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diff --git a/old/64078-0.txt b/old/64078-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3ffe098..0000000 --- a/old/64078-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2217 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nibble Rabbit Makes More Friends, by John -Breck - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Nibble Rabbit Makes More Friends - -Author: John Breck - -Illustrator: William T. Andrews - -Release Date: December 28, 2020 [eBook #64078] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Roger Frank - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE -FRIENDS *** - - - - - NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS - - - - - Told at Twilight Stories - - - By JOHN BRECK - - MOSTLY ABOUT NIBBLE THE BUNNY - NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS - THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX - THE COON’S TRICKS - THE WAVY TAILED WARRIOR - TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE - THE BAD LITTLE OWLS - THE JAY BIRD WHO WENT TAME - - - - -[Illustration: Watch makes friends with Nibble] - - - - - Told at Twilight Stories - - NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS - - by - John Breck - - Illustrated by - William T. Andrews - - Garden City—New York - Doubleday, Page & Company - - 1923 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1923, - BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT - OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES - INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN - - COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES - AT - THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. - - First Edition - - - - - CONTENTS - - I. Why Nibble Bunny Was Puzzled - II. How Nibble the Bunny Was Caught - III. How Nibble Tricked a Foe—and Made a Friend - IV. Why Dogs Love Babies - V. Nibble Has His Doubts About Dogs - VI. The Cleverness of Chirp Sparrow - VII. How a Bunny Could Help a Boy - VIII. How the Funny Bunny Smelled a Joke - IX. The Great Woodchuck Fur Charm Against Owls - X. What Doctor Muskrat Thought About Traps - XI. The Singular Mishap of Doctor Muskrat - XII. Tommy Peele’s Friends Stand Up For Him - XIII. Wise Words from a Wise Beast - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - Watch makes friends with Nibble - - Nibble squirmed and flounced like a fish - - The White Cow makes friends with Nibble - - “Here he is. I’ve got him.” - - The old doctor was puffing - - Snoof Woodchuck comes out of his hole - - “Clang!” That ugly trap had Doctor Muskrat - - Tommy’s tall rubber boots spattered through the slush - - - - - NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS - - - - - CHAPTER I - - WHY NIBBLE BUNNY WAS PUZZLED - - -You remember all the funny things Nibble heard about Man from the -guests who came to his Storm Party. That was the time the Big Hollow -Oak blew down, and the brave little bunny who lived at Doctor -Muskrat’s Pond rescued all the poor homeless folk who had been shaken -out of it. He showed them the way to a fine little tent all made of -cornstalks out in the Broad Field. - -It was so nice and snug and comfortable, the minute they tucked their -tails inside it, and caught their breaths, and sleeked down their fur -and their feathers, they forgot all about how the Terrible Storm was -having a tantrum outside. They had plenty of room to dance, and plenty -of corn for refreshments—why, the party was as big a success as if -they’d held it in a hired hall with engraved invitations. - -But the most fun they had was talking about folks like you and me. And -if you’d laid an ear to a crack before the wind tucked the snow -blanket all around them, you wouldn’t have been very much flattered by -what they said, either. - -You might have overheard the bats insisting that Man looked like a -frog. (You might say that about some folks, of course, but certainly -not about you or me.) You’d prob’ly have heard the partridge say that -Man was brown and wrinkly, like Grandpop Snapping-Turtle. (The man -they saw certainly must have worn some funny clothes.) Chatter -Squirrel said Man was pink and tan. (His pink was sunburn—the kind the -fellows get down at the swimming-hole.) - -Everyone just knew that everyone else was wrong. Then Gimlet -Woodpecker insisted Man came as many shapes and sizes and colours as -the flowers. And then they didn’t know what to think. There were just -two things they all agreed on: he didn’t have a tail, and—he was -dangerous. Nibble didn’t say anything, ’cause he’d never seen one. - -But the first time he set eyes on Tommy Peele, he made up his mind -they were all wrong—excepting about the tail. The little boy looked to -him like a red-wing blackbird. (That was ’cause Tommy had on his new -red mittens and his dark blue sweater and his shiny rubber boots.) But -dangerous? He certainly didn’t look it. Still—when Silvertip the Fox -only caught a glimpse of him, he turned tail and ran. - -So Nibble made up his mind to copy the mouse motto: “Say nothing and -stay cautious.” At least that’s what he thought he was—too cautious -for anything. Wasn’t it perfectly safe and proper to dig into that -queer lair where the mice were holding a party of their own? Wasn’t it -nice and dark as his own hole? And nobody could possibly see