IT was still dark in the Hollow Tree when the Deep Woods People woke up
next morning, but they knew what was the matter now, and could tell by
the clock and the fire that it was day outside, even before Mr. 'Possum
ran up to his room and looked out the window and came back shivering,
because he said the snow was blowing and drifting and some had drifted
in around his windows and made his room as cold as all outdoors. He said
he was willing to stay by the fire while this spell lasted, and take
such exercise as he needed by moving his chair around to the table when
he wanted to eat.
Mr. 'Coon said that Mr. 'Possum might exercise himself on a little wood
for the cook-stove in Mr. Crow's kitchen if he wanted any breakfast,
and that if this spell kept up long enough, they wouldn't have anything
left but exercise to keep them alive.
So Mr. 'Possum went down-stairs after an armful of stove-wood, and he
stayed a good while, though they didn't notice it at the time. Then they
all helped with the breakfast, and after breakfast they pushed back all
the things and played "Blind Man's Buff," for Mr. Rabbit said that even
if moving his chair from the fire to the table and back again was enough
exercise for Mr. 'Possum, it wasn't enough for _him_, and the others
said so, too.
[Illustration: SO THEN MR. RABBIT SAID THEY MUST CHOOSE WHO WOULD BE
"IT"]
So then Mr. Rabbit said they must choose who would be "It" first, and
they all stood in a row and Mr. Rabbit said:
"Hi, ho, hickory dee--
One for you and one for me;
One for the ones you try to find,
And one for the one that wears the blind,"
which was a rigmarole Mr. Rabbit had made up himself to use in games
where somebody had to be "It," and Mr. Rabbit said it around and around
the circle on the different ones--one word for each one--until he came
to the word "blind" and that was Mr. 'Possum, who had to put on the
handkerchief and do more exercising than any of them, until he caught
Mr. Turtle, who had to be "It" quite often, because he couldn't get
out of the way as well as the others.
And Mr. 'Possum was "It" a good deal, too, and Mr. 'Coon, and all the
rest, though Mr. Robin was "It" less than anybody, because he was so
little and spry that he could get out of the way.
Then when they were tired of "Blind Man's Buff" they played "Pussy Wants
a Corner" and "Forfeits," and Mr. 'Possum had to make a speech to redeem
his forfeit, and he began:
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN" (though there were no ladies present)--"I am
pleased to see you all here this evening" (though it wasn't evening)
"looking so well dressed and well fed. It is better to be well fed than
well dressed. It is better to be well dressed than not dressed at all.
It is better to be not dressed at all than not fed at all. Ladies and
gentlemen, I thank you for your kind attention and applause"--though
they hadn't applauded yet, but they did, right away, and said it was a
good speech, and Mr. Crow said it reminded him that it was about
dinner-time, and that he would need some more wood.
So Mr. 'Possum got right up to get the stove-wood again, which everybody
thought was very good of Mr. 'Possum, who wasn't usually so spry and
willing.
[Illustration: MR. 'POSSUM HAD TO PUT ON THE HANDKERCHIEF AND DO MORE
EXERCISING THAN ANY OF THEM]
Then in the afternoon they had games again, but nice quiet games, for
they were all glad to sit down, and they played "Button! Button! Who's
Got the Button?" and nobody could tell when Mr. 'Possum had the button,
for his face didn't show it, because he was nearly always looking
straight into the fire, and seemed to be thinking about something away
off. And when the fire got low, he always jumped up and offered to go
down into the store-room after the wood, and they all said how willing
and spry Mr. 'Possum was getting all at once, and when he stayed a good
while down-stairs they didn't think anything about it--not at the
time--or if they did they only thought he was picking out the best
pieces to burn. They played "Drop the Handkerchief," too, and when they
got through Mr. Rabbit performed some tricks with the handkerchief and
the button that made even Mr. 'Possum pay attention because they were so
wonderful.
There was one trick especially that Mr. Rabbit did a great many times
because they liked it so much, and were so anxious to guess how it was
done. Mr. Rabbit told them it was a trick that had come down to him from
his thirty-second great-grandfather, and must never be told to any one.
It was a trick where he laid the button in the centre of the
handkerchief and then folded the corners down on it, and pressed them
down each time so that they could see that the button was still there,
and he would let them press on it, too, to prove it, and then when he
would lift up the handkerchief by the two corners nearest him there
would be no button at all, and he would find it on the mantel-shelf or
perhaps on Mr. Crow's bald head, or in Mr. 'Possum's pocket, or some
place like that. But one time, when Mr. Rabbit had done it over and
over, and maybe had grown a little careless, he lifted the handkerchief
by the corners nearest him, and there was the button sticking fast,
right in the centre of the handkerchief, for it had a little beeswax on
it, to make it stick to one of the corners next to Mr. Rabbit, and by
some mistake Mr. Rabbit had turned the button upside down!
Then they all laughed, and all began to try it for themselves, and Mr.
Rabbit laughed too, though perhaps he didn't feel much like it, and told
them that they had learned one of the greatest secrets in his family,
and that he would now tell them the adage that went with it if they
would promise never to tell either the secret or the adage, and they all
promised, and Mr. Rabbit told them the adage, which was:
"When beeswax grows on the button-tree,
No one knows what the weather'll be."
[Illustration: WOULD FIND IT ON THE MANTEL-SHELF OR PERHAPS ON MR.
CROW'S BALD HEAD]
"That," said Mr. Rabbit, "is a very old adage. I don't know what it
means exactly, but I'm sure it means something, because old adages
always do mean something, though often nobody can find out just what
it is, and the less they seem to mean the better they are, as adages.
There are a great many old adages in our family, and they have often got
my ancestors out of trouble. When we didn't have an old one to fit the
trouble we made a new one, and by-and-by it got old too, and useful in
different ways, because by that time it didn't seem to mean anything
special, and could be used almost anywhere."
Then the Deep Woods People all said there was never anybody who knew so
much and could do so many things as Mr. Jack Rabbit, and how proud they
all were to have him in their midst, and Mr. Rabbit showed them how to
do all the tricks he knew, and they all practised them and tried them on
each other until Mr. Crow said he must look after the supper, and Mr.
'Possum ran right off after an armful of stove-wood, and everybody
helped with everything there was to do, for they were having such a good
time and were so hungry.
And after supper they all sat around the fire again and smoked a little
before anybody said anything, until by-and-by Mr. Rabbit said that they
would go on now with the literary club, and that Mr. Robin might read
the story he had mentioned the night before.
So Mr. Robin got up, and stood on a chair, and made a nice bow. He said
it was not really his own story he had written, but one that his
grandmother used to tell him sometimes, though he didn't think it had
ever been put into a book.
Then Mr. Rabbit spoke up and said that that didn't matter, that of
course everybody couldn't be original, and that the story itself was the
main thing and the way you told it. He said if Mr. Robin would go right
on with the story now it would save time. So then they all knocked the
ashes out of their pipes--all except Mr. Robin, who began right off to
read his story: