enough to save _all_ the plants, but I have +saved what I could.' + +"Old Mother Nature was more pleased than she was willing to show, for +Mr. Toad was the first of all the little people who had tried to help +her, and he had done what he could willingly and faithfully. + +"'I suppose,' said she, speaking a little gruffly, 'you expect me to +reward you.' + +"Mr. Toad looked surprised and a little hurt. 'I don't want any reward,' +said he. 'I didn't do it for that. It will be reward enough to know that +I really have helped and to be allowed to continue to help.' + +"At that Old Mother Nature's face lighted with one of her most beautiful +smiles. 'Mr. Toad,' said she, 'if you could have just what you want, +what would it be?' + +"Mr. Toad hesitated a few minutes and then said shyly, 'A beautiful +voice.' + +"It was Old Mother Nature's turn to look surprised. 'A beautiful voice!' +she exclaimed. 'Pray, why do you want a beautiful voice?' + +"'So that I can express my happiness in the most beautiful way I know +of,--by singing,' replied Mr. Toad. + +"'You shall have it,' declared Old Mother Nature, 'but not all the time +lest you be tempted to forget your work, which, you know, is the real +source of true happiness. In the spring of each year you shall go back +to your home in the water, and there for a time you shall sing to your +heart's content, and there shall be no sweeter voice than yours.' + +"Sure enough, when the next spring came, Mr. Toad was filled with a +great longing to go home. When he got there, he found that in his throat +was a little music bag; and when he swelled it out, he had one of the +sweetest voices in the world. And so it has been ever since with the +Toad family. Old Mr. Toad is one of the sweetest singers in the Smiling +Pool, but when it is time to go back to work he never grumbles, but is +one of the most faithful workers in Mother Nature's garden," concluded +Jerry Muskrat. + +Peter sighed. "I never could work," said he. "Perhaps that is why I +cannot sing." + +"Very likely," replied Jerry Muskrat, quite forgetting that he cannot +sing himself although he is a great worker. + + + + IV + + HOW OLD MR. CROW LOST HIS DOUBLE TONGUE + + + + IV + + HOW OLD MR. CROW LOST HIS DOUBLE TONGUE + + +"Caw, caw, caw, caw!" Blacky the Crow sat in the top of a tall tree and +seemed trying to see just how much noise he could make with that harsh +voice of his. Peter Rabbit peered out from the dear Old Briar-patch and +frowned. + +"If I had a voice as unpleasant as that, I'd forget I could talk. Yes, +Sir, I'd forget I had a tongue," declared Peter. + +Somebody laughed, and Peter turned quickly to find Jimmy Skunk. "What +are you laughing at?" demanded Peter. + +"At the idea of you forgetting that you had a tongue," replied Jimmy. + +"Well, I would if I had a voice like Blacky's," persisted Peter, +although he grinned a wee bit foolishly as he looked at Jimmy Skunk, for +you know Peter is a great gossip. + +"It's lucky for you that you haven't then," retorted Jimmy. "I'm afraid +that you would lose your tongue just as old Mr. Crow did." + +That sounded like a story. Right away Peter sat up and took notice. "Did +old Mr. Crow really lose his tongue? How did he lose it? Why did he lose +it? When--" + +Jimmy Skunk clapped a hand over each ear and pretended that he was going +to run away. Peter jumped in front of him. "No, you don't!" he cried. +"You've just got to tell me that story, Jimmy Skunk." + +"What story?" asked Jimmy, as if he hadn't the least idea in the world +what Peter was talking about, though of course he knew perfectly well. + +"Caw, caw, caw, caw!" shouted Blacky the Crow from the distant tree-top. + +"The story of how old Mr. Crow lost his tongue. You may as well tell me +first as last, because I'll give you no peace until you do," insisted +Peter. + +Jimmy grinned. "If that's the case, I guess I'll have to," said he. +"Wait until I find a comfortable place to sit down. I never could tell a +story standing up." + +At last he found a place to suit him and after changing his position two +or three times to make sure that he was perfectly comfortable, he began. + +"Once upon a time--" + +"Never mind about that," interrupted Peter. "I don't see why all stories +have to begin 'Once upon a time.' It seems as if everything interesting +happened long ago." + +"If you don't watch out, this story won't begin at all," declared Jimmy. + +Peter looked properly ashamed for interrupting, and Jimmy started again. + +"Once upon a time old Mr. Crow, the +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Blacky, over there, possessed +the most wonderful tongue of any of the little people who ran, walked, +crawled, or flew. He could imitate any and everybody, and he did. He +could sing like Mr. Meadow Lark, or he could bark like Mr. Wolf. He +could whistle like Mr. Quail, or he could growl like old King Bear. +There wasn't anybody whose voice he couldn't imitate and do it so well +that if you had been there and heard but not seen him, you never would +have guessed that it was an imitation. + +"Now the imp of mischief was in old Mr. Crow, just as it is in Blacky +to-day, and he was smart too. There wasn't anybody smarter than old Mr. +Crow. It's from him that Blacky gets his smartness. It didn't take him +long to discover that no one else had such a wonderful tongue. It was +even more wonderful than the tongue of old Mr. Mocker the Mocking Bird. +Mr. Mocker could imitate the songs of other birds, but old Mr. Crow +could imitate anybody, as I have said. He puzzled over it a good deal +himself for a while. He couldn't understand how he could make any sound +he pleased, while his neighbors could make only a few special sounds. + +"Being very smart and shrewd, just as Blacky is, he finally made up his +mind that it must be in his tongue. As soon as he thought of that, he +started out to find out, and on one excuse or another he managed to get +all his neighbors to show him their tongues. Sure enough, his own tongue +was different from any of the others. It was split a little, so that it +was almost like two tongues in one. + +"'That's it,' he chuckled. 'I knew it. It's this little old tongue of +mine. Nobody else has got one like it, but nobody knows that but me. I +must make good use of it. Yes, Sir, I must make good use of it.' + +"Now when old Mr. Crow said that, he didn't really mean good use at all. +That is, he didn't mean what you or I or any of his neighbors would have +called good use. What he did mean was the use that would bring to +himself the greatest gain in pleasure, and being a great joker, he began +by having a lot of fun with his neighbors. When he saw Mr. Rabbit, your +grandfather a thousand times removed, coming along, he would hide, and +just as Mr. Rabbit was passing, he would snarl like Mr. Lynx. Of course +Mr. Rabbit would be scared almost to death, and away he would go, +lipperty-lipperty-lip, and old Mr. Crow would laugh so that he had to +hold his black sides. He would hide in the top of a tree near Mr. +Squirrel's home, and just when Mr. Squirrel had found a fat nut and +started to eat it, he would scream like Mr. Hawk and then laugh to see +Mr. Squirrel drop his nut and dive headfirst into the nearest hole. He +would squeak like a mouse when Mr. Fox was passing, just to see Mr. Fox +hunt and hunt for the dinner he felt sure was close at hand. + +"But after a while Mr. Crow wasn't satisfied with harmless jokes. Times +were getting hard, and everybody had to work to get enough to eat. This +didn't suit Mr. Crow at all, and one day when he chanced to discover one +of his neighbors just sitting down to a good meal, a new idea came to +him. He stole as near as he could without being seen and suddenly +growled like old King Bear. Of course that meal was left in a hurry. 'It +is too bad to see all that good food go to waste,' said Mr. Crow and +promptly ate it. + +"After that, instead of hunting for food himself, he just kept a sharp +eye on his neighbors, and when they had found something he wanted, he +frightened them away and helped himself. All the time he was so sly +about it that never once was he suspected. He was a great talker, was +Mr. Crow, and spent a great deal of time gossiping, and he was always +one of the first to offer sympathy to those who had lost a meal. + +"Now all this time, unknown to old Mr. Crow, Old Mother Nature knew just +what was going on, for you can't fool her, and it's of no use to try. +One morning Mr. Crow discovered Mr. Coon just sitting down to a good +breakfast. He stole up behind Mr. Coon and opened his mouth to bark like +Mr. Coyote, but instead of a bark, there came forth a harsh 'Caw, caw, +caw.' It is a question which was the more surprised, Mr. Coon or Mr. +Crow. Mr. Coon didn't forget his manners. He politely invited Mr. Crow +to sit down and take breakfast with him. But Mr. Crow had lost his +appetite. Somehow his tongue felt very queer. He thanked Mr. Coon and +begged to be excused. Then he hurried over to the nearest pool of water +in which he could see his reflection and stuck out his tongue. It was no +longer split into a double tongue. Then old Mr. Crow guessed that Old +Mother Nature had found him out and punished him, but to make sure, he +flew to the most lonesome place he knew of, and there he tried to +imitate the voices of his neighbors; but try as he would, all he could +say was 'Caw, caw, caw.' + +"For a long, long time after that no one ever heard Mr. Crow say a word. +His neighbors didn't know what to make of it, for you remember he had +been a great gossip. They said that he must have lost his tongue. Of +course he hadn't, but he felt that he might as well have. And ever since +then the Crow family has had the harshest of all voices." + +"Caw, caw, caw!" shouted Blacky from the top of the tree where he was +sitting. + +"I wonder," said Peter Rabbit thoughtfully, "if he could imitate other +people if his tongue should be split." + +"I've heard say that he could," replied Jimmy Skunk, "but I don't know. +One thing is sure, and that is that he is just as smart and sly as his +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather was, and I guess it is just as +well that his tongue is just as it is." + + + + V + + HOW HOWLER THE WOLF GOT HIS NAME + + + + V + + HOW HOWLER THE WOLF GOT HIS NAME + + +Peter Rabbit never had seen Howler the Wolf, but he had heard his voice +in the distance, and the mere sound had given him cold shivers. It just +went all through him. It was very different from the voice of Old Man +Coyote. The latter is bad enough, sounding as it does like many voices, +but there is not in it that terrible fierceness which the voice of his +big cousin contains. Peter had no desire to hear it any nearer. The +first time he met his cousin, Jumper the Hare, he asked him about +Howler, for Jumper had come down to the Green Forest from the Great +Woods where Howler lives and is feared. + +"Did you hear him?" exclaimed Jumper. "I hope he won't take it into his +head to come down here. I don't believe he will, because it is too near +the homes of men. If the sound of his voice way off there gave you cold +shivers, I'm afraid you'd shake all to pieces if you heard him close by. +He's just as fierce as his voice sounds. There is one thing about him +that I like, though, and that is that he gives fair warning when he is +hunting. He doesn't come sneaking about without a sound, like Tufty the +Lynx. He hunts like Bowser the Hound and lets you know that he is out +hunting. Did you ever hear how he got his name?" + +"No. How did he get his name?" asked Peter eagerly. + +"Well, of course it's a family name now and is handed down and has been +for years and years, ever since the first Wolf began hunting way back +when the world was young," explained Jumper. "For a long time the first +Wolf had no name. Most of the other animals and birds had names, but +nothing seemed to just fit the big gray Wolf. He looked a great deal +like his cousin, Mr. Dog, and still more like his other cousin, Mr. +Coyote. But he was stronger than either, could run farther and faster +than either, and had quite as wonderful a nose as either. + +"With Mr. Wolf, as with all the other animals, life was an easy matter +at first. There was plenty to eat, and everybody was on good terms with +everybody else. But there came a time, as you know, when food became +scarce. It was then that the big learned to hunt the small, and fear was +born into the world. Mr. Wolf was swift of leg and keen of nose. His +teeth were long and sharp, and he was so strong that there were few he +feared to fight with. In fact, he didn't know fear at all, for he simply +kept out of the way of those who were too big and strong for him to +fight. + +"Most people like to do the things they know they can do well. Mr. Wolf +early learned the joy of hunting. I can't understand it myself. Can +you?" + +Peter shook his head. You see neither Jumper nor Peter ever have hunted +any one in all their lives. It is always they who are hunted. + +"Perhaps it was because he was so strong of wind and leg that he enjoyed +running, and because he was so keen of nose that he enjoyed following a +trail. Anyway, he scorned to spend his time sneaking about as did his +cousin, Mr. Coyote, but chose to follow the swiftest runners and to +match his nose and speed and skill against their speed and wits. He +didn't bother to hunt little people like us when there were big people +like Mr. Deer. The longer and harder the hunt, the more Mr. Wolf seemed +to enjoy it. + +"At first he hunted silently, running swiftly with his nose to the +ground. But this gave the ones he hunted very little chance; he was upon +them before they even suspected that he was on their trail. It always +made Mr. Wolf feel mean. He never could hold his head and his tail up +after that kind of a hunt. He felt so like a sneak that he just had to +put his tail between his legs for very shame. There was nothing to be +proud about in such a hunt. + +"One night he sat thinking about it. Gentle Mistress Moon looked down at +him through the tree-tops, and something inside him urged him to tell +her his troubles. He pointed his sharp nose up at her, opened his mouth +and, because she was so far away, did his best to make her hear. That +was the very first Wolf howl ever heard. There was something very lonely +and shivery and terrible in the sound, and all who heard it shook with +fear. Mr. Wolf didn't know this, but he did know that he felt better for +howling. So every night he pointed his nose up at Mistress Moon and +howled. + +"It happened that once as he did this, a Deer jumped at the first sound +and rushed away in great fright. This gave Mr. Wolf an idea. The next +day when he went hunting he threw up his head and howled at the very +first smell of fresh tracks. That day he had the longest hunt he ever +had known, for the Deer had had fair warning. Mr. Wolf didn't get the +Deer, because the latter swam across a lake and so got away, but he +returned home in high spirits in spite of an empty stomach. You see, he +felt that it had been a fair hunt. After that he always gave fair +warning. As he ran, he howled for very joy. No longer did he carry his +bushy tail between his legs, for no longer did he feel like a coward and +a sneak. Instead, he carried it proudly. Of all the animals who hunted, +he was the only one who gave fair warning, and he felt that he had a +right to be proud. All the others hunted by stealth. He alone hunted +openly and boldly. + +[Illustration: "Old King Bear, who was king no longer, would growl a +deep, rumbly-grumbly growl." _Page_ 66.] + +"Now this earned for him first the dislike and then the hatred of the +other hunters. You see, when he was hunting, he spoiled the hunting of +those who stole soft-footed through the Green Forest and caught their +victims by surprise. The little people heard his voice and either hid +away or were on guard, so that it was hard work for the silent hunters +to surprise them. At the sound of his hunting cry, old King Bear, who +was king no longer, would growl a deep, rumbly-grumbly growl, though he +didn't mind so much as some, because he did very little hunting. He +wouldn't have done any if food had not been so scarce, because he would +have been entirely satisfied with berries and roots, if he could have +found enough. Mr. Lynx and Mr. Panther would snarl angrily. Mr. Coyote +and Mr. Fox would show their teeth and mutter about what they would do +to Mr. Wolf if only they were big enough and strong enough and brave +enough. + +"Of course, it wasn't long before Mr. Wolf discovered that he had no +friends. The little people feared him, and the big people hated him +because he spoiled their hunting. But he didn't mind. In fact, he +looked down on Mr. Lynx and Mr. Panther and Mr. Coyote and Mr. Fox, and +when he met them, he lifted his tail a little more proudly than ever. +Sometimes he would howl out of pure mischief just to spoil the hunting +of the others. So, little by little, he began to be spoken of as Howler +the Wolf, and after a while everybody called him Howler. + +"Of course, Howler taught his children how to hunt and that the only +honorable and fair way was to give those they hunted fair warning. So it +grew to be a fixed habit of the Wolf family to give fair warning that +they were abroad and then trust to their wind and wits and speed and +noses to catch those they were after. The result was that they grew +strong, able to travel long distances, keen of nose, and sharp of wit. +Because the big people hated them, and the little people feared them, +they lived by themselves and so formed the habit of hunting together for +company. + +"It has been so ever since, and the name Howler has been handed down to +this day. No sound in all the Great Woods carries with it more fear than +does the voice of Howler the Wolf, and no one hunts so openly, boldly, +and honorably. Be thankful, Peter, that Howler never comes down to the +Green Forest, but stays far from the homes of men." + +"I am," replied Peter. "Just the same, I think he deserves a better name +for the fair way in which he hunts, though his name certainly does fit +him. I would a lot rather be caught by some one who had given me fair +warning than by some one who came sneaking after me and gave me no +warning. But I don't want to be caught at all, so I think I'll hurry +back to the dear Old Briar-patch." And Peter did. + + + + VI + + HOW OLD MR. SQUIRREL BECAME THRIFTY + + + + VI + + HOW OLD MR. SQUIRREL BECAME THRIFTY + + +Grandfather Frog sat on his big green lily-pad in the Smiling Pool and +shook his head reprovingly at Peter Rabbit. Peter is such a +happy-go-lucky little fellow that he never thinks of anything but the +good time he can have in the present. He never looks ahead to the +future. So of course Peter seldom worries. If the sun shines to-day, +Peter takes it for granted that it will shine to-morrow; so he hops and +skips and has a good time and just trusts to luck. + +Now Grandfather Frog is very old and very wise, and he doesn't believe +in luck. No, Sir, Grandfather Frog doesn't believe in luck. + +"Chug-a-rum!" says Grandfather Frog, "Luck never just _happens_. What +people call bad luck is just the result of their own foolishness or +carelessness or both, and what people call good luck is just the result +of their own wisdom and carefulness and common sense." + +Peter Rabbit had been making fun of Happy Jack Squirrel because Happy +Jack said that he had too much to do to stop and play that morning. Here +it was summer, and winter was a long way off. What was summer for if not +to play in and have a good time? Yet Happy Jack was already thinking of +winter and was hunting for a new storehouse so as to have it ready when +the time to fill it with nuts should come. It was much better to play +and take sun-naps among the buttercups and daisies and just have a good +time all day long. + +"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog, "Did you ever hear how old Mr. +Squirrel learned thrift?" + +"No," cried Peter Rabbit, stretching himself out in the soft grass on +the edge of the Smiling Pool. "Do tell us about it. Please do, +Grandfather Frog!" + +You know Peter dearly loves a story. + +All the other little meadow and forest people who were about the Smiling +Pool joined Peter Rabbit in begging Grandfather Frog for the story, and +after they had teased for it a long time (Grandfather Frog dearly loves +to be teased), he cleared his throat and began. + +"Once upon a time when the world was young, in the days when old King +Bear ruled in the Green Forest, everybody had to take King Bear +presents of things to eat. That was because he was king. You know kings +never have to work like other people to get enough to eat; everybody +brings them a little of their best, and so kings have the best in the +land without the trouble of working for it. It was just this way with +old King Bear. That was before he grew so fat and lazy and selfish that +Old Mother Nature declared that he should be king no longer. + +"Now in those days lived old Mr. Squirrel, the grandfather a thousand +times removed of Happy Jack Squirrel whom you all know. Of course, he +wasn't old then. He was young and frisky, just like Happy Jack, and he +was a great favorite with old King Bear. He was a saucy fellow, was Mr. +Squirrel, and he used to spend most of his time playing tricks on the +other meadow and forest people. He even dared to play jokes on old King +Bear. Sometimes old King Bear would lose his temper, and then Mr. +Squirrel would whisk up in the top of a tall tree and keep out of sight +until old King Bear had recovered his good nature. + +"Those were happy days, very happy days indeed, and old King Bear was a +very wise ruler. There was plenty of everything to eat, and so nobody +missed the little they brought to old King Bear. Having so much brought +to him, he grew very particular. Yes, Sir, old King Bear grew very +particular indeed. Some began to whisper behind his back that he was +fussy. He would pick out the very best of everything for himself and +give the rest to his family and special friends or else just let it go +to waste. + +"Now old King Bear was very fond of lively little Mr. Squirrel, and +often he would give Mr. Squirrel some of the good things for which he +had no room in his own stomach. Mr. Squirrel was smart. He soon found +out that the more he amused old King Bear, the more of King Bear's good +things he had. It was a lot easier to get his living this way than to +hunt for his food as he always had in the past. Besides, it was a lot +more fun. So little Mr. Squirrel studied how to please old King Bear, +and he grew fat on the good things which other people had earned. + +"One day old King Bear gave little Mr. Squirrel six big, fat nuts. You +see, old King Bear didn't care for nuts himself, not the kind with the +hard shells, anyway, so he really wasn't as generous as he seemed, which +is the way with a great many people. It is easy to give what you don't +want yourself. Little Mr. Squirrel bowed very low and thanked old King +Bear in his best manner. He really didn't want those nuts, for his +stomach was full at the time, but it wouldn't do to refuse a gift from +the king. So he took the nuts and pretended to be delighted with them. + +"'What shall I do with them?' said little Mr. Squirrel as soon as he was +alone. 'It won't do for me to leave them where old King Bear will find +them, for it might make him very angry.' At last he remembered a certain +hollow tree. 'The very place!' cried little Mr. Squirrel. 'I'll drop +them in there, and no one will be any the wiser.' + +"No sooner thought of than it was done, and little Mr. Squirrel frisked +away in his usual happy-go-lucky fashion and forgot all about the nuts +in the hollow tree. It wasn't very long after this that Old Mother +Nature began to hear complaints of old King Bear and his rule in the +Green Forest. He had grown fat and lazy, and all his relatives had grown +fat and lazy because, you see, none of them had to work for the things +they ate. The little forest and meadow people were growing tired of +feeding the Bear family. It was just at the beginning of winter when Old +Mother Nature came to see for herself what the trouble was. It didn't +take her long to find out. No, Sir, it didn't take her long. You can't +fool Old Mother Nature, and it's of no use to try. She took one good +look at old King Bear nodding in the cave where he used to sleep. He was +so fat he looked as if he would burst his skin. + +"Old Mother Nature frowned. 'You are such a lazy fellow that you shall +be king no longer. Instead, you shall sleep all winter and grow thin and +thinner till you awake in the spring, and then you will have to hunt +for your own food, for never again shall you live on the gifts of +others,' said she. + +"All the little forest and meadow people who had been bringing tribute, +that is things to eat, to old King Bear rejoiced that they need do so no +longer and went about their business. All of old King Bear's family, +including his cousin Mr. Coon, had been put to sleep just like old King +Bear himself. Yes, Sir, they were all asleep, fast asleep. + +"Little Mr. Squirrel felt lonesome. He grew more lonesome every day. +None of the other little people would have anything to do with him +because they remembered how he had lived without working when he was the +favorite of King Bear. The weather was cold, and it was hard work to +find anything to eat. Mr. Squirrel was hungry all the time. He couldn't +think of anything but his stomach and how empty it was. He grew thin and +thinner. + +"One cold day when the snow covered the earth, little Mr. Squirrel went +without breakfast. Then he went without dinner. You see, he couldn't +find so much as a pine-seed to eat. Late in the afternoon he crept into +a hollow tree to get away from the cold, bitter wind. He was very tired +and very cold and very, very hungry. Tears filled his eyes and ran over +and dripped from his nose. He curled up on the leaves at the bottom of +the hollow to try to go to sleep and forget. Under him was something +hard. He twisted and turned, but he couldn't get in a comfortable +position. Finally he looked to see what the trouble was caused by. What +do you think he found? Six big, fat nuts! Yes, Sir, six big, fat nuts! +Little Mr. Squirrel was so glad that he cried for very joy. + +"When he had eaten two, he felt better and decided to keep the others +for the next day. Then he began to wonder how those nuts happened to be +in that hollow tree. He thought and thought, and at last he remembered +how he had hidden six nuts in this very hollow a long time before, when +he had had more than he knew what to do with. These were the very nuts, +the present of old King Bear. + +"Right then as he thought about it, little Mr. Squirrel had a bright +idea. He made up his mind that thereafter he would stop his +happy-go-lucky idleness, and the first time that ever he found plenty of +food, he would fill that hollow tree just as full as he could pack it, +and then if there should come a time when food was scarce, he would +have plenty. And that is just what he did do. The next fall when nuts +were plentiful, he worked from morning till night storing them away in +the hollow tree, and all that winter he was happy and fat, for he had +plenty to eat. He never had to beg of any one. He had learned to save. + +"And ever since then the Squirrels have been among the wisest of all the +little forest people and always the busiest. + + "The Squirrel family long since learned + That things are best when duly earned; + That play and fun are found in work + By him who does not try to shirk. + +"And that's all," finished Grandfather Frog. + +"Thank you! Thank you, Grandfather Frog!" cried Peter Rabbit. + + + + VII + + HOW LIGHTFOOT THE DEER LEARNED TO JUMP + + + + VII + + HOW LIGHTFOOT THE DEER LEARNED TO JUMP + + +It isn't often that Peter Rabbit is filled with envy. As a rule, Peter +is very free from anything like envy. Usually he is quite content with +the gifts bestowed upon him by Old Mother Nature, and if others have +more than he has, he is glad for them and wastes no time fretting +because he has not been so fortunate. But once in a great while Peter +becomes really and truly envious. It was that way the first time he saw +Lightfoot the Deer leap over a fallen tree, and ever after, when he saw +Lightfoot, a little of that same feeling stirred in his heart. You see, +Peter always had been very proud of his own powers of jumping. To be +sure Jumper the Hare could jump higher and farther than he could, but +Jumper is his own cousin, so it was all in the family, so to speak, and +Peter didn't mind. But to see Lightfoot the Deer go sailing over the +tops of the bushes and over the fallen trees as if he had springs in his +legs was quite another matter. + +"I wish I could jump like that," said Peter right out loud one day, as +he stood with his hands on his hips watching Lightfoot leap over a pile +of brush. + +"Why don't you learn to?" asked Jimmy Skunk with a mischievous twinkle +in the eye which Peter couldn't see. "Lightfoot couldn't always jump +like that; he had to learn. Why don't you find out how? Probably +Grandfather Frog knows all about it. He knows about almost everything. +If I were you, I'd ask him." + +"I--I--I don't just like to," replied Peter. "I've asked him so many +questions that I am afraid he'll think me a nuisance. I tell you what, +Jimmy, you ask him!" Peter's eyes brightened as he said this. + +Jimmy chuckled. "No, you don't!" said he. "If there is anything you want +to know from Grandfather Frog, ask him yourself. I don't want to know +how Lightfoot learned to jump. He may jump over the moon, for all I +care. Have you seen any fat beetles this morning, Peter?" + +"No," replied Peter shortly. "I'm not interested in beetles. There may +never be any fat beetles, for all I care." + +Jimmy laughed. It was a good-natured, chuckling kind of a laugh. "Don't +get huffy, Peter," said he. "Here's hoping that you learn how to jump +like Lightfoot the Deer, and that I get a stomachful of fat beetles." +With that Jimmy Skunk slowly ambled along down the Crooked Little Path. + +Peter watched him out of sight, sighed, started for the dear Old +Briar-patch, stopped, sighed again, and then headed straight for the +Smiling Pool. Grandfather Frog was there on his big green lily-pad, and +Peter wasted no time. + +"How did Lightfoot the Deer learn to jump so splendidly, Grandfather +Frog?" he blurted out almost before he had stopped running. + +Grandfather Frog blinked his great, goggly eyes. "Chug-a-rum!" said he. +"If you'll jump across the Laughing Brook over there where it comes into +the Smiling Pool, I'll tell you." + +Peter looked at the Laughing Brook in dismay. It was quite wide at that +point. "I--I can't," he stammered. + +"Then I can't tell you how Lightfoot learned to jump," replied +Grandfather Frog, quite as if the matter were settled. + +"I--I'll try!" Peter hastened to blurt out. + +"All right. While you are trying, I'll see if I can remember the story," +replied Grandfather Frog. + +Peter went back a little so as to get a good start. Then he ran as hard +as he knew how, and when he reached the bank of the Laughing Brook, he +jumped with all his might. It was a good jump--a splendid jump--but it +wasn't quite enough of a jump, and Peter landed with a great splash in +the water! Grandfather Frog opened his great mouth as wide as he could, +which is very wide indeed, and laughed until the tears rolled down from +his great, goggly eyes. Jerry Muskrat and Billy Mink rolled over and +over on the bank, laughing until their sides ached. Even Spotty the +Turtle smiled, which is very unusual for Spotty. + +Now Peter does not like the water, and though he can swim, he doesn't +feel at all at home in it. He paddled for the shore as fast as he could, +and in his heart was something very like anger. No one likes to be +laughed at. Peter intended to start for home the very minute he reached +the shore. But just before his feet touched bottom, he heard the great, +deep voice of Grandfather Frog. + +"That is just the way Lightfoot the Deer learned to jump--trying to do +what he couldn't do and keeping at it until he could. It all happened a +great while ago when the world was young." Grandfather Frog was talking +quite as if nothing had happened, and he had never thought of laughing. +Peter was so put out that he wanted to keep right on, but he just +couldn't miss that story. His curiosity wouldn't let him. So he shook +himself and then lay down in the sunniest spot he could find within +hearing. + +"Lightfoot's great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather was named Lightfoot +too, and was not a whit less handsome than Lightfoot is now," continued +Grandfather Frog in his best story-telling voice. "He had just such slim +legs as Lightfoot has now and just such wonderful, branching horns. When +he had the latter, he was not much afraid of anybody. Those enemies +swift enough of foot to catch him he could successfully fight with his +horns, and those too big and strong for him to fight were not swift +enough to catch him. But there was a season in every year when he had no +horns, as is the case with Lightfoot. You know, or ought to know, that +every spring Lightfoot loses his horns and through the summer a new pair +grows. It was so with Mr. Deer of that long-ago time, and when he lost +those great horns, he felt very helpless and timid. + +"Now old Mr. Deer loved the open meadows and spent most of his time +there. When he had to run, he wanted nothing in the way of his slim +legs. And how he could run! My, my, my, how he could run! But there were +others who could run swiftly in those days too,--Mr. Wolf and Mr. Dog. +Mr. Deer always had a feeling that some day one or the other would catch +him. When he had his horns, this thought didn't worry him much, but when +he had lost his horns, it worried him a great deal. He felt perfectly +helpless then. 'The thing for me to do is to keep out of sight,' said he +to himself, and so instead of going out on the meadows and in the open +places, he hid among the bushes and in the brush on the edge of the +Green Forest and behind the fallen trees in the Green Forest. + +"But one thing troubled old Mr. Deer, who wasn't old then, you know. +Yes, Sir, one thing troubled him a great deal. He couldn't run fast at +all among the bushes and the fallen trees and the old logs. This was a +new worry, and it troubled him almost as much as the old worry. He felt +that he was in a dreadful fix. You see, hard times had come, and the big +and strong were preying on the weak and small in order to live. + +"'If I stay out on the meadows, I cannot fight if I am caught; and if I +stay here, I cannot run fast if I am found by my enemies. Oh, dear! Oh, +dear! What shall I do?' cried Mr. Deer, as he lay hidden among the +branches of a fallen hemlock-tree. + +"Just at that very minute along came Mr. Hare, the +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of your cousin Jumper. A big log +was in his path, and he jumped over it as lightly as a feather. Mr. Deer +watched him and sighed. If only he could jump like that in proportion to +his size, he would just jump over the bushes and the fallen logs and the +fallen trees instead of trying to run around them or squeeze between +them. Right then he had an idea. Why shouldn't he learn to jump? He +could try, anyway. So when he was sure that no one was around to see +him, he practised jumping over little low bushes. At first he couldn't +do much, but he kept trying and trying, and little by little he jumped +higher. It was hard work, and he scraped his slim legs many times when +he tried to jump over old logs and stumps. + +"Now all this time some one had been watching him, though he didn't know +it. It was Old Mother Nature. One day she stopped him as he was trotting +along a path. 'What is this you are doing when you think no one is +watching?' she demanded, looking very cross. 'Haven't I given you beauty +and speed? And yet you are not satisfied!' Mr. Deer hung his head. Then +suddenly he threw it up proudly and told Old Mother Nature that he had +not complained, but that through his own efforts he was just trying to +add to the blessings which he did have, and he explained why he wanted +to learn to jump. Old Mother Nature heard him through. 'Let me see you +jump over that bush,' she snapped crossly, pointing to a bush almost as +high as Mr. Deer himself. + +"'Oh, I can't jump nearly as high as that!' he cried. Then tossing his +head proudly, he added, 'But I'll try.' So just as Peter Rabbit tried to +jump the Laughing Brook when he felt sure that he couldn't, Mr. Deer +tried to jump the bush. Just imagine how surprised he was when he sailed +over it without even touching the top of it with his hoofs! Old Mother +Nature had given him the gift of jumping as a reward for his +perseverance and because she saw that he really had need of it. + +"So ever since that long-ago day, the Deer have lived where the brush is +thickest and the Green Forest most tangled, because they are such great +jumpers that they can travel faster there than their enemies, and they +are no longer so swift of foot in the open meadows. Now, Peter, let's +see you jump over the Laughing Brook." + +What do you think Peter did? Why, he tried again, and laughed just as +hard as the others when once more he landed in the water with a great +splash. + + + + VIII + + HOW MR. FLYING SQUIRREL ALMOST GOT WINGS + + + + VIII + + HOW MR. FLYING SQUIRREL ALMOST GOT WINGS + + +Jimmy Skunk and Peter Rabbit were having a dispute. It was a +good-natured dispute, but both Jimmy and Peter are very decided in their +opinions, and neither would give in to the other. Finally they decided +that as neither could convince the other, they should leave it for +Grandfather Frog to decide which was right. So they straightway started +for the Smiling Pool, where on his big green lily-pad Grandfather Frog +was enjoying the twilight and leading the great Frog chorus. Both agreed +that they would accept Grandfather Frog's decision. You see, each was +sure that he was right. + +When they reached the Smiling Pool, they found Grandfather Frog looking +very comfortable and old and wise. "Good evening, Grandfather Frog. I +hope you are feeling just as fine as you look," said Jimmy Skunk, who +never forgets to be polite. + +"Chug-a-rum! I'm feeling very well, thank you," replied Grandfather +Frog. "What brings you to the Smiling Pool this fine evening?" He looked +very hard at Peter Rabbit, for he suspected that Peter had come for a +story. + +"To get the wisest person of whom we know to decide a matter on which +Peter and I cannot agree; and who is there so wise as Grandfather Frog?" +replied Jimmy. + +Grandfather Frog looked immensely pleased. It always pleases him to be +considered wise. "Chug-a-rum!" said he gruffly. "You have a very smooth +tongue, Jimmy Skunk. But what is this matter on which you cannot agree?" + +"How many animals can fly?" returned Jimmy, by way of answer. + +"One," replied Grandfather Frog. "I thought everybody knew that. Flitter +the Bat is the only animal who can fly." + +"You forget Timmy, the Flying Squirrel!" cried Peter excitedly. "That +makes two." + +Grandfather Frog shook his head. "Peter, Peter, whatever is the matter +with those eyes of yours?" he exclaimed. "They certainly are big enough. +I wonder if you ever will learn to use them. Half-seeing is sometimes +worse than not seeing at all. Timmy cannot fly any more than I can." + +"What did I tell you?" cried Jimmy Skunk triumphantly. + +"But I've seen him fly lots of times!" persisted Peter. "I guess that +any one who has envied him as often as I have ought to know." + +"Hump!" grunted Grandfather Frog. "I guess that's the trouble. There was +so much envy that it got into your eyes, and you couldn't see straight. +Envy is a bad thing." + +Jimmy Skunk chuckled. + +"Did you ever see him away from trees?" continued Grandfather Frog. + +"No," confessed Peter. + +"Did you ever see him cut circles in the air like Flitter the Bat?" + +"No-o," replied Peter slowly. + +"Of course not," retorted Grandfather Frog. "The reason is because he +doesn't fly. He hasn't any wings. What he does do is to coast on the +air. He's the greatest jumper and coaster in the Green Forest." + +"Coast on the air!" exclaimed Peter. "I never heard of such a thing." + +"There are many things you never have heard of," replied Grandfather +Frog. "Sit down, Peter, and stop fidgeting, and I'll tell you a story." + +The very word story was enough to make Peter forget everything else, and +he promptly sat down with his big eyes fixed on Grandfather Frog. + +"It happened," began Grandfather Frog, "that way back in the beginning +of things, there lived a very timid member of the Squirrel family, own +cousin to Mr. Red Squirrel and Mr. Gray Squirrel, but not at all like +them, for he was very gentle and very shy. Perhaps this was partly +because he was very small and was not big enough or strong enough to +fight his way as the others did. In fact, this little Mr. Squirrel was +so timid that he preferred to stay out of sight during the day, when so +many were abroad. He felt safer in the dusk of evening, and so he used +to wait until jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had gone to bed behind the +Purple Hills before he ventured out to hunt for his food. Then his +quarrelsome cousins had gone to bed, and there was no one to drive him +away when he found a feast of good things. + +"But even at night there was plenty of danger. There was Mr. Owl to be +watched out for, and other night prowlers. In fact, little Mr. Squirrel +didn't feel safe on the ground a minute, and so he kept to the trees as +much as possible. Of course, when the branches of one tree reached to +the branches of another tree, it was an easy matter to travel through +the tree-tops, but every once in a while there would be open places to +cross, and many a fright did timid little Mr. Squirrel have as he +scampered across these open places. He used to sit and watch old Mr. Bat +flying about and wish that he had wings. Then he thought how foolish it +was to wish for something he hadn't got and couldn't have. + +"'The thing to do,' said little Mr. Squirrel to himself, 'is to make the +most of what I have got. Now I am a pretty good jumper, but if I keep +jumping, perhaps I can learn to jump better than I do now.' + +"So every night Mr. Squirrel used to go off by himself, where he was +sure no one would see him, and practise jumping. He would climb an old +stump and then jump as far as he could. Then he would do it all over +again ever so many times, and after a little he found that he went +farther, quite a little farther, than when he began. Then one night he +made a discovery. He found that by spreading his arms and legs out just +as far as possible and making himself as flat as he could, he could go +almost twice as far as he had been able to go before, and he landed a +great deal easier. It was like sliding down on the air. It was great +fun, and pretty soon he was spending all his spare time doing it. + +"One moonlight night, Old Mother Nature happened along and sat down on a +log to watch him. Little Mr. Squirrel didn't see her, and when at last +she asked him what he was doing, he was so surprised and confused that +he could hardly find his tongue. At last he told her that he was trying +to learn to jump better that he might better take care of himself. The +idea pleased Old Mother Nature. You know she is always pleased when she +finds people trying to help themselves. + +"'That's a splendid idea,' said she. 