him. - -How was a bunny to know it was a soapbox? Or that it was part of a -“figger-four” trap? Or that Tommy had set it ’specially for him? - -You see he hadn’t been caught. He’d dug into it on purpose, because -those nice little mice had invited him. And there the three of them -were busy feasting when they heard the clump! clump! clump! of the -clumsy hind paws of that little boy. - -“Mice,” he said, “it’s that Man!” - -Before he could twiddle a tail, Tommy’s red mitten was across the -hole, and Tommy’s bare pink paw was closing on—the lady mouse. Then -things began to fly! - -Nibble was among them. He flew to the next little cornstalk tent, his -heart thumping faster than his paws. “They were all of them right!” he -gasped. “That Man is dangerous—dangerous as Silvertip himself. Poor -Satin-skin! I s’pose that’s the end of her.” - -He never thought of saying, “Poor Tommy Peele!” But Tommy was the -right one to feel sorry for. Satin-skin had closed her little needle -teeth on his finger. And before Nibble had taken a long breath he -heard a voice squeaking, “Weeak! weeak! weeak!” which is mouse for, -“I’m lost! Where are you?” - -“Here!” he thumped with both hind feet. And who should come scuttling -in but Satin-skin herself? He could feel her tremble all over as she -tried to squirm right under him. - -“My ears!” Nibble exclaimed. “I thought that Man had caught you!” - -“No, I caught him!” wept the little lady mouse. “But he shook me so -hard I was scared to let go again. And when I did, he sent me tail -over ears. I tell you, it was awful! wee-eeak!” - -“Shh! he’ll hear you,” Nibble warned. “There, your head will stop -whirling pretty soon.” He knew just how she felt, ’cause he’d felt the -same way himself—the time he tumbled off the back of that Red Cow he -took for a log when Silvertip was chasing him. - -But Tommy wasn’t even thinking about Satin-skin, let alone listening -for her. He stamped his tall rubber boots and sucked his poor nipped -finger. “Funniest thing!” he wondered to himself. “I just know there -was a rabbit in that trap. I saw him go in there. I don’t guess it’s -very much good. I’ll try the pitcher-wire.” - -[Illustration: Nibble squirmed and flounced like a fish on the end of a -line.] - -So he pulled on his red mitten and tramped off to the path in the -bushes by the fence he’d seen Nibble slip through. This time he bent -down a springy sapling and tied a loop of wire to the tip of it—the -soft kind you use to hang pictures. And he pegged the lower edge of -the loop across Nibble’s pathway. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - HOW NIBBLE THE BUNNY WAS CAUGHT - - -Meanwhile, Nibble was busy comforting the lady mouse. “There, there! -Don’t squeal any more. You’re not hurt a bit. But really, this gets -more and more curiouser. Now Silvertip would certainly have eaten you. -But I don’t see yet why folks are so scared of a Man, if that’s all he -can do to you.” - -“You’d know if he sh-sh-shook you!” sobbed the lady mouse. - -But Nibble didn’t pay any attention. “I’m going to sneak up close to -the Sparrows’ Tree and ask Chirp about it,” he announced. - -Off went he, so fast he didn’t notice where he was putting his foot -own. - -He came to the fence—and the picture-wire. Zing! Now he knew what a -trap was, for sure and certain. For the pegs let go, the sapling -snapped back, and the wire caught him just behind his little fore legs -and whipped him high up in the air. - -He squirmed and flounced like a fish on the end of a line. He kicked -harder and harder; and the wire pulled tighter and tighter, until he -screamed. - -From way up there in the air he could see Tommy Peele turn around and -hurry toward him, swinging his red mittens as he ran. And he knew -Tommy had something to do with it. “This,” thought he, “is why Man is -dangerous. How awfully slow he flies. Now he’ll eat me!” And the wire -was squeezing him so dreadful, he didn’t much care. But Tommy just cut -that terrible loop, and took the rabbit gently into his arms. - -“Poor little bunny! I didn’t know that was going to hurt you,” -whispered the little boy. And he put a very sorry finger on the place -where the picture wire had been. - -But Nibble still kicked and struggled so hard that Tommy would have -lost him if he hadn’t kept a tight hold of the bunny’s long ears. And -Tommy did keep a tight hold, for the more he saw of Nibble the more he -wanted him. - -In ten minutes Nibble was locked in a cage. It really was a very nice -one—for a rabbit who had been born there. But for Nibble it was as -cramped as Ouphe the Rat’s narrow black tunnels under the haystack. It -was only half a leap long and three creeps across. There was one dark -corner in it where he could hide behind some hay when the humans came -to look at him—and they did come, all sizes and colours and noises, -just as Gimlet the Woodpecker had said. When they went away again he -snubbed his nose trying to take the kinks out of his legs where he had -been sitting on them. - -And more than the humans came to call on him. For the minute they -turned their backs a great big beast, much bigger than Silvertip, put -his forepaws up on the front of the cage and sniffed at him. He was -nearly the same colour as Silvertip, only his back was more grizzled -and he had a white collar as well as a white shirtfront like most wild -things wear. But this beast didn’t have a hungry look; he was only -curious—like Nibble is himself when he isn’t scared. All the same, -Nibble was afraid of him. - -Just about sundown all these visitors went away. This was the chance -Chirp Sparrow was looking for. He flew down and perched on the cage. -Then he cheeped very softly, to make Nibble look at him. - -Nibble pricked up an ear. Then he jumped so hard that he hit the front -of the cage and bounced back again, but he picked himself up and -thumped and wriggled his puffy tail trying to show Chirp how glad he -was to see him. “Mr. Chirp, Mr. Chirp!” he exclaimed. “You’ll know how -to help me. You know everything!” - -“Well, not everything,” answered Chirp. But he preened the feathers on -his shoulders and cocked his head on one side the way birds do when -they’re pleased about anything. For he was immensely flattered. “I -don’t know everything,” he repeated, “but I’ll call a sparrow council, -and we’ll see what can be done about it.” And something’s pretty apt -to happen when the sparrows put their minds to anything. - -“Now you listen to me,” he went on. “You eat what they feed you and -keep strong. You aren’t in any danger right away. And you try to make -friends with that Dog.” - -“What Dog?” asked Nibble. He was puzzled. - -“He was here just a minute ago,” said Chirp. “That big foxy-looking -beast. He’s a great friend of ours. He has a big dish by the back door -that’s always full of delicious things. And he pretends to go to sleep -while we pick up the crumbs. You be just as polite as you can to him. -I’ll be back in the morning.” And Chirp flitted off to the sparrow -roost, leaving Nibble almost cheerful again. He couldn’t help feeling -that all this excitement was rather interesting. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - HOW NIBBLE TRICKED A FOE—AND MADE A FRIEND - - -Tommy Peele had tried to make his cage a comfortable one for Nibble to -sleep in. But he didn’t know that a proper rabbit hole has fresh air -blowing into it from above. The cage had only one dark, stuffy corner -to hide in, or the open part behind a wire front. And there Nibble -crouched in the hay Tommy had given him. But he kept cheerful. Chirp -had said, “We’ll see what can be done about it,” and Nibble knew the -clever Sparrow. So he just made a little song of the words until he -sang himself to sleep with them. - -Way ’long late toward the morning he woke up. His furry feet were -tickling. So were his ears. And presently his shoulders tickled, too, -where the fur stood straight up on them. Something was gnawing the -floor of his cage. - -“Who’s there?” he called softly. And oh, how he did pray it might be -the field-mouse who had shown him the way through Ouphe’s tunnels! He -could see the haystack where the wicked Rat lived, but it was so dark -that that was all he could see. - -“It’s I,” said the honey voice of Ouphe. “I’ve come to show you what -can be done about it. I’m sorry to be late, but I had to attend to a -little business with Chirp Sparrow.” The words were all right, but the -way he said them was enough to make your skin crawl. - -“What are you going to do?” demanded Nibble. - -“I’m going to have breakfast with you,” said Ouphe. “I’m going to make -a nice little door so I can come in and we’ll have a cozy time. I love -little rabbits, I do.” And Nibble knew very well the way he loved -them—like Slink the Weasel. For no wild beast needs to be warned -against any one who has the horrid musky, flesh-eater’s smell about -him. And Nibble smelled Ouphe. - -“I’ll fasten my teeth right in your nose,” said Nibble, “the minute -you poke it through my floor.” - -“What good will that do?” sneered Ouphe. “You’ll hurt me almost as -much as Chirp Sparrow. He pecked my ear, he did—the bold, bad bird! -All the same, I ate him.” - -“You didn’t!” sobbed Nibble. He just couldn’t believe it. - -“Didn’t I just?” jeered Ouphe. “You can smell him on my whiskers when -you bite me. Sparrow for supper and rabbit for breakfast. Mmn!” And he -smacked his lips. - -But Nibble almost forgot to be scared, he was so angry. He thumped his -feet. - -“Stop that!” snarled Ouphe. “Do you want the Dog to eat you?” - -“Thump, Thump, THUMP!” went Nibble. He was bound to do whatever Ouphe -didn’t want him to. - -“Arrh!” cursed the bad Rat. Kerflip, kerflop, he jumped down and -shuffled off to his haystack. Sure enough, there came the Dog, -calling, “What’s the matter here?” And Nibble was too scared to -answer. - -“What’s the matter here?” repeated the Dog. He was standing in front -of the cage wagging his long, plumy tail. But all Nibble could look at -was the great teeth he showed when he smiled. - -“Please,” said Nibble very faintly, “please, Mr. Dog, Ouphe the Rat -ate Chirp Sparrow for supper to-night. I thought I ought to tell you -because Chirp said you were friends.” - -“He did, did he?” laughed the Dog. And he ran out his pink tongue, -which scared Nibble more than ever. “And who brought you the news?” - -“Ouphe did. He’s been trying to get into my cage.” - -“You don’t say?” The Dog sniffed carefully. “Great Bones, Bunny!” he -exclaimed, “Why didn’t you call me an hour ago. I’ll hate to show that -to Tommy. He’ll think I wasn’t watching.” - -“Ouphe said you’d eat me,” whispered Nibble. - -“Eat you?” repeated the Dog. “Lies! All lies! And Ouphe knew it. I’ll -tell you, Bunny, don’t believe a word that creature says. He never -tells the truth, even by accident. And he’s always up to some -devilment.” - -Somehow Nibble knew he could believe the things the Dog said in his -rough but friendly voice. All the same, he wanted to be pretty -careful. “Why wouldn’t you want to eat me?” he asked. - -“Why, because you belong to my Tommy. I’m not saying what I might do -if you didn’t,” answered the Dog, wagging his tail harder than ever -because he was so amused at Nibble. “Though I guess I’m too old and -fat to catch you. But as long as you live in my Man’s barns and have -my Man’s smell about you I’ll never touch you. My job is to take care -of my Man’s things and see that nobody hurts them.” - -Now it was queer, but just the way that nice, big, growl Dog said he -might possibly try to catch him if he wasn’t Tommy Peele’s rabbit made -Nibble feel better. He felt the Dog wasn’t pretending like Ouphe the -Rat did after he’d been shouting horrid things at Chirp Sparrow. He -gave a little laugh—a sniffly one, because he wasn’t quite over being -afraid. “Please, Mr. Dog,” he murmured, “Chirp said I was to make -friends with you.” - -“Well, then, my name is Watch,” the Dog continued; “it’s my job to -watch this farm and see that things don’t go wrong on it. And that’s -why you should have called me the minute Ouphe put his ugly teeth into -this.” He sniffed the gnawed spot on Nibble’s cage. - -“Yes, sir.” Nibble apologized. “Chirp didn’t tell me that. He just -said you were once a wolf, like Silvertip—only much more clever.” - -“Urr!” remarked Watch, cocking an ear. “So Chirp’s been going into my -family history? He’s a gossipy bundle of feathers.” - -“No,” insisted Nibble honestly. - -“Just about how the Wolves ate the Cows in the very First-Off -Beginning.” - -“All right,” answered Watch. “Then I’ll finish it for myself.” - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - WHY DOGS LOVE BABIES - - -“You know how the wolves ate the cows in the First-Off Beginning,” -said Watch, after he had taken a sniff to make sure Ouphe was still in -the haystack. “It was because the Plants just wouldn’t be eaten. And -they were too clever to starve.” He settled himself down by Nibble’s -cage. - -“Yes,” answered Nibble, “and how the good stupid Cows did starve, so -Mother Nature had to give them horns because they’d worn all their -teeth off.” “Much good did that do them,” sniffed Watch. “Horns or no -horns, you just ought to see me handle them.” He was very proud of his -work, that nice dog. - -“Well,” he went on, “some of us were terribly ashamed over the way -we’d acted. But Mother Nature wouldn’t forgive us. She said if we ever -were trusted we’d have to earn it ourselves. She’d never trust us. Her -good Beasts wouldn’t have anything to do with us, and we wouldn’t have -anything to do with the bad ones because we knew we weren’t as bad as -they were. And we got lonely and unhappy—so, of course, we got sulky -and snappy, too. - -“Then the bad Beasts took to calling us ‘Dogs’—and that was a terrible -insult in those days. And deep down inside we were very, very -sorry—because we did so want to be trusted. - -“One day a dog was walking all alone in the Forest and he saw the -funniest little Creature playing there. It was so funny he sat down on -his tail to watch it play. It hadn’t any teeth to speak of, and it -hadn’t any hair, but it walked like a little cub bear. Just like one. -It would stagger along a little ways and then it would sit down—plump! -And then it would laugh. So that made the dog prick up his ears. - -“He liked the sound it made when it laughed so much that he stayed -there to listen to it. And pretty soon it saw him. But it didn’t run -away. It just walked right up to him. And the queerest feeling came -over that dog. He was happy, deep down inside him. Because it was -trusting him. - -“So he sat very still. And the little thing walked right up and felt -of his teeth, and tried to find out how he winked his eyes. And the -more it hurt him the better he loved it because then he was sure it -was trusting him. And it had the sweetest smell. He put out his tongue -and tickled it; and, of course, it laughed again. So he found out how -to make it laugh whenever he wanted to. And they played out there in -the sun and were very happy. - -“By and by a Man came running up and behind him was a woman. So, of -course, that dog knew that he had been playing with their Baby. And he -got up and crept away because he knew that least of all they would -have trusted him. But the Baby cried and held out its hands for him. - -“All that night the dog was lonely because he’d lost the little soft -thing that laughed and trusted him. And he told the Moon about it. -Dogs always tell things to the Moon. And he was the most unhappy dog -in the Forest because he’d only learned half of the secret about being -trusted.” - -Here Watch paused to rush at the haystack with a terrible bark because -he thought Ouphe was sticking his nose out again. “Wurff!” he cleared -his throat. “I’ll catch that fellow some day,” he remarked as he came -back to Nibble Rabbit’s cage and sat down again. - -Nibble was waiting for him with his little feet pressed close to the -wires. He wasn’t afraid of any one while that dog was there to talk to -him. “Go on, please,” he demanded. “You said its Father and Mother -took away the little soft cub who had trusted him. And the poor dog -felt lonely.” - -“Cub? I didn’t say ‘cub,’ Bunny. It was a Baby. My, but you are a -green little wild thing.” He smiled again, but this time Nibble wasn’t -afraid of the long teeth he showed. - -“You said it was like a little bear,” Nibble insisted, and he wrinkled -up his own nose. - -“Well, Cub or Puppy or Baby,” the dog went on. “That first dog wanted -it the worst way. So he just trailed its people back to where they -lived in a cave, and he hid up on top of the cave, where the gray -smoke came creeping up through a crack. And sometimes he’d hear it -laugh. And nobody thought of looking there for him. - -“The dog would see the Man go out to hunt, and the Woman go down for -water, and he could hear the Baby pattering around inside the cave. -And then it would sit down, ‘plump!’ the way it did in the Forest. And -then it would laugh again. And the dog’s tongue would just itch to -tickle the Baby. - -“So on the third day, when the Man went out to hunt and the Woman went -down for water, he sneaked around to the cave door and first thing he -knew he had his tickly tongue on the little soft thing. And his ears -were so full of the noises it made that he didn’t hear its mother’s -bare feet when she came back. And she threw the first thing that she -had in her hand—which was the water—all over him. - -“Of course that didn’t hurt him. He didn’t exactly like it any more -than he liked the Baby’s fingers when they pulled his whiskers, but he -never imagined she was fighting. He thought she was playing with him. -So he trusted her—which is the whole secret about being trusted. - -“And then wasn’t he glad. He just rolled around on the cave floor to -dry himself—though the cave floor was never very clean. And he -wriggled and giggled over it all. And he gave the Baby a lick with his -tickly tongue so it laughed with him. But the Woman just stood there -looking at him. - -“Now, it’s a queer thing, Bunny, but Humans can’t stay angry if they -laugh. There was the dog, all sprawly legs and waggly tail, not -looking like a wolf at all, and the Baby laughing at him. And the -Woman began to laugh, too. ‘You look so funny,’ she said, ‘you’ve got -leaves in your whiskers.’ And so they were friends.” - - - - - CHAPTER V - - NIBBLE HAS HIS DOUBTS ABOUT DOGS - - -“That was a lovely story.” Nibble chuckled, clear out to the tip of -his tufty bunny tail. He chuckled so hard he forgot he was locked up -in an uncomfortable cage, without a decent corner to snuggle in. “But -you haven’t told me yet how the First Dog made friends with his Man. -Go on. Please do.” - -“N-no.” Watch answered thoughtfully, scratching his shoulder. “I’d -rather not. I’m afraid you mightn’t understand.” - -“Yes, I would,” teased Nibble. “Of course I would. In the very -First-Off Beginning the dog made friends with the Baby and the Woman -because he made them laugh. Did he make the Man laugh, too?” - -“Why—yes. I expect he did,” - -Watch answered. “You see, the Man wasn’t friendly when he came home. -But the Woman and the Baby made him behave nicely. They always do. -That is, they wouldn’t let him hit the dog with his stone hammer, or -jab him with his spear. But he wouldn’t look at him. And the dog -wanted that Man to trust him—wanted it most of all. - -“So he began following the Man when he went out to hunt. But the Man -threw stones at him as soon as they got where the Woman couldn’t see -him do it, and told him to keep out of the way. The dog just crept off -and hid. - -“He saw the Man creep up on a band of wild cows that were grazing and -sleeping in the sun. But just when he was almost close enough to kill -one they all began to snort and run. And they ran right past where the -dog was hiding from the Man. - -“Of course he knew what that Man wanted. So he just bounded out and -pinned a cow by the throat and sent her head over heels. And that did -make the Man laugh. My, but he was happy! So then he trusted the dog, -too, and they were the best of friends for ever and ever.” And Watch -smiled as though he were right proud of the memory. - -But Nibble was horrified. “Oh!” he gasped. “The poor cow! That was an -awful thing to do. After the dogs pretended to be sorry that they had -done it when they were starving. No wonder Mother Nature wouldn’t -trust them.” - -“There,” said Watch. “I knew you wouldn’t understand. He didn’t do it -for himself. He did it for his Man.” - -“The Wild Things warned me,” said Nibble. “Both of them are bad, Dog -and Man.” - -“Look here, Bunny,” Watch explained patiently. “They don’t either of -them do that now. They take care of the cows—because now the cows -belong to Man and have his smell about them. Just the way I won’t -touch you because you’re my Man’s rabbit and have the smell of my Man. -I don’t like to kill things—except Ouphe the Rat, and that’s because -he doesn’t belong to my Man and my Man told me to. Mother Nature -wouldn’t trust the dog, so he won’t obey her. Man did trust him, so he -just everlastingly does obey his Man.” - -“I’d believe that better if the cows told it to me,” said Nibble -defiantly. - -“All right! I’ll bring them up and let you talk to them as soon as -they are milked and let out of the barn.” Watch was perfectly -good-natured about it. “I’m going my rounds now, but you just tell me -if Ouphe troubles you again.” And off he trotted, waving his plumy -tail. - -Nibble was terribly shocked. So any dog would do anything his Man told -him to do, no matter what Mother Nature thought about it! Now just -what did the cows think of that? Nibble wanted dreadfully to know, -because he hadn’t the least chance in the world of asking Mother -Nature or any of the wise Wild Things. How he did want good old Doctor -Muskrat! - -It was getting lighter and lighter, less and less scary every minute. -Everything would be much more cheerful when the Sun peeked out over -his shoulder from down South where he was busy with the other half of -the Earth. Suddenly a voice shouted from somewhere right behind him, - - “All Evil Spirits hark and hear - The warning call of Chanticleer. - Er-er-er-er-errh.” - -It was just the Rooster calling himself by a high-toned name—the way -he always does. But Nibble had never seen one. He was so s’prised he -jumped and snubbed his nose against the cage. So he huddled up in the -middle of it again. - -Then all the voices of the farm-yard began calling, “Good morning! -Good morning!” and he thought of course they were calling to the Sun. -But pretty soon the pigs began their scary grunts and then one -squealed, “Good morning. We want our breakfast.” Right off all the -rest of them took it up. The horses whinnied and the cows mooed, and -the sheep bleated, and the ducks and chickens and guinea-fowls and -turkeys all shouted, “we want our breakfasts!” - -Suddenly a new voice cheeped, right beside him, “I want my breakfast, -too!” It was Chirp Sparrow! - -“Oh, dear, I do wish they’d stop!” said Nibble. “Whoever are they -calling? It isn’t the Sun!” - -“’Course not. It’s their Man and Tommy Peele. I can hear them coming.” - -Then Nibble remembered something. “Why, Chirp,” he said, in surprise, -“Ouphe the Rat said he had eaten you! And he tried to eat me, too!” - -“Ouphe is a liar,” said Chirp decidedly. “I hope he hears me say it. I -wish that dog could catch him.” - -“He never will,” Nibble answered sadly. “Silvertip could, but not that -dog. He shouts every time and lets Ouphe know he’s coming. And when he -does watch at one of Ouphe’s holes he keeps beating the haystack with -his tail. That’s a tattle-tail for sure. Worse than the Mouse’s.” - -“I’ll tell you what.” Chirp cocked his head on one side and looked -thoughtful. “We’ll all have to put in and help the dog catch Ouphe. If -we don’t, there’ll be a young dog on this farm and he’s sure to be a -foolish one.” - -“But how can I help while I’m in this cage?” - -“You’ll be out before long!” said Chirp cheerfully. And so he was, -though even Chirp didn’t know how it was going to happen. - -And just then Tommy Peele came running up with some toothsome carrots -and a whole armful of clover hay—for Nibble’s breakfast, though he -hadn’t asked for it. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE CLEVERNESS OF CHIRP SPARROW - - -Watch must have kept his word about sending the cows to talk to Nibble -Rabbit. For the first thing they did when the barn door was opened was -to come trooping up to his cage. And an old White Cow put her big -starey eye right up close to it, because she’s very near-sighted, and -sniffed. Nibble’s fur blew as hard as it did the time of the terrible -storm. But her breath was all warm and sweet with clover, so he wasn’t -afraid, though she was three times as big as the dog. - -The very first thing the White Cow said was: “Why don’t you eat your -breakfast?” - -“I can’t. I’m all cramped up in this cage,” answered Nibble. - -[Illustration: The White Cow makes friends with Nibble.] - -“He’s too much afraid of being eaten,” laughed Chirp Sparrow, and he -perched right on the White Cow’s horn. - -“Why, there’s no one going to hurt him,” drawled the Cow in a -surprised tone. - -“There was Ouphe the Rat last night. Nibble felt pretty trembly about -him.” - -“Ouphe! The disgusting thing. He came in and messed up our feed and -danced over us with his pricky feet so we couldn’t sleep. I just -called Watch,” mooed the White Cow in her nice fluty voice. It -reminded Nibble of the South Wind. - -“Aren’t you afraid of Watch?” Nibble asked, for now he was truly going -to find out whether Watch was bad. “He said he’d kill you if his Man -told him to.” - -“Watch? Why, Watch couldn’t kill any one. He’s too fat and sleepy and -good-natured. And no man would ever tell him to.” - -“Aren’t you afraid of Man?” Nibble asked next. - -“Man!” The White Cow snorted again, and most of the others snorted, -too. “Why, Tommy Peele’s all the man that ever milks me. And he’s only -a little boy. He snuggles right in beside me as though he were my own -Calf. I love Tommy Peele.” - -“I don’t like Tommy Peele,” bellowed the Red Cow Nibble had taken for -a log when Silvertip chased him. “I don’t like Tommy Peele. He threw -stones at me when he drove me out of the cornfield.” She nudged the -White Cow away and sniffed at Nibble’s carrot. “I’d like that,” said -the greedy thing. - -“You’d quarrel with any one,” drawled the White Cow. “You’re always -doing something you’ve no business to do.” And she moved off. - -Then Chirp Sparrow had a fine idea. “Look here,” he whispered in the -Red Cow’s ear. “If you want to get even with Tommy Peele you just -catch your horn in that wire and let out his rabbit.” - -“Um-m, I dunno——” mumbled the Red Cow. She didn’t like stones the way -Tommy could throw them. - -“Then you can have the carrots—all the carrots. There are lots of them -under the hay,” lied Chirp. - -The Red Cow lurched her head awkwardly. Her horn caught on the wire. -Then she got scared and tried to break loose again. But what she broke -loose was the whole door. She bounced off with it dangling against her -face. “Moo-oo-oo!” she bawled as she plunged about the barnyard. “Take -it off! Take it off! It hurts my no-o-se!” - -But Nibble didn’t care. He took a fine long jump that stretched his -long legs. And then who ever said a rabbit couldn’t dance? He danced a -proper hornpipe and he twiddled his puffy tail and flopped his -ears—all at once—because it felt so good to be free. And Chirp Sparrow -squawked and sat down on his tail feathers because he was laughing too -hard to fly. Half at Nibble and half at the Red Cow. - -Of course all the other sparrows came cheeping and chirping, and -Chanticleer the Rooster crowed, though he didn’t know what he was -crowing about. And the noise brought Watch the Dog on the run—and -after him came Tommy Peele, not nearly so fast, for he still had his -tall rubber boots on. - -And Nibble took to the only hole he knew anything about—which was -Ouphe’s—but he was so startled he didn’t stop to think of that. And -the bad old rat woke up and started to come out of that very hole to -see what all this noise was about. - -Then wasn’t Nibble in a nice fix? Just wasn’t he? - -In front of him Watch was sniffing and digging at the hay. Behind him -Ouphe was murmuring in his sticky, trickly voice: “Come right in, -little Friend Rabbit. Come right in.” - -Just then Watch barked to Tommy Peele: “Here he is. I’ve got him.” And -Tommy said in a very severe voice: “Go ’way, Watch. Don’t you hurt my -bunny.” - -“There,” barked Watch, “he says you’re still his bunny, even if you -are wild again. Come along!” But Nibble didn’t move. - -“Go away!” said Tommy again. “Go on, Watch; he’ll never come out until -you do.” - -But Watch didn’t move. He could hear Ouphe saying in a horrid voice: -“Come in here, or I’ll take you by the tail and pull you in.” And he -held his very breath—and his wagger with it! - -Of course Ouphe thought he had gone away. And he wasn’t very scared of -Tommy Peele. So he caught hold of Nibble’s tail. And then Nibble was -so frightened he began to squeal and pull. And Ouphe held back. - -“Come along, Nibble, come quick,” pleaded Chirp Sparrow. He meant that -the dog was safer than the rat. But Ouphe thought he meant that the -dog was gone. So he let Nibble pull him to the very edge of the hole. - -“Aurgh!” sang Watch, very joyfully indeed. For he never touched Nibble -at all, but nipped Ouphe the Rat right through the heart with those -very long teeth he shows when he laughs. - -Nibble sat right down there in the sunlight until he got his breath, -and nobody tried to catch him. - -Watch couldn’t. He had his mouth all full of Ouphe. And he was walking -around on the tips of his toes, looking so vain that all the sparrows -laughed at him. Even Tommy Peele joined in. But Watch didn’t care a -bit. He just smiled as wide as he could let his mouth go and not lose -Ouphe out of it. - -And Nibble slipped over and ate his carrot. How good it tasted, now he -was free! - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - HOW A BUNNY COULD HELP A BOY - - -Now don’t you forget that it was the greedy Red Cow who let Nibble out -of his cage. She wanted his carrot so much that she pulled the wire -door right off with her horn. And then she got scared and careered way -down the Snowy Pasture with that door banging against her nose, -getting madder and madder and madder. - -Well, she finally scratched it off on to a prickly thorn bush that -held up its arms to help her. And then she came back to the barnyard -as fast as she could run. For she’d lost her temper entirely. And you -know what happens when things do that. It happened to the Storm and to -Mrs. Hooter, and to Silvertip the Fox, and to Chatter Squirrel, and -Slyfoot the Mink, and Nature only knows how many more. It’s always -something unpleasant. - -[Illustration: Just then Watch barked to Tommy Peele, “Here he is. I’ve -got him.”] - -But she hadn’t forgotten that carrot, because she was so terribly -greedy. She galloped up and sclooped her tongue around beneath the -pile of hay in Nibble’s cage. No, there weren’t any more carrots at -all. So she rolled her eyes around and saw Nibble just finishing up -the sweet inside of it. “Moo-oo-oo!” she roared. And it didn’t sound a -bit like the White Cow’s fluty voice. Moo! She tried to catch Nibble -on her sharp horns or trample him with her big hard toes. But he was -too quick. He just made two jumps and ran under the haystack. - -Then she shook her horns at Chirp Sparrow, who was perched on a fence -post. “You lied!” she roared. “You said there were lots of carrots -here!” But Chirp just squawked rudely and flew into a tree, and she -only banged her sore nose on the fence wire. - -So the next one she took after was Tommy Peele, who hadn’t done -anything to her at all. And you remember Tommy had on his tall rubber -boots, so he couldn’t run very fast. Not fast enough to run away from -the Red Cow. - -And suddenly Nibble found he was dreadfully afraid of what might -happen to Tommy Peele. Besides, it was all his own fault—excepting -that Chirp really oughtn’t to have lied to her. So he bounced out -under her very nose, calling: “I took the carrot! I took the carrot!” - -But the Red Cow wanted someone she could catch and hurt—because she -had lost her temper. She wanted Tommy Peele. Only she never got him. - -Because right then things did begin to happen. Watch dropped that rat -and clamped his teeth right on her sore nose. “There!” he growled in -his throat. “I’ll teach you to hurt my little boy!” - -“I’ll hurt you!” bawled the Red Cow, trying to stamp in his ribs with -her big horny feet. - -“You will?” It was the White Cow’s voice—but it wasn’t fluty now. She -was galloping, tail up and head down. “Whang!” she hit the Red Cow’s -ribs. “Blam!” she hit her so hard in the shoulder that Watch lost his -hold. And the Red Cow was all through hurting any one. She turned and -ran, limping and licking her sore nose. - -Maybe you think Nibble Rabbit wasn’t puzzled when he saw the Red Cow -run bawling down the pasture with a limp that would keep her feeding -in circles for a week. He had thought of course she was going to fight -with Watch the Dog, and instead she had turned on Tommy Peele. Now -that was wrong, so Watch had a perfect right to stop her. But, when -the White Cow came charging up, Nibble never in the world expected to -see her help Watch give the Bed Cow a terrible trouncing. - -And here was Watch, all smiles and waggly tail, saying, “Much obliged, -I’m sure, Mother Snowflake. I was finding that heifer quite a -mouthful.” - -And the White Cow was answering, “Oh, I’ve been waiting quite a while -to drive a bit of sense into the wild little thing.” And she settled -down to switching her tail and chewing her cud as calmly as ever. - -But that made Nibble indignant. “She’s not a Wild Thing,” he said. -“Wild Things have better manners than any of you or they’d be fighting -all the time. I’m a Wild Thing myself, so I know.” - -“Oh, it’s the Bunny,” drawled the White Cow, dragging her words the -way she drags her toes, because she thinks as slowly as she walks. -“Well, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. You’re perfectly right. -Manners are to keep folks from fighting—to make them think before they -pick a quarrel. That Red Cow just wouldn’t think until we made her. -Now she’ll learn.” - -“’Nother thing,” Nibble insisted, “we don’t help any one against our -own kind.” - -“That sort of talk is less use than a trampled cornstalk,” Mother -Snowflake lowed sensibly. “All the kind we have here is Tommy Peele. -His people take care of us, so we take care of him.” - -“Yes,” Watch put in; “you saw how he trusted us.” And he waved his -tail quite grandly. - -“But he didn’t say ‘Thank you,’” Nibble looked about him in surprise, -for Tommy had disappeared. - -“He doesn’t keep it in his pocket, but he won’t forget it,” promised -the Cow. And she wet her nostrils with her slaty tongue to sniff what -it was going to be. - -“He doesn’t talk our talk,” Watch explained, “but he does know the -sign language of tails pretty well.” - -“I told you,” she mooed triumphantly. For there came Tommy with his -cap full of meal. He poured a big pile before her and a little one -close to Nibble. But he gave Watch a great big hug. - -“That little ‘thank you’ is for you,” smiled Watch over Tommy Peele’s -shoulder. “Why, Bunny, do you think we didn’t see you trying to help -us with the Red Cow?” - -Nibble certainly had tried his best, for deep down inside him he began -to know why the tame beasts all loved Tommy. - -Still he hesitated. “I won’t come back to my cage,” he warned; “I’m -wild, you know.” - -“That’s all right,” Watch promised, “but wild or tame, you’re Tommy -Peele’s, and some day you’ll be glad to know it. So go ahead and -accept that ‘thank you’ like a sensible beast or you’ll be hurting -Tommy’s feelings.” - -Nibble really wanted to. My, but it smelled good! And the White Cow -was heaving big sighs of happiness over her pile. But he didn’t want -to be caught again, so he was very, very careful. Lip-it, lip-it, he -tiptoed over and sniffed. Then he just couldn’t resist it. It WAS -good! Quite as good as it smelled! Pretty soon he felt like sighing, -too, because his little skin was tight. - -And Tommy Peele never tried to catch him at all. Because now he knew -what it felt like to be chased. He only took off his red mitten and -twiddled his pinky fingers. - -Nibble knew that those fingers were nice and gentle when they petted -him, and that was all Tommy wanted to do. But he just couldn’t quite -dare to let him. So he cleaned the last crumb off his whiskers with -the little fur brushes he wears on his paws and said, “That was mighty -nice, but I’m a Wild Thing still, and I’m going back to the woods, -where I belong. Good-bye, Mr. Watch. Good-bye, Mother Snowflake” [for -that’s what Watch had called the White Cow]. - -“Good-bye,” barked Watch. “You’ll find us here any time you want us.” - -Mother Snowflake couldn’t stop to talk. She was too busy. - -So Nibble signalled a very polite “Good-bye” to Tommy Peele with his -little tufty tail, though it was still rather stiff where Ouphe the -Rat had bitten it. But Tommy didn’t understand Nibble—not yet. He only -knew the talk of the tame beasts. So he felