MOTHER WEST WIND "WHY" STORIES

 by

 THORNTON W. BURGESS

 Author of "Old Mother West Wind, " and "The Bed Time Story-Books. "

 _Illustrations in Color by HARRISON CADY_

 BOSTON

 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY

 1920

 [Illustration: "He went right on about his business. " FRONTISPIECE. ]

 BOOKS BY THORNTON W. BURGESS

 BEDTIME STORY-BOOKS

 1. THE ADVENTURES OF REDDY FOX 2. THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUCK 3. THE ADVENTURES OF PETER COTTONTAIL 4. THE ADVENTURES OF UNC' BILLY POSSUM 5. THE ADVENTURES OF MR. MOCKER 6. THE ADVENTURES OF JERRY MUSKRAT 7. THE ADVENTURES OF DANNY MEADOW MOUSE 8. THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDFATHER FROG 9. THE ADVENTURES OF CHATTERER, THE RED SQUIRREL 10. THE ADVENTURES OF SAMMY JAY 11. THE ADVENTURES OF BUSTER BEAR 12. THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD 13. THE ADVENTURES OF PRICKLY PORKY 14. THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MAN COYOTE 15. THE ADVENTURES OF PADDY THE BEAVER 16. THE ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK 17. THE ADVENTURES OF BOBBY COON 18. THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY SKUNK 19. THE ADVENTURES OF BOB WHITE 20. THE ADVENTURES OF OL' MISTAH BUZZARD

 MOTHER WEST WIND SERIES

 1. OLD MOTHER WEST WIND 2. MOTHER WEST WIND'S CHILDREN 3. MOTHER WEST WIND'S ANIMAL FRIENDS 4. MOTHER WEST WIND'S NEIGHBORS 5. MOTHER WEST WIND "WHY" STORIES 6. MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES 7. MOTHER WEST WIND "WHEN" STORIES 8. MOTHER WEST WIND "WHERE" STORIES

 GREEN MEADOW SERIES

 1. HAPPY JACK 2. MRS. PETER RABBIT 3. BOWSER THE HOUND 4. OLD GRANNY FOX

 THE BURGESS BIRD BOOK FOR CHILDREN

 THE BURGESS ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN

 CONTENTS

 CHAPTER

 I. WHY STRIPED CHIPMUNK IS PROUD OF HIS STRIPES II. WHY PETER RABBIT CANNOT FOLD HIS HANDS III. WHY UNC' BILLY POSSUM PLAYS DEAD IV. WHY REDDY FOX WEARS RED V. WHY JIMMY SKUNK NEVER HURRIES VI. WHY SAMMY JAY HAS A FINE COAT VII. WHY JERRY MUSKRAT BUILDS HIS HOUSE IN THE WATER VIII. WHY OLD MAN COYOTE HAS MANY VOICES IX. WHY MINER THE MOLE LIVES UNDER GROUND X. WHY MR. SNAKE CANNOT WINK XI. WHY BOBBY COON HAS RINGS ON HIS TAIL XII. WHY THERE IS A BLACK HEAD IN THE BUZZARD FAMILY XIII. WHY BUSTER BEAR APPEARS TO HAVE NO TAIL XIV. WHY FLITTER THE BAT FLIES AT NIGHT XV. WHY SPOTTY THE TURTLE CARRIES HIS HOUSE WITH HIM XVI. WHY PADDY THE BEAVER HAS A BROAD TAIL

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"HE WENT RIGHT ON ABOUT HIS BUSINESS"

"AS THEY WERE ALL VERY HUNGRY, THEY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THE FEAST WOULD BE READY"

"YOU DON'T MEAN TO SAY SO, PETER, " INTERRUPTED GRANDFATHER FROG

HE WOULD MAKE NO REPLY, SAVE TO RUN OUT HIS TONGUE AT THEM

"THEN OLD KING BEAR WISHED THAT HE HADN'T A TAIL"

"IT MUST BE FINE TO FLY, " THOUGHT PETER. "I WISH I COULD FLY"

"HI, SPOTTY!" HE SHOUTED, "WHERE DO YOU LIVE?"

THE FIRST THING PETER LOOKED TO SEE WAS WHAT KIND OF A TAIL PADDY HAS

I

WHY STRIPED CHIPMUNK IS PROUD OF HIS STRIPES

The Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind are great friends ofStriped Chipmunk. They hurry to call on him the very first thing everymorning after Old Mother West Wind has brought them down from thePurple Hills. They always beg him to stop and play with them, butoften he refuses. But he does it in such a merry way and with such atwinkle in his eyes that the Merry Little Breezes never get crossbecause he won't play. No, Sir, they never get cross. If anything, they think just a little bit more of Striped Chipmunk because he won'tplay. You see, they know that the reason he won't play is because hehas work to do, and Striped Chipmunk believes and says:

 "When there is work for me to do The sooner started, sooner through. "

So every morning they ask him to play, and every morning they laughwhen he says he has too much to do. Then they rumple up his hair andpull his whiskers and give him last tag and race down to the SmilingPool to see Grandfather Frog and beg him for a story. Now GrandfatherFrog is very old and very wise, and he knows all about the days whenthe world was young. When he is feeling just right, he dearly loves totell about those long-ago days. 

One morning the Merry Little Breezes found Grandfather Frog sittingas usual on his big green lily-pad, and they knew by the way he foldedhis hands across his white and yellow waistcoat that it was full offoolish green flies. 

"Oh, Grandfather Frog, please do tell us why it is that StripedChipmunk has such beautiful stripes on his coat, " begged one of theMerry Little Breezes. 

"Chug-a-rum! They are stripes of honor, " replied Grandfather Frog, inhis deep, gruff voice. 

"Honor! Oh, how lovely! Do tell us about it! Please do!" begged theMerry Little Breezes. 

"Chug-a-rum!" began Grandfather Frog, his big, goggly eyes twinkling. "Once upon a time, when the world was young, old Mr. Chipmunk, thegrandfather a thousand times removed of Striped Chipmunk, lived verymuch as Striped Chipmunk does now. He was always very busy, verybusy, indeed, and it was always about his own affairs. 'By attendingstrictly to my own business, I have no time to meddle with the affairsof my neighbors, and so I keep out of trouble, ' said old Mr. Chipmunk, "

"Just what Striped Chipmunk says now, " broke in one of the MerryLittle Breezes. 

"That shows that he is just as wise as was his grandfather a thousandtimes removed, about whom I am telling you, " replied Grandfather Frog. "Old Mr. Chipmunk wore just a little, plain brown coat. It didn'tworry him a bit, not a bit, that his coat was just plain brown. Itkept him just as warm as if it were a beautiful red, like that of Mr. Fox, or handsome black and white, like that of Mr. Skunk. He wasperfectly satisfied with his little plain brown coat and took the bestof care of it. 

"One day as he was hurrying home to dinner, he climbed up on an oldstump to look around and make sure that the way was clear. Over in alittle path in the meadow grass was walking old Mr. Meadow Mouse. Hewas strolling along as if there was nothing in the world to fear. Wayback behind him in the same little path, walking very fast but veryquietly, was big Mr. Bob Cat. His eyes were yellow, and a hungry lookwas in them. He didn't see Mr. Meadow Mouse, but he would in a fewminutes. Mr. Chipmunk saw that he would, and that there was no placefor Mr. Meadow Mouse to hide. 

"'Humph! I never meddle in other people's affairs, and this is none ofmy business, ' said little Mr. Chipmunk. 

"But old Mr. Meadow Mouse was a friend. He thought a great deal of Mr. Meadow Mouse, did little Mr. Chipmunk. He couldn't bear to think ofwhat would happen to Mr. Meadow Mouse if big Mr. Bob Cat should catchhim. Then, almost without realizing what he was doing, little Mr. Chipmunk began to shout at big Mr. Bob Cat and to call him names. Ofcourse big Mr. Bob Cat looked up right away and saw little Mr. Chipmunk sitting on the old stump. His eyes grew yellower andyellower, he drew his lips back from his long, sharp teeth in a veryangry way, and his little bob tail twitched and twitched. Then, withgreat leaps, he came straight for the old stump on which little Mr. Chipmunk was sitting. 

"Little Mr. Chipmunk didn't wait for him to get there. Oh, my, no! Hetook one good look at those fierce, hungry, yellow eyes and long, cruel teeth, and then he whisked into a hole in the old stump. Yousee, there wasn't time to go anywhere else. Big Mr. Bob Cat found thehole in the stump right away. He snarled when he saw it. You see itwas too small, very much too small, for him to get into himself. Buthe could get one hand and arm in, and he did, feeling all aroundinside for little Mr. Chipmunk. Little Mr. Chipmunk was frightenedalmost to death. Yes, Sir, he was frightened almost to death. He madehimself just as flat as he could on the bottom of the hollow and heldhis breath. 

"'You'd better come out of there, Mr. Chipmunk, or I'll pull you out!'snarled Mr. Bob Cat. 

"Little Mr. Chipmunk just snuggled down flatter than ever and didn'tsay a word. Mr. Bob Cat felt round and round inside the hollow stumpand raked his long claws on the sides until little Mr. Chipmunk's hairfairly stood up. Yes, Sir, it stood right up on end, he was soscared. When it did that, it tickled the claws of Mr. Bob Cat. Mr. Bob Cat grinned. It was an ugly grin to see. Then he reached in alittle farther and made a grab for little Mr. Chipmunk. Hiswide-spread, sharp claws caught in little Mr. Chipmunk's coat near theneck and tore little strips the whole length of it. 

"Of course little Mr. Chipmunk squealed with pain, for those clawshurt dreadfully, but he was glad that his coat tore. If it hadn't, Mr. Bob Cat would surely have pulled him out. After a long time, Mr. BobCat gave up and went off, growling and snarling. When he thought itwas safe, little Mr. Chipmunk crawled out of the old stump and hurriedhome. He ached and smarted terribly, and his little plain brown coatwas torn in long strips. 

"'This is what I get for meddling in the affairs of other folks!'said little Mr. Chipmunk bitterly. 'If I'd just minded my ownbusiness, it wouldn't have happened. '

"Just then he happened to look over to the house of Mr. Meadow Mouse. There was Mr. Meadow Mouse playing with his children. He didn't know athing about what his neighbor, little Mr. Chipmunk, had done for him, for you remember he hadn't seen Mr. Bob Cat at all. Little Mr. Chipmunk grinned as well as he could for the pain. 

"'I'm glad I did it, ' he muttered. 'Yes, Sir, I'm glad I did it, andI'm glad that Neighbor Meadow Mouse doesn't know about it. I'm gladthat nobody knows about it. 

 'A kindly deed's most kindly done In secret wrought, and seen of none. 

And so I'm glad that no one knows. '

"Now just imagine how surprised little Mr. Chipmunk was, when in thefall it came time to put on a new coat, to have Old Mother Nature handhim out a beautiful striped coat instead of the little plain browncoat he had expected. Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled as she said:

"'There's a stripe for every tear made in your old coat by the clawsof Mr. Bob Cat the day you saved Mr. Meadow Mouse. They are honorstripes, and hereafter you and your children and your children'schildren shall always wear stripes. '

"And that is how it happens that Striped Chipmunk comes by his stripedcoat, and why he is so proud of it, and takes such good care of it, "concluded Grandfather Frog. 

II

WHY PETER RABBIT CANNOT FOLD HIS HANDS

Happy Jack Squirrel sat with his hands folded across his whitewaistcoat. He is very fond of sitting with his hands folded that way. A little way from him sat Peter Rabbit. Peter was sitting up verystraight, but his hands dropped right down in front. Happy Jacknoticed it. 

"Why don't you fold your hands the way I do, Peter Rabbit?" shoutedHappy Jack. 

"I--I--don't want to, " stammered Peter. 

"You mean you can't!" jeered Happy Jack. 

Peter pretended not to hear, and a few minutes later he hopped awaytowards the dear Old Briar-patch, lipperty-lipperty-lip. Happy Jackwatched him go, and there was a puzzled look in Happy Jack's eyes. 

"I really believe he can't fold his hands, " said Happy Jack tohimself, but speaking aloud. 

"He can't, and none of his family can, " said a gruff voice. 

Happy Jack turned to find Old Mr. Toad sitting in the Lone LittlePath. 

"Why not?" asked Happy Jack. 

"Ask Grandfather Frog; he knows, " replied Old Mr. Toad, and started onabout his business. 

And this is how it happens that Grandfather Frog told this story tothe little meadow and forest people gathered around him on the bank ofthe Smiling Pool. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog. "Old Mr. Rabbit, the grandfathera thousand times removed of Peter Rabbit, was always getting intotrouble. Yes, Sir, old Mr. Rabbit was always getting into trouble. Seemed like he wouldn't be happy if he couldn't get into trouble. Itwas all because he was so dreadfully curious about other people'sbusiness, just as Peter Rabbit is now. It seemed that he was just bornto be curious and so, of course, to get into trouble. 

"One day word came to the Green Forest and to the Green Meadows thatOld Mother Nature was coming to see how all the little meadow andforest people were getting along, to settle all the little troublesand fusses between them, and to find out who were and who were notobeying the orders she had given them when she had visited them last. My, my, my, such a hurrying and scurrying and worrying as there was!You see, everybody wanted to look his best when Old Mother Naturearrived, Yes, Sir, everybody wanted to look his best. 

"There was the greatest changing of clothes you ever did see. Old KingBear put on his blackest coat. Mr. Coon and Mr. Mink and Mr. Otter satup half the night brushing their suits and making them look as fineand handsome as they could. Even Old Mr. Toad put on a new suit underhis old one, and planned to pull the old one off and throw it away assoon as Old Mother Nature should arrive. Then everybody began to fixup their homes and make them as neat and nice as they knewhow--everybody but Mr. Rabbit. 

"Now Mr. Rabbit was lazy. He didn't like to work any more than PeterRabbit does now. No, Sir, old Mr. Rabbit was afraid of work. The verysight of work scared old Mr. Rabbit. You see, he was so busy mindingother people's business that he didn't have time to attend to his own. So his brown and gray coat always was rumpled and tumbled and dirty. His house was a tumble-down affair in which no one but Mr. Rabbitwould ever have thought of living, and his garden--oh, dear me, such agarden you never did see! It was all weeds and brambles. They filledup the yard, and old Mr. Rabbit actually couldn't have gotten into hisown house if he hadn't cut a path through the brambles. 

"Now when old Mr. Rabbit heard that Old Mother Nature was coming, hisheart sank way, way down, for he knew just how angry she would be whenshe saw his house, his garden and his shabby suit. 

"'Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?' wailed Mr. Rabbit, wringinghis hands. 

"'Get busy and clean up, ' advised Mr. Woodchuck, hurrying about hisown work. 

"Now Mr. Woodchuck was a worker and very, very neat. He meant to havehis home looking just as fine as he could make it. He brought up someclean yellow sand from deep down in the ground and sprinkled itsmoothly over his doorstep. 

"'I'll help you, if I get through my own work in time, ' shouted Mr. Woodchuck over his shoulder. 

"That gave Mr. Rabbit an idea. He would ask all his neighbors to helphim, and perhaps then he could get his house and garden in order bythe time Old Mother Nature arrived. So Mr. Rabbit called on Mr. Skunkand Mr. Coon and Mr. Mink and Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Chipmunk, and allthe rest of his neighbors, telling them of his trouble and asking themto help. Now, in spite of the trouble Mr. Rabbit was forever makingfor other people by his dreadful curiosity and meddling with otherpeople's affairs, all his neighbors had a warm place in their heartsfor Mr. Rabbit, and they all promised that they would help him as soonas they had their own work finished. 

"Instead of hurrying home and getting to work himself, Mr. Rabbitstopped a while after each call and sat with his arms folded, watchingthe one he was calling on work. Mr. Rabbit was very fond of sittingwith folded arms. It was very comfortable. But this was no time to bedoing it, and Mr. Skunk told him so. 

"'If you want the rest of us to help you, you'd better get thingsstarted yourself, ' said old Mr. Skunk, carefully combing out his big, plumy tail. 

"'That's right, Mr. Skunk! That's right!' said Mr. Rabbit, startingalong briskly, just as if he was going to hurry right home and beginwork that very instant. 

"But half an hour later, when Mr. Skunk happened to pass the home ofMr. Chipmunk, there sat Mr. Rabbit with his arms folded, watching Mr. Chipmunk hurrying about as only Mr. Chipmunk can. 

"Finally Mr. Rabbit had made the round of all his friends andneighbors, and he once more reached his tumble-down house. 'Oh, dear, 'sighed Mr. Rabbit, as he looked at the tangle of brambles which almosthid the little old house, 'I never, never can clear away all this! Itwill be a lot easier to work when all my friends are here to help, 'So he sighed once more and folded his arms, instead of beginning workas he should have done. And then, because the sun was bright and warm, and he was very, very comfortable, old Mr. Rabbit began to nod, andpresently he was fast asleep. 

"Now Old Mother Nature likes to take people by surprise, and ithappened that she chose this very day to make her promised visit. Shewas greatly pleased with all she saw as she went along, until she cameto the home of Mr. Rabbit. 

"'Mercy me!' exclaimed Old Mother Nature, throwing up her hands as shesaw the tumble-down house almost hidden by the brambles and weeds. 'Can it be possible that any one really lives here?'

Then, peering through the tangle of brambles, she spied old Mr. Rabbit sitting on his broken-down doorstep with his arms folded andfast asleep. 

"At first she was very indignant, oh, very indignant, indeed! Shedecided that Mr. Rabbit should be punished very severely. But as shewatched him sitting there, dreaming in the warm sunshine, her angerbegan to melt away. The fact is, Old Mother Nature was like all therest of Mr. Rabbit's neighbors--she just couldn't help lovinghappy-go-lucky Mr. Rabbit in spite of all his faults. With a longstick she reached in and tickled the end of his nose. 

"Mr. Rabbit sneezed, and this made him wake up. He yawned and blinked, and then his eyes suddenly flew wide open with fright. He haddiscovered Old Mother Nature frowning at him. She pointed a longforefinger at him and said:

 'In every single blessed day There's time for work and time for play. Who folds his arms with work undone Doth cheat himself and spoil his fun. '

"'Hereafter, Mr. Rabbit, you and your children and your children'schildren will never again be able to sit with folded arms until you orthey have learned to work. '

"And that is why Peter Rabbit cannot fold his arms and still lives ina tumble-down house among the brambles, " concluded GrandfatherFrog. 

III

WHY UNC' BILLY POSSUM PLAYS DEAD

One thing puzzled Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk agreat deal after they had come to know Unc' Billy Possum and his funnyways. They had talked it over and wondered and wondered about it, andtried to understand it, and even had asked Unc' Billy about it. Unc'Billy had just grinned and said that they would have to ask his mammy. Of course they couldn't do that, and Unc' Billy knew they couldn't, for Unc' Billy's mammy had died long before he even thought of comingup from Ol' Virginny to the Green Forest and the Green Meadows wherethey lived. He said it just to tease them, and when he said it, hechuckled until they chuckled too, just as if it really were the bestkind of a joke. 

Now you know it always is the thing that you try and try to find outand can't find out that you most want to find out. It was just so withPeter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk. The more theytalked about it, the more they wanted to know. Why was it that Unc'Billy Possum played dead instead of trying to run away when he wassurprised by his enemies? They always tried to run away. So dideverybody else of their acquaintance excepting Unc' Billy Possum. 

"There must be a reason" said Peter gravely, as he pulled thoughtfullyat one of his long ears. 

"Of course there is a reason, " asserted Johnny Chuck, chewing the endof a blade of grass. 

"There's a reason for everything, " added Striped Chipmunk, combing outthe hair of his funny little tail. 

"Then of course Grandfather Frog knows it, " said Peter. 

"Of course! Why didn't we think of him before?" exclaimed the others. 

"I'll beat you to the Smiling Pool!" shouted Peter. 

Of course he did, for his legs are long and made for running, butStriped Chipmunk was not far behind. Johnny Chuck took his time, forhe knew that he could not keep up with the others. Besides he was sofat that to run made him puff and blow. Grandfather Frog sat just asusual on his big green lily-pad, and he grinned when he saw who hisvisitors were, for he guessed right away what they had come for. 

"Chug-a-rum! What is it you want to know now?" he demanded, beforePeter could fairly get his breath. 

"If you please, Grandfather Frog, we want to know why it is that Unc'Billy Possum plays dead, " replied Peter as politely as he knew how. 

Grandfather Frog chuckled. "Just to fool people, stupid!" said he. 

"Of course we know that, " replied Striped Chipmunk, "but what we wantto know is how he ever found out that he could fool people that way, and how he knows that he will fool them. "

"I suspect that his mammy taught him, " said Grandfather Frog, withanother chuckle way down deep in his throat. 

"But who taught his mammy?" persisted Striped Chipmunk. 

Grandfather Frog snapped at a foolish green fly, and when it wassafely tucked away inside his white and yellow waistcoat, he turnedonce more to his three little visitors, and there was a twinkle in hisbig, goggly eyes. 

"I see, " said he, "that you _will_ have a story, and I suppose thatthe sooner I tell it to you, the sooner you will leave me in peace. Unc' Billy Possum's grandfather a thousand times removed was--"

"Was this way back in the days when the world was young?" interruptedPeter. 

Grandfather Frog scowled at Peter. "If I have any more interruptions, there will be no story to-day" said he severely. 

Peter looked ashamed and promised that he would hold his tongue rightbetween his teeth until Grandfather Frog was through. Grandfather Frogcleared his throat and began again. 

"Unc' Billy Possum's grandfather a thousand times removed was verymuch as Unc' Billy is now, only he was a little more spry and knewbetter than to stuff himself so full that he couldn't run. He wasalways very sly, and he played a great many tricks on his neighbors, and sometimes he got them into trouble. But when he did, he alwaysmanaged to keep out of their way until they had forgotten all abouttheir anger. 

"One morning the very imp of mischief seemed to get into old Mr. Possum's head. Yes, Sir, it certainly did seem that way. And when yousee Mischief trotting along the Lone Little Path, if you look sharpenough, you'll see Trouble following at his heels like a shadow. Inever knew it to fail. It's just as sure as a stomach-ache is tofollow overeating. "

Just here Grandfather Frog paused and looked very hard at PeterRabbit. But Peter pretended not to notice, and after slowly winkingone of his big, goggly eyes at Johnny Chuck, Grandfather Frogcontinued:

"Anyway, as I said before, the imp of mischief seemed to be in old Mr. Possum's head that morning, for he began to play tricks on hisneighbors as soon as they were out of bed. He hid Old King Bear'sbreakfast, while the latter had his head turned, and then pretendedthat he had just come along. He was very polite and offered to helpOld King Bear hunt for his lost breakfast. Then, whenever Old KingBear came near the place where it was hidden, old Mr. Possum wouldhide it somewhere else. Old King Bear was hungry, and he workedhimself up into a terrible rage, for he was in a hurry for hisbreakfast. Old Mr. Possum was very sympathetic and seemed to be doinghis very best to find the lost meal. At last Old King Bear turned hishead suddenly and caught sight of old Mr. Possum hiding thatbreakfast in a new place. My, my, but his temper did boil over! Itcertainly did. And if he could have laid hands on old Mr. Possum thatminute, it surely would have been the end of him. 

"But old Mr. Possum was mighty spry, and he went off through the GreenForest laughing fit to kill himself. Pretty soon he met Mr. Panther. He was very polite to Mr. Panther. He told him that he had just comefrom a call on Old King Bear, and hinted that Old King Bear was thenenjoying a feast and that there might be enough for Mr. Panther, if hehurried up there at once. 

"Now, Mr. Panther was hungry, for he had found nothing for hisbreakfast that morning. So he thanked old Mr. Possum and hurried awayto find Old King Bear and share in the good things old Mr. Possum hadtold about. 

"Old Mr. Possum himself hurried on, chuckling as he thought of the wayMr. Panther was likely to be received, with Old King Bear in such atemper. Pretty soon along came Mr. Lynx. Old Mr. Possum told him thesame story he had told Mr. Panther, and Mr. Lynx went bounding off ina terrible hurry, for fear that he would not be in time to share inthat good breakfast. It was such a good joke that old Mr. Possum triedit on Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fisher and Mr. Fox. In fact, he hunted up everyone he could think of and sent them to call on Old King Bear, andwithout really telling them so, he made each one think that he wouldget a share in that breakfast. "

"Now, there wasn't any more breakfast than Old King Bear wantedhimself, and by the time Mr. Panther arrived, there wasn't so much asa crumb left. Then, one after another, the others came dropping in, each licking his chops, and all very polite to Old King Bear. At firsthe didn't know what to make of it, but pretty soon Mr. Fox delicatelyhinted that they had come in response to the invitation sent by Mr. Possum, and that as they were all very hungry, they would like to knowwhen the feast would be ready. Right away Old King Bear knew that oldMr. Possum had been up to some of his tricks, and he told his visitorsthat they were the victims of a practical joke. 

[Illustration: "As they were all very hungry, they would like to knowwhen the feast would be ready. "]

"My, my, my, how angry everybody grew! With Old King Bear at theirhead, they started out to hunt for old Mr. Possum. When he saw themcoming, he realized that what he had thought was a joke had become nolonger a laughing matter for him. He was too frightened to run, sohe scrambled up a tree. He quite forgot that Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynxcould climb just as fast as he. Up the tree after him they scrambled, and he crept as far out as he could get on one of the branches. Mr. Panther didn't dare go out there, so he just shook the branch. Heshook and shook and shook and shook, and the first thing old Mr. Possum knew, he was flying through the air down to where the otherswere all ready to pounce on him. 

"Old Mr. Possum was frightened almost to death. He shut his eyes, andthen he landed with a thump that knocked all the wind from his body. When he got his breath again, he still kept his eyes closed, for hecouldn't bear the thought of looking at the cruel teeth and claws ofOld King Bear and the others. Presently, while he was wondering whythey didn't jump on him and tear him to pieces, Old King Bear spoke:

"'I guess Mr. Possum won't play any more jokes, Mr. Panther, ' said he. 'You just knocked the life out of him when you shook him off thatbranch. '

"Mr. Panther came over and sniffed at Mr. Possum and turned him overwith one paw. All the time Mr. Possum lay just as if he were dead, because he was too frightened to move. 'I didn't mean to kill him, 'said Mr. Panther. 'We certainly will miss him. What will we do withhim?'

"'Leave him here as a warning to others, ' growled Old King Bear. 

"Each in turn came up and sniffed of Mr. Possum, and then they allwent about their business. He waited long enough to make sure thatthey were out of sight, and then took the shortest way home. When hegot there and thought it all over, he thought that the best joke ofall was the way he had made everybody think that he was dead. And thena bright idea struck him: he would try the same trick whenever he wascaught. So the next time he got in trouble, instead of running away, he tried playing dead. It was such a success that he taught hischildren how to do it, and they taught their children, and so on downto Unc' Billy, whom you know. Unc' Billy says it is a lot easier thanrunning away, and safer, too. Besides, it is always such a joke. Now, don't bother me any more, for I want to take a nap, " concludedGrandfather Frog. 

"Thank you!" cried Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk, and started off to hunt up Unc' Billy Possum. 

IV

WHY REDDY FOX WEARS RED

Peter Rabbit sat in the middle of the dear Old Briar-patch makingfaces and laughing at Reddy Fox. Of course that wasn't a nice thing todo, not a bit nice. But Peter had just had a narrow escape, a verynarrow escape, for Reddy Fox had sprung out from behind a bush asPeter came down the Lone Little Path, and had so nearly caught Peterthat he had actually pulled some fur out of Peter's coat. Now Peterwas safe in the dear Old Briar-patch. He was a little out of breath, because he had had to use his long legs as fast as he knew how, but hewas safe. You see, Reddy Fox wouldn't run the risk of tearing hishandsome red coat on the brambles. Besides, they scratched terribly. 

"Never mind, Peter Rabbit, I'll get you yet!" snarled Reddy, as hegave up and started back for the Green Forest. 

 "Reddy Fox is very sly! Reddy Fox is very spry! But sly and spry, 'tis vain to try To be as sly and spry as I. "

When Peter Rabbit shouted this, Reddy looked back and showed all histeeth, but Peter only laughed, and Reddy trotted on. Peter watched himout of sight. 

"My! I wish I had such a handsome coat, " he said, with a long sigh, for you know Peter's coat is very plain, very plain, indeed. 

"You wouldn't, if you had to wear it for the same reason that ReddyFox has to wear his. A good heart and honest ways are better thanfine clothes, Peter Rabbit. "

Peter looked up. There was saucy, pert, little Jenny Wren fussingaround in one of the old bramble bushes. 

"Hello, Jenny!" said Peter. "Why does Reddy wear a red coat?"

"Do you mean to say that you don't know?" Jenny Wren looked very hardat Peter with her sharp eyes. "I thought everybody knew that! Youcertainly are slow, Peter Rabbit. I haven't time to tell you about itnow. Go ask Grandfather Frog; he knows all about it. " Jenny Wrenbustled off before Peter could find his tongue. 

Now, you all know how full of curiosity Peter Rabbit is. Jenny Wren'sbusy tongue had set that curiosity fairly boiling over. He justcouldn't sit still for wondering and wondering why Reddy Fox wears ared coat. He had never thought anything about it before, but now hecouldn't get it out of his head. He just _had_ to know. So, makingsure that Reddy Fox had disappeared in the Green Forest, Peter startedfor the Smiling Pool, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as he could go. There he found Grandfather Frog setting on his big green lily-pad, just as usual. 

"If you please, Grandfather Frog, why does Reddy Fox wear a red coat?"panted Peter, quite out of breath. 

"Chug-a-rum!" grunted Grandfather Frog crossly. "Don't you know thatit is very impolite to disturb people when they are having a nap?"

"I--I'm very sorry. Indeed I am, Grandfather Frog, " said Peter veryhumbly. "Will you tell me if I come again some time when you are notso sleepy?"

Now, like everybody else, Grandfather Frog is rather fond of PeterRabbit, and now Peter looked so truly sorry, and at the same timethere was such a look of disappointment in Peter's eyes, thatGrandfather Frog forgot all about his crossness. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said he. "You and your questions are a nuisance, PeterRabbit, and I may as well get rid of you now as to have you keepcoming down here and pestering me to death. Besides, any one who hasto keep such a sharp watch for Reddy Fox as you do ought to know whyhe wears a red coat. If you'll promise to sit perfectly still and askno foolish questions, I'll tell you the story. "

Of course Peter promised, and settled himself comfortably to listen. And this is the story that Grandfather Frog told:

"A long time ago, when the world was young, old Mr. Fox, thegrandfather a thousand times removed of Reddy Fox, was one of thesmartest of all the forest and meadow people, just as Reddy is now. Hewas so smart that he knew enough not to appear smart, and the fact ishis neighbors thought him rather dull. He wore just a common, everydaysuit of dull brown, like most of the others, and there wasn't anythingabout him to attract attention. He was always very polite, very politeindeed, to every one. Yes, Sir, Mr. Fox was very polite. He alwaysseemed to be minding his own business, and he never went around askingfoolish questions or poking his nose into other people's affairs. "

Grandfather Frog stopped a minute and looked very hard at Peter afterhe said this, and Peter looked uncomfortable. 

"Now, although Mr. Fox didn't appear to take any interest in otherpeople's affairs and never asked questions, he had two of thesharpest ears among all the little meadow and forest people, and whilehe was going about seeming to be just minding his own business, he waslistening and listening to all that was said. Everything he heard heremembered, so that it wasn't long before he knew more about what wasgoing on than all his neighbors together. But he kept his mouth tightclosed, did Mr. Fox, and was very humble and polite to everybody. Every night he came home early and went to bed by sundown, andeverybody said what good habits Mr. Fox had. 

"But when everybody else was asleep, Mr. Fox used to steal out and begone half the night. Yes, Sir, sometimes he'd be gone until almostmorning. But he always took care to get home before any of hisneighbors were awake, and then he'd wait until everybody was up beforehe showed himself. When he came out and started to hunt for hisbreakfast, some one was sure to tell him of mischief done during thedarkness of the night. Sometimes it was a storehouse broken into, andthe best things taken. Sometimes it was of terrible frights that someof the littlest people had received by being wakened in the night andseeing a fierce face with long, sharp teeth grinning at them. Sometimes it was of worse things that were told in whispers. Mr. Foxused to listen as if very much shocked, and say that something oughtto be done about it, and wonder who it could be who would do suchdreadful things. 

"By and by things got so bad that they reached the ears of Old MotherNature, and she came to find out what it all meant. Now, the verynight before she arrived, Mrs. Quack, who lived on the river bank, had a terrible fright. Somebody sprang upon her as she was sleeping, and in the struggle she lost all her tail feathers. She hurried totell Old Mother Nature all about it, and big tears rolled down hercheeks as she told how she had lost all her beautiful tail feathers. Mother Nature called all the people of the forest and the meadowstogether. She made them all pass before her, and she looked sharply ateach one as they went by. Mr. Fox looked meeker than ever, and he wasvery humble and polite. 

"Now when Mr. Fox had paid his respects and turned his back, OldMother Nature saw something red on the tail of his coat. It wasnothing but a little smear of red clay, but that was enough for OldMother Nature. You see, she knew that Mrs. Quack's home was right atthe foot of a red claybank. She didn't say a word until everybody hadpaid their respects and passed before her. Then she told them howgrieved she was to hear of all the trouble there had been, but thatshe couldn't watch over each one all the time; they must learn towatch out for themselves. 

"And so that you may know who to watch out for, from now on nevertrust the one who wears a bright red coat, " concluded Old MotherNature. 

"All of a sudden Mr. Fox became aware that everybody was looking athim, and in every face was hate. He glanced at his coat. It was brightred! Then Mr. Fox knew that he had been found out, and he sneaked awaywith his tail between his legs. The first chance he got, he went toOld Mother Nature and begged her to give him back his old coat. Shepromised that she would when his heart changed, and he changed hisways. But his heart never did change, and his children and hischildren's children were just like him. They have always been thesmartest and the sliest and the most feared and disliked of all thelittle people on the meadows or in the forest. And now you know whyReddy Fox wears a red coat, " concluded Grandfather Frog. 

Peter Rabbit drew a long breath. "Thank you, thank you, GrandfatherFrog!" said he. "I--I think hereafter I'll be quite content with myown suit, even if it isn't handsome. Jenny Wren was right. A goodheart and honest ways are better than fine clothes. "

V

WHY JIMMY SKUNK NEVER HURRIES

The Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind had just beenreleased from the big bag in which she carries them every night totheir home behind the Purple Hills and every morning brings them backto the Green Meadows to romp and play all day. They romped and racedand danced away, some one way, some another, to see whom they couldfind to play with. Presently some of them spied Jimmy Skunk slowlyambling down the Crooked Little Path, stopping every few steps to pullover a loose stone or stick. They knew what he was doing that for. They knew that he was looking for fat beetles for his breakfast. Theydanced over to him and formed a ring around him while they sang:

 "Who is it never, never hurries? Who is it never, never worries? Who is it does just what he pleases, Just like us Merry Little Breezes? Jimmy Skunk! Jimmy Skunk!"

Now not so far away but that he could hear them very plainly sat PeterRabbit, just finishing his breakfast in a sweet-clover patch. He satup very straight, so as to hear better. Of course some of the MerryLittle Breezes saw him right away. They left Jimmy to come over anddance in a circle around Peter, for Peter is a great favorite withthem. And as they danced they sang:

 "Who is it hops and skips and jumps? Who is it sometimes loudly thumps? Who is it dearly loves to play, But when there's danger runs away? Peter Rabbit! Peter Rabbit!"

Peter grinned good-naturedly. He is quite used to being laughed at foralways running away, and he doesn't mind it in the least. 

"When danger's near, who runs away will live to run another day, "retorted Peter promptly. Then he began the maddest kind of a frolicwith the Merry Little Breezes until they and he were quite tired outand ready for a good rest. 

"I wish, " said Peter, as he stretched himself out in the middle of thepatch of sweet clover, "that you would tell me why it is that JimmySkunk never hurries. "

"And we wish that you would tell us the same thing, " cried one of theMerry Little Breezes. 

"But I can't, " protested Peter. "Everybody else seems to hurry, attimes anyway, but Jimmy never does. He says it is a waste of energy, whatever that means. "

"I tell you what--let's go over to the Smiling Pool and askGrandfather Frog about it now. He'll be sure to know, " spoke up one ofthe Merry Little Breezes. 

"All right, " replied Peter, hopping to his feet. "But you'll have toask him. I've asked him for so many stories that I don't dare ask foranother right away, for fear that he will say that I am a nuisance. "

So it was agreed that the Merry Little Breezes should ask GrandfatherFrog why it is that Jimmy Skunk never hurries, and that Peter shouldkeep out of sight until Grandfather Frog had begun the story, for theywere sure that there would be a story. Away they all hurried to theSmiling Pool. The Merry Little Breezes raced so hard that they werequite out of breath when they burst through the bulrushes andsurrounded Grandfather Frog, as he sat on his big green lily-pad. 

"Oh, Grandfather Frog, why is it that Jimmy Skunk never hurries?" theypanted. 

"Chug-a-rum!" replied Grandfather Frog in his deepest, gruffest voice. "Chug-a-rum! Probably because he has learned better. "

"Oh!" said one of the Merry Little Breezes, in a rather faint, disappointed sort of voice. Just then he spied a fat, foolish, greenfly and blew it right over to Grandfather Frog, who snapped it up in aflash. Right away all the Merry Little Breezes began to hunt forfoolish green flies and blow them over to Grandfather Frog, until hedidn't have room for another one inside his white and yellowwaistcoat. Indeed the legs of the last one he tried to swallow stuckout of one corner of his big mouth. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog, trying very hard to get thoselegs out of sight. "Chug-a-rum! I always like to do something forthose who do something for me, and I suppose now that I ought to tellyou why it is that Jimmy Skunk never hurries. I would, if Peter Rabbitwere here. If I tell you the story, Peter will be sure to hear of it, and then he will give me no peace until I tell it to him, and I don'tlike to tell stories twice. "

"But he is here!" cried one of the Little Breezes. "He's right overbehind that little clump of tall grass. "

"Humph! I thought he wasn't very far away, " grunted Grandfather Frog, with a twinkle in his great, goggly eyes. 

Peter crept out of his hiding-place, looking rather shamefaced andvery foolish. Then the Merry Little Breezes settled themselves on thelily-pads in a big circle around Grandfather Frog, and Peter sat downas close to the edge of the bank of the Smiling Pool as he dared toget. After what seemed to them a very long time, Grandfather Frogswallowed the legs of the last foolish green fly, opened his bigmouth, and began:

"Of course you all know that long, long ago, when the world was young, things were very different from what they are now, very differentindeed. The great-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Jimmy Skunk wasslimmer and trimmer than Jimmy is. He was more like his cousins, Mr. Weasel and Mr. Mink. He was just as quick moving as they were. Yes, Sir, Mr. Skunk was very lively on his feet. He had to be to keep outof the way of his big neighbors, for in those days he didn't have anymeans of protecting himself, as Jimmy has now. He was dressed all inblack. You know it wasn't until Old Mother Nature found out that hewas taking advantage of that black suit to get into mischief on darknights that she gave him white stripes, so that the darker the night, the harder it would be for him to keep from being seen. 

"Now Mr. Skunk was very smart and shrewd, oh, very! When the hardtimes came, which made so many changes in the lives of the people wholived in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadows, Mr. Skunk was veryquick to see that unless he could think of some way to protecthimself, it was only a matter of time when he would furnish a dinnerfor one of his fierce big neighbors, and of course Mr. Skunk had nodesire to do that. It was then that he asked Old Mother Nature to givehim a bag of perfume so strong that it would make everybody ill buthimself. Mother Nature thought it all over, and then she did, but shemade him promise that he would never use it unless he was in greatdanger. 

"Mr. Skunk had to try his new defence only once or twice before hisenemies took the greatest care to let him alone. He found that he nolonger had to run for a safe hiding-place when he met Mr. Wolf or Mr. Lynx or Mr. Panther. They just snarled at him and passed withoutoffering to touch him. So Mr. Skunk grew very independent and wentwhere he pleased when he pleased. And, because he no longer had to runfrom his enemies, he got out of the habit of running. Then he made adiscovery. He watched those of his neighbors who were forever hurryingabout looking for food, hurrying because all the time there was greatfear upon them that an enemy might be near, hurrying because each wasfearful that his neighbor would get more than he. It wasn't longbefore Mr. Skunk saw that in their hurry they overlooked a great deal. In fact, by just following after them slowly, he found all he wantedto eat. 

"So Mr. Skunk began to grow fat. His neighbors, who were having hardwork to make a living, grew envious, and said unkind things about him, and hinted that he must be stealing, or he never could have so much toeat. But Mr. Skunk didn't mind. He went right on about his business. He never worried, because, you know, he feared nobody. And he neverhurried, because he found that it paid best to go slowly. In that wayhe never missed any of the good things that his hurrying, worryingneighbors did. So he grew fatter and fatter, while others grewthinner. After a while he almost forgot how to run. Being fat andnever hurrying or worrying made him good-natured. He kept right onminding his own affairs and never meddling in the affairs of others, so that by and by his neighbors began to respect him. 

"Of course he taught his children to do as he did, and they taughttheir children. And so, ever since that long-ago day, when the worldwas young, that little bag of perfume has been handed down in theSkunk family, and none of them has ever been afraid. Now you know whyJimmy Skunk, whom you all know, is so independent and never hurries. "

"Thank you! Thank you, Grandfather Frog!" cried the Merry LittleBreezes. "When you want some more foolish green flies, just let usknow, and we'll get them for you. "

"Chug-a-rum! What are you looking so wistful for, Peter Rabbit?"demanded Grandfather Frog. 

"I--I was just wishing that I had a--" began Peter. Then suddenly hemade a face. "No, I don't either!" he declared. "I guess I'd better begetting home to the dear Old Briar-patch now. Mrs. Peter probablythinks something has happened to me. " And away he went, lipperty-lipperty-lip. 

VI

WHY SAMMY JAY HAS A FINE COAT

Sammy Jay has a very fine coat, a very beautiful coat. Everybody knowsthat. In fact, Sammy's coat has long been the envy of a great many ofhis neighbors in the Green Forest. Some of them, you know, have verymodest coats. They are not beautiful at all. And yet the owners ofsome of these plain coats are among the most honest and hard-workingof all the little people who live in the Green Forest. They find ithard, very hard indeed, to understand why such a scamp andmischiefmaker as Sammy Jay should be given such a wonderful blue coatwith white trimmings. 

Peter Rabbit often had thought about it. He has a number of featheredfriends whom he likes ever so much better than he does Sammy Jay. Infact, he and Sammy are forever falling out, because Sammy delights totease Peter. He sometimes makes up for it by warning Peter when Grannyor Reddy Fox happens to be about, and Peter is honest enough torecognize this and put it to Sammy's credit. But in spite of this, itnever seemed to him quite right that Sammy Jay should be so handsomelydressed. 

"Of course, " said Peter to Grandfather Frog, "Old Mother Nature knowsa great deal more than I do--"

"Really! You don't mean to say so! Chug-a-rum! You don't mean to sayso, Peter!" interrupted Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very muchsurprised at what Peter said. 

[Illustration: "You don't mean to say so, Peter, " interruptedGrandfather Frog. ]

Peter grinned and wrinkled his nose at Grandfather Frog. 

"Yes, " said he, "Old Mother Nature knows a great deal more than I do, but it seems to me as if she had made a mistake in giving Sammy Jaysuch a handsome coat. There must be a reason, I suppose, but for thelife of me I cannot understand it. I should think that she would givesuch a thief as Sammy Jay the very homeliest suit she could find. Youmay depend I would, if I were in her place. "

Grandfather Frog chuckled until he shook all over. 

"It's lucky for some of us that you are not in her place!" said he. "Chug-a-rum! It certainly is lucky!"

"If I were, I would give you a handsome coat, too, Grandfather Frog, "replied Peter. 

Grandfather Frog suddenly swelled out with indignation. "Chug-a-rum!Chug-a-rum! What's the matter with the coat I have got, Peter Rabbit?Tell me that! Who's got a handsomer one?" Grandfather Frog glared withhis great, goggly eyes at Peter. 

"I didn't mean to say that you haven't got a handsome coat. Your coat_is_ handsome, very handsome indeed, Grandfather Frog, " Peter hastenedto say. "I always did like green. I just love it! And I should thinkyou would be ever so proud of your white and yellow waistcoat. I wouldif it were mine. What I meant to say is, that if I were in Old MotherNature's place, I would give some plain folks handsome suits. Certainly, I wouldn't give such a rascal as Sammy Jay one of thehandsomest coats in all the Green Forest. Knowing Sammy as well as Ido, it is hard work to believe that he came by it honestly. "

Grandfather Frog chuckled way down deep in his throat. 

"Sammy came by it honestly enough, Peter. Yes, Sir, he came by ithonestly enough, because it was handed down to him by his father, whogot it from his father, who got it from his father, and so on, wayback to the days when the world was young, but--" Grandfather Frogpaused, and that dreamy, far-away look which Peter had seen so oftencame into his great, goggly eyes. 

"But what, Grandfather Frog?" asked Peter eagerly, when he could keepstill no longer. 

Grandfather Frog settled himself comfortably on his big green lily-padand looked very hard at Peter. 

"I'm going to tell you a story, Peter Rabbit, " said he, "so that neveragain will you be led to doubt that Old Mother Nature knows exactlywhat she is about. In the first place, Sammy Jay is not wholly toblame for all his bad habits. Some of them were handed down to himwith his fine coat, just the same as your troublesome curiosity washanded down to you with the white patch on the seat of your trousers. "

Peter nodded. He had felt a great many times that he just couldn'thelp this habit of poking that wobbly little nose of his in where ithad no business to be, any more than he could change that funny littlebunch of white cotton, which he called a tail, for a really, trulytail. 

"Of course, you have heard all about what a very fine gentleman SammyJay's great-great-ever-so-great grandfather was thought to be until itwas discovered that he was all the time stealing from his neighborsand putting the blame on others, and how Old Mother Nature punishedhim by taking away the beautiful voice of which he was so proud, andgiving him instead the harsh voice which Sammy has now, and making himtell just what he is by screaming 'thief, thief, thief!' every time heopens his mouth to speak. 

"At first Old Mother Nature had intended to take away the fine coat ofwhich Mr. Jay was so proud, but when he discovered that he had losthis fine voice, he was so ashamed that he hurried away to hide himselffrom the eyes of his neighbors, so that Old Mother Nature didn't havetime to change his coat just then. 

'I'll wait a bit, ' said she to herself, 'and see how he behaves. Perhaps he is truly sorry for what he has done, and I will not have topunish him more. '

"But if Mr. Jay was truly sorry, he gave no signs of it. You see, hehad cheated his neighbors, and had stolen from them for so long, thathe found this the easiest way to get a living. His bad habits hadbecome fixed, as bad habits have a way of doing. Besides, right downin his heart, he wasn't sorry for what he had done, only angry athaving been found out. Now that he had been found out, of course everyone was on the watch for him, and it wasn't so easy to steal as it hadbeen before. So now, instead of going about openly, with his head heldhigh, he grew very crafty, and sneaked quietly about through the GreenForest, trying to keep out of sight, that he might the easier stealfrom his neighbors and make trouble for them. 

"When Old Mother Nature saw this, she changed her mind about takingaway his handsome suit. 'If I do that, ' thought she, 'it will make itall the easier for him to keep out of sight, and all the harder forhis neighbors to know when he is about. '

"So instead of giving him the plain, homely suit that she had thoughtof giving him, she made his coat of blue brighter than before andtrimmed it with the whitest of white trimmings, so that Mr. Jay hadone of the very handsomest coats in all the Green Forest. At first hewas very proud of it, but it wasn't long before he found that it wasvery hard work to keep out of sight when he wanted to. That brightblue coat was forever giving him away when he was out on mischief. Everybody was all the time on the watch for it, and so where in thepast Mr. Jay had been able, without any trouble, to steal all hewanted to eat, now he sometimes actually had to work for his food, andget it honestly or else go hungry. 

"You would suppose that he would have mended him ways, wouldn't you?"

Peter nodded. 

"But he didn't. He grew more sly and crafty than ever. But in spite ofthis, he didn't begin to make as much trouble as before. He couldn't, you know, because of his bright coat. When Old Mother Nature foundthat Mr. Jay had passed along his bad habits to his children, shepassed along his handsome blue coat, too, and so it has been from thatlong-ago day right down to this. Sammy Jay's fine coat isn't a rewardfor goodness, as is Winsome Bluebird's, but is to help the otherlittle people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows to protectthemselves, and keep track of Sammy when he is sneaking and snoopingaround looking for mischief. Now what do you think, Peter Rabbit?"

Peter scratched one long ear and then the other long ear thoughtfully, and he looked a wee bit ashamed as he replied: "I guess Old MotherNature makes no mistakes and always knows just what she is doing. "

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog in his deepest voice. "You may besure she does. And another thing, Peter Rabbit: Never judge any one byhis clothes. It is a great mistake, a very great mistake. Plainclothes sometimes cover the kindest hearts, and fine clothes often area warning to beware of mischief. "

"I--I don't know but you are right, " admitted Peter. 

"I know I am, " said Grandfather Frog. 

VII

WHY JERRY MUSKRAT BUILDS HIS HOUSE IN THE WATER

Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck had gone down to the Smiling Pool for acall on their old friend, Jerry Muskrat. But Jerry was nowhere to beseen. They waited and waited, but no Jerry Muskrat. 

"Probably he is taking a nap in that big house of his, " said JohnnyChuck, "and if he is we'll have to sit here until he wakes up, or elsego back home and visit him some other time. "

"That's so, " replied Peter. "I don't see what he has his house in thewater for, anyway. If he had built it on land, like sensible people, we might be able to waken him. Funny place to build a house, isn'tit?"

Johnny Chuck scratched his head thoughtfully. "It does seem a funnyplace, " he admitted. "It certainly does seem a funny place. But then, Jerry Muskrat is a funny fellow. You know how much of the time hestays in the water. That seems funny to me. I suppose there is areason for it, and probably there is a reason for building his housewhere it is. I've found that there is a reason for most things. Probably Jerry's great-great-grandfather built his house that way, andso Jerry does the same thing. "

Peter Rabbit suddenly brightened up. "I do believe you are right, Johnny Chuck, and if you are, there must be a story about it, and ifthere is a story, Grandfather Frog will be sure to know it. There heis, over on his big green lily-pad, and he looks as if he might befeeling very good-natured this morning. Let's go ask him why JerryMuskrat builds his house in the water. "

Grandfather Frog saw them coming, and he guessed right away that theywere coming for a story. He grinned to himself and pretended to go tosleep. 

"Good morning, Grandfather Frog, " said Johnny Chuck. Grandfather Frogdidn't answer. Johnny tried again, and still no reply. 

"He's asleep, " said Johnny, looking dreadfully disappointed, "and Iguess we'd better not disturb him, for he might wake up cross, and ofcourse we wouldn't get a story if he did. "

Peter looked at Grandfather Frog sharply. He wasn't so sure that thatwas a real nap. It seemed to him that there was just the least littlehint of a smile in the corners of Grandfather Frog's big mouth. "Yousit here a minute, " he whispered in Johnny Chuck's ear. 

So Johnny Chuck sat down where he was, which was right whereGrandfather Frog could see him by lifting one eyelid just the teeniestbit, and Peter hopped along the bank until he was right behindGrandfather Frog. Now just at that place on the bank was growing atoadstool. Peter looked over at Johnny Chuck and winked. Then heturned around, and with one of his long hind-feet, he kicked thetoadstool with all his might. Now toadstools, as you all know, are notvery well fastened at the roots, and this one was no different fromthe rest. When Peter kicked it it flew out into the air and landedwith a great splash in the Smiling Pool, close beside the big greenlily-pad on which Grandfather Frog was sitting. Of course he didn'tsee it coming, and of course it gave him a great start. 

"Chug-a-rum!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog and dived head first into thewater. A minute later Peter's sharp eyes saw him peeping out fromunder a lily-pad to see what had frightened him so. 

"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Peter, dancing about on the bank. "Ha, ha, ha!Grandfather Frog, afraid of a toadstool! Ha, ha, ha!"

At first Grandfather Frog was angry, very angry indeed. But he is tooold and too wise to lose his temper for long over a joke, especiallywhen he has been fairly caught trying to play a joke himself. Sopresently he climbed back on to his big green lily-pad, blinking hisgreat, goggly eyes and looking just a wee bit foolish. 

"Chug-a-rum! I might have known that that was some of your work, Peter Rabbit, " said he, "but I thought it surely was a stone thrownby Farmer Brown's boy. What do you mean by frightening an old fellowlike me this way?"

"Just trying to get even with you for trying to fool us into thinkingthat you were asleep when you were wide awake, " replied Peter. "Oh, Grandfather Frog, do tell us why it is that Jerry Muskrat builds hishouse in the water. Please do!"

"I have a mind not to, just to get even with you, " said GrandfatherFrog, settling himself comfortably, "but I believe I will, to show youthat there are some folks who can take a joke without losing theirtemper. "

"Goody!" cried Peter and Johnny Chuck together, sitting down side byside on the very edge of the bank. 

Grandfather Frog folded his hands across his white and yellowwaistcoat and half closed his eyes, as if looking way, way back intothe past. 

"Chug-a-rum!" he began. "A long, long time ago, when the world wasyoung, there was very little dry land, and most of the animals livedin the water. Yes, Sir, most of the animals lived in the water, assensible animals do to-day. "

Peter nudged Johnny Chuck. "He means himself and his family, " hewhispered with a chuckle. 

"After a time, " continued Grandfather Frog, "there began to be moreland and still more. Then some of the animals began to spend most oftheir time on the land. As there got to be more and more land, moreand more of the animals left the water, until finally most of themwere spending nearly all of the time on land. Now Old Mother Naturehad been keeping a sharp watch, as she always does, and when she foundthat they were foolish enough to like the land best, she did all thatshe could to make things comfortable for them. She taught them how torun and jump and climb and dig, according to which things they likedbest to do, so that it wasn't very long before a lot of them forgotthat they ever had lived in the water, and they began to look down onthose who still lived in the water, and to put on airs and hold theirheads very high. 

"Now, of course, Old Mother Nature didn't like this, and to punishthem she said that they should no longer be able to live in the water, even if they wanted to. At first they only laughed, but after a whilethey found that quite often there were times when it would be verynice to be at home in the water as they once had been. But it was ofno use. Some could swim as long as they could keep their heads abovewater, but as soon as they put their heads under water they werelikely to drown. You know that is the way with you to-day, PeterRabbit. "

Peter nodded. He knew that he could swim if he had to, but only for avery little way, and he hated the thought of it. 

"Now there were a few animals, of whom old Mr. Muskrat, thegrandfather a thousand times removed of Jerry Muskrat, was one, wholearned to walk and run on dry land, but who still loved the water, "continued Grandfather Frog. "One day Old Mother Nature found Mr. Muskrat sitting on a rock, looking very mournful. 

"'What's the matter, Mr. Muskrat?' she asked. 

"Mr. Muskrat looked very much ashamed as he finally owned up that hewas envious of his cousins and some of the other animals, because theyhad such fine houses on the land. 

"'Then why don't you build you a fine house on the land?' asked OldMother Nature. 

"Mr. Muskrat hesitated. 'I--I--love the water too well to want to stayon land all the time, ' said he, 'and--and--well, I was put in thewater in the first place, and I ought to be contented with what I havegot and make the best of it. '

"Old Mother Nature was so pleased with Mr. Muskrat's reply that rightaway she made up her mind that he should have a finer house than anyof the others, so she took him over to a quiet little pool, where thewater was not too deep and she showed him how to build a wonderfulhouse of mud and rushes and twigs, with a nice warm bedroom linedwith grass above the water, and an entrance down under the water, sothat no one except those who still lived most of the time in the watercould possibly get into it. None of his friends on land had such abig, fine house, and Mr. Muskrat was very proud of it. But with allhis pride he never forgot that it was a reward for trying to becontent with his surroundings and making the best of them. 

"So from that day to this, the Muskrats have built their houses in thewater, and have been among the most industrious, contented, and happyof all the animals. And that is why Jerry Muskrat has built that finehouse in the Smiling Pool and has so few enemies, " concludedGrandfather Frog. 

Peter Rabbit drew a long breath, which was almost a sigh. "I almostwish my grandfather a thousand times removed had been content to stayin the water, too, " he said. 

"Chug-a-rum!" retorted Grandfather Frog. "If he had, you wouldn't havethe dear Old Briar-patch. Be content with what you've got, "

"I think I will, " said Peter. 

VIII

WHY OLD MAN COYOTE HAS MANY VOICES

Of course Old Man Coyote has only one voice, but that one is such awonderful voice that he can make it sound like a great many voices, all yelping and howling and shouting and laughing at the same time. Sothose who hear him always say that he has many voices, and thatcertainly is the way it seems. The first time Peter Rabbit heard OldMan Coyote, he was sure, absolutely sure, that there was a whole crowdof strangers on the Green Meadows, and you may be sure that he keptvery close to his dear Old Briar-patch. If you had been there andtried to tell Peter that all that noise was made by just one voice, he wouldn't have believed you. No, Sir, he wouldn't have believed you. And you couldn't have blamed him. 

It was the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind who first toldPeter who the stranger was and warned him to watch out, because OldMan Coyote is just as fond of Rabbit as Granny or Reddy Fox, and iseven more crafty and sly than they. Peter thanked the Merry LittleBreezes for the warning, and then he asked them how many of his familyOld Man Coyote had brought with him. Of course the Merry LittleBreezes told Peter that Old Man Coyote was all alone, and they becamevery indignant when Peter laughed at them. He just couldn't help it. 

"Why, " said he, "every night I hear a whole crowd yelping and howlingtogether. "

"But you don't!" insisted the Merry Little Breezes. "It is Old ManCoyote alone who makes all that noise. "

"Don't you suppose I know what I hear?" demanded Peter. 

"No!" retorted the Merry Little Breezes. "You may have big ears and beable to hear a great deal, sometimes a great deal more than you haveany business to hear, but you are old enough by this time to havelearned that you cannot believe all you hear. " And with that the MerryLittle Breezes indignantly raced away to spread the news all over theGreen Meadows. 

Now Peter was quite as indignant because they thought he couldn't orshouldn't believe his own ears, as they were because he wouldn'tbelieve what they told him, and all the rest of that day he couldn'tput the matter out of his mind. He was still thinking of it as theBlack Shadows came creeping down from the Purple Hills across theGreen Meadows. Suddenly Peter saw a dark form skulking among the BlackShadows. At first he thought it was Reddy Fox, only somehow it lookedbigger. Peter, safe in the dear Old Briar-patch, watched. Presentlythe dark form came out from among the Black Shadows where Peter couldsee it clearly, sat down, pointed a sharp nose up at the firsttwinkling little stars, opened a big mouth, and out of it poured sucha yelping and howling as made Peter shiver with fright. And now Peterhad to believe his eyes rather than his ears. His ears told him thatthere were many voices, but his eyes told him that all that dreadfulsound was coming out of one mouth. It was hard, very hard, to believe, but it was so. 

"The Merry Little Breezes were right, " muttered Peter to himself, asOld Man Coyote trotted away in the direction of the Green Forest, andhe felt a wee bit ashamed to think that he had refused to believethem. 

After that, Peter could think of nothing but Old Man Coyote'swonderful voice that sounded like many voices, and at the very firstopportunity he hurried over to the Smiling Pool to ask GrandfatherFrog what it meant. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog. "It means simply that Old ManCoyote comes of a very smart family, and that he knows how to make themost of the gift of Old Mother Nature to his grandfather a thousandtimes removed. "

This sounded so much like a story that Peter straightway teasedGrandfather Frog to tell him all about it. At last, to get rid of himand enjoy a little quiet and peace, Grandfather Frog did so. 

"Chug-a-rum!" he began, as he always does. "Thegreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Old Man Coyote, who livedlong, long ago when the world was young, was very much as Old ManCoyote is to-day. He was just as smart and just as clever. Indeed, hewas smart enough and clever enough not to let his neighbors know thathe was smart and clever at all. Those were very peaceful times atfirst, and everybody was on the best of terms with everybody else, asyou know. There was plenty to eat without the trouble to steal, andeverybody was honest simply because it was easier to be honest than itwas to be dishonest. So Old King Bear ruled in the Green Forest, andeverybody was happy and contented. 

"But there came a time when food was scarce, and it was no longereasy to get plenty to eat. It was then that the stronger began tosteal from the weaker, and by and by even to prey upon those smallerthan themselves. The times grew harder and harder, and because hungeris a hard and cruel master, it made the larger and stronger peoplehard and cruel, too. Some of them it made very sly and cunning, likeold Mr. Fox. Mr. Coyote was another whom it made sly and cunning. Hewas smart in the first place, even smarter than Mr. Fox, and he veryearly made up his mind that if he would live, it must be by his wits, for he wasn't big enough or strong enough to fight with his neighborssuch as his big cousin, Mr. Timber Wolf, or Mr. Lynx, or Mr. Pantheror Old King Bear, who was king no longer. And yet he liked the samethings to eat. 

"So he used to study and plan how he could outwit them without dangerto himself. 'A whole skin is better than a full stomach, but both awhole skin and a full stomach are better still, ' said he to himself;as he thought and schemed. For a while he was content to catch what hecould without danger to himself, and to eat what his bigger andstronger neighbors left when they happened to get more than theywanted for themselves. Little by little he got the habit of slylyfollowing them when they were hunting, always keeping out of sight. Inthis way, he managed to get many meals of scraps. But these scrapsnever wholly satisfied him, and his mouth used to water as he watchedthe others feast on the very best when they had had a successful hunt. He knew it wouldn't be of the least use to go out and boldly ask forsome, for in those hard times everybody was very, very selfish. 

"The times grew harder and harder, until it seemed as if Old MotherNature had wholly forgotten her little people of the Green Meadows andthe Green Forest. Mr. Coyote still managed to pick up a living, but hewas hungry most of the time, and the less he had to put in hisstomach, the sharper his wits grew. At last one day, as he stolesoft-footed through the Green Forest, he discovered Mr. Lynx having agreat feast. To keep still and watch him was almost more than Mr. Coyote could stand, for he was so hungry that it seemed as if thesides of his stomach almost met, it was so empty. 

"'If I could make myself into three, we could take that dinner awayfrom Mr. Lynx!" thought he, and right on top of that thought came agreat idea. Why not make Mr. Lynx think he had a lot of friends withhim? It would do no harm to try. So Mr. Coyote put his nose up in theair and howled. Mr. Lynx looked up and grinned. He had no fear of Mr. Coyote. Then Mr. Coyote hurried around to the other side of Mr. Lynx, all the time keeping out of sight, and howled again, and this time hetried to make his voice sound different. Mr. Lynx stopped eating andlooked up a little surprised. 'I wonder if Mr. Coyote has got abrother with him, ' thought he. A minute later Mr. Coyote howled againfrom the place where he had howled in the first place. 'He certainlyhas, ' thought Mr. Lynx, 'but I'm a match for two of them, ' and oncemore he went on eating. 

"Then Mr. Coyote began to run in a circle around Mr. Lynx, alwayskeeping out of sight in the thick brush, and every few steps heyelped or howled, and each yelp or howl he tried to make sounddifferent. Now Mr. Coyote could run very fast, and he ran now as hardas ever he could in a big circle, yelping and howling and making hisvoice sound as different as possible each time. Mr. Lynx grew anxiousand lost his appetite. 'Mr. Coyote must have a whole crowd ofbrothers, ' thought he. 'I guess this is no place for me!' With that hestarted to sneak away. 

"Mr. Coyote followed him, still trying to make his voice sound likethe voices of many. Mr. Lynx gave a hurried look over his shoulder andbegan to run. Mr. Coyote kept after him, yelping and howling, until hewas sure that Mr. Lynx was so frightened that he wouldn't dare comeback. Then Mr. Coyote returned to the dinner Mr. Lynx had left, andate and ate until he couldn't hold another mouthful. His throat wasvery raw and sore because he had strained it trying to make his voicechange so often, but he didn't mind this, because, you know, it feltso good to have all he could eat at one time once more. 

"Now it just happened that Old Mother Nature had come along just intime to see and hear Mr. Coyote, and it tickled her so to think thatMr. Coyote had been so smart that what do you think she did? Why, while he slept that night, she healed his sore throat, and she gavehim a new voice; and this voice was very wonderful, for it sounded forall the world like many voices, all yelping and howling at the sametime. After that, all Mr. Coyote had to do when he wanted to frightensome one bigger and stronger than himself was to open his mouth andsend forth his new voice, which sounded like many voices. 

"So he had plenty to eat from that time on. And all his children andhis children's children had that same wonderful voice, just as Old ManCoyote has now. Chug-a-rum! Now scamper home, Peter Rabbit, and seethat you don't let Old Man Coyote's sharp wits get you into trouble. "

"Thank you, Grandfather Frog!" cried Peter and scampered as fast as hecould go for the dear, safe Old Briar-patch. 

IX

WHY MINER THE MOLE LIVES UNDER GROUND

Striped Chipmunk sat staring at a little ridge where the grass wasraised up. He had often seen little ridges like that without thinkingmuch about them. He knew that they were made by Miner the Mole. He hadknown that ever since he was big enough to begin to ask questions. Butnow as he looked at this one, it suddenly struck him that he had notseen Miner the Mole more than once or twice in all his life. 

"What a queer way of living!" thought Striped Chipmunk. "It's all verywell to have a snug house under the ground, where one can sleep thelong cold winter away and be perfectly safe, but what any one wants tolive under the ground all the time for, in the beautiful springtimeand summertime and autumntime, I can't understand. Just think of allthat Miner misses--the sunshine, the flowers, the songs of the birds, and the Merry Little Breezes to play with! I wonder--"

"What do you wonder?" The voice was so close to Striped Chipmunk thatit made him jump. He whirled about. There was Johnny Chuck, who hadtiptoed up as softly as he knew how, to give Striped Chipmunk a scare. Johnny grinned. "What do you wonder?" he repeated. 

Striped Chipmunk made a face at Johnny. "I wonder something that I betyou don't know, " he replied. 

"That's easy, " replied Johnny. "There are more things I don't knowthan I do know, but I'm always ready to learn. What is it this time?"

"Why does Miner the Mole live under ground all the time?" StripedChipmunk pointed to the ridge made by Miner. 

Johnny Chuck scratched his head thoughtfully. 

"I don't know, " he confessed finally. "I never thought of it before. Of course there must be a reason. He never comes out to play with therest of us--just spends all his time by himself down in the dark, digging and digging. I wonder--"

"Well, what do _you_ wonder?"

"The same thing you wonder, " laughed Johnny Chuck. "If you haven't gotanything else to do, let's go down to the Smiling Pool and askGrandfather Frog; he'll be sure to know. "

Striped Chipmunk hadn't anything else to do, so off they started. Onthe way they met Jimmy Skunk and Danny Meadow Mouse. Neither of themknew why Miner the Mole lives under ground, and because they hadn'tanything better to do, they also started for the Smiling Pool. 

Grandfather Frog was sitting on his big green lily-pad in the warmsunshine, and for once he didn't have to be teased for a story. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said he in his deep voice. "It's very strange to me howlittle some folks know about their nearest neighbors. " He looked upand winked at jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun. 

Striped Chipmunk, Johnny Chuck, Jimmy Skunk, and Danny Meadow Mouselooked as though they felt very foolish, as indeed they did. You see, all their lives Miner the Mole had been one of their nearestneighbors, and yet they didn't know the first thing about him. 

"It happened a long time ago, " continued Grandfather Frog. 

"When the world was young?" interrupted Danny Meadow Mouse. 

"Of course, " replied Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very much putout at such a foolish question. Danny hung his head and resolved thathe would bite his tongue before he asked another question. 

"In those days Miner's great-great-grandfather a thousand timesremoved didn't live under ground, " continued Grandfather Frog. "Nobodydid. He wasn't so very different from a lot of other animals. Food wasplenty, and everybody was on the best of terms with everybody else. Mr. Mole lived just as the rest did. He went and came as he pleased, and enjoyed the sunshine and took part in all the good times of hisneighbors. Everybody liked him, and whenever he made a call, he wassure of a welcome. But one thing Mr. Mole never did; he never meddledin other people's affairs. No, Sir, Mr. Mole never poked his nose inwhere he had no business. 

"For a long time everything went smoothly with all the people of theGreen Forest and the Green Meadows. Then came hard times. They grewharder and harder. Food was scarce and kept growing more scarce. Everybody was hungry, and you know how it is with hungry people--theygrow ugly and quarrelsome. Matters grew worse and worse, and then itwas that fear was born. The big people, like Old King Bear and Mr. Wolf and Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynx, began to look with hungry eyes onthe little people, and the little people began to grow afraid and hidefrom the big people, and all the time they were continually quarrelingamong themselves and stealing from each other to get enough to eat. 

"Now, as I said before, Mr. Mole never had meddled with other people'sbusiness, and he didn't now. He went off by himself to think thingsover. 'It isn't safe to run around any more, ' said he. 'I met Mr. Wolfthis morning, and he looked at me with such a hungry look in his eyesthat it gave me the cold shivers. I believe he would have eaten me, ifI hadn't crawled into an old hollow stump. Now I can't run fast, because my legs are too short. I can't climb trees like Mr. Squirrel, and I can't swim like Mr. Muskrat. The only thing I can do is to dig. '

"You see, Mr. Mole always had been very fond of digging, and he haddone so much of it that his front legs and claws had grown very stout. 

"'Now if I dig a hole and keep out of sight, I won't have to worryabout Mr. Wolf or anybody else, ' continued Mr. Mole to himself. So hewent to work at once and dug a hole on the Green Meadows, and, becausehe wanted to be comfortable, he made a big hole. When it was finished, he was tired, so he curled up at the bottom for a nap. He was awakenedby hearing voices outside. He knew those voices right away. They werethe voices of Mr. Fox and Mr. Badger. 

"'These are terrible times, ' said Mr. Fox. 'I'm so hungry that I'mwasting away to a shadow. I wonder who has dug this hole. '

"'Mr. Mole, ' replied Mr. Badger. 'I saw him at work here thismorning. 

Have you noticed how very plump he looks?'

"'Yes, ' replied Mr. Fox. 'He made my mouth water the very last time Isaw him. Seems to me I can smell him now. If he had made this holejust a little bit bigger I would go down and pull him out, but I amtoo tired to do any digging now. '

"'I tell you what, ' replied Mr. Badger. 'We'll hunt together a littlelonger, and then if we can't find anything to eat, we'll come back, and I'll help you dig, I hate to hurt Mr. Mole, because he alwaysminds his own business, but these are hard times, and each one mustlook out for himself. '

"With that they went away, leaving Mr. Mole shaking with fright at thebottom of his hole. 'It's of no use, ' thought Mr. Mole. 'If I gooutside, they will soon find me, and if I stay here, they will dig meout. Oh, dear, oh, dear! What ever can I do?'

"He lay there feeling very helpless and miserable, when all of asudden a thought came to him. If he had made his hole small, just bigenough for him to crawl into, Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox would have had todo a great deal of digging to make it big enough for either of them toget in! He would make a little tunnel off one side and hide in that. So he went to work and made a little tunnel off one side just bigenough for him to squeeze into. He worked very hard and very fast, andby the time Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox returned, Mr. Mole was at the endof a long tunnel, so far from the hole he had first dug that he knewit would take them a long time to dig him out, even if they noticedhis tunnel. 

"But they didn't. They dug down to the bottom of his hole and then, because they didn't find him there, they straightway fell toquarreling, each blaming the other for suggesting such a lot of hardwork for nothing. Finally they went away, still calling each othernames, and from that day to this, Foxes and Badgers have never beenfriends. 

"Mr. Mole was very thankful for his narrow escape, and it set him tothinking. If he had a lot of these underground tunnels, no one wouldbe able to catch him. It was a splendid idea! He went to work on it atonce. And then he made a discovery--such a splendid discovery! Therewas plenty of food to eat right down under ground--worms andgrubs--all he needed. After that, Mr. Mole spent all his time in histunnels and seldom put his nose outside. He was safe, and he wascomfortable, and he could always find something to eat by digging forit. 

"Little by little his old neighbors forgot all about him. Because hehad little use for them, his eyes grew smaller and smaller, and whenhe did come up into the light, they hurt him so that he was glad to goback into the dark again. He was perfectly happy and satisfied there, and what is there in life better than to be happy and satisfied?"

"Nothing, " replied Striped Chipmunk, at whom Grandfather Frog happenedto be looking when he asked the question. 

"Right!" replied Grandfather Frog. "And now you know why Miner theMole lives under ground--because he is perfectly happy and satisfiedthere. "

Just then up came Peter Rabbit, all out of breath. 

"Has Grandfather Frog been telling a story?" he panted. 

"Yes, " replied Striped Chipmunk, winking at Grandfather Frog, "and nowwe are going back home perfectly happy and satisfied. "

And to this day Peter Rabbit wonders what the story was that hemissed. 

X

WHY MR. SNAKE CANNOT WINK

Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck were playing tag on the Green Meadows. Of course Peter can run so much faster than Johnny Chuck that he wouldnever have been "it" if he had tried his best to keep out of the way. But he didn't. No, Sir, Peter Rabbit didn't do anything of the kind. He pretended that one of his long hind-legs was lame so that he had torun on three legs, while Johnny Chuck could use all four. It was greatfun. They raced and dodged and twisted and turned. Sometimes Peter wasso excited that he would forget and use all four legs. Then JohnnyChuck would shout "No fair!" Peter would say that he didn't mean to, and to make up for it would be "it" and try to catch Johnny. 

Now it happened that curled up on a little grassy tussock, taking anearly morning sun-bath, lay little Mr. Greensnake. Of course PeterRabbit and Johnny Chuck were not afraid of him. If it had been Mr. Rattlesnake or Mr. Gophersnake, it would have been different. But fromlittle Mr. Greensnake there was nothing to fear, and sometimes, justfor fun, Peter would jump right over him. When he did that, Peteralways winked good-naturedly. But Mr. Greensnake never winked back. Instead he would raise his head, run his tongue out at Peter, and hissin what he tried to make a very fierce and angry manner. Then Peterwould laugh and wink at him again. But never once did Mr. Greensnakewink back. 

[Illustration: He would make no reply, save to run out his tongue atthem. ]

Peter was thinking of this as he and Johnny Chuck stretched out in asunny spot to get their breath and rest. He had never thought of itbefore, but now that he had noticed it, he couldn't remember that heever had seen little Mr. Greensnake wink, nor any of Mr. Greensnake'srelatives. He mentioned the matter to Johnny Chuck. 

"That's so, " replied Johnny thoughtfully. "I never have seen any ofthem wink, either. Do you suppose they can wink?"

"Let's go ask Mr. Greensnake, " said Peter. 

Up they hopped and raced over to the grassy tussock where Mr. Greensnake lay, but to all their questions he would make no reply saveto run out his tongue at them. Finally they gave up asking him. 

"I tell you what, let's go over to the Smiling Pool and askGrandfather Frog. He'll be sure to know, and perhaps, if he is feelinggood, he'll tell us a story, " said Peter. 

So off they scampered to the Smiling Pool. There they foundGrandfather Frog sitting on his big green lily-pad just as usual, andPeter knew by the look in his great, goggly eyes that Grandfather Froghad a good breakfast of foolish green flies tucked away inside hiswhite and yellow waistcoat. His eyes twinkled as Peter and Johnny verypolitely wished him good morning. 

"Good morning, " said he gruffly. 

But Peter had seen that twinkle in his eyes and knew that GrandfatherFrog was feeling good-natured in spite of his gruff greeting. 

"If you please, Grandfather Frog, why doesn't Mr. Greensnake wink atus when we wink at him?" he asked. 

"Chug-a-rum! Because he can't, " replied Grandfather Frog. 

"Can't!" cried Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck together. 

"That's what I said--can't, " replied Grandfather Frog. "And no morecan Mr. Blacksnake, or Mr. Rattlesnake, or Mr. Gophersnake, or anyother member of the Snake family. "

"Why not?" cried Peter and Johnny, all in the same breath. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog, folding his hands across hiswhite and yellow waistcoat, "if you will sit still until I finish, I'll tell you; but if you move or ask any foolish questions, I'll stopright where I am, and you'll never hear the end of the story, for noone else knows it. "

Of course Peter and Johnny promised to sit perfectly still and not saya word. After they had made themselves comfortable, Grandfather Frogcleared his throat as if to begin, but for a long time he didn't say aword. Once Peter opened his mouth to ask why, but remembered in timeand closed it again without making a sound. 

At last Grandfather Frog cleared his throat once more, and with afar-away look in his great, goggly eyes began:

"Once upon a time, long, long ago, when the world was young, lived oldMr. Snake, the grandfather a thousand times removed of little Mr. Greensnake and all the other Snakes whom you know. Of course he wasn'told then. He was young and spry and smart, was Mr. Snake. Now there issuch a thing as being too smart. That was the trouble with Mr. Snake. Yes, Sir, that was the trouble with Mr. Snake. He was so smart that hesoon found out that he was the smartest of all the meadow and forestpeople, and that was a bad thing. It certainly was a very bad thing. "Grandfather Frog shook his head gravely. 

"You see, " he continued, "as soon as he found that out, he began totake advantage of his neighbors and cheat them, but he would do it sosmoothly that they never once suspected that they were being cheated. Mr. Snake would go about all day cheating everybody he met. At nighthe would go home and chuckle over his smartness. It wasn't long beforehe began to look down on his neighbors for being so honest that theydidn't suspect other people of being dishonest, and for being soeasily cheated. 

"Now one bad habit almost always leads to another. From cheating, Mr. Snake just naturally slipped to stealing. Yes, Sir, he became a thief. Of course that made trouble right away, but still no one suspectedMr. Snake. He was always very polite to every one and always offeringto do favors for his neighbors. In fact, Mr. Snake was very well likedand much respected. When any one had been robbed, he was always thefirst to offer sympathy and join in the hunt for the thief. He was sospry and slim, and could slip through the tall grass so fast, that hecould go almost where he pleased without being seen, and this made himvery bold. If he did happen to be found near the scene of trouble, healways had a story ready to account for his presence, and it soundedso true, and he told it in such an honest manner, that no one thoughtof doubting it. 

"So Mr. Snake found that lying helped him to cheat and steal, and allthe time he kept thinking how smart he was. But even Mr. Snake had alittle bit of conscience, and once in a while it would trouble him. Sowhat do you think he did? Why, cheating had become such a habit withhim that he actually tried to cheat himself--to cheat his conscience!When he was telling a lie, he would wink one eye. 'That, ' said he tohimself, 'means that it isn't true, and if these folks are not smartenough to see me wink and know what it means, it is their own fault ifthey believe what I am telling them. ' But always he took care to winkthe eye that was turned away from the one he was talking to. 

"Dear me, dear me, such terrible times as there were on the GreenMeadows and in the Green Forest! They grew worse and worse, and whenat last Old Mother Nature came to see how all the little people weregetting along, she heard so many complaints that she hardly knewwhere to begin to straighten matters out. She had all the littlepeople come before her in turn and tell their troubles. When it cameMr. Snake's turn, he had no complaint to make. He seemed to be theonly one who had no troubles. She asked him a great many questions, and for each one he had a ready reply. Of course a great many of thesereplies were lies, and every time he told one of these, he winkedwithout knowing it. You see, it had become a habit. 

"Now, with all his smartness, Mr. Snake had forgotten one thing, onevery important thing. It was this: You can't fool Old Mother Nature, and it is of no use to try. He hadn't been talking three minutesbefore she knew who was at the bottom of all the trouble. She let himfinish, then called all the others about her and told them who hadmade all the trouble. Mr. Snake was very bold. He held his head veryhigh in the air and pretended not to care. When Old Mother Natureturned her head, he even ran out his tongue at her, just as all theSnake family do at you and me to-day. When she had finished tellingthem how cheating and stealing and lying isn't smart at all, but very, very dreadful, she turned to Mr. Snake and said:

"'From this time on, no one will believe anything you say, and youshall have no friends. You will never wink again, for you and yourchildren and your children's children forever will have no eyelids, that all the world may know that those who make a wrong use of thethings given them shall have them taken away. '

"And now you know why little Mr. Greensnake cannot wink at you; hehasn't any eyelids to wink with" finished Grandfather Frog. 

Peter Rabbit drew a long breath. "Thank you, oh, thank you ever somuch, Grandfather Frog, " he said. "Will you tell us next time whyBobby Coon wears rings on his tail?"

"Perhaps, " replied Grandfather Frog. 

XI

WHY BOBBY COON HAS RINGS ON HIS TAIL

Peter Rabbit would give Grandfather Frog no peace. Every day Petervisited the Smiling Pool to tease Grandfather Frog for a story--forone particular story. He wanted to know why it is that Bobby Coonwears rings on his tail. You see, Peter had admired Bobby Coon's tailfor a long time. Peter has such a funny little tail himself, just alittle white bunch of cotton, that such a handsome tail as BobbyCoon's sometimes stirs just a wee bit of envy in Peter's heart. 

But it wasn't envy so much as curiosity that prompted Peter to teasefor that story. Bobby Coon's tail is very handsome, you know. It hasbeautiful rings of black and gray, and Peter didn't know of any othertail at all like it. Somehow, he felt right down deep in his heartthat there must be a reason for those rings, just as there is a reasonfor his own long ears and long legs. The more he thought about it, themore he felt that he simply must know, and the only way he could findout was from Grandfather Frog, who is very old and very wise. So heteased and he teased until finally Grandfather Frog promised him thaton the next afternoon he would tell Peter why Bobby Coon has rings onhis tail. Peter hurried away to tell all the little meadow and forestpeople, and the next afternoon they were all on hand on the bank ofthe Smiling Pool to hear the story about Bobby Coon's tail. 

"Chug-a-rum!" began Grandfather Frog, smoothing down his white andyellow waistcoat. "Chug-a-rum! Some folks seem to think that what theydo doesn't matter to anybody but themselves. That was the way with oldMr. Rabbit, who lived a long time ago when the world was young. Hethought he could make all the trouble he pleased by his dreadfulcuriosity, and if he was found out, no one would suffer but himself. But it wasn't so. Here is Peter Rabbit, his grandchild a thousandtimes removed, with long legs and long ears, and the bad habit ofcuriosity, all because old Mr. Rabbit had a bad habit and didn't tryto overcome it. 

"It was the same way with old Mr. Coon. He was dishonest and stolefrom Old King Bear. Old Mother Nature punished him by putting mustardin his food, and Mr. Coon thought he was so smart that he could getahead of Old Mother Nature by washing all his food before he ate it. Old Mother Nature didn't say anything, but watched him and smiled toherself. You see, she knew that Mr. Coon was beginning a good habit, avery good habit indeed--the habit of neatness. So, though she knewperfectly well that he was doing it just to get ahead of her, she wasglad, for she was fond of Mr. Coon in spite of the bad ways he hadgrown into, and she knew that good habits are like bad habits--oncestarted they grow and grow, and are very likely to lead to more goodhabits. 

"It was so with Mr. Coon. He found that his food tasted better forbeing so clean, and he grew very fussy about what he ate. No matterwhere he found it or how tempting it looked, he wouldn't eat it untilhe had carried it to the nearest water and washed it. He stillremembered the mustard and tried to fool himself into thinking thathe was simply spiting Old Mother Nature, but right down in his hearthe knew that even if he should be told that never again would there bemustard in his food, he would wash it just the same. 

"One day, as he sat beside the Laughing Brook eating his supper, henoticed that while his food had been washed clean, his hands weredirty. They spoiled his supper. Yes, Sir, they spoiled his supper. 

"'What good does it do to wash my food, if I eat it out of dirtyhands?' said Mr. Coon to himself, and he hurried to a quiet littlepool to give them a good scrubbing. Then he washed his face andbrushed his coat. 'Now I feel better, and I know my supper will tastebetter, ' said he. 

"From that time he began to be particular, very particular, aboutkeeping himself clean, until finally there was no one on the GreenMeadows or in the Green Forest quite so neat as Mr. Coon. 

"Now at this time Mr. Coon had a very plain tail. It was all of onecolor, a grayish white, not at all pretty. Mr. Coon used to think agreat deal about that tail and wish and wish that it was handsome. Sometimes he used to envy Mr. Fox his beautiful red tail with itsblack and white tip. One day, as he sat on an old log with his chin inhis hands, thinking about his tail, who should come along but OldMother Nature. 

"'Good morning, Mr. Coon, ' said she in her pleasantest voice. 

"Mr. Coon got up and made a very low bow. 'Good morning, MotherNature, ' he replied in his politest manner, which was very politeindeed. 

"'What were you thinking about so hard?' asked Old Mother Nature. 

"Mr. Coon looked a little bit ashamed. Then he sighed. 'I was wishingthat my tail was handsomer, ' said he. 'But it is a very good tail asit is, ' he added hastily. 

"Old Mother Nature's eyes twinkled. She sat down beside Mr. Coon andasked him all about his affairs, just as if she didn't know all aboutthem already. She told him how pleased she was to find him so neat andclean, and Mr. Coon just tingled all over with pleasure. At last shegot up to go, and her eyes twinkled more than ever, as she said:

"'By the way, Mr. Coon, I am so pleased with your neatness that I amleaving you a reward. I hope you will like it. '

"Mr. Coon didn't see any reward, but he thanked her just the same, andOld Mother Nature went on her way. Mr. Coon watched her out of sight. Then he sat down on the old log again and scratched his headthoughtfully as he looked this way and that. 

"'I wonder what she meant by reward. I don't see any anywhere, ' hesaid to himself. 

"By and by he just happened to glance at his tail. 'Oh!' cried Mr. Coon, and then for a long time he couldn't say another word, but justlooked and looked with shining eyes and such a queer feeling ofhappiness in his heart. You see, Old Mother Nature had left abeautiful, broad, black ring around his tail. Mr. Coon couldn't doanything the rest of that day but look at and admire that ring, untilhis neck ached from twisting it around so long. 

"After that he was neater than ever, you may be sure, and the nexttime Old Mother Nature came around, she left another handsome blackring on his tail, because he hadn't grown careless, but had kept uphis good habits. 

"Now about this time, hard times came to all the little people of theGreen Forest and the Green Meadows. Every one began to grumble. Mr. Bear grumbled. Mr. Fox grumbled. Mr. Rabbit grumbled. Mr. Jaygrumbled. Mr. Squirrel grumbled. Even Mr. Chuck grumbled. And one andall they began to blame Old Mother Nature. Then they began to quarrelamong themselves and to steal from each other. Some even left theirhomes and went out into the Great World to try to find a better placeto live, only to find that the Great World was a harder place to livein than the Green Forest and the Green Meadows. 

"But Mr. Coon didn't grumble, and he didn't go away. No, Sir, Mr. Coonjust stuck to his home and did the best he could to find enough toeat. He kept himself as neat as ever and was always cheerful. Wheneverhe met one of his grumbling neighbors, he would say:

"'Better times coming! Better times coming! Old Mother Nature is doingthe best she can. Better times coming!'

"The others would laugh at him for his faith in Old Mother Nature, andsay ugly things about her, and urge Mr. Coon to go with them out intothe Great World. But he kept right on minding his own business andkeeping neat and cheerful, until at last Old Mother Nature, allworried and troubled, came to see what she could do to straightenmatters out. It didn't take her long to find out how all the littlemeadow and forest people, except Mr. Coon, had grumbled and beendiscontented and said ugly things about her, for you can't fool OldMother Nature, and it's of no use to try. Some she punished one way, and some she punished another way, for of course she hadn't been toblame for the hard times, but had been working night and day to put anend to them. 

"Mr. Coon was the last to be called before her, and instead of beingfrowning and cross, as she had been to the others, she was all smiles. She said a lot of nice things to him, and when at last she sent himaway, what do you think she had given him?"

"More rings, " cried Peter Rabbit. 

"Yes, " replied Grandfather Frog, "Mr. Coon's tail was ringed way tothe tip. There was one for cheerfulness, and one for faith, and onefor persistence in making the best of a bad matter and staying athome. And ever since that long-ago day when the world was young, theCoons have been very proud of their beautiful tails and have kept upthe good habits of old Mr. Coon. Now you know, Peter Rabbit, whyBobby Coon wears rings on his tail, " concluded Grandfather Frog. 

Peter gave a long sigh. "I think it's perfectly beautiful, " he said. "I wish I had rings on my tail. "

And then he wondered why everybody laughed. 

XII

WHY THERE IS A BLACK HEAD IN THE BUZZARD FAMILY

Ol' Mistah Buzzard had just told the story of why he has a bald headand is proud of it. You know he hasn't a feather on it, and it isvery, very red. It was a very interesting story, and it had beenlistened to with the closest attention by a lot of the little meadowand forest people. Unc' Billy Possum, who is Ol' Mistah Buzzard'sparticular friend, both having come from "way down souf, " happenedalong just in time to hear the end of it. 

"May Ah ask yo' a question, Brer Buzzard?" said he. 

"Cert'nly, Brer Possum. Cert'nly, " replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard. 

"Is Buzzard really your fam'ly name?" asked Unc' Billy. 

"No, Brer Possum, it isn't, " replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard. Everybodylooked surprised. You see, no one ever had heard him called anythingbut Buzzard. But no one said anything, and after a minute or two Ol'Mistah Buzzard explained. 

"Mah fam'ly name is Vulture, " said he. "Yes, Sah, mah fam'ly name isVulture, but we-uns done been called Buzzards so long, that Ah don'know as Ah would know Ah was being spoken to, if Ah was called MistahVulture. "

"An' do Ah understand that all of your fam'ly have red haids?"inquired Unc' Billy. 

Ol' Mistah Buzzard looked down at Unc' Billy, and he saw a twinkle inUnc' Billy's shrewd little eyes. Ol' Mistah Buzzard grinned. 

"Ah knows jes' what yo' done got in your mind, Brer Possum, " said he. "It's that trifling, no 'count cousin of mine. He's a Buzzard, or aVulture, if yo' like that better, jes' like Ah am, but he belongs toanother branch of the fam'ly. He has a bald haid, jes' like Ah have, but his haid is black instead of red. That's because his grandpap wastrifling an' po' trash, jes' like he is. "

Peter Rabbit pricked up his ears. This sounded like another story. Hewas curious about that black-headed cousin of Ol' Mistah Buzzard, verycurious indeed. He wondered if Ol' Mistah Buzzard would have to beteased for a story, like Grandfather Frog. Anyway, he would find out. There would be no harm in trying. 

"If you please, how does your cousin happen to have a black head?"asked Peter as politely as he knew how. 

"Because his grandpap asked too many questions, " replied Ol' MistahBuzzard, slyly winking at the others. 

Everybody laughed, for everybody knows that no one asks more questionsthan Peter Rabbit. Peter laughed with the rest, although he looked awee bit foolish. But he didn't mean to give up just because he waslaughed at. Oh, my, no!

"Please, Mr. Buzzard, please tell us the story, " he begged. 

Now Ol' Mistah Buzzard is naturally good-natured and accommodating, and when Peter begged so hard, he just couldn't find it in his heartto refuse. Besides, he rather enjoys telling stories. So he shook hisfeathers out, half spread his wings to let the air blow under them, looked down at all the little meadow and forest people gathered aboutthe foot of the tall, dead tree where he delights to roost, grinnedat them in the funniest way, and then began this story:

"Way back in the days when Grandpap Buzzard had his lil falling outwith ol' King Eagle and done fly so high he sco'tch the feathers offenhis haid, he had a cousin, did Grandpap Buzzard, and this cousin wasjes' naturally lazy and no 'count. Like most no 'count people, he usedto make a regular nuisance of hisself, poking his nose into ev'ybody'sbusiness and never 'tending to his own. Wasn't anything going on thatthis trifling member of the Buzzard fam'ly didn't find out about andmeddle in. He could ask mo' questions than Peter Rabbit can, an'anybody that can do that has got to ask a lot. "

Everybody looked at Peter and laughed. Peter made a funny face andlaughed too. 

"Seemed like he jes' went 'round from mo'ning to night askingquestions, " continued Ol' Mistah Buzzard, "Got so that eve'ybodydreaded to see that no 'count Buzzard coming, because he bound topester with questions about things what don't concern him no ways. 

"Now yo' know that way down in Ol' Virginny where Ah done come from, mah fam'ly done got the habit of sitting on the tops of chimneys inthe wintertime to warm their toes. "

"Why, I thought it was warm down south!" interrupted Peter Rabbit. 

"So it is, Brer Rabbit! So it is!" Ol' Mistah Buzzard hastened to say. "But yo' see, ol' Jack Frost try to come down there sometimes, an' hecool the air off a right smart lot before he turn tail an' run backwhere he belong. So we-uns sit on the chimney-tops whenever ol' JackFrost gets to straying down where he have no business. Yo' see, ifwe-uns keep our toes warm, we-uns are warm all over. 

"One day this no 'count, trifling cousin of Grandpap Buzzard get coldin his feet. He look 'round right smart fo' a chimney fo' to warm histoes, an' pretty soon he see one where he never been before. It was ona lil ol' house, a lil ol' tumble-down house. Mistah Buzzard fly rightover an' sit on that chimney-top fo' to warm his toes. Of course heright smart curious about that lil ol' tumble-down house and who livethere. He hear somebody inside talking to theirself, but he can't hearwhat they say, jes' a mumbling sound that come up the chimney to him. 

"He listen an' listen. Then he shift 'round to the other side of thechimney an' listen. No matter where he sit, he can't hear what beingsaid down inside that lil ol' tumble-down house. Then what do yo'think Mistah Buzzard do? Why, he jes' stretch his fool haid as fardown that chimney as he can an' listen an' listen. Yes, Sah, that isjes' what that no 'count Buzzard do. But all he hear is jes' amumbling and a mumbling, an' that make him more curious than ever. Itseem to him that he must go clean outen his haid 'less he hear whatgoing on down inside that lil ol' house. 

"Now when he stretch his haid an' neck down the chimney that way, heget 'em all black with soot. But he don't mind that. No, Sah, he don'mind that a bit. Fact is, he don' notice it. He so curious he don'notice anything, an' pretty soon he plumb fo'get where he is an' thathe is listening where he have no business. He plumb fo'get all aboutthis, an' he holler down that chimney. Yes, Sah, he holler right downthat chimney!

"'Will yo'-alls please speak a lil louder, ' he holler down thechimney, jes' like that. 

"Now the lil ol' woman what lived by herself in that lil ol'tumble-down house hadn't seen that no 'count Buzzard light on thechimney fo' to warm his toes, an' when she hear that voice comingright outen the fireplace, she was some flustrated and scared, wasthat lil ol' woman. Yes, Sah, she sho'ly was plumb scared. She soscared she tip over a whole kettleful of soup right in the fire. Ofcourse that make a terrible mess an' a powerful lot of smoke an' hotashes fly up the chimney. They like to choke that no 'count Buzzard todeath. They burn the feathers offen his haid an' neck, an' the sootmake him black, all but his feet an' laigs an' the inside of hiswings, which he keep closed. 

"Mistah Buzzard he give a mighty squawk an' fly away. When he gethome, he try an' try to brush that soot off, but it done get into theskin an' it stay there. An' from that day his haid an' neck stayblack, an' he never speak lessen he spoken to, an' then he only grunt. His chillen jes' like him, an' his chillen's chillen the same way. An'that is the reason that mah cousin who lives down souf done have ablack haid, " concluded Ol' Mistah Buzzard. 

A little sigh of satisfaction went around the circle of listeners. Asusual, Peter Rabbit was the first to speak. 

"That was a splendid story, Mr. Buzzard, " said he, "and I'm ever andever so much obliged to you. It was just as good as one of GrandfatherFrog's. "

Ol' Mistah Buzzard grinned and slowly winked one eye at Unc' BillyPossum as he replied: "Thank yo', Brer Rabbit. That's quite thenicest thing yo' could say. "

"But it's true!" shouted all together, and then everybody gave threecheers for Ol' Mistah Buzzard before starting off to attend to theirown private affairs. 

XIII

WHY BUSTER BEAR APPEARS TO HAVE NO TAIL

Peter Rabbit had something new to bother his bump of curiosity. And itdid bother it a lot. He had just seen Buster Bear for the first time, and what do you think had impressed him most? Well, it wasn't Buster'sgreat size, or wonderful strength, or big claws, or deep, grumbly-rumbly voice. No, Sir, it wasn't one of these. It was the factthat Buster Bear seemed to have no tail! Peter couldn't get over that. He almost pitied Buster Bear. You see, Peter has a great admirationfor fine tails. He has always been rather ashamed of the funny littleone he has himself. Still, it is a real tail, and he has oftencomforted himself with that thought. 

So the first thing Peter did when he saw Buster Bear was to look tosee what kind of a tail he had. Just imagine how surprised he was whenhe couldn't make sure that Buster had any tail at all. There wassomething that might, just might, be meant for a tail, and Peterwasn't even sure of that. If it was, it was so ridiculously small thatPeter felt that he had no reason to be ashamed of his own tail. 

He was still thinking about this when he started for home. Half waythere, he paused, saw that the way to the Smiling Pool was clear, andsuddenly made up his mind to ask Grandfather Frog about Buster Bear'stail. Off he started, lipperty-lipperty-lip. 

"Oh, Grandfather Frog, " he panted, as soon as he reached the edge ofthe Smiling Pool, "has Buster Bear got a tail?"

Grandfather Frog regarded Peter in silence for a minute or two. 

Then very slowly he asked: "What are your eyes for, Peter Rabbit?Couldn't you see whether or not he has a tail?"

"No, Grandfather Frog. I really couldn't tell whether he has a tail ornot, " replied Peter quite truthfully. "At first I thought he hadn't, and then I thought he might have. If he has, it doesn't seem to methat it is enough to call a really truly tail. "

"Well, it is a really truly tail, even if you don't think so, "retorted Grandfather Frog, "and he has it for a reminder. "

"A reminder!" exclaimed Peter, looking very much puzzled. "A reminderof what?"

Grandfather Frog cleared his throat two or three times. "Sit down, Peter, and learn a lesson from the tale of the tail of Old King Bear, "said he very seriously. 

"You remember that once upon a time, long ago, when the world wasyoung, Old King Bear ruled in the Green Forest, and everybody broughttribute to him. "

Peter nodded and Grandfather Frog went on. 

"Now Old King Bear was the great-great-ever-so-great grandfather ofBuster Bear, and he looked very much as Buster does, except that hedidn't have any tail at all, not the least sign of a tail. At first, before he was made king of the Green Forest, he didn't mind this atall. In fact, he was rather pleased that he didn't have a tail. Yousee, he couldn't think of any earthly use he would have for a tail, and so he was glad that he hadn't got one to bother with. 

"This was just Old Mother Nature's view of the matter. She had doneher very best to give everybody everything that they really needed, and not to give them things which they didn't need. She couldn't seethat Mr. Bear had the least need of a tail, and so she hadn't givenhim one. Mr. Bear was perfectly happy without one, and was so busygetting enough to eat that he didn't have time for silly thoughts orvain wishes. 

"Then he was made king over all the people of the Green Forest, andhis word was law. It was a very great honor, and for a while he feltit so and did his best to rule wisely. He went about just as before, hunting for his living, and had no more time than before for foolishthoughts or vain wishes. But after a little, the little people overwhom he ruled began to bring him tribute, so that he no longer had tohunt for enough to eat. Indeed, he had so much brought to him, that hecouldn't begin to eat all of it, and he grew very dainty and fussyabout what he did eat. Having nothing to do but eat and sleep, he grewvery fat and lazy, as is the case with most people who have nothing todo. He grew so fat that when he walked, he puffed and wheezed. He grewso lazy that he wanted to be waited on all the time. 

"It happened about this time that he overheard Mr. Fox talking to Mr. Wolf when they both thought him asleep. 'A pretty kind of a king, heis!' sneered Mr. Fox. 'The idea of a king without a tail!'

"'That's so, ' assented Mr. Wolf. 'Why, even that little upstart, Mr. Rabbit, has got a make-believe tail. '"

Grandfather Frog's eyes twinkled as he said this, and Peter lookedvery much embarrassed. But he didn't say anything, so Grandfather Frogwent on. 

"Old King Bear pretended to wake up just then, and right away Mr. Foxand Mr. Wolf were as polite and smiling as you please and began toflatter him. They told him how proud they were of their king, and howhandsome he was, and a lot of other nice things, all of which he hadheard often before and had believed. He pretended to believe them now, but after they were through paying their respects and had gone away, he kept turning over and over in his mind what he had overheard themsay when they thought he was asleep. 

"After that he couldn't think of anything but the fact that he hadn'tany tail. He took particular notice of all who came to pay himtribute, and he saw that every one of them had a tail. Some had longtails; some had short tails; some had handsome tails and some hadhomely tails; but everybody had a tail of some kind. The more he triednot to think of these tails, the more he did think of them. The morehe thought of them, the more discontented he grew because he had none. He didn't stop to think that probably all of them had use for theirtails. No, Sir, he didn't think of that. Everybody else had a tail, and he hadn't. He felt that it was a disgrace that he, the king, should have no tail. He brooded over it so much that he lost hisappetite and grew cross and peevish. 

"Then along came Old Mother Nature to see how things were going in theGreen Forest. Of course she saw right away that something was wrongwith Old King Bear. When she asked him what the matter was, he wasashamed to tell her at first. But after a little he told her that hewanted a tail; that he could never again be happy unless he had atail. She told him that he hadn't the least use in the world for atail, and that he wouldn't be any happier if he had one. Nothing thatshe could say made any difference--he wanted a tail. Finally she gavehim one. 

"For a few days Old King Bear was perfectly happy. He spent all hisspare time admiring his new tail. He called the attention of all hissubjects to it, and they all told him that it was a very wonderfultail and was very becoming to him. But it wasn't long before he foundthat his new tail was very much in the way. It bothered him when hewalked. It was in the way when he sat down. It was a nuisance when heclimbed a tree. He didn't have a single use for it, and yet he had tocarry it with him wherever he went. Worse still, he overheard littleMr. Squirrel and Mr. Possum making fun of it. And then he discoveredthat the very ones who admired his tail so to his face were laughingat him and poking fun at him behind his back. 

"And then Old King Bear wished that he _hadn't_ a tail more than everhe wished that he _did_ have a tail. Again he lost his appetite andgrew cross and peevish, so that no one dared come near him. So matterswent from bad to worse, until once more Old Mother Nature visited theGreen Forest to see how things were. Very humbly Old King Bear wentdown on his knees and begged her to take away his tail. At first OldMother Nature refused, but he begged so hard and promised sofaithfully never again to be discontented, that finally she relentedand took away his tail, all but just a wee little bit. That she leftas a reminder lest he should forget the lesson he had learned andshould again grow envious. 

[Illustration: "Then Old King Bear wished that he hadn't a tail. "]

"And every bear since that long-ago day has carried about with him areminder--you can hardly call it a real tail--of the silly, foolishdiscontent of Old King Bear, " concluded Grandfather Frog. 

Peter Rabbit scratched one long ear thoughtfully as he replied: "Thankyou, Grandfather Frog. I think that hereafter I will be quite contentwith what I've got and never want things it is not meant that I shouldhave. "

XIV

WHY FLITTER THE BAT FLIES AT NIGHT

[Illustration: "It must be fine to fly, " thought Peter. "I wish I couldfly. "]

Flitter the Bat made Peter Rabbit's head dizzy. Peter couldn't helpwatching him. He just had to. It seemed so wonderful that Flittercould really fly, that whenever he saw him, Peter had to stop andwatch. And then, as he saw Flitter twist and turn, fly high, fly low, and go round and round, Peter's head would begin to swim and growdizzy, and he wondered and wondered how it was that Flitter himselfdidn't grow dizzy. 

"It must be fine to fly, " thought Peter. "I wish I could fly. If Icould, I wouldn't spend all my time flying around the way Flitterdoes. I'd go on long journeys and see the Great World. I'd fly way, way up in the blue, blue sky, the way Ol' Mistah Buzzard does, where Icould look down and see all that is going on in the Green Forest andon the Green Meadows. And I'd fly in the daytime, because there ismore going on then. I wonder, now, why it is that Flitter never comesout until after jolly, round, red Mr. Sun has gone to bed behind thePurple Hills. I never see him in the daytime, and I don't even knowwhere he keeps himself. I never thought of it before, but I wonder whyit is that he flies only at night. I believe I'll ask Grandfather Frogthe very next time I see him. "

Now you know that once Peter Rabbit's curiosity is aroused, it justhas to be satisfied. No sooner did he begin to wonder about Flitterthe Bat than he could think of nothing else. So he watched until theway was clear, and then he started for the Smiling Pool as fast as hecould go, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He hoped he would find GrandfatherFrog sitting as usual on his big green lily-pad, and that he would begood-natured. If he wasn't feeling good-natured, it would be of no useto ask him for a story. 

When Peter reached the Smiling Pool he was disappointed, terriblydisappointed. The big green lily-pad was there, but there was no onesitting on it. Somehow the Smiling Pool didn't seem quite like itselfwithout Grandfather Frog sitting there watching for foolish greenflies. Peter's face showed just how disappointed he felt. He was justgoing to turn away when a great, deep voice said:

"Chug-a-rum! Where are your manners, Peter Rabbit, that you forget tospeak to your elders?"

Peter stared eagerly into the Smiling Pool, and presently he saw twogreat, goggly eyes and the top of a green head, way out almost in themiddle of the Smiling Pool. It was Grandfather Frog himself, havinghis morning swim. 

"Oh, Grandfather Frog, I didn't see you at all!" cried Peter, "If Ihad, of course I would have spoken. The fact is, I--I--"

"You want a story, " finished Grandfather Frog for him. "You can't foolme, Peter Rabbit. You came over here just to ask me for a story. Iknow you, Peter! I know you! Well, what is it this time?"

"If you please, " replied Peter politely and happily, for he saw thatGrandfather Frog was feeling good-natured, "why is it that Flitterthe Bat flies only at night?"

Grandfather Frog climbed out on his big green lily-pad and madehimself comfortable. Peter sat still and tried not to show howimpatient he felt. Grandfather Frog took his time. It tickled him tosee how hard impatient Peter was trying to be patient, and his big, goggly eyes twinkled. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said he at last, with a suddenness that made Peter jump. "That's very good, Peter, very good indeed! Now I'll tell you thestory. "

Of course he meant that Peter's effort to keep still was very good, but Peter didn't know this, and he couldn't imagine what GrandfatherFrog meant. However, what he cared most about was the story, so hesettled himself to listen, his long ears standing straight up, and hiseyes stretched wide open as he watched Grandfather Frog. The lattercleared his throat two or three times, each time as if he intended tobegin right then. It was one of Grandfather Frog's little jokes. Hedid it just to tease Peter. At last he really did begin, and the veryfirst thing he did was to ask Peter a question. 

"What is the reason that you stay in the dear Old Briar-patch whenReddy Fox is around?"

"So that he won't catch me, of course, " replied Peter. 

"Very good, " said Grandfather Frog. "Now, why do you go over to thesweet-clover patch every day?"

"Why, because there is plenty to eat there, " replied Peter, lookingvery, very much puzzled. 

"Well, now you've answered your own question, " grunted GrandfatherFrog. "Flitter flies at night because he is safest then, and becausehe can find plenty to eat. "

"Oh, " said Peter, and his voice sounded dreadfully disappointed. Hehad found out what he had wanted to know, but he hadn't had a story. He fidgeted about and looked very hard at Grandfather Frog, but thelatter seemed to think that he had told Peter what he wanted to know, and that was all there was to it. Finally Peter sighed, and it wassuch a heavy sigh! Then very slowly he turned his back on the SmilingPool and started to hop away. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog in his deepest, story-tellingvoice. "A long time ago when the world was young, thegreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Flitter the Bat first learnedto fly. "

"I know!" cried Peter eagerly. "You told me about that, and it was asplendid story. "

"But when he learned to fly, he found that Old Mother Nature nevergives all her blessings to any single one of her little people, "continued Grandfather Frog, without paying the least attention toPeter's interruption. "Old Mr. Bat had wings; something no otheranimal had, but he found that he could no longer run and jump. Hecould just flop about on the ground, and was almost helpless. Ofcourse that meant that he could very easily be caught, and so theground was no longer a safe place for him. But he soon found that hewas not safe in the air in daytime. Old Mr. Hawk could fly even fasterthan he, and Mr. Hawk was always watching for him. At first, Mr. Batdidn't know what to do. He didn't like to go to Old Mother Nature andcomplain that his new wings were not all that he had thought theywould be. That would look as if he were ungrateful for her kindnessin giving him the wings. 

"'I've got to think of some way out of my troubles myself, ' thoughtold Mr. Bat. 'When I'm sure that I can't, it will be time enough to goto Old Mother Nature. '

"Now of course it is very hard to think when you are twisting anddodging and turning in the air. "

"Of course!" said Peter Rabbit, just as if he knew all about it. 

"So Mr. Bat went looking for a place where he could be quiet all byhimself and think without danger of being gobbled up for some one'sdinner, " continued Grandfather Frog. "He flew and he flew and hadalmost given up hope of finding any such place when he saw a cave. Itlooked very black inside, but it was big enough for Mr. Bat to flyinto, and in he went. He knew that Mr. Hawk would never come inthere, and when he found a little shelf up near the roof, he knew thathe was safe from any four-footed enemies who might follow him there. It was just the place to rest and think. So he rested, and while herested, he thought and thought. 

"By and by he noticed that it was growing dark outside. 'My goodness!If I am going to get anything to eat to-day, I shall have to hurry, 'thought he. When he got outside, he found that Mr. Sun had gone tobed. So had all the birds, except Mr. Owl and Mr. Nighthawk. Now Mr. Nighthawk doesn't belong to the Hawk family at all, so there wasnothing to fear from him. Then Mr. Bat had a very pleasant surprise. He found the air full of insects, ever so many more than in thedaytime. By being very smart and quick he caught a few before it wastoo dark for him to see. They didn't fill his stomach, but they kepthim from starving. As he flew back to the cave, a great idea came tohim, the idea for which he had been thinking so hard. He would sleepdays in the cave, where he was perfectly safe, and come out to huntbugs and insects just as soon as Mr. Hawk had gone to bed! Then hewould be safe and would not have to complain to Old Mother Nature. 

"At first old Mr. Bat, who wasn't old then, you know, had hard work tocatch enough insects before it grew too dark, but he found that everynight he could see a little longer and a little better than the nightbefore, until by and by he could see as well in the dusk as he used tosee in the daytime. Then he realized that Old Mother Nature had oncemore been very good to him, and that she had helped him just as shealways helps those who help themselves. She had given himnight-seeing eyes, and he no more had to go hungry. 

"Mr. Bat was very grateful, and from that day to this, Bats have beencontent to live in caves and fly in the evening. You ask Flitter if itisn't so. "

Peter grinned. "He never stays in one place long enough for me to askhim anything, " said he. "I'm ever so much obliged for the story, Grandfather Frog. It pays to make the best of what we have, doesn'tit?"

"It certainly does. Chug-a-rum! It certainly does!" repliedGrandfather Frog. 

XV

WHY SPOTTY THE TURTLE CARRIES HIS HOUSE WITH HIM

Spotty the Turtle sat on an old log on the bank of the Smiling Pool, taking a sun-bath. He had sat that way for the longest time withoutonce moving. Peter Rabbit had seen him when he went by on his way tothe Laughing Brook and the Green Forest to look for some one to passthe time of day with. Spotty was still there when Peter returned along time after, and he didn't look as if he had moved. A suddenthought struck Peter. He couldn't remember that he ever had seenSpotty's house. He had seen the houses of most of his other friends, but think as hard as ever he could, he didn't remember having seenSpotty's. 

"Hi, Spotty!" he shouted. "Where do you live?"

Spotty slowly turned his head and looked up at Peter. There was atwinkle in his eyes, though Peter didn't see it. 

"Right here in the Smiling Pool. Where else should I live?" hereplied. 

"I mean, where is your house?" returned Peter. "Of course I know youlive in the Smiling Pool, but where is your house? Is it in the bankor down under water?"

"It is just wherever I happen to be. Just now it is right here, " saidSpotty. "I always take it with me wherever I go; I find it much thehandiest way. "

[Illustration: "Hi, Spotty!" he shouted. "Where do you live?"]

With that Spotty disappeared. That is to say, his head and legs andtail disappeared. Peter stared very hard. Then he began to laugh, forit came to him that what Spotty had said was true. His house waswith him, and now he had simply retired inside. He didn't need anyother house than just that hard, spotted shell, inside of which he wasnow so cosily tucked away. 

"That's a great idea! Ho, ho, ho! That's a great idea!" shouted Peter. 

"Of course it is, " replied Spotty, putting nothing but his head out, "You will always find me at home whenever you call, Peter, and that ismore than you can say of most other people. "

All the way to his own home in the dear Old Briar-patch, Peter thoughtabout Spotty and how queer it was that he should carry his housearound with him. 

"I wonder how it happens that he does it, " thought he. "No wonder heis so slow. Of course, it is very handy to have his house always withhim. As he says, he is always at home. Still, when he is in a hurryto get away from an enemy, it must be very awkward to have to carryhis house on his back. I--I--why, how stupid of me! He doesn't have torun away at all! All he has got to do is to go inside his house andstay there until the danger is past! I never thought of that before. Why, that is the handiest thing I ever heard of. "

Now Peter knew that there must be a good story about Spotty and hishouse, and you know Peter dearly loves a good story. So at the veryfirst opportunity the next day, he hurried over to the Smiling Pool toask Grandfather Frog about it. As usual, Grandfather Frog was sittingon his big green lily-pad. No sooner did Peter pop his head above theedge of the bank of the Smiling Pool than Grandfather Frog exclaimed:

"Chug-a-rum! You've kept me waiting a long time, Peter Rabbit. I don'tlike to be kept waiting. If you wanted to know about Spotty theTurtle, why didn't you come earlier?" All the time there was a twinklein the big, goggly eyes of Grandfather Frog. 

Peter was so surprised that he couldn't find his tongue. He hadn'tsaid a word to any one about Spotty, so how could Grandfather Frogknow what he had come for? For a long time he had had a great deal ofrespect for Grandfather Frog, who, as you know, is very old and verywise, but now Peter felt almost afraid of him. You see, it seemed toPeter as if Grandfather Frog had read his very thoughts. 

"I--I didn't know you were waiting. Truly I didn't, " stammered Peter. "If I had, I would have been here long ago. If you please, how did youknow that I was coming and what I was coming for?"

"Never mind how I knew. I know a great deal that I don't tell, whichis more than some folks can say, " replied Grandfather Frog. 

Peter wondered if he meant him, for you know Peter is a great gossip. But he didn't say anything, because he didn't know just what to say, and in a minute Grandfather Frog began the story Peter so much wanted. 

"Of course you know, without me telling you, that there is a reasonfor Spotty's carrying his house around with him, because there is areason for everything in this world. And of course you know that thatreason is because of something that happened a long time ago, way backin the days when the world was young. Almost everything to-day is theresult of things that happened in those long-ago days. Thegreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Spotty the Turtle livedthen, and unlike Spotty, whom you know, he had no house. He was veryquiet and bashful, was Mr. Turtle, and he never meddled with any one'sbusiness, because he believed that the best way of keeping out oftrouble was to attend strictly to his own affairs. 

"He was a good deal like Spotty, just as fond of the water and just asslow moving, but he didn't have the house which Spotty has now. If hehad had, he would have been saved a great deal of trouble and worry. For a long time everybody lived at peace with everybody else. Thencame the trying time, of which you already know, when those who livedon the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest had the very hardest kindof work to find enough to eat, and were hungry most of the time. NowMr. Turtle, living in the Smiling Pool, had plenty to eat. He hadnothing to worry about on that score. Everybody who lives in theSmiling Pool knows that it is the best place in the world, anyway. "

Grandfather Frog winked at Jerry Muskrat, who was listening, and Jerrynodded his head. 

"But presently Mr. Turtle discovered that the big people were eatingthe little people whenever they could catch them, and that he wasn'tsafe a minute when on shore, and not always safe in the water, "continued Grandfather Frog. "He had two or three very narrow escapes, and these set him to thinking. He was too slow and awkward to run orto fight. The only thing he could do was to keep out of sight as muchas possible. So he learned to swim with only his head out of water, and sometimes with only the end of his nose out of water. When he wenton land, he would cover himself with mud, and then when he heardanybody coming, he would lie perfectly still, with his legs and histail and his head drawn in just as close as possible, so that helooked for all the world like just a little lump of brown earth. 

"One day he had crawled under a piece of bark to rest and at the sametime keep out of sight of any who might happen along. When he gotready to go on his way, he found that the piece of bark had caught onhis back, and that he was carrying it with him. At first he wasannoyed and started to shake it off. Before he succeeded, he heardsomeone coming, so he promptly drew in his head and legs and tail. Itwas Mr. Fisher, and he was very hungry and fierce. He looked at thepiece of bark under which Mr. Turtle was hiding, but all he saw wasthe bark, because, you know, Mr. Turtle had drawn himself whollyunder. 

"'I believe, ' said Mr. Fisher, talking out loud to himself, 'that I'llhave a look around the Smiling Pool and see if I can catch thatslow-moving Turtle who lives there. I believe he'll make me a gooddinner. '

"Of course Mr. Turtle heard just what he said, and he blessed thepiece of bark which had hidden him from Mr. Fisher's sight. For a longtime he lay very still. When he did go on, he took the greatest carenot to shake off that piece of bark, for he didn't know but that anyminute he might want to hide under it again. At last he reached theSmiling Pool and slipped into the water, leaving the piece of bark onthe bank. Thereafter, when he wanted to go on land, he would firstmake sure that no one was watching. Then he would crawl under thepiece of bark and get it on his back. Wherever he went he carried thepiece of bark so as to have it handy to hide under. 

"Now all this time Old Mother Nature had been watching Mr. Turtle, andit pleased her to see that he was smart enough to think of such aclever way of fooling his enemies. So she began to study how she couldhelp Mr. Turtle. One day she came up behind him just as he sat down torest. The piece of bark was uncomfortable and scratched his back, 'Iwish, ' said he, talking to himself, for he didn't know that any oneelse was near, 'I wish that I had a house of my own that I could carryon my back all the time and be perfectly safe when I was inside ofit. '

"'You shall have, ' said Old Mother Nature, and reaching out, shetouched his back and turned the skin into hard shell. Then she touchedthe skin of his stomach and turned that into hard shell. 'Now draw inyour head and your legs and your tail, ' said she. 

"Mr. Turtle did as he was told to do, and there he was in the verybest and safest kind of a house, perfectly hidden from all hisenemies!

"'Oh, Mother Nature, how can I ever thank you?' he cried. 

"'By doing as you always have done, attending wholly to your ownaffairs, ' replied Old Mother Nature. 

"So ever since that long-ago day when the world was young, all Turtleshave carried their houses with them and never have meddled in thingsthat don't concern them, " concluded Grandfather Frog. 

"Oh, thank you, Grandfather Frog, " exclaimed Peter, drawing a longbreath. "That was a perfectly splendid thing for Old Mother Nature todo. "

Then he started for his own home in the dear Old Briar-patch, and allthe way there he wondered and wondered how Grandfather Frog knew thathe wanted that story, and to this day he hasn't found out. You see, hedidn't notice that Grandfather Frog was listening when he asked Spottyabout his house. Of course, Grandfather Frog knows Peter and hiscuriosity so well that he had guessed right away that Peter would cometo him for the story, just as Peter did. 

XVI

WHY PADDY THE BEAVER HAS A BROAD TAIL

Usually the thing that interests us most is something that we haven'tgot ourselves. It is that way with Peter Rabbit. Peter is notnaturally envious. Oh, my, no! Peter is pretty well satisfied withwhat he has, which is quite as it should be. There is only one thingwith which Peter is really dissatisfied, and it is only once in awhile, when he hasn't much of anything else to think about, that he isdissatisfied with this. Can you guess what it is? Well, it is histail. Yes, Sir, that is the one thing that ever really troublesPeter. 

You see, Peter's tail is, nothing but a funny little bunch of cotton, which doesn't look like a tail at all. The only time he ever sees itis when he is back to the Smiling Pool and looks over his shoulder athis reflection in the water, and then, of course, he really doesn'tsee his tail itself. So sometimes when Peter sees the fine tails ofhis neighbors, a little bit of envy creeps into his heart for just alittle while. Why, even little Danny Meadow Mouse has a real tail, short as it is. And as for Happy Jack Squirrel and Reddy Fox and BobbyCoon and Jimmy Skunk, everybody knows what beautiful tails they have. Once Peter thought about it so much that Grandfather Frog noticed howsober he was and asked Peter what the trouble was. When Peter told himthat it seemed to him that Old Mother Nature had not been fair ingiving him such a foolish little tail when she had given others suchbeautiful ones, Grandfather Frog just opened his big mouth and laugheduntil he had to hold his sides. 

"Why, Peter, " said he, "you look so sober, that I thought you reallyhad something to worry about. What would you do with a big tail, ifyou had one? It would always be in your way. Just think how many timesReddy Fox or old Granny Fox have almost caught you. They certainlywould have before this, if you had had a long tail sticking out behindfor them to get hold of. I had a long tail when I was young, and I wasmighty glad to get rid of it. "

After he heard that, Peter felt better. But he didn't lose interest intails, and he spent a great deal of time in wondering why some of hisneighbors had big, bushy tails and some had long, slim tails and whyhe himself had almost no tail at all. So when Paddy the Beaver cameto live in the Green Forest, and made a pond there by building awonderful dam across the Laughing Brook, the first thing Peter lookedto see was what kind of a tail Paddy has, and the first time he got agood look at it, his eyes popped almost out of his head. He juststared and stared. He hardly noticed the wonderful dam or the equallywonderful canals which Paddy had made. All he could think of was thatgreat, broad, flat, thick tail, which is so unlike any tail he hadever seen or heard of. 

The very next morning he hurried over to the Smiling Pool to tellGrandfather Frog about it. Grandfather Frog's big, goggly eyestwinkled. 

"Chug-a-rum!" said he. "Paddy the Beaver has one of the most usefultails I know of. Would you like to know how he comes by such a queertail?"

[Illustration: The first thing Peter looked to see was what kind of atail Paddy has. ]

"Oh, if you please! If you please, Grandfather Frog! I didn't supposethere was such a queer tail in all the world, and I don't see whatpossible use it can be. Do tell me about it!" cried Peter. 

"Chug-a-rum! If you had used your eyes when you visited Paddy, youmight have guessed for yourself how he came by it, " repliedGrandfather Frog gruffly. "Some people never do learn to use theireyes. "

Peter looked a bit sheepish, but he said nothing and waited patiently. Presently Grandfather Frog cleared his throat two or three times andbegan to talk. 

"Once upon a time, long, long ago, when the world was young--"

"It seems to me that everything wonderful happened long ago when theworld was young, " interrupted Peter. 

Grandfather Frog looked at Peter severely, and Peter hastened to beghis pardon. 

After a long time Grandfather Frog began again. 

"Once on a time, long, long ago, lived Mr. Beaver, thegreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Paddy up there in the GreenForest. Old Mr. Beaver was one of the hardest working of all of OldMother Nature's big family and one of the smartest, just as Paddy isto-day. He always seemed happiest when he was busiest, and because heliked to be happy all the time, he tried to keep busy all the time. 

"He was very thrifty, was Mr. Beaver; not at all like some people Iknow. He believed in preparing to-day for what might happen to-morrow, and so when he had all the food he needed for the present, he storedaway food for the time when it might not be so easy to get. And hebelieved in helping himself, did Mr. Beaver, and not in leavingeverything to Old Mother Nature, as did most of his neighbors. That ishow he first came to think of making a dam and a pond. Like his smallcousin, Mr. Muskrat, he was very fond of the water, and felt most athome and safest there. But he found that sometimes the food which heliked best, which was the bark of certain kinds of trees, grew somedistance from the water, and it was the hardest kind of hard work toroll and drag the logs down to the water, where he could eat the barkfrom them in safety. 

"He thought about this a great deal, but instead of going to OldMother Nature and complaining, as most of his neighbors would havedone in his place, he studied and studied to find some way to make thework easier. One day he noticed that a lot of sticks had caught inthe stream where he made his home, and that because the water couldnot work its way between them as fast as where nothing hindered it, itmade a little pool just above the sticks. That made him think harderthan ever. He brought some of the logs and sticks from which he hadgnawed the bark and fastened them with the others, and right away thepool grew bigger. The more sticks he added, the bigger the pool grew. Mr. Beaver had discovered what a dam is for and how to build it. 

"'Why, ' thought he, 'if I make a pond at the place nearest to my foodtrees, I can carry the water to the trees instead of the trees to thewater; and that will be easier and ever so much safer as well. '

"So Mr. Beaver built a dam at just the right place, while all theother little people laughed at him and made fun of him for working sohard. Just as he had thought it would do, the dam made a pond, and thepond grew bigger and bigger, until it reached the very place where hisfood trees grew. Mr. Beaver built him a big, comfortable house out inthe pond, and then he went to work as hard as ever he could to cutdown trees and then cut them up into the right sized pieces to storeaway in his big food pile for the winter. 

"Now cutting down trees is hard work. Yes, Siree, cutting down treesis the hardest kind of hard work. Mr. Beaver had to sit up on his hindlegs to do it, and his legs grew very, very tired. In those days hehad a tail very much like the tail of Jerry Muskrat. It was veryuseful when he was swimming, but it was of no use at all at any othertime. Sometimes he tried to brace himself with it--when he wassitting up to cut trees, and found it of no help. But he didn'tcomplain; he just kept right on working, and only stopped to rest whenhis legs ached so that he had to. 

"He was working just as usual one day when Old Mother Nature camealong to see how he was getting on. She saw the new dam and the newpond, and she asked Mr. Beaver who had made them. He told her that hehad and explained why. Old Mother Nature was greatly pleased, but shedidn't say so. She just passed the time of day with him and then satdown to watch him cut a tree. She saw him try to brace himself withhis useless tail, and she saw him stop to rest his tired legs. 

"'That looks to me like pretty hard work, ' said Old Mother Nature. 

"'So it is, ' replied Mr. Beaver, stretching first one leg and thenanother. 'But things worth having are worth working for, ' and withthat he began cutting again. 

"'You ought to have something to sit on, ' said Old Mother Nature, hereyes twinkling. 

"Mr. Beaver grinned. 'It would be very nice, ' he confessed, 'but Inever waste time wishing for things I haven't got and can't get, ' andwent right on cutting. 

"The next morning when he awoke, he had the greatest surprise of hislife. He had a new tail! It was broad and thick and flat. It wasn'tlike any tail he had ever seen or heard of. At first he didn't knowhow to manage it, but when he tried to swim, he found that it was evenbetter than his old tail for swimming. He hurried over to begin hisday's work, and there he made another discovery; his new tail was justthe most splendid brace! It was almost like a stool to sit on, and hecould work all day long without tiring his legs. Then was Mr. Beaververy happy, and to show how happy he was, he worked harder than ever. Later, he found that his new tail was just what he needed to pat downthe mud with which he covered the roof of his house. 

"'Why, ' he cried, 'I believe it is the most useful tail in all theworld!'

"And then he wished with all his might that Old Mother Nature wouldreturn so that he might thank her for it. And that, " concludedGrandfather Frog, "is how Mr. Beaver came by his broad tail. You see, Old Mother Nature always helps those who help themselves. And eversince that long-ago day, all Beavers have had broad tails, and havebeen the greatest workers in the world. "