small and moving so swiftly, he was hard to keep track of. You know how
it is with Shadow--now you see him, and now you don't."
Chatterer and Peter nodded. They knew that it is because of this that he
is called Shadow.
"Well," continued Jimmy, "it didn't take him long to find that if he
were careful, he could go where he pleased, and no one would be the
wiser. They say that he used to practise dodging out of sight when he
saw any one coming, and after a while he got so that he could disappear
right under the very noses of his neighbors. Being so slim, he could go
where any of his four-footed neighbors could, and it wasn't long before
he knew all about every hole and nook and corner anywhere around. There
were no secrets that he didn't find out, and all the time no one
suspected him.
"Of course hard times came to Mr. Weasel at last, just as to everybody
else, but they didn't worry him much. You see, he knew all about the
secret hiding-places in which some of his neighbors had stored away
food, so when he was hungry, all he had to do was to help himself. So
Mr. Weasel became a thief, and still no one suspected him. Now one bad
habit almost always leads to another. Mr. Weasel developed a great
fondness for eggs. Our whole family has always had rather a weakness
that way."
Jimmy grinned, for he knew that Peter and Chatterer knew that he himself
never could pass a fresh egg when he found it.
"One day he found a nest in which were four little baby birds instead
of the eggs he had been expecting to find there and, having a mean
disposition, he flew into a rage and killed those four little birds.
Yes, Sir, that's what he did. He found the taste of young birds very
much to his liking, and he began to hunt for more. Then he discovered a
nest of young mice, and he found these quite as good as young birds.
Then came a great fear upon the littlest people, but not once did they
suspect Mr. Weasel. He was very crafty and went and came among them just
as always. They suspected only the larger and stronger people of the
forest who, because food was getting very scarce, had begun to hunt the
smaller people.
"But you know wrongdoing is bound to be found out sooner or later. One
day Mr. Rabbit surprised Mr. Weasel making a meal of young mice, and of
course he hurried to tell all his neighbors. Then Mr. Weasel knew that
it was no longer of use to pretend that he was what he was not, and he
boldly joined the bigger animals in hunting the smaller ones. It makes
most people angry to be caught in wrongdoing and it was just that way
with Mr. Weasel. He flew into a great rage and vowed that he would kill
Mr. Rabbit, and when he couldn't catch Mr. Rabbit, he hunted others of
his neighbors until there was no one, not even fierce Mr. Wolf or Mr.
Panther or Mr. Lynx, of whom the littlest people were in such fear. You
see, they could hide from the big hunters, but they couldn't hide from
Mr. Weasel because he knew all their hiding-places, and he was so slim
and small that wherever they could go, he could go.
"Now the big people, like Mr. Wolf and Mr. Panther, killed only for
food that they might live, and when they found Mr. Weasel killing more
than he could eat, they would have nothing to do with him and even
threatened to kill him if they caught him. So pretty soon Mr. Weasel
found that he hadn't a friend in the world. This made him more savage
than ever, and he hunted and killed just for the pleasure of it. He took
pleasure in the fear which he read in the eyes of his neighbors when
they saw him.
"Old Mother Nature was terribly shocked when she discovered what was
going on, but she found that she could do nothing with Mr. Weasel. He
wasn't sorry for what he had done and he wouldn't promise to do better.
'Very well,' said Old Mother Nature, 'from this time on you and your
children and your children's children forever and ever shall be
outcasts among the people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows,
hated by all, little and big.' And it has been so to this day. Even I am
not on speaking terms with Shadow, although he is my own cousin,"
concluded Jimmy Skunk.
Peter Rabbit shuddered. "Isn't it dreadful not to have a single friend?"
he exclaimed. "I would rather have to run for my life twenty times a day
than to be hated and feared and without a single friend. I wouldn't be
an outcast for all the world."
"There's not the least bit of danger of that for you, Peter," laughed
Jimmy Skunk.
X
HOW THE EYES OF OLD MR. OWL BECAME FIXED
X
HOW THE EYES OF OLD MR. OWL BECAME FIXED
Blacky the Crow had discovered Hooty the Owl dozing the bright day away
in a thick hemlock-tree. Blacky knew that the bright light hurt Hooty's
big eyes and half blinded him. This meant that he could have no end of
fun teasing Hooty, and that Hooty would have to sit still and take it
all, because he couldn't see well enough to fly away or to try to catch
Blacky. Now if the day had been dark, as it sometimes is on cloudy days,
or if the dusk of evening had been settling over the Green Meadows and
the Green Forest, matters would have been very different. Blacky would
have taken care, the very greatest care, not to let Hooty know that he
was anywhere around. But as it was, here was a splendid chance to spoil
Hooty's sleep and to see him grow very, very angry and do it without
running any great risk.
"Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" yelled Blacky at the top of his voice, and at
once all his relatives came flocking over to join in the fun. Dear me,
dear me, such a racket as there was then! They flew over his head, and
they settled in the tree all around him, all yelling as hard as ever
they could. Everybody within hearing knew what it meant, and everybody
who dared to hurried over to watch the fun. Somehow most people seem to
take pleasure in seeing some one else made uncomfortable, especially if
it is some one of whom they stand in fear and who is for the time being
helpless.
Most of the little meadow and forest people are very much afraid of
Hooty the Owl as soon as it begins to grow dark, for that is when he can
see best and does all his hunting. So, though it wasn't at all nice of
them, they enjoyed seeing him tormented by Blacky and his relatives. But
all the time they took the greatest care to keep out of sight
themselves. Peter Rabbit was there. So was Jumper the Hare and Happy
Jack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Whitefoot the
Wood Mouse and Striped Chipmunk and a lot more. Of course, Sammy Jay was
there, but Sammy didn't try to keep out of sight. Oh, my, no! He joined
right in with the Crows, calling Hooty all sorts of bad names and flying
about just out of reach in the most impudent way. You see he knew just
how helpless Hooty was.
Hooty was very, very angry. He hissed, and he snapped his bill, and he
told his tormentors what he would do to them if he caught them after
dark. And all the time he kept turning his head with its great, round,
glaring, yellow eyes so as not to give his tormentors a chance to pull
out any of his feathers, as the boldest of them tried to do. Now Hooty
can turn his head as no one else can. He can turn it so that he looks
straight back over his tail, so that his head looks as if it were put on
the wrong way. Then he can snap it around in the other direction so
quickly that you can hardly see him do it, and sometimes it seems as if
he turned his head clear around.
That interested Peter Rabbit immensely. He couldn't think of anything
else. He kept trying to do the same thing himself, but of course he
couldn't. He could turn his head sideways, but that was all. He puzzled
over it all the rest of the day, and that night, when his cousin, Jumper
the Hare, called at the dear Old Briar-patch, the first thing he did was
to ask a question.
"Cousin Jumper, do you know why it is that Hooty the Owl can turn his
head way around, and nobody else can?"
"Of course I know," replied Jumper. "I thought everybody knew that. It's
because his eyes are fixed in their sockets, and he can't turn them. So
he turns his whole head in order to see in all directions. The rest of
us can roll our eyes, but Hooty can't."
Peter scratched his long left ear with his long right hindfoot, a way he
has when he is thinking or is puzzled. "That's funny," said he. "I
wonder why his eyes are fixed."
"Because his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather rolled his eyes too
much," replied Jumper, yawning. "He saw too much. It's a bad thing to
see too much."
"Tell me about it. Please do, Cousin Jumper," begged Peter.
Jumper looked up at the moon to see what time of night it was.
"All right," said he, settling himself comfortably. "All the Owl family,
way back to the very beginning, have had very big eyes. Old Mr. Owl had
them. He could move them just as we can ours. And because they were so
big, and because he could roll them, there was very little going on that
Mr. Owl didn't see. It happened one day that Old Mother Nature took it
into her wise old head to put the little people of the Green Meadows
and the Green Forest to a test. She wanted to see just how many of them
she could trust to obey her orders. So she lined them all up in a row.
Then she made them turn so that their backs were to her.
"'Now,' said she, 'everybody is to keep eyes to the front. I am going to
be very busy back here for a few minutes, but not one of you is to peek.
I shall know if you do, and I shall see to it that you never forget it
as long as you live.'
"That sounded as if something dreadful might happen, so everybody sat
perfectly still looking straight before them. Some of them felt as if
they would die of curiosity to know what Old Mother Nature was doing,
but for a while no one thought of disobeying. Old Mr. Rabbit just itched
all over with curiosity. It seemed to him that he just must turn his
head. But for once he managed to get the best of his curiosity and
stared straight ahead.
"Now Mr. Owl had tremendous great ears, just as Hooty has to-day. You
can't see them because the feathers cover them, but they are there just
the same."
Peter nodded. He knew all about those wonderful ears and how they heard
the teeniest, weeniest noise when Hooty was flying at night.
"Those, big ears," continued Jumper, "heard every little sound that Old
Mother Nature made, and they sounded queer to Mr. Owl. 'If I roll back
my eyes without turning my head, I believe I can see what she is doing,
and she won't be any the wiser,' thought he. So he rolled his eyes back
and then looked straight ahead again. What he had seen made him want to
see more. He tried it again. Just imagine how he felt when he found that
his eyes wouldn't roll. He couldn't move them a bit. All he could do was
to stare straight ahead. It frightened him dreadfully, and he kept
trying and trying to roll his eyes, but they were fixed fast. He could
see in only one direction, the way his head was turned.
"When at last Old Mother Nature told all the little people that they
might look, Mr. Owl didn't want to look. He didn't want to face Old
Mother Nature, for he knew perfectly well what had happened to his eyes.
He knew that Old Mother Nature had seen him roll them back, and that as
a punishment she had fixed them so that he would always stare straight
ahead. He didn't say anything. He was too ashamed to. He flew away home
the very first chance he got. For a long time after that, Mr. Owl never
could see behind him at all. He could only turn his head part way, the
same as most folks, and he couldn't roll his eyes to see the rest of the
way. It made him dreadfully nervous and unhappy. He felt all the time as
if people were doing things behind his back. But he didn't complain. He
was ashamed to do that.
"Old Mother Nature was watching him all the time. After a long, long
while, she decided that he had been punished enough. But she didn't want
him to forget, so she kept his eyes fixed so that they would look
straight ahead; but she gave him the power to turn his head farther than
any one else, so that he could look straight behind him without turning
his body at all. And ever since that time, all Owls have had fixed eyes,
but have been able to turn their heads so as to make them look as if
they were facing the wrong way."
"Thank you, Cousin Jumper," cried Peter. "But there is one thing you
forgot to tell. What was it that Old Mother Nature was doing when Mr.
Owl rolled his eyes to look back."
"That," replied Jumper, "Mr. Owl never told, and nobody else knew, so I
can't tell you."
XI
HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER
XI
HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER
Peter Rabbit was bothered. He was bothered in his mind, and when Peter
is bothered in his mind, he loses his appetite. It was so now. He had
been up in the Old Orchard and, as is his way, had stopped at Johnny
Chuck's for a bit of gossip. As he sat there talking, it suddenly came
over him that Johnny was looking unusually fat. He said so. Johnny
yawned in a very sleepy way as he replied:
"One has to get fat in order to sleep comfortably all winter. I've got
to get fatter than I am now before I turn in." And with that, Johnny
Chuck fell to eating as if his sides were falling in instead of
threatening to burst, and Peter could get no more from him.
So he went home to think it over, and the more he thought, the more
troubled he became. How could anybody sleep all winter? And what good
did just getting fat do? Johnny Chuck couldn't eat his own fat, so what
was the use of it? "Must be it's to keep him warm," thought Peter and
brightened up. But why wasn't a good thick coat of fur just as good or
even better? He didn't have any trouble keeping warm. Neither did Billy
Mink or Little Joe Otter or Reddy Fox. No, it couldn't be that Johnny
Chuck put on all that fat just to keep warm. Besides, he would spend the
winter way down deep in the ground, and there was no excuse for being
cold there.
"I couldn't sleep all winter if I wanted to, and I wouldn't if I could,
for there is too much fun to miss," muttered Peter, as he started for
the Smiling Pool in search of Grandfather Frog. He found him sitting on
his big lily-pad, but somehow Grandfather Frog didn't look as chipper
and smart as usual. "He certainly is growing old," thought Peter. "He
isn't as spry as he used to be. Seems as if he had grown old in the last
two or three weeks. Too bad, too bad."
Aloud, Peter said: "Why, Grandfather Frog, how well you are looking! You
are enough to make us young fellows envious."
Grandfather Frog looked at Peter sharply. Perhaps he read the truth in
Peter's eyes. "Chug-a-rum!" said he. "Be honest, Peter. Be honest. Don't
try to flatter, because it is a bad habit to get into. I know how I
look. I look old and tired. Now isn't that so?"
Peter looked a little shamefaced. He didn't know just what to say, so he
said nothing and just nodded his head.