'I'll help you. I'll make you the +greatest jumper in the Green Forest.' + +"Then she gave to little Mr. Squirrel something almost but not quite +like wings. Between his fore legs and hind legs on each side she +stretched a piece of skin that folded right down against his body when +he was walking or running so as to hardly show and wasn't in the way at +all. + +"'Now,' said she, 'climb that tall tree over yonder clear to the top and +then jump with all your might for that tree over there across that open +place.' + +"It was ten times as far as little Mr. Squirrel ever had jumped before, +and the tree was so tall that he felt sure that he would break his neck +when he struck the ground. He was afraid, very much afraid. But Old +Mother Nature had told him to do it. He knew that he ought to trust her. +So he climbed the tall tree. It was a frightful distance down to the +ground, and that other tree was so far away that it was foolish to even +think of reaching it. + +"'Jump!' commanded Old Mother Nature. + +"Little Mr. Squirrel gulped very hard, trying to swallow his fear. Then +he jumped with all his might, and just as he had taught himself to do, +spread himself out as flat as he could. Just imagine how surprised he +was and how tickled when he just coasted down on the air clear across +the open place and landed as lightly as a feather on the foot of that +distant tree! You see, the skin between his legs when he spread them out +had kept him from falling straight down. Of course if he hadn't jumped +with all his might, as Old Mother Nature had told him to, even though he +thought it wouldn't be of any use, he wouldn't have reached that other +tree. + +"He was so delighted that he wanted to do it right over again, but he +didn't forget his manners. He first thanked Old Mother Nature. + +"She smiled. 'See that you keep out of danger, for that is why I have +made you the greatest jumper in the Green Forest,' said she. + +"Little Mr. Squirrel did. People who, like Peter, did not use their +eyes, thought that he could fly, and he was called the Flying Squirrel. +He was the great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Timmy whom you both +know." + +"And Timmy doesn't really fly at all, does he?" asked Jimmy Skunk. + +"Certainly not. He jumps and slides on the air," replied Grandfather +Frog. + +"What did I tell you?" cried Jimmy triumphantly to Peter. + +"Well, anyway, it's next thing to flying. I wish I could do it," replied +Peter. + + + + IX + + HOW MR. WEASEL WAS MADE AN OUTCAST + + + + IX + + HOW MR. WEASEL WAS MADE AN OUTCAST + + +Chatterer the Red Squirrel peered down from the edge of an old nest +built long ago in a big hemlock-tree in the Green Forest, and if you +could have looked into Chatterer's eyes, you would have seen there a +great fear. He looked this way; he looked that way. Little by little, +the fear left him, and when at last he saw Peter Rabbit coming his way, +he gave a little sigh of relief and ran down the tree. Peter saw him and +headed straight toward him to pass the time of day. + +"Peter," whispered Chatterer, as soon as Peter was near enough to hear, +"have you seen Shadow the Weasel?" + +It was Peter's turn to look frightened, and he hastily glanced this way +and that way. "No," he replied. "Is he anywhere about here?" + +"I saw him pass about five minutes ago, but he seemed to be in a hurry, +and I guess he has gone now," returned Chatterer, still whispering. + +"I hope so! My goodness, I hope so!" exclaimed Peter, still looking this +way and that way uneasily. + +"I hate him!" declared Chatterer fiercely. + +"So do I," replied Peter. "I guess everybody does. It must be dreadful +to be hated by everybody. I don't believe he has got a single friend in +the wide, wide world, not even among his own relatives. I wonder why it +is he never tries to make any friends." + +"Here comes Jimmy Skunk. Let's ask him. He ought to know, for he is +Shadow's cousin," said Chatterer. + +Jimmy came ambling up in his usual lazy way, for you know he never +hurries. It seemed to Chatterer and Peter that he was slower than usual. +But he got there at last. + +"Why is it, Jimmy Skunk, that your cousin, Shadow the Weasel, never +tries to make any friends?" cried Chatterer, as soon as Jimmy was near +enough. + +"I've never asked him, but I suppose it's because he doesn't want them," +replied Jimmy. + +"But why?" asked Peter. + +"I guess it's because he is an outcast," replied Jimmy. + +"What is an outcast," demanded Peter. + +"Why, somebody with whom nobody else will have anything to do, stupid," +replied Jimmy. "I thought everybody knew that." + +"But how did it happen that he became an outcast in the first place?" +persisted Peter. + +"He's always been an outcast, ever since he was born, and I suppose he +is used to it," declared Jimmy. "His father was an outcast, and his +grandfather, and his great-grandfathers way back to the days when the +world was young." + +"Tell us about it. Do tell us about it!" begged Peter. + +Jimmy smiled good-naturedly. "Well, seeing that I haven't anything else +to do just now, I will. Perhaps you fellows may learn something from the +story," said he. Then he settled himself comfortably with his back to an +old stump and began. + +[Illustration: "One day Mr. Rabbit surprised Mr. Weasel making a meal of +young mice." _Page_ 124.] + + + +"When old King Bear ruled in the forest long, long ago, and the +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfathers of all of us and of everybody +else lived in peace and happiness with each other, slim, trim, spry Mr. +Weasel lived with the rest. He was small, just as Shadow is now, and he +looked just the same as Shadow does now. He was on the best of terms +with all his neighbors, and no one had a word to say against him. In +fact, he was rather liked and had quite as many friends as anybody. But +all the time he had a mean disposition. He hid it from his neighbors, +but he had it just the same. Now mean dispositions are easily hidden +when everything is pleasant and there are no worries, and that is the +way it was then. No one suspected any one else of meanness, for with +plenty to eat and nothing to worry about, there was no cause for +meanness. + +"With his mean disposition, Mr. Weasel was also very crafty. Being +small and moving so swiftly, he was hard to keep track of. You know how +it is with Shadow--now you see him, and now you don't." + +Chatterer and Peter nodded. They knew that it is because of this that he +is called Shadow. + +"Well," continued Jimmy, "it didn't take him long to find that if he +were careful, he could go where he pleased, and no one would be the +wiser. They say that he used to practise dodging out of sight when he +saw any one coming, and after a while he got so that he could disappear +right under the very noses of his neighbors. Being so slim, he could go +where any of his four-footed neighbors could, and it wasn't long before +he knew all about every hole and nook and corner anywhere around. There +were no secrets that he didn't find out, and all the time no one +suspected him. + +"Of course hard times came to Mr. Weasel at last, just as to everybody +else, but they didn't worry him much. You see, he knew all about the +secret hiding-places in which some of his neighbors had stored away +food, so when he was hungry, all he had to do was to help himself. So +Mr. Weasel became a thief, and still no one suspected him. Now one bad +habit almost always leads to another. Mr. Weasel developed a great +fondness for eggs. Our whole family has always had rather a weakness +that way." + +Jimmy grinned, for he knew that Peter and Chatterer knew that he himself +never could pass a fresh egg when he found it. + +"One day he found a nest in which were four little baby birds instead +of the eggs he had been expecting to find there and, having a mean +disposition, he flew into a rage and killed those four little birds. +Yes, Sir, that's what he did. He found the taste of young birds very +much to his liking, and he began to hunt for more. Then he discovered a +nest of young mice, and he found these quite as good as young birds. +Then came a great fear upon the littlest people, but not once did they +suspect Mr. Weasel. He was very crafty and went and came among them just +as always. They suspected only the larger and stronger people of the +forest who, because food was getting very scarce, had begun to hunt the +smaller people. + +"But you know wrongdoing is bound to be found out sooner or later. One +day Mr. Rabbit surprised Mr. Weasel making a meal of young mice, and of +course he hurried to tell all his neighbors. Then Mr. Weasel knew that +it was no longer of use to pretend that he was what he was not, and he +boldly joined the bigger animals in hunting the smaller ones. It makes +most people angry to be caught in wrongdoing and it was just that way +with Mr. Weasel. He flew into a great rage and vowed that he would kill +Mr. Rabbit, and when he couldn't catch Mr. Rabbit, he hunted others of +his neighbors until there was no one, not even fierce Mr. Wolf or Mr. +Panther or Mr. Lynx, of whom the littlest people were in such fear. You +see, they could hide from the big hunters, but they couldn't hide from +Mr. Weasel because he knew all their hiding-places, and he was so slim +and small that wherever they could go, he could go. + +"Now the big people, like Mr. Wolf and Mr. Panther, killed only for +food that they might live, and when they found Mr. Weasel killing more +than he could eat, they would have nothing to do with him and even +threatened to kill him if they caught him. So pretty soon Mr. Weasel +found that he hadn't a friend in the world. This made him more savage +than ever, and he hunted and killed just for the pleasure of it. He took +pleasure in the fear which he read in the eyes of his neighbors when +they saw him. + +"Old Mother Nature was terribly shocked when she discovered what was +going on, but she found that she could do nothing with Mr. Weasel. He +wasn't sorry for what he had done and he wouldn't promise to do better. +'Very well,' said Old Mother Nature, 'from this time on you and your +children and your children's children forever and ever shall be +outcasts among the people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows, +hated by all, little and big.' And it has been so to this day. Even I am +not on speaking terms with Shadow, although he is my own cousin," +concluded Jimmy Skunk. + +Peter Rabbit shuddered. "Isn't it dreadful not to have a single friend?" +he exclaimed. "I would rather have to run for my life twenty times a day +than to be hated and feared and without a single friend. I wouldn't be +an outcast for all the world." + +"There's not the least bit of danger of that for you, Peter," laughed +Jimmy Skunk. + + + + X + + HOW THE EYES OF OLD MR. OWL BECAME FIXED + + + + X + + HOW THE EYES OF OLD MR. OWL BECAME FIXED + + +Blacky the Crow had discovered Hooty the Owl dozing the bright day away +in a thick hemlock-tree. Blacky knew that the bright light hurt Hooty's +big eyes and half blinded him. This meant that he could have no end of +fun teasing Hooty, and that Hooty would have to sit still and take it +all, because he couldn't see well enough to fly away or to try to catch +Blacky. Now if the day had been dark, as it sometimes is on cloudy days, +or if the dusk of evening had been settling over the Green Meadows and +the Green Forest, matters would have been very different. Blacky would +have taken care, the very greatest care, not to let Hooty know that he +was anywhere around. But as it was, here was a splendid chance to spoil +Hooty's sleep and to see him grow very, very angry and do it without +running any great risk. + +"Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" yelled Blacky at the top of his voice, and at +once all his relatives came flocking over to join in the fun. Dear me, +dear me, such a racket as there was then! They flew over his head, and +they settled in the tree all around him, all yelling as hard as ever +they could. Everybody within hearing knew what it meant, and everybody +who dared to hurried over to watch the fun. Somehow most people seem to +take pleasure in seeing some one else made uncomfortable, especially if +it is some one of whom they stand in fear and who is for the time being +helpless. + +Most of the little meadow and forest people are very much afraid of +Hooty the Owl as soon as it begins to grow dark, for that is when he can +see best and does all his hunting. So, though it wasn't at all nice of +them, they enjoyed seeing him tormented by Blacky and his relatives. But +all the time they took the greatest care to keep out of sight +themselves. Peter Rabbit was there. So was Jumper the Hare and Happy +Jack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Whitefoot the +Wood Mouse and Striped Chipmunk and a lot more. Of course, Sammy Jay was +there, but Sammy didn't try to keep out of sight. Oh, my, no! He joined +right in with the Crows, calling Hooty all sorts of bad names and flying +about just out of reach in the most impudent way. You see he knew just +how helpless Hooty was. + +Hooty was very, very angry. He hissed, and he snapped his bill, and he +told his tormentors what he would do to them if he caught them after +dark. And all the time he kept turning his head with its great, round, +glaring, yellow eyes so as not to give his tormentors a chance to pull +out any of his feathers, as the boldest of them tried to do. Now Hooty +can turn his head as no one else can. He can turn it so that he looks +straight back over his tail, so that his head looks as if it were put on +the wrong way. Then he can snap it around in the other direction so +quickly that you can hardly see him do it, and sometimes it seems as if +he turned his head clear around. + +That interested Peter Rabbit immensely. He couldn't think of anything +else. He kept trying to do the same thing himself, but of course he +couldn't. He could turn his head sideways, but that was all. He puzzled +over it all the rest of the day, and that night, when his cousin, Jumper +the Hare, called at the dear Old Briar-patch, the first thing he did was +to ask a question. + +"Cousin Jumper, do you know why it is that Hooty the Owl can turn his +head way around, and nobody else can?" + +"Of course I know," replied Jumper. "I thought everybody knew that. It's +because his eyes are fixed in their sockets, and he can't turn them. So +he turns his whole head in order to see in all directions. The rest of +us can roll our eyes, but Hooty can't." + +Peter scratched his long left ear with his long right hindfoot, a way he +has when he is thinking or is puzzled. "That's funny," said he. "I +wonder why his eyes are fixed." + +"Because his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather rolled his eyes too +much," replied Jumper, yawning. "He saw too much. It's a bad thing to +see too much." + +"Tell me about it. Please do, Cousin Jumper," begged Peter. + +Jumper looked up at the moon to see what time of night it was. + +"All right," said he, settling himself comfortably. "All the Owl family, +way back to the very beginning, have had very big eyes. Old Mr. Owl had +them. He could move them just as we can ours. And because they were so +big, and because he could roll them, there was very little going on that +Mr. Owl didn't see. It happened one day that Old Mother Nature took it +into her wise old head to put the little people of the Green Meadows +and the Green Forest to a test. She wanted to see just how many of them +she could trust to obey her orders. So she lined them all up in a row. +Then she made them turn so that their backs were to her. + +"'Now,' said she, 'everybody is to keep eyes to the front. I am going to +be very busy back here for a few minutes, but not one of you is to peek. +I shall know if you do, and I shall see to it that you never forget it +as long as you live.' + +"That sounded as if something dreadful might happen, so everybody sat +perfectly still looking straight before them. Some of them felt as if +they would die of curiosity to know what Old Mother Nature was doing, +but for a while no one thought of disobeying. Old Mr. Rabbit just itched +all over with curiosity. It seemed to him that he just must turn his +head. But for once he managed to get the best of his curiosity and +stared straight ahead. + +"Now Mr. Owl had tremendous great ears, just as Hooty has to-day. You +can't see them because the feathers cover them, but they are there just +the same." + +Peter nodded. He knew all about those wonderful ears and how they heard +the teeniest, weeniest noise when Hooty was flying at night. + +"Those, big ears," continued Jumper, "heard every little sound that Old +Mother Nature made, and they sounded queer to Mr. Owl. 'If I roll back +my eyes without turning my head, I believe I can see what she is doing, +and she won't be any the wiser,' thought he. So he rolled his eyes back +and then looked straight ahead again. What he had seen made him want to +see more. He tried it again. Just imagine how he felt when he found that +his eyes wouldn't roll. He couldn't move them a bit. All he could do was +to stare straight ahead. It frightened him dreadfully, and he kept +trying and trying to roll his eyes, but they were fixed fast. He could +see in only one direction, the way his head was turned. + +"When at last Old Mother Nature told all the little people that they +might look, Mr. Owl didn't want to look. He didn't want to face Old +Mother Nature, for he knew perfectly well what had happened to his eyes. +He knew that Old Mother Nature had seen him roll them back, and that as +a punishment she had fixed them so that he would always stare straight +ahead. He didn't say anything. He was too ashamed to. He flew away home +the very first chance he got. For a long time after that, Mr. Owl never +could see behind him at all. He could only turn his head part way, the +same as most folks, and he couldn't roll his eyes to see the rest of the +way. It made him dreadfully nervous and unhappy. He felt all the time as +if people were doing things behind his back. But he didn't complain. He +was ashamed to do that. + +"Old Mother Nature was watching him all the time. After a long, long +while, she decided that he had been punished enough. But she didn't want +him to forget, so she kept his eyes fixed so that they would look +straight ahead; but she gave him the power to turn his head farther than +any one else, so that he could look straight behind him without turning +his body at all. And ever since that time, all Owls have had fixed eyes, +but have been able to turn their heads so as to make them look as if +they were facing the wrong way." + +"Thank you, Cousin Jumper," cried Peter. "But there is one thing you +forgot to tell. What was it that Old Mother Nature was doing when Mr. +Owl rolled his eyes to look back." + +"That," replied Jumper, "Mr. Owl never told, and nobody else knew, so I +can't tell you." + + + + XI + + HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER + + + + XI + + HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER + + +Peter Rabbit was bothered. He was bothered in his mind, and when Peter +is bothered in his mind, he loses his appetite. It was so now. He had +been up in the Old Orchard and, as is his way, had stopped at Johnny +Chuck's for a bit of gossip. As he sat there talking, it suddenly came +over him that Johnny was looking unusually fat. He said so. Johnny +yawned in a very sleepy way as he replied: + +"One has to get fat in order to sleep comfortably all winter. I've got +to get fatter than I am now before I turn in." And with that, Johnny +Chuck fell to eating as if his sides were falling in instead of +threatening to burst, and Peter could get no more from him. + +So he went home to think it over, and the more he thought, the more +troubled he became. How could anybody sleep all winter? And what good +did just getting fat do? Johnny Chuck couldn't eat his own fat, so what +was the use of it? "Must be it's to keep him warm," thought Peter and +brightened up. But why wasn't a good thick coat of fur just as good or +even better? He didn't have any trouble keeping warm. Neither did Billy +Mink or Little Joe Otter or Reddy Fox. No, it couldn't be that Johnny +Chuck put on all that fat just to keep warm. Besides, he would spend the +winter way down deep in the ground, and there was no excuse for being +cold there. + +"I couldn't sleep all winter if I wanted to, and I wouldn't if I could, +for there is too much fun to miss," muttered Peter, as he started for +the Smiling Pool in search of Grandfather Frog. He found him sitting on +his big lily-pad, but somehow Grandfather Frog didn't look as chipper +and smart as usual. "He certainly is growing old," thought Peter. "He +isn't as spry as he used to be. Seems as if he had grown old in the last +two or three weeks. Too bad, too bad." + +Aloud, Peter said: "Why, Grandfather Frog, how well you are looking! You +are enough to make us young fellows envious." + +Grandfather Frog looked at Peter sharply. Perhaps he read the truth in +Peter's eyes. "Chug-a-rum!" said he. "Be honest, Peter. Be honest. Don't +try to flatter, because it is a bad habit to get into. I know how I +look. I look old and tired. Now isn't that so?" + +Peter looked a little shamefaced. He didn't know just what to say, so he +said nothing and just nodded his head. + +"That's better," said Grandfather Frog gruffly. "Always tell the truth. +The fact is I _am_ tired. I am so tired that I'm going to sleep for the +winter, and I'm going to do it this very day." + +"Oh, Grandfather Frog," (Peter had found his tongue), "please tell me +something before you go. I can understand how you may want to sleep all +winter because you have no nice fur coat to keep you warm, but why does +Johnny Chuck do it, and how does he do it? Why doesn't he starve to +death?" + +Grandfather Frog had to smile at the eager curiosity in Peter's voice. +"I see you are just as full of questions as ever, Peter," said he. "I +suppose I may as well tell you one more story, because it will be a long +time before you will get another from me. Johnny Chuck sleeps all winter +because he is sensible, and he is sensible because it runs in the family +to be sensible. His great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather was sensible. +It's a very good thing to have good sound common sense run in the +family, Peter." + +Once more Peter nodded his head. Jerry Muskrat, who was sitting on the +Big Rock, listening, winked at Peter, and Peter winked back. Then he +made himself comfortable and prepared not to miss a word of Grandfather +Frog's story. + +"You must know, Peter, that a long time ago when the world was young, +there was a time when there was no winter," began Grandfather Frog. +"That was before the hard times of which I have told you before. +Everybody had plenty to eat, and everybody was on the best of terms with +all his neighbors. Then came the hard times, and the beginning of the +hard times was the coming of rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost. +Their coming made the first winter. It wasn't a very long or a very hard +winter, but it was long enough and hard enough to make a great deal of +discomfort, particularly for those little people who lived altogether on +tender young green plants. Yes, Sir, it certainly was hard on them. Some +of them nearly starved to death that first winter, short as it was. Old +Mr. Chuck, who, of course, wasn't old then, was one of them. By the time +the tender, young, green things began to grow again, he was just a +shadow of what he used to be. He was so thin that sometimes he used to +listen to see if he couldn't hear his bones rattle inside his skin. + +"Of course he couldn't, but he was quite sure that when the wind blew, +it went right through him. At last warm weather returned, just as it +does now every summer, and once more there was plenty to eat. Some of +the little people seemed to forget all about the hard times of the cold +weather, but not Mr. Chuck. He had been too cold and too hungry to ever +forget. Of course, with plenty to eat, he soon grew fat and comfortable +again, but all the time he kept thinking about the terrible visit of +rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost and wondering if they would come +again. He talked about it with his neighbors but most of them laughed +and told him that he was borrowing trouble, and that they didn't +believe that Brother North Wind and Jack Frost ever would come again. + +"So after a while Mr. Chuck kept his thoughts to himself and went about +his business as usual. But all the time he was turning over and over in +his mind the possibility of another period of cold and starvation and +trying to think of some way to prepare for it. He didn't once think of +going to Old Mother Nature and begging her to take care of him, for he +was very independent, was Mr. Chuck, and believed that those are best +helped who help themselves. So he kept studying and studying how he +could live through another cold spell, if it should come. + +"'I haven't got as thick a fur coat as Mr. Mink or Mr. Otter or Mr. +Squirrel or some others, and I can't run around as fast as they can, so +of course I can't keep as warm,' said he to himself, as he sat taking a +sun-bath one day. 'I must find some other way of keeping warm. Now I +don't believe the cold can get very deep down in the ground, so if I +build me a house way down deep in the ground, it always will be +comfortable. Anyway, it never will be very cold. I believe that is a +good idea. I'll try it at once.' + +"So without wasting any time, Mr. Chuck began to dig. He dug and he dug +and he dug. When his neighbors grew curious and asked questions, he +smiled good-naturedly and said that he was trying an experiment. When he +had made a long hall which went down so deep that he was quite sure that +Jack Frost could not get down there, he made a bedroom and put in it a +bed of soft grass. When it was finished, he was so pleased with it that +he retired to it every night as soon as the sun went down and didn't +come out again until morning. + +"'Anyway, I won't freeze to death,' said he. Then he sighed as he +remembered how hungry, how terribly hungry he had been. 'Now if only I +can think of some way to get food enough to carry me through, I'll be +all right.' + +"At first he thought of storing up food, but when he tried that, he soon +found that the tender green things on which he lived wouldn't keep. They +shriveled and dried, so that he couldn't eat them at all. He was still +trying to think of some plan when Old Mother Nature sent warning that +rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost were coming again. Mr. Chuck's +heart sank. He thought of how soon all the tender green things would +disappear. Right then an idea was born in Mr. Chuck's head. He would eat +all he could while he could, and then he would go down into his bedroom +and sleep just as long as he could! + +"So day after day he spent stuffing himself, and his neighbors called +him Mr. Greedy. But he didn't mind that. He kept right on eating, and of +course he grew fatter and fatter, so that at last he was so fat he could +hardly get about. The days grew cooler and cooler, and then Mr. Chuck +noticed that because he was so fat, he didn't feel the cold as he had +before. There came a morning at last when Mr. Chuck stuck his nose out +to find Jack Frost waiting to pinch it. All the tender green things were +black and dead. Back to his bed scrambled Mr. Chuck and curled up to +sleep just as long as he could. He made up his mind that he wouldn't +worry until he had to. He had done his best, and that was all he could +do. + +"When Old Mother Nature came to see how the little people were faring, +she missed Mr. Chuck. She asked his neighbors what had become of him, +but no one knew. At length she came to his house and looking inside +found him fast asleep. She saw right away what he had done and how fat +he had grown. She knew without being told what it all meant, and the +idea amused her. Instead of wakening him, as she had at first intended +to do, she touched Mr. Chuck and put him into a deeper sleep, saying: + + "'You shall sleep, Mr. Chuck, + Through the time of frost and snow. + For your courage and your pluck + You shall no discomfort know.' + +"And so Mr. Chuck slept on until the tender young green things began +once more to grow. The cold could not reach him, and the fat he had +stored under his skin took the place of food. When he awoke in the +spring, he knew nothing of the hard times his neighbors were talking +about. And ever since then the Chuck family has slept through the +winter, because it is the most comfortable and sensible thing to do. I +know, because I have done the same thing for years. Good-by, Peter +Rabbit! No more stories until spring." + +Before Peter could say a word, there was a splash in the Smiling Pool, +and Grandfather Frog was nowhere to be seen. + +"I--I don't see how they do it," said Peter, shaking his head in a +puzzled way as he slowly hopped towards the dear Old Briar-patch. + + + + XII + + HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE + + + + XII + + HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE + + +Little Joe Otter was having the jolliest kind of a time. Little Joe +Otter is a jolly little chap, anyway, and just now he was extra happy. +You see, he had a brand new slippery-slide. Yes, Sir, Little Joe had +just built a new slippery-slide down the steepest part of the bank into +the Smiling Pool. It was longer and smoother than his old +slippery-slide, and it seemed to Little Joe as if he could slide and +slide all day long. Of course he enjoyed it more because he had built it +himself. He would stretch out full length at the top of the +slippery-slide, give a kick to start himself, shoot down the +slippery-slide, disappear headfirst with a great splash into the Smiling +Pool, and then climb up the bank and do it all over again. + +Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck sat watching him from the bank on the +other side of the Smiling Pool. Right down below them, sitting on his +big green lily-pad, was Grandfather Frog, and there was a sparkle in his +big, goggly eyes and his great mouth was stretched in a broad grin as he +watched Little Joe Otter. He even let a foolish green fly brush the tip +of his nose and didn't snap at it. + +"Chug-a-rum!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog to no one in particular. "That +reminds me of the days when I was young and the greatest diver in the +Smiling Pool. My goodness, it makes me feel young just to watch Little +Joe shoot down that slippery-slide. If I weren't so old, I'd try it +myself. Wheee!" + +With, that, Grandfather Frog suddenly jumped. It was a great, long, +beautiful jump, and with his long hind legs straight out behind him, +Grandfather Frog disappeared in the Smiling Pool so neatly that he made +hardly a splash at all, only a whole lot of rings on the surface of the +water that grew bigger and bigger until they met the rings made by +Little Joe Otter and then became all mixed up. + +Half a minute later Grandfather Frog's head bobbed up out of the water, +and for the first time he saw Johnny Chuck and Peter Rabbit. + +"Come on in; the water's fine!" he cried, and rolled one big, goggly eye +up at jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun and winked it in the most comical +way, for he knew, and he knew that Mr. Sun knew, just how Johnny Chuck +and Peter Rabbit dislike the water. + +"No, thanks," replied Peter, but there was a wistful look in his big +eyes as he watched Little Joe Otter splash into the Smiling Pool. Little +Joe was having such a good time! Peter actually was wishing that he +_did_ like the water. + +Grandfather Frog climbed out on his big green lily-pad. He settled +himself comfortably so as to face Johnny Chuck and Peter and at the same +time watch Little Joe out of the corner of one big, goggly eye. + +"Chug-a-rum!" said he, as once more Little Joe splashed into the Smiling +Pool. "Did you ever hear about Little Joe's family secret?" he asked in +his deep gruff voice. + +"No," cried Peter Rabbit. "Do tell us about it! I just love secrets." +There was a great deal of eagerness in Peter's voice, and it made +Grandfather Frog smile. + +"Is that the reason you never can keep them?" he asked. + +Peter looked a wee bit foolish, but he kept still and waited patiently. +After what seemed a long, long time, Grandfather Frog cleared his throat +two or three times, and this is the story he told Johnny Chuck and Peter +Rabbit: + +"Once upon a time when the world was young, the +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Little Joe Otter got into a +peck of trouble. Yes, Sir, he certainly did get into a peck of trouble. +You see, it was winter, and everything was covered with snow, so that +food was hard to get. Most of the little forest and meadow people found +little to eat, and it took a great deal of hunting to find that little. +Only those who, like old Mr. Squirrel, had been wise enough to lay up a +store of food when there was plenty, and two or three others like Mr. +Mink and Mr. Otter, who could go fishing in the spring-holes which had +not frozen over, had full stomachs. + +"Now an empty stomach almost always makes a short temper. It is hard, +very hard indeed to be hungry and good-natured at the same time. So as +most of the people of the Green Forest were hungry all the time, they +were also short-tempered all the time. Mr. Otter knew this. When any of +them came prowling around the spring-hole where he was fishing, he would +tease them by letting them see how fat he was. Sometimes he would bring +up a fine fish and eat it right before them without offering to share so +much as a mouthful. He had done this several times to Mr. Lynx, and +though Mr. Lynx had begged and begged for just a bite, Mr. Otter had +refused the teeniest, weeniest bit and had even made fun of Mr. Lynx for +not being smart enough to get sufficient to eat. + +"Now it happened that one fine morning Mr. Otter took it into his head +to take a walk in the Green Forest. It was a beautiful morning, and Mr. +Otter went farther than he intended. He was just trying to make up his +mind whether to turn back or go just a little farther, when he heard +stealthy footsteps behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and what he +saw helped him to make up his mind in a hurry. There, creeping over the +frozen snow, was Mr. Lynx, and the sides of Mr. Lynx were very thin, and +the eyes of Mr. Lynx looked very hungry and fierce, and the claws of Mr. +Lynx were very long and strong and cruel looking. Mr. Otter made up his +mind right away that the cold, black water of that open spring-hole was +the only place for him, and he started for it without even passing the +time of day with Mr. Lynx. + +"Now Mr. Otter's legs were very short, just as Little Joe's are, but it +was surprising how fast he got over the snow that beautiful morning. +When he came to the top of a little hill, he would slide down, because +he found that he could go faster that way. But in spite of all he could +do, Mr. Lynx traveled faster, coming with great jumps and snarling and +spitting with every jump. Mr. Otter was almost out of breath when he +reached the high bank just above the open spring-hole. It was very +steep, very steep indeed. Mr. Otter threw a hasty glance over his +shoulder. Mr. Lynx was so near that in one more jump he would catch +him. There wasn't time to run around to the place where the bank was +low. Mr. Otter threw himself flat, gave a frantic kick with his hind +legs, shut his eyes, and shot down, down, down the slippery bank so fast +that he lost what little breath he had left. Then he landed with a great +splash in the cold, black water and was safe, for Mr. Lynx was afraid of +the water. He stopped right on the very edge of the steep bank, where he +growled and screeched and told Mr. Otter what dreadful things he would +do to him if ever he caught him. + +"Now in spite of his dreadful fright, Mr. Otter had enjoyed that +exciting slide down the steep bank. He got to thinking about it after +Mr. Lynx had slunk away into the Green Forest, and when he was rested +and could breathe comfortably again, he made up his mind to try it once +more. So he climbed out where the bank was low and ran around to the +steep place and once more slid down into the water. It was great fun, +the greatest fun Mr. Otter ever had had. He did it again and again. In +fact, he kept doing it all the rest of that day. And he found that the +more he slid, the smoother and more slippery became the slippery-slide, +for the water dripped from his brown coat and froze on the slide. + +"After that, as long as the snow lasted, Mr. Otter spent all his time, +between eating and sleeping, sliding down his slippery-slide. He learned +just how to hold his legs so that they would not be hurt. When gentle +Sister South Wind came in the spring and took away all the snow, Mr. +Otter hardly knew what to do with himself, until one day a bright idea +popped into his head and made him laugh aloud. Why not make a +slippery-slide of mud and clay? Right away he tried it. It wasn't as +good as the snow slide, but by trying and trying, he found a way to make +it better than at first. After that Mr. Otter was perfectly happy, for +summer and winter he had a slippery-slide. He taught his children, and +they taught their children how to make slippery-slides, and ever since +that long-ago day when the world was young, the making of +slippery-slides has been the family secret of the Otters." + +"And it's the best secret in the world," said Little Joe Otter, swimming +up behind Grandfather Frog just then. + +"I wish--I wish I had a slippery-slide," said Peter Rabbit wistfully. + +"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog. "Chug-a-rum! Be content with the +blessings you have got, Peter Rabbit. Be content with the blessings you +have got. No good comes of wishing for things which it never was meant +that you should have. It is a bad habit and it makes discontent." + + + + XIII + + HOW DRUMMER THE WOODPECKER CAME BY HIS RED CAP + + + + XIII + + HOW DRUMMER THE WOODPECKER CAME BY HIS RED CAP + + +Drummer the Woodpecker was beating his long roll on a hollow tree in the +Green Forest. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! Drummer +thought it the most beautiful sound in the world. After each long roll +he would stop and listen for a reply. You see, sometimes one of his +family in another part of the Green Forest, or over in the Old Orchard, +would hear him drumming and would hasten to find a hollow tree himself +and drum too. Then they would drum back and forth to each other for the +longest time, until all the other little people would scold because of +the racket and would wish they could stop their ears. But it was music, +real music to Drummer and all the members of his family, and Drummer +never was happier than when beating his long roll as he was doing now. + +Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Suddenly Drummer heard a +scratching sound inside the hollow tree. Once more he beat the long roll +and the scratching sound grew louder. Then he heard a voice just a +little way above him. + +"Do Ah hear some one knocking?" asked the voice. + +Drummer looked up. There was Unc' Billy Possum's sharp little face +sticking out of his doorway, and Unc' Billy looked very sleepy and very +cross and at the same time as if he were trying very hard to be polite +and pleasant. + +"Hello, Unc' Billy! Is this your house? I didn't know it when I began to +drum. I wasn't knocking; I was drumming. I just love to drum," replied +Drummer. + +"Ah reckons yo' do by the noise yo' have been making, but Ah don't like +being inside the drum. Ah'm feelin' powerful bad in the haid just now, +Brer Drummer, and Ah cert'nly will take it kindly if yo' will find +another drum," said Unc' Billy, holding his head in both hands as if he +had a terrible headache. + +Drummer looked disappointed and a little bit hurt, but he is one of the +best-natured little people in the Green Forest and always willing to be +obliging. + +"I'm sorry if I have disturbed you, Unc' Billy," he replied promptly. +"Of course I won't drum here any longer, if you don't like it. I'll look +for another hollow tree, though I don't believe I can find another as +good. It is one of the best sounding trees I have ever drummed on. It's +simply beautiful!" There was a great deal of regret in his voice, as if +it were the hardest work to give up that tree. + +"Ah'll tell yo' where there's another just as good," replied Unc' Billy. +"Yo' see the top of that ol' chestnut-tree way down there in the holler? +Well, yo' try that. Ah'm sure yo' will like it." + +Drummer thanked Unc' Billy politely and bobbed his red-capped head as he +spread his wings and started in the direction of the big chestnut-tree. +Unc' Billy grinned as he watched him. Then he slowly and solemnly winked +one eye at Peter Rabbit, who had just come along. + +"What's the joke?" asked Peter. + +"Ah done just sent Brer Drummer down to the big chestnut-tree to drum," +Unc' Billy replied, winking again. + +"Why, that's Bobby Coon's house!" cried Peter, and then he saw the joke +and began to grin too. + +In a few minutes they heard Drummer's long roll. Then again and again. +The third time it broke off right in the middle, and right away a +terrible fuss started down at the big chestnut-tree. They could hear +Drummer's voice, and it sounded very angry. + +"Ah reckon Brer Coon was waked up and lost his temper," chuckled Unc' +Billy. "It's a bad habit to lose one's temper. Yes, Sah, it cert'nly is +a bad habit. Ah reckons Ah better be turning in fo' another nap, Brer +Rabbit." With that Unc' Billy disappeared, still chuckling. + +Hardly was he out of sight when Peter saw Drummer heading that way, and +Drummer looked very much put out about something. He just nodded to +Peter and flew straight to Unc' Billy's tree. Then he began to drum. How +he did drum! His red-capped head flew back and forth as Peter never had +seen it fly before. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! +Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! Drummer hardly paused for breath. There was too +much noise for Peter, and he kicked up his heels and started for the +Smiling Pool, and all the way there he laughed. + +"I hope Unc' Billy is enjoying a good nap," he chuckled. "Drummer +certainly has turned the joke back on Unc' Billy this time, and I guess +it serves him right." + +He was still laughing when he reached the Smiling Pool. Grandfather Frog +watched him until he began to smile too. You know laughter is catching. +"Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!" laughed Peter and held his sides. + +"What is the joke?" demanded Grandfather Frog in his deepest voice. + +When Peter could get his breath, he told Grandfather Frog all about the +joke on Unc' Billy Possum. "Listen!" said Peter at the end of the story. +They both listened. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! The long roll of Drummer the +Woodpecker could be heard clear down to the Smiling Pool, and Peter and +Grandfather Frog knew by the sound that it still came from Unc' Billy's +house. + +"Chug-a-rum! That reminds me," said Grandfather Frog. "Did you ever hear +how Drummer came by his red cap?" + +"No," replied Peter. "How did he?" There was great eagerness in Peter's +voice. + +"Well," said Grandfather Frog, settling himself in a way that Peter knew +meant a story, "of course Drummer over there came by his red cap because +it was handed down in the family, but of course there's a reason." + +"Of course," said Peter, quite as if he knew all about it. + +Grandfather Frog rolled his great, goggly eyes and looked at Peter +suspiciously, but Peter looked so innocent and eager that he went on +with his story. + +"Of course, it all happened way back in the days when the world was +young." + +"Of course!" said Peter. + +This time Grandfather Frog took no notice. "Drummer's grandfather a +thousand times removed was just a plain little black and white bird +without the least bit of bright color on him. He didn't have any +sweeter voice than Drummer has to-day. Altogether he seemed to his +neighbors a no-account little fellow, and they didn't have much to do +with him. So Mr. Woodpecker lived pretty much alone. In fact, he lived +alone so much that when he found a hollow tree he used to pound on it +just to make a noise and keep from being lonesome, and that is how he +learned to drum. You see, he hadn't any voice for singing, and so he got +in the habit of drumming to keep his spirits up. + +"Now all the time, right down in his heart, Mr. Woodpecker envied the +birds who had handsome coats. He used to wish and wish that he had +something bright, if it were no more than a pretty necktie. But he never +said anything about it, and no one suspected it but Old Mother Nature, +and Mr. Woodpecker didn't know that she knew it. Whenever he got to +wishing too much, he would try to forget it by hunting for worms that +bored into the trees of the Green Forest and which other birds could not +get because they did not have the stout bill and the long tongue Mr. +Woodpecker possessed. + +"Now it happened that while Old Mother Nature was busy elsewhere, a +great number of worms settled in the Green Forest and began to bore into +the trees, so that after a while many trees grew sickly and then died. +None of the other little people seemed to notice it, or if they did, +they said it was none of their business and that Old Mother Nature ought +to look out for such things. They shrugged their shoulders and went on +playing and having a good time. But Mr. Woodpecker was worried. He loved +the Green Forest dearly, and he began to fear that if something wasn't +done, there wouldn't be any Green Forest. He said as much to some of his +neighbors, but they only laughed at him. The more he thought about it, +the more Mr. Woodpecker worried. + +"'Something must be done,' said he to himself. 'Yes, Sir, something must +be done. If Old Mother Nature doesn't come to attend to things pretty +soon, it will be too late.' Then he made up his mind that he would do +what he could. From early morning until night he hunted worms and dug +them out of the trees. He would start at the bottom of a tree and work +up, going all over it until he was sure that there wasn't another worm +left. Then he would fly to the next tree. He pounded with his bill until +his neck ached. He didn't even take time to drum. His neighbors laughed +at him at first, but he kept right on working, working, working every +hour of the day. + +"At last Old Mother Nature appeared very unexpectedly. She went all +through the Green Forest, and her sharp eyes saw all that Mr. Woodpecker +had done. She didn't say a word to him, but she called all the little +people of the Green Forest before her, and when they were all gathered +around, she sent for Mr. Woodpecker. She made him sit up on a dead limb +of a tall chestnut-tree where all could see him. Then she told just what +he had done, and how he had saved the Green Forest, and how great a debt +the other little people owed to him. + +"'And now that you may never forget it,' she concluded, 'I herewith make +Mr. Woodpecker the policeman of the trees, and this is his reward to be +worn by him and his children forever and ever.' With that she called +Mr. Woodpecker down before her and put on his head a beautiful red cap, +for she knew how in his heart he had longed to wear something bright. +Mr. Woodpecker thanked Old Mother Nature as best he could and then +slipped away where he could be alone with his happiness. All the rest of +the day the other little people heard him drumming off by himself in the +Green Forest and smiled, for they knew that that was the way he was +expressing his joy, having no voice to sing. + +"And that," concluded Grandfather Frog, "is how Drummer whom you know +came by his red cap." + +"Isn't it splendid!" cried Peter Rabbit, and then he and Grandfather +Frog both smiled as they heard a long rat-a-tat-tat-tat roll out from +the Green Forest. + + + + XIV + + HOW OLD MR. TREE TOAD FOUND OUT HOW TO CLIMB + + + + XIV + + HOW OLD MR. TREE TOAD FOUND OUT HOW TO CLIMB + + +Of all the puzzling things over which Peter Rabbit had sat and thought +and wondered until the brains in that funny little head of his were +topsy-turvy, none was more puzzling than the fact that Sticky-toes the +Tree Toad could climb. Often Peter had watched him climb up the trunk of +a tree or jump from one branch to another and then thought of Old Mr. +Toad, own cousin to Sticky-toes, and of Grandfather Frog, another own +cousin, who couldn't climb at all, and wondered how it had all come +about that one cousin could climb and be just as much at home in the +trees as the birds, while the others couldn't climb at all. + +He had it on his mind one morning when he met Old Mr. Toad solemnly +hopping down the Lone Little Path. Right then and there Peter resolved +to ask Old Mr. Toad. "Good morning, Mr. Toad," said Peter politely. +"Have you a few minutes to spare?" + +Old Mr. Toad hopped into the shade of a big mullein leaf. "I guess so, +if it is anything important," said he. "Phew! Hot, isn't it? I simply +can't stand the sun. Now what is that you've got on your mind, Peter?" + +Peter hesitated a minute, for he wasn't at all sure that Old Mr. Toad +would think the matter sufficiently important for him to spend his time +in story telling. Then he blurted out the whole matter and how he had +puzzled and puzzled why Sticky-toes was able to climb when none of the +rest of the Toad family could. Old Mr. Toad chuckled. + +"Looking for a story as usual, I see," said he. "You ought to go to +Grandfather Frog for this one, because Sticky-toes is really a Frog and +not a Toad. But we are all cousins, and I don't mind telling you about +Sticky-toes, or rather about his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather, +who was the first of the family ever to climb a tree. You see, it is all +in the family, and I am very proud of my family, which is one of the +very oldest." + +Peter settled himself comfortably and prepared to listen. Old Mr. Toad +snapped up a foolish spider who came too near and then cleared his +throat. + +"Once on a time," he began, "when Old Mother Nature made the first land +and the first trees and plants, the Toads and the Frogs were the first +to leave the water to see what dry land was like. The Toads, being +bolder than the Frogs, went all over the new land while the Frogs kept +within jumping distance of the water, just as Grandfather Frog does to +this day. There was one Frog, however, who, seeing how bravely and +boldly the Toads went forth to see all that was to be seen in the new +land, made up his mind that he too would see the Great World. He was the +smallest of the Frogs, and his friends and relatives warned him not to +go, saying that he would come to no good end. + +"But he wouldn't listen to their dismal croakings and hurried after the +Toads. Being able to make longer jumps than they could, he soon caught +up with them, and they all journeyed on together. The Toads were so +pleased that one of their cousins was brave enough to join them that +they made him very welcome and treated him as one of themselves, so that +they soon got to thinking of him as a Toad and not as a Frog at all. + +"Now the Toads soon found that Old Mother Nature was having a hard time +to make plants grow, because as fast as they came up, they were eaten by +insects. You see, she had so many things to attend to in those days when +the world was young that she had to leave a great many things to take +care of themselves and get along the best they could, and it was this +way with the plants. It was then that the great idea came to my +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather, and he called all the Toads +together and proposed that they help Old Mother Nature by catching the +bugs and worms that were destroying the plants. + +"Little Mr. Frog, who had been adopted by the Toads, was one of the most +eager to help, and he was busy every minute. After a while the Toads had +caught most of the bugs and worms on the ground and within reach, and +the plants began to grow. But when the plants got above the reach of the +Toads, the bugs and the worms were safe once more and began to multiply +so that the plants suffered and stopped growing. You see, there were no +birds in those days to help. One day little Mr. Frog sat under a bush on +which most of the leaves had been eaten. He saw a worm eating a leaf on +one of the lower branches. It was quite a way above his head. It worried +him. He kept his eyes on that worm and thought and thought until his +head ached. At last he got an idea. 'I wonder,' thought he, 'if I jump +as hard as I can, if I can catch that fellow. I'll try it. It will do +no harm to try.' + +"So he drew his long legs close under him, and then he jumped up with +all his might. He didn't quite reach the bug, but he got his hands on +the branch and by pulling and struggling, he managed to get up on it. It +was a very uncertain seat, but he hung on and crept along until he could +dart his tongue out and catch that worm. Then he saw another, and in +trying to catch that one he lost his balance and fell to the ground with +a thump. It quite knocked the wind from his body. + +"That night little Mr. Frog studied and studied, trying to think of some +way by which he could get up in the bushes and trees and clear them of +bugs and worms. 'If only I could hold on once I get up there, I would be +all right,' thought he. 'Then I could leave the bugs and worms on the +ground for my cousins the Toads to look after, while I look after those +beyond their reach.' + +"The next day and the next, and for many days thereafter, little Mr. +Frog kept jumping for bugs on the bushes. He got many thumps and bumps, +but he didn't mind these, for little by little he was learning how to +hang on to the branches once he got up in them. Then one day, just by +accident, he put one hand against the trunk of a young pine-tree, and +when he started to take it away, he found it stuck fast. He had to pull +to get it free. Like a flash an idea popped into his head. He rubbed a +little of the pitch, for that was what had made his hand stick, on both +hands, and then he started to climb a tree. As long as the pitch lasted, +he could climb. + +"Little Mr. Frog was tickled to death, with his discovery, but he didn't +say a word to any one about it. Every day he rubbed pitch on his hands +and then climbed about in the bushes and low trees, ridding them of bugs +and worms. Of course, it wasn't very pleasant to have that pitch on his +hands, because dirt and all sorts of things which he happened to touch +stuck to them, but he made the best of a bad matter and washed them +carefully when he was through with his day's work. + +"Quite unexpectedly Old Mother Nature returned to see how the trees and +the plants were getting on. You see, she was worried about them. When +she found what the Toads had been doing, she was mightily pleased. Then +she noticed that some of the bushes and low trees had very few leaves +left, while others looked thrifty and strong. + +"'That's queer,' said Old Mother Nature to herself and went over to +examine a bush. Hanging on to a branch for dear life she saw a queer +little fellow who was so busy that he didn't see her at all. It was +little Mr. Frog. He was catching bugs as fast as he could. Old Mother +Nature wrinkled up her brows. 'Now however did he learn to climb?' +thought she. Then she hid where she could watch. By and by she saw +little Mr. Frog tumble out of the bush, because, you know, the pitch on +his hands had worn off. He hurried over to a pine-tree and rubbed more +pitch on and then jumped up into the bush and went to work again. + +"You can guess how astonished Old Mother Nature was when she saw this +performance. And she was pleased. Oh, yes, indeed, Old Mother Nature +was wonderfully pleased. She was pleased because little Mr. Frog was +trying so hard to help her, and she was pleased because he had been so +smart in finding a way to climb. When she had laughed until she could +laugh no more at the way little Mr. Frog had managed to stick to his +work, she took him down very gently and wiped the pitch from his hands. +Then she gently pinched the end of each finger and each toe so that they +ended in little round discs instead of being pointed as before, and in +each little disc was a clean, sticky substance. Then she tossed him up +in a tree, and when he touched a branch, he found that he could hold on +without the least danger of falling. + +"'I appoint you caretaker of my trees,' said Old Mother Nature, and from +that day on little Mr. Frog lived in the trees, as did his children and +his children's children, even as Sticky-toes does to-day. And though he +was really a Frog, he was called the Tree Toad, and the Toads have +always been proud to have him so called. And this is the end of the +story," concluded Old Mr. Toad. + + + + XV + + HOW OLD MR. HERON LEARNED PATIENCE + + + + XV + + HOW OLD MR. HERON LEARNED PATIENCE + + +Whenever in the spring or summer Peter Rabbit visited the Smiling Pool +or the Laughing Brook, he was pretty sure to run across Longlegs the +Heron. The first tune Peter saw him, he thought that never in all his +life had he seen such a homely fellow. Longlegs was standing with his +feet in the water and his head drawn back on his shoulders so that he +didn't seem to have any neck at all. Peter sat and stared at him most +impolitely. He knew that he was impolite, but for the life of him he +couldn't help staring. + +"He's all legs," thought Peter. "Old Mother Nature must have been in a +hurry when she made his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather way back +when the world was young and forgot to give him a neck. I wonder why he +doesn't move." + +But Longlegs didn't move. Peter stared as long as his patience held out. +Then he gave up and went on to see what else he could find. But in a +little while Peter was back again at the place where he had seen +Longlegs. He didn't really expect to find him there, but he did. So far +as Peter could see, Longlegs hadn't moved. "Must be asleep," thought +Peter, and after watching for a few minutes, went away again. Half an +hour later Peter was once more back. There stood Longlegs just as +before. "Now I _know_ he is asleep," muttered Peter. + +No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something happened, +something so sudden and surprising that Peter lost his balance and +nearly fell over backward. The long bill which Peter had seen sticking +forth from between those humped-up shoulders darted out and down into +the water like a flash. Behind that bill was the longest neck Peter ever +had seen! It was so long that Peter blinked to be perfectly sure that +his eyes had not been playing him a trick. But they hadn't, for Longlegs +was gulping down a little fish he had just caught, and when at last it +was down, he stretched his neck up very straight while he looked this +way and that way, and Peter just gasped. + +"I thought he was all legs, but instead of that he's all neck," muttered +Peter. + +Then Longlegs slowly drew his head down, and it seemed to Peter as if he +must somehow wind that long neck up inside his body to get it so +completely out of the way. In a minute Longlegs was standing just as +before, with seemingly no neck at all. Peter watched until he grew +tired, but Longlegs didn't move again. After that Peter went every +chance he had to watch Longlegs, but he never had patience to watch long +enough to see Longlegs catch another fish. He spoke of it one day to +Grandfather Frog. At the mere mention of Longlegs, Grandfather Frog sat +up and took notice. + +"Where did you see him?" asked Grandfather Frog, and Peter thought his +voice sounded anxious. + +"Down the Laughing Brook," replied Peter. "Why?" + +"Oh, nothing," said Grandfather Frog, trying to make his voice sound as +if he weren't interested. "I just wondered where the long-legged +nuisance might be." + +"He's the laziest fellow I ever saw," declared Peter. "He just stands +doing nothing all day." + +"Huh!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog. "If your family had suffered from him +as much as mine has, you would say that he was altogether too busy. Ask +the Trout what they think, or the Minnow family." + +"Oh," said Peter, "you mean that when he stands still that way he is +fishing." + +Grandfather Frog nodded. + +"Well," said Peter, "all I can say is that he is the most patient fellow +I ever saw. I didn't suppose there was such patience." + +"He comes rightly by it," returned Grandfather Frog. "He gets it from +his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather, who lived when the world was +young. He learned it then." + +"How?" demanded Peter, eager for a story. + +Grandfather Frog's eyes took on a far-away look, as if he were seeing +into that long-ago past. "Chug-a-rum!" he began. "It always seemed to +old Mr. Heron as if Old Mother Nature must have made him last of all the +birds and was in such a hurry that she didn't care how he looked. His +legs were so long and his neck was so long that all his neighbors +laughed at him and made fun of him. He was just as awkward as he looked. +His long legs were in his way. He didn't know what to do with his long +neck. When he tried to run, everybody shouted with laughter. When he +tried to fly, he stretched his long neck out, and then he couldn't keep +his balance and just flopped about, while all his neighbors laughed +harder than ever. Poor Mr. Heron was ashamed of himself, actually +ashamed of himself. He quite overlooked the fact that Old Mother Nature +had given him a really beautiful coat of feathers. Some of those who +laughed at him would have given anything to have possessed such a +beautiful coat. But Mr. Heron didn't know this. He couldn't bear to be +laughed at, wherein he was very like most people. + +"So he tried his best to keep out of sight as much as possible. Now in +those days, as at present, the rushes grew tall beside the Smiling Pool, +and among them Mr. Heron found a hiding-place. Because his legs were +long, he could wade out in the water and keep quite out of sight of +those who lived on the land. So he found a use for his long legs and +was glad that they were long. At first he used to go ashore to hunt for +food. One day as he was wading ashore, he surprised a school of little +fish and managed to catch one. It tasted so good that he wanted more, +and every day he went fishing. Whenever he saw little fish swimming +where the water was shallow, he would rush in among them and do his best +to catch one. Sometimes he did, but more often he didn't. You see, he +was so clumsy and awkward that he made a great splashing, and the fish +would hear him coming and get away. + +"One day after he had tried and tried without catching even one, he +stopped just at the edge of the rushes to rest. His long neck ached, and +to rest it he laid it back on his shoulders. For a long time he stood +there, resting. The water around his feet was cool and comforting. He +was very comfortable but for one thing,--he was hungry. He was just +making up his mind to go on and hunt for something to eat when he saw a +school of little fish swimming straight towards him. 'Perhaps,' thought +he, 'if I keep perfectly still, they will come near enough for me to +catch one.' So he kept perfectly still. He didn't dare even stretch his +long neck up. Sure enough, the little fish swam almost to his very feet. +They didn't see him at all. When they were near enough, he darted his +long neck forward and caught one without any trouble at all. Mr. Heron +was almost as surprised as the fish he had caught. You see, he +discovered that with his neck laid back on his shoulders that way, he +could dart his head forward ever so much quicker than when he was +holding it up straight. It really was a great discovery for Mr. Heron. + +"Of course all the other fish darted away in great fright, but Mr. Heron +didn't mind. He settled himself in great contentment, for now he was +less hungry. By and by some foolish tadpoles came wriggling along. 'I'll +just try catching one of them for practice. Maybe they are good to eat,' +thought Mr. Heron, and just as before darted his head and great bill +downward and caught a tadpole. + +"'Um-m, they are good!' exclaimed Mr. Heron, and once more settled +himself to watch and wait. + +"That was a sad day for the Frog family, but a great day for Mr. Heron +when he discovered that tadpoles were good to eat." Grandfather Frog +sighed mournfully. "Yes," he continued, "that was a great day for Mr. +Heron. He had discovered that he could gain more by patient waiting +than by frantic hunting, and he had found that his long neck really was +a blessing. After that, whenever he was hungry, he would stand perfectly +still beside some little pool where foolish young fish or careless +tadpoles were at play and wait patiently until they came within reach. + +"One day he was startled into an attempt to fly by hearing the stealthy +footsteps of Mr. Fox behind him. His head was drawn back on his +shoulders at the time, and he was so excited that he forgot to +straighten it out. Just imagine how surprised he was, and how surprised +Mr. Fox was, when he sailed away in beautiful flight, his long legs +trailing behind him. With his neck carried that way, he could fly as +well as any one. From that day on, no one laughed at Mr. Heron because +of his long legs and long neck. Mr. Heron himself became proud of them. +You see, he had learned how to use what he had been given. Also he had +learned the value of patience. So he was happy and envied no one. But he +still liked best to keep by himself and became known as the lone +fisherman, just as Longlegs is to-day. Chug-a-rum! Isn't that Longlegs +coming this way this very minute? This is no place for me!" + +With a great splash Grandfather Frog dived into the Smiling Pool. + +[Illustration: "His legs were so long, and his neck was so long that all +his neighbors laughed at him." _Page_ 210.] + + + + XVI + + HOW TUFTY THE LYNX HAPPENS TO HAVE A STUMP OF A TAIL + + + + XVI + + HOW TUFTY THE LYNX HAPPENS TO HAVE A STUMP OF A TAIL + + +In all his life Peter Rabbit had seen Tufty the Lynx but once, but that +once was enough. Tufty, you know, lives in the Great Woods. But once, +when the winter was very cold, he had ventured down into the Green +Forest, hoping that it would be easier to get a living there. It was +then that Peter had seen him. In fact, Peter had had the narrowest of +escapes, and the very memory of it made him shiver. He never would +forget that great, gray, skulking form that slipped like a shadow +through the trees, that fierce, bearded face, those cruel, pale +yellow-green eyes, or that switching stump of a tail. + +That tail fascinated Peter. It was just an apology for a tail. For +Tufty's size it was hardly as much of a tail as Peter himself has. It +made Peter feel a lot better. Also it made him very curious. The first +chance he got, he asked his cousin, Jumper the Hare, about it. You know +Jumper used to live in the Great Woods where Tufty lives, and Peter felt +sure that he must know the reason why Tufty has such a ridiculous stub +of a tail. Jumper did know, and this is the story he told Peter: + +"Way back in the beginning of things lived old Mr. Lynx." + +"I know," interrupted Peter. "He was the +great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Tufty, and he wasn't old then." + +"Who's telling this story?" demanded Jumper crossly. "If you know it +why did you ask me?" + +"I beg your pardon. Indeed I do. I won't say another word," replied +Peter hastily. + +"All right, see that you don't. Interruptions always spoil a story," +said Jumper. "You are quite right about old Mr. Lynx. He wasn't old +then. No one was old, because it was in the beginning of things. At that +time Mr. Lynx boasted a long tail, quite as fine a tail as his cousin, +Mr. Panther. He was very proud of it. You know there is a saying that +pride goes before a fall. It was so with Mr. Lynx. He boasted about his +tail. He said that it was the finest tail in the world. He said so much +that his neighbors got tired of hearing about it. He made a perfect +nuisance of himself. He switched and waved his long tail about +continually. It seemed as if that tail were never still. He made fun of +those whose tails were shorter or of different shape or less handsome. +He quite forgot that that tail had been given him by Old Mother Nature, +but talked and acted as if he had grown that tail himself. + +"When at last his neighbors could stand it no longer, they decided to +teach him a lesson. One day while he was off hunting, they held a +meeting, and it was decided that the very next time that Mr. Lynx +boasted of his tail old King Bear should slip up behind him and step on +it as close to his body as he could, and then each of the others should +pull a little tuft of hair from it, so that it would be a long time +before Mr. Lynx would be able to boast of its beauty again. + +"The chance came that very evening. Mr. Lynx had had a very successful +day, and he was feeling very fine. He began to boast of what a great +hunter he was, and of how very clever and very smart he was, and then, +as usual, he got to boasting about his tail. He was so intent on his +boasting that he didn't notice old King Bear slipping around behind him. +Old King Bear waited until that long tail was still for just an instant, +and then he stepped on it as close to the roots of it as he could. Then +all the other little people shouted with glee and began to pull little +tufts of hair from it, until it was the most disreputable-looking tail +ever seen. + +"Old Mr. Lynx let out a yowl and a screech that was enough to make your +blood run cold. But he couldn't do a thing, though he tore the ground up +with his great claws and pulled with all his might. You see, old King +Bear was very big and very heavy, and Mr. Lynx couldn't budge his tail +a bit. And he couldn't turn to fight old King Bear, though it seemed as +if he would turn himself inside out trying to. + +"At last, when old King Bear thought he had been punished enough, he +gave the word to the others, and they all scattered to safe +hiding-places, for they were of no mind to be within reach of those +great claws of Mr. Lynx. Then old King Bear let him go. + +"'By the looks of it, I hardly think that you will boast of that tail +for a long time to come, Mr. Lynx,' said he in his deep, rumbly-grumbly +voice. + +"Mr. Lynx turned and screamed in old King Bear's face, but that was all +he dared do, for you know old King Bear was very big and strong. Then he +turned and slunk away in the shadows by himself. Now Mr. Lynx had a +terrible temper, and when he saw how ragged and disreputable his once +beautiful tail looked, he flew into a terrible rage, and he swore that +no one should laugh at his tail. What do you think he did?" + +"What?" asked Peter eagerly. + +"He bit it off," replied Jumper slowly. "Yes, Sir, he bit it off right +at the place where old King Bear had stepped on it. Of course he was +sorry the minute he had done it, but it was done, and that was all there +was to it. After that he kept out of sight of all his neighbors. He +prowled around mostly at night and was very stealthy and soft-footed, +always keeping in the shadows. His temper grew worse and worse from +brooding over his lost tail. When any one chanced to surprise him, he +would switch his stub of a tail just as he used to switch his long tail. +You see he would forget. Then when he was laughed at by those bigger +than he, he would scream angrily and slink away like a great, gray +shadow. + +"Once he besought Old Mother Nature to give him a new tail, but in vain. +She gave him a lecture which he never forgot. She told him that it was +no one's fault but his own that he had lost the beautiful tail that he +did have and had nothing but a stub left. Mr. Lynx crawled on his +stomach to the feet of Old Mother Nature and begged with tears in his +eyes. Old Mother Nature looked him straight in the eyes, but he couldn't +look straight back. He tried, but he couldn't do it. He would shift his +eyes from side to side. + +"'Look me straight in the face, Mr. Lynx, and tell me that if I give you +a handsome new tail, you will never boast about it or take undue pride +in it,' said she. + +"Mr. Lynx looked her straight in the face and said 'I--' Then his eyes +shifted. He brought them back to Old Mother Nature's face with a jerk +and began again. 'I promise--' Once more his eyes shifted. Then he gave +up and sneaked away into the darkest shadows he could find. You see, he +couldn't look Old Mother Nature in the face and tell a lie, and that was +just what he had been trying to do. The only reason he wanted a new tail +was so that he could be proud of it and boast of it as he had of the old +one. He hadn't a single real use for it, as he had found out since he +had had only that stub. + +"Old Mother Nature knew this perfectly well, for you can't fool her, and +it's of no use to try. So Mr. Lynx never did get a new tail. He +continued to live very much by himself in the darkest parts of the Green +Forest, never showing himself to others if he could help it. To the +little people, he was like a fearsome shadow to be watched out for at +all times. His children were just like him, and his children's children. +Tufty is the same way. No one likes him. All who are smaller than he +fear him. And if he knows why he has only a stub of a tail, he never +mentions it. But you will notice that he switches it just as if it were +a real tail. I think he likes to imagine that it is a real one." + +"I've noticed," replied Peter. He was silent for a few minutes. Then he +added: "Isn't it curious how often we want things we don't need at all, +and how those are the things that make us the most trouble in this +world?" + + THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mother West Wind "How" Stories, by +Thornton W. Burgess + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 21286.txt or 21286.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/8/21286/ + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Thomas Strong, Linda McKeown +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |