|THE first time Peter Rabbit saw Digger the Badger, he laughed at him.
Yes, Sir, Peter laughed at him. He laughed until he had to hold his
sides. When he got back to the dear Old Briar-patch, he told little Mrs.
Peter all about Digger. That is, he told her all that he had seen, which
was really very little indeed about Digger, as he found out later.
“I found him away over on the Green Meadows in a place where I have
never been before, and I almost stepped on him before I saw him.
You should have seen me jump. I guess it is lucky I did, too, for he
certainly has got the wickedest-looking teeth, and I didn't like the way
he snarled. Then at a safe distance I sat down and laughed. I just had
to. Why, his legs are so short and his coat hangs down so on each side
that he doesn't seem to have any legs at all. And as for shape, he
hasn't any. He is so broad and flat that he looks as if something big
and heavy had passed over him and rolled him out flat. But how he can
dig! If Johnny Chuck should ever see him digging, Johnny would die of
envy. I'm going over there again to learn more about him.”
“You'd better stay at home and mind your own affairs,” replied little
Mrs. Peter tartly. “No good comes of poking into the affairs of other
people.” This is true, and Peter knows it, but he just couldn't keep
away from that part of the Green Meadows where he had discovered Digger
the Badger. The more he saw of Digger, the greater became his curiosity
about him. The less Peter can find out for himself about any one, the
more curious he becomes, and all he could find out about Digger was that
he slept most of the day, never went far from home, could dig faster
than any one Peter had ever heard of, was short-tempered, and was
treated with respect by all his neighbors, even Old Man Coyote, who
seemed to know him very well.
All this made Peter more curious than ever, so one day, when Old Man
Coyote happened along by the Old Briar-patch, Peter ventured to ask him
about Digger the Badger. Old Man Coyote happened to be feeling in fine
humor, for he had just eaten a good dinner. So he sat down just outside
the dear Old Briar-patch, and this is what he told Peter:
“Digger is an old friend of mine, and I would advise you to treat him
with the greatest respect, Peter, because if you don't, and he ever gets
his claws on you, that will be the end of you. I wouldn't care to get in
a fight with him myself, big as I am. You may have noticed that no one
ever bothers him.” Peter nodded, and Old Man Coyote continued: “I don't
know of any one who minds his own business and keeps his nose out of
the affairs of other people as Digger does. Greatest homebody I know of,
unless it's Johnny Chuck, and even Johnny wanders off once in a while.
But Digger never gets very far from his own doorstep. Says there is no
place like home, and he can't see what anybody wants to leave the best
place in the world for, even if they can come back to it.”
Mrs. Peter reached over and poked Peter in the back, but he didn't even
look at her. You know, she is always trying to keep Peter from roaming
about so. Old Man Coyote went on with his story.
“It isn't because Digger is afraid. Goodness, no! I don't know of any
one better able to take care of himself than Digger the Badger. I guess
it is because his family always have been home-lovers. I've heard my
grandfather tell how Digger's grandfather was just the same as Digger
is, and how he had heard his grandfather say the same thing about
Digger's grandfather's grandfather. They say that the very first Badger,
who founded the family way back in the days when the world was young,
started this home-staying habit, and that all Badgers ever since then
have been just like him. Digger is terribly proud of his family and of
old Mr. Badger, who founded it so long ago. I don't know as I wonder at
it. Old Mr. Badger certainly had more sense than some of his neighbors.
“You see, when Old Mother Nature first turned him loose in the Great
World, he felt that she had not been at all fair in her treatment of
him. His legs were so short and he was so broad and flat that everybody
or nearly everybody laughed at him and good-naturedly poked fun at him.
He pretended not to care, but he did care, just the same. No one really
likes to be laughed at for something he cannot help. Mr. Badger would
watch his neighbors, Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fox and Mr. Rabbit and others,
run and jump, and then he would try to do as they did, and he couldn't
because his legs were so short and so clumsy. He would sit for hours
admiring the graceful forms of his neighbors and comparing them with his
own homely shape. He would wonder what Old Mother Nature could have been
thinking of when she made him.
“But he didn't say so to her. No, indeed! He kept his thoughts to
himself and never let his neighbors know that he envied them in the
least. One day he wandered out from the Green Forest on to the Green
Meadows. He liked it out there. He liked to look up and see so much
of the blue, blue sky all at once. He liked to look off and see a long
distance. Of course, he couldn't do that in the Green Forest because of
the trees. He liked being by himself because he felt so sensitive about
his homely shape. He discovered that if he lay down flat on his stomach
when any one came near, he was always passed unnoticed. Being so broad
and flat and altogether shapeless, he could remain unseen right out
there on the open Green Meadows even when the grass was short, and
that was something that Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fox and even little Mr.
Rabbit couldn't do. It pleased him. He began to be less envious of his
neighbors.
“Then one never-to-be-forgotten day the Red Terror, which men call fire,
broke loose in the Green Forest, and all the little people fled before
it. Across the meadows and past old Mr. Badger they raced, with fear in
their eyes, and behind them came the Red Terror. A terrible fear sprang
up in the heart of Mr. Badger. With those short legs he never in the
world could run fast enough to escape. What should he do? What _could_
he do? He looked at the great claws on his stout feet, and all in a
flash an idea came to him. Perhaps if he dug a hole and crawled into it,
the Red Terror would not find him. At once he began to dig, and how the
dirt did fly! In just no time at all he was quite out of sight, and by
the time the Red Terror had reached there, he was so far down in the
ground that he didn't even feel the heat.
“When it was all over and the earth had cooled off so that he could come
out, he sat on the pile of dirt in front of his hole and did some hard
thinking. He looked at his stout legs and long claws, and all at once it
came over him that Old Mother Nature had not been so unfair after all.
She had provided him with a means to take care of himself which he
wouldn't exchange with any of his neighbors for all their speed and
better looks. Later, when he saw how some of them were worn out with
running, and some of them even had burned places on their coats, the
last bit of envy disappeared.
“'I guess,' said he to himself, 'Old Mother Nature has given each one
special blessings, but she expects us to find them out for ourselves.
I've found mine out, some of them, anyway, and I'll just get busy and
look for the rest. I'm going straight over to the prettiest part of the
Green Meadows where the Red Terror hasn't been and dig myself a house in
the ground. There is no place like a good home, so what is the good of
roaming around? My legs were not intended for that, and those who have
got longer legs can do it if they want to.'
“He did just what he said he would do. He practised digging until he was
the best digger of all the little people. The more he dug, the stouter
and stronger his legs became, and soon he found that all his neighbors
respected his strength, and none would quarrel with him. Because he
could get plenty to eat near his home, he never went far from his
doorstep, and from that time on he lived in perfect safety and
contentment. He brought his children up to do the same thing, and if you
should go over and ask Digger to-day, he would tell you that there is no
place like home, and that he envies no one. I'm glad, however, that not
every one agrees with him, or I should have hard work to get a living,”
concluded Old Man Coyote with a sly wink at Mrs. Peter.