````Watch your step! Be sure you know
`````Exactly what lies just before,
````Because if you should careless be
`````'Tis certain you would step no more.=
|IT wasn't that way with Peter Rabbit. He wasn't afraid that if he
didn't watch out he would step no more, not in the Old Briar-patch
anyway, but he was afraid, dreadfully afraid, that one of Bob White's
babies might step no more. It seemed to Peter that they were always just
under foot. It made him nervous. Every time he moved little Mrs. Bob or
Mrs. Peter was sure to cry, “Watch your step, Peter!” or “Don't step on
one of those darlings!”
So every time he moved Peter looked sharply to see that there wasn't
a tiny brown bird hiding under a brown leaf. You know he wouldn't have
stepped on one of them for the world. Really there wasn't half as much
danger as their fond mother seemed to think, for little as they were
those Bob White babies were very spry, and very smart too. But you
know how it is with mothers; they seem to be always expecting something
dreadful will happen to their babies.
So twenty times a day Peter would hear that warning, “Watch your step!”
Still, in spite of this, he was glad that the Bob White family had moved
over to the dear Old Briar-patch. It gave him a chance to learn more
about the ways of Bob White and his children than he could possibly have
learned in any other way. You know, Peter is always anxious to learn,
especially about other people. It seemed to him that never had he seen
babies grow as did the little Bob Whites. They were everywhere. There
were fifteen of them, and Peter often wondered how under the sun their
mother kept track of all of them. But she did. One thing he noticed,
and this was that they obeyed promptly whenever she called to them. If
Redtail the Hawk came sailing lazily over the old Briar-patch, watching
with sharp eyes to see if anything was going on down there that he
didn't know about, little Mrs. Bob would give a warning, and every one
of those youngsters would squat down right where he happened to be
and not move until she told him he might. So old Red-tail never once
suspected that the Bob White family was there. When Mrs. Bob called them
to her, they came running on the instant. Such obedience was beautiful
to see.
Then, when they were all nestled under her wings, she would tell them
about the Great World and all the dangers that they would have to watch
out for when they were big enough to go out into it, and how each one
was to be met. As they ran this way and that way in the Old Briar-patch,
they picked up tiny seeds. Peter had not supposed that there were so
many seeds as those little Bob Whites found. You know Peter does not eat
tiny seeds, and so he never had noticed them before. Mrs. Bob led them
about, showing them what seeds were best and what to leave alone.
They didn't have to be shown but once. Often they varied their fare by
picking tiny insects from the low-hanging leaves, and once in a while
there would be a struggle between two or more for possession of a worm.
Peter always liked to watch this. It was very funny.
In a few days there were no bugs or worms to be found in the Old
Briar-patch, at least not on or near the ground. The Bob White family
had eaten _every one._
“I wish they would live here all the time,” declared Mrs. Peter. “I
don't like bugs and worms. They give me a crawly feeling every time I
see them.”
But a growing family must have plenty to eat, and at the end of a week
Mrs. Bob led her youngsters forth to hunt bugs and worms and seeds on
the Green Meadows, but never very far from the Old Briar-patch, so that
in case of need they could run back to its friendly shelter. And every
night she brought them back there to sleep under the friendly brambles.
So after all, it was only for a little while that Peter had to watch
his steps, and he was really sorry when he no longer heard that warning
every time he moved. You see, he had grown very fond of the little Bob
Whites.