All the little people who live on the Green Meadows and in the Smiling
Pool and along the Laughing Brook were to have a holiday. The Merry
Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind had been very busy, oh very busy
indeed, in sending word to all the little meadow folks. You see, Peter
Rabbit had been boasting of how fast he could run. Reddy Fox was quite
sure that he could run faster than Peter Rabbit. Billy Mink, who can
move so quickly you hardly can see him, was quite sure that neither
Peter Rabbit nor Reddy Fox could run as fast as he. They all met one
day beside the Smiling Pool and agreed that old Grandfather Frog should
decide who was the swiftest.
Now Grandfather Frog was accounted very wise. You see he had lived a
long time, oh, very much longer than any of the others, and therefore,
because of the wisdom of age, Grandfather Frog was always called on to
decide all disputes. He sat on his green lily-pad while Billy Mink sat
on the Big Rock, and Peter Rabbit and Reddy Fox sat on the bank. Each
in turn told why he thought he was the fastest. Old Grandfather Frog
listened and listened and said never a word until they were all through.
When they had finished, he stopped to catch a foolish green fly and then
he said: “The best way to decide who is the swiftest is to have a race.”
So it was agreed that Peter Rabbit and Reddy Fox and Billy Mink should
start together from the old butternut tree on one edge of the Green
Meadows, race away across the Green Meadows to the little hill on the
other side and each bring back a nut from the big hickory which grew
there. The one who first reached the old butternut tree with a hickory
nut would be declared the winner. The Merry Little Breezes flew about
over the Green Meadows telling everyone about the race and everyone
planned to be there.
It was a beautiful summer day. Mr. Sun smiled and smiled, and the
more he smiled the warmer it grew. Everyone was there to see the
race--Striped Chipmunk, Happy Jack Squirrel, Sammy Jay, Blacky the Crow,
Hooty the Owl and Bobby Coon all sat up in the old butternut tree where
it was cool and shady. Johnny Chuck, Jerry Muskrat, Jimmy Skunk, Little
Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog and even old Mr. Toad, were there. Last of
all came Spotty the Turtle. Now Spotty the Turtle is a very slow walker,
and he cannot run at all. When Peter Rabbit saw him coming up towards
the old butternut tree he shouted: “Come, Spotty, don't you want to race
with us?”
Everybody laughed because you know Spotty is so very, very slow but
Spotty didn't laugh and he didn't get cross because everyone else
laughed.
“There is a wise old saying, Peter Rabbit,” said Spotty the Turtle,
“which shows that those who run fastest do not always reach a place
first. I think I WILL enter this race.”
Every one thought that that was the best joke they had heard for a long
time, and all laughed harder than ever. They all agreed that Spotty the
Turtle should start in the race too.
So they all stood in a row, Peter Rabbit first, the Billy Mink, then
Reddy Fox, and right side of Reddy Fox Spotty the Turtle.
“Are you ready?” asked Grandfather Frog. “Go!”
Away went Peter Rabbit with great big jumps. After him went Billy Mink
so fast that was just a little brown streak going through the tall
grass, and side by side with him ran Reddy Fox. Now just as they started
Spotty the Turtle reached up and grabbed the long hair on the end of
Reddy's big tail. Of course Reddy couldn't have stopped to shake him
off, because Peter Rabbit and Billy Mink were running so fast that he
had to run his very best to keep up with them. But he didn't even know
that Spotty the Turtle was there. You see Spotty is not very heavy and
Reddy Fox was so excited that he did not notice that his big tail was
heavier than usual.
The Merry Little Breezes flew along, too, to see that the race was fair.
Peter Rabbit went with great big jumps. Whenever he came to a little
bush he jumped right over it, for Peter Rabbit's legs are long and meant
for jumping. Billy Mink is so slim that he slipped between the bushes
and through the long grass like a little brown streak. Reddy Fox, who is
bigger than either Peter Rabbit or Billy Mink, had no trouble in keeping
up with them. Not one of them noticed that Spotty the Turtle was hanging
fast to the end of Reddy's tail.
Now just at the foot of the little hill on which the big hickory tree
grew was a little pond. It wasn't very wide but it was quite long. Billy
Mink remembered this pond and he chuckled to himself as he raced along,
for he knew that Peter Rabbit couldn't swim and he knew that Reddy Fox
does not like the water, so therefore both would have to run around it.
He himself can swim even faster than he can run. The more he thought of
this, the more foolish it seemed that he should hurry so on such a warm
day. “For,” said Billy Mink to himself, “even if they reach the pond
first, they will have to run around it, while I can swim across it and
cool off while I am swimming. I will surely get there first.” So Billy
Mink ran slower and slower, and pretty soon he had dropped behind.
Mr. Sun, round and red, looking down, smiled and smiled to see the race.
The more he smiled the warmer it grew. Now, Peter Rabbit had a thick
gray coat and Reddy Fox had a thick red coat, and they both began to get
very, very warm. Peter Rabbit did not make such long jumps as when he
first started. Reddy Fox began to feel very thirsty, and his tongue hung
out. Now that Billy Mink was behind them they thought they did not need
to hurry so.
Peter Rabbit reached the little pond first. He had not thought of that
pond when he agreed to enter the race. He stopped right on the edge
of it and sat up on his hind legs. Right across he could see the big
hickory tree, so near and yet so far, for he knew that he must run
around the pond then back again, and it was a long, long way. In just
a moment Reddy Fox ran out of the bushes and Reddy felt much as
Peter Rabbit did. Way, way behind them was Billy Mink, trotting along
comfortably and chuckling to himself. Peter Rabbit looked at Reddy Fox
in dismay, and Reddy Fox looked at Peter Rabbit in dismay. Then they
both looked at Billy Mink and remembered that Billy Mink could swim
right across.
Then off Peter Rabbit started as fast as he could go around the pond one
way, and Reddy Fox started around the pond the other way. They were
so excited that neither noticed a little splash in the pond. That was
Spotty the Turtle who had let go of Reddy's tail and now was swimming
across the pond, for you know that Spotty is a splendid swimmer. Only
once or twice he stuck his little black nose up to get some air. The
rest of the time he swam under water and no one but the Merry Little
Breezes saw him. Right across he swam, and climbed up the bank right
under the big hickory tree.
Now there were just three nuts left under the hickory trees. Two of
these Spotty took down to the edge of the pond and buried in the mud.
The other he took in his mouth and started back across the pond. Just as
he reached the other shore up trotted Billy Mink, but Billy Mink didn't
see Spotty. He was too intent watching Reddy Fox and Peter Rabbit, who
were now half way around the pond. In he jumped with a splash. My! How
good that cool water did feel! He didn't have to hurry now, because he
felt sure that the race was his. So he swam round and round and chased
some fish and had a beautiful time in the water. By and by he looked up
and saw that Peter Rabbit was almost around the pond one way and Reddy
Fox was almost around the pond the other way. They both looked tired and
hot and discouraged.
Then Billy Mink swam slowly across and climbed out on the bank under the
big hickory tree. But where were the nuts? Look as he would, he could
not see a nut anywhere, yet the Merry Little Breezes had said there were
three nuts lying under the hickory tree. Billy Mink ran this way and
ran that way. He was still running around, poking over the leaves and
looking under the twigs and pieces of bark when Peter Rabbit and Reddy
Fox came up.
Then they, too, began to look under the leaves and under the bark. They
pawed around in the grass, they hunted in every nook and cranny, but
not a nut could they find. They were tired and cross and hot and
they accused Billy Mink of having hidden the nuts. Billy Mink stoutly
insisted that he had not hidden the nuts, that he had not found the
nuts, and when they saw how hard he was hunting they believed him.
All the afternoon they hunted and hunted and hunted, and all the
afternoon Spotty the Turtle, with the nut in his mouth, was slowly, oh,
so slowly, crawling straight back across the Green Meadows towards the
old butternut tree. Round, red Mr. Sun was getting very close to the
Purple Hills, where he goes to bed every night, and all the little
meadow folks were getting ready to go to their homes. They were
wondering and wondering what could have happened to the racers, when
Sammy Jay spied the Merry Little Breezes dancing across the Green
Meadows.
“Here come the Merry Little Breezes; they'll tell us who wins the race,”
cried Sammy Jay.
When the Merry Little Breezes reached the old butternut tree, all the
little meadow folks crowded around them, but the Merry Little Breezes
just laughed and laughed and wouldn't say a word. Then all of a sudden,
out of the tall meadow grass crept Spotty the Turtle and laid the
hickory nut at the feet of old Grandfather Frog. Old Grandfather Frog
was so surprised that he actually let a great green fly buzz right past
his nose.
“Where did you get that hickory nut?” asked Grandfather Frog.
“Under the big hickory tree on the hill on the other side of the Green
Meadows,” said Spotty.
Then all the Merry Little Breezes clapped their hands and shouted: “He
did! He did! Spotty wins the race!”
Then they told how Spotty reached the pond by clinging to the tip of
Reddy Fox's tail, and had hidden the other two nuts, and then how he had
patiently crawled home while Billy Mink and Reddy Fox and Peter Rabbit
were hunting and hunting and hunting for the nuts they could not find.
And so Spotty the Turtle was awarded the race, and to this day Peter
Rabbit and Reddy Fox and Billy Mink can't bear the sight of a hickory
nut.
End of Project Gutenberg's Old Mother West Wind, by Thornton W. Burgess