"That's better," said Grandfather Frog gruffly. "Always tell the truth.
The fact is I _am_ tired. I am so tired that I'm going to sleep for the
winter, and I'm going to do it this very day."
"Oh, Grandfather Frog," (Peter had found his tongue), "please tell me
something before you go. I can understand how you may want to sleep all
winter because you have no nice fur coat to keep you warm, but why does
Johnny Chuck do it, and how does he do it? Why doesn't he starve to
death?"
Grandfather Frog had to smile at the eager curiosity in Peter's voice.
"I see you are just as full of questions as ever, Peter," said he. "I
suppose I may as well tell you one more story, because it will be a long
time before you will get another from me. Johnny Chuck sleeps all winter
because he is sensible, and he is sensible because it runs in the family
to be sensible. His great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather was sensible.
It's a very good thing to have good sound common sense run in the
family, Peter."
Once more Peter nodded his head. Jerry Muskrat, who was sitting on the
Big Rock, listening, winked at Peter, and Peter winked back. Then he
made himself comfortable and prepared not to miss a word of Grandfather
Frog's story.
"You must know, Peter, that a long time ago when the world was young,
there was a time when there was no winter," began Grandfather Frog.
"That was before the hard times of which I have told you before.
Everybody had plenty to eat, and everybody was on the best of terms with
all his neighbors. Then came the hard times, and the beginning of the
hard times was the coming of rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost.
Their coming made the first winter. It wasn't a very long or a very hard
winter, but it was long enough and hard enough to make a great deal of
discomfort, particularly for those little people who lived altogether on
tender young green plants. Yes, Sir, it certainly was hard on them. Some
of them nearly starved to death that first winter, short as it was. Old
Mr. Chuck, who, of course, wasn't old then, was one of them. By the time
the tender, young, green things began to grow again, he was just a
shadow of what he used to be. He was so thin that sometimes he used to
listen to see if he couldn't hear his bones rattle inside his skin.
"Of course he couldn't, but he was quite sure that when the wind blew,
it went right through him. At last warm weather returned, just as it
does now every summer, and once more there was plenty to eat. Some of
the little people seemed to forget all about the hard times of the cold
weather, but not Mr. Chuck. He had been too cold and too hungry to ever
forget. Of course, with plenty to eat, he soon grew fat and comfortable
again, but all the time he kept thinking about the terrible visit of
rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost and wondering if they would come
again. He talked about it with his neighbors but most of them laughed
and told him that he was borrowing trouble, and that they didn't
believe that Brother North Wind and Jack Frost ever would come again.
"So after a while Mr. Chuck kept his thoughts to himself and went about
his business as usual. But all the time he was turning over and over in
his mind the possibility of another period of cold and starvation and
trying to think of some way to prepare for it. He didn't once think of
going to Old Mother Nature and begging her to take care of him, for he
was very independent, was Mr. Chuck, and believed that those are best
helped who help themselves. So he kept studying and studying how he
could live through another cold spell, if it should come.
"'I haven't got as thick a fur coat as Mr. Mink or Mr. Otter or Mr.
Squirrel or some others, and I can't run around as fast as they can, so
of course I can't keep as warm,' said he to himself, as he sat taking a
sun-bath one day. 'I must find some other way of keeping warm. Now I
don't believe the cold can get very deep down in the ground, so if I
build me a house way down deep in the ground, it always will be
comfortable. Anyway, it never will be very cold. I believe that is a
good idea. I'll try it at once.'
"So without wasting any time, Mr. Chuck began to dig. He dug and he dug
and he dug. When his neighbors grew curious and asked questions, he
smiled good-naturedly and said that he was trying an experiment. When he
had made a long hall which went down so deep that he was quite sure that
Jack Frost could not get down there, he made a bedroom and put in it a
bed of soft grass. When it was finished, he was so pleased with it that
he retired to it every night as soon as the sun went down and didn't
come out again until morning.
"'Anyway, I won't freeze to death,' said he. Then he sighed as he
remembered how hungry, how terribly hungry he had been. 'Now if only I
can think of some way to get food enough to carry me through, I'll be
all right.'
"At first he thought of storing up food, but when he tried that, he soon
found that the tender green things on which he lived wouldn't keep. They
shriveled and dried, so that he couldn't eat them at all. He was still
trying to think of some plan when Old Mother Nature sent warning that
rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost were coming again. Mr. Chuck's
heart sank. He thought of how soon all the tender green things would
disappear. Right then an idea was born in Mr. Chuck's head. He would eat
all he could while he could, and then he would go down into his bedroom
and sleep just as long as he could!
"So day after day he spent stuffing himself, and his neighbors called
him Mr. Greedy. But he didn't mind that. He kept right on eating, and of
course he grew fatter and fatter, so that at last he was so fat he could
hardly get about. The days grew cooler and cooler, and then Mr. Chuck
noticed that because he was so fat, he didn't feel the cold as he had
before. There came a morning at last when Mr. Chuck stuck his nose out
to find Jack Frost waiting to pinch it. All the tender green things were
black and dead. Back to his bed scrambled Mr. Chuck and curled up to
sleep just as long as he could. He made up his mind that he wouldn't
worry until he had to. He had done his best, and that was all he could
do.
"When Old Mother Nature came to see how the little people were faring,
she missed Mr. Chuck. She asked his neighbors what had become of him,
but no one knew. At length she came to his house and looking inside
found him fast asleep. She saw right away what he had done and how fat
he had grown. She knew without being told what it all meant, and the
idea amused her. Instead of wakening him, as she had at first intended
to do, she touched Mr. Chuck and put him into a deeper sleep, saying:
"'You shall sleep, Mr. Chuck,
Through the time of frost and snow.
For your courage and your pluck
You shall no discomfort know.'
"And so Mr. Chuck slept on until the tender young green things began
once more to grow. The cold could not reach him, and the fat he had
stored under his skin took the place of food. When he awoke in the
spring, he knew nothing of the hard times his neighbors were talking
about. And ever since then the Chuck family has slept through the
winter, because it is the most comfortable and sensible thing to do. I
know, because I have done the same thing for years. Good-by, Peter
Rabbit! No more stories until spring."
Before Peter could say a word, there was a splash in the Smiling Pool,
and Grandfather Frog was nowhere to be seen.
"I--I don't see how they do it," said Peter, shaking his head in a
puzzled way as he slowly hopped towards the dear Old Briar-patch.
XII
HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE
XII
HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE
Little Joe Otter was having the jolliest kind of a time. Little Joe
Otter is a jolly little chap, anyway, and just now he was extra happy.
You see, he had a brand new slippery-slide. Yes, Sir, Little Joe had
just built a new slippery-slide down the steepest part of the bank into
the Smiling Pool. It was longer and smoother than his old
slippery-slide, and it seemed to Little Joe as if he could slide and
slide all day long. Of course he enjoyed it more because he had built it
himself. He would stretch out full length at the top of the
slippery-slide, give a kick to start himself, shoot down the
slippery-slide, disappear headfirst with a great splash into the Smiling
Pool, and then climb up the bank and do it all over again.
Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck sat watching him from the bank on the
other side of the Smiling Pool. Right down below them, sitting on his
big green lily-pad, was Grandfather Frog, and there was a sparkle in his
big, goggly eyes and his great mouth was stretched in a broad grin as he
watched Little Joe Otter. He even let a foolish green fly brush the tip
of his nose and didn't snap at it.
"Chug-a-rum!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog to no one in particular. "That
reminds me of the days when I was young and the greatest diver in the
Smiling Pool. My goodness, it makes me feel young just to watch Little
Joe shoot down that slippery-slide. If I weren't so old, I'd try it
myself. Wheee!"
With, that, Grandfather Frog suddenly jumped. It was a great, long,
beautiful jump, and with his long hind legs straight out behind him,
Grandfather Frog disappeared in the Smiling Pool so neatly that he made
hardly a splash at all, only a whole lot of rings on the surface of the
water that grew bigger and bigger until they met the rings made by
Little Joe Otter and then became all mixed up.
Half a minute later Grandfather Frog's head bobbed up out of the water,
and for the first time he saw Johnny Chuck and Peter Rabbit.
"Come on in; the water's fine!" he cried, and rolled one big, goggly eye
up at jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun and winked it in the most comical
way, for he knew, and he knew that Mr. Sun knew, just how Johnny Chuck
and Peter Rabbit dislike the water.
"No, thanks," replied Peter, but there was a wistful look in his big
eyes as he watched Little Joe Otter splash into the Smiling Pool. Little
Joe was having such a good time! Peter actually was wishing that he
_did_ like the water.