PETER SCARES THE TWINS
For timid folk no joy is quite
Like giving other folks a fright.
_Mother Bear._
It isn’t often that Peter Rabbit has a chance to scare any one. You
know he is such a timid fellow himself that he is the one who usually
gets the fright. So when he does happen to scare some one it always
amuses him. Somehow he always has more respect for himself.
When on that moonlight night he discovered Mrs. Bear’s secret, he had
the most mixed feelings he ever had known. First came surprise, as
he saw those two little heads poked out of Mrs. Bear’s entrance. He
was sitting up very straight and the surprise was so great that he all
but tumbled over backwards. You see, there was no mistaking those two
little heads for any but those of baby Bears! He knew that those were
two Bear cubs, Mrs. Bear’s babies, the secret she had kept hidden so
long under the great windfall.
And his surprise at seeing those two little heads was only a little
greater than his surprise at the smallness of them. So for perhaps
two minutes Peter sat motionless, quite overcome with surprise, as he
stared at those two funny little heads poked out from the entrance
under the great windfall. Then all in a flash he understood the cause
of Mrs. Bear’s short temper and the reason she drove everybody away
from there, and he felt a sudden panic of fright.
“This is no place for me,” thought Peter, “and the sooner I get away
from here the better.” He looked hastily all about. There was no sign
of Mrs. Bear. Right then and there curiosity returned in full force.
“I wish those youngsters would come out where I can look at them and
just see how big they are,” thought Peter. “It seems safe enough here
now, and perhaps if I wait a few minutes they will come out.”
So Peter waited. Sure enough, in a few minutes the two little cubs did
come out. Plainly it was their first glimpse of the Green Forest, and
Peter almost laughed right out at the look of wonder on their faces as
they stared all about in the moonlight. But not even his first surprise
was greater than Peter’s surprise now as he saw how small they were.
“Why,” he exclaimed to himself, “why-ee, they are no bigger than I! I
didn’t suppose any one so big as great big Mrs. Bear could have such
small children. I wonder how old they are. I wonder how big they were
when they were born. I wonder if they will grow fast. I wonder if they
will go about with Mrs. Bear. I suppose Buster Bear is their father,
and I wonder if he ever comes to see them. They look to me rather
wobbly on their legs. I wonder if Mrs. Bear told them they could come
out.”
And then the imp of mischief whispered to Peter. “I wonder if I can
scare them,” thought Peter. “It would be great fun to scare a Bear,
even if it is nothing but a cub, and to scare two at once would be
greater fun.”
Peter suddenly thumped the ground very hard with his hind feet. It was
so still there in the Green Forest that that thump sounded very loud.
The two little cubs gave a startled look towards Peter. As he sat up
straight in the moonlight, he looked very big. That is, he did to those
two little cubs who never had seen him before.
With funny little whimpers of fright they turned and fairly tumbled
over each other as they scurried back through the entrance under the
great windfall. Peter laughed and laughed until his sides ached. He,
Peter Rabbit, actually had frightened two Bears and made them run. Now
he would have something to boast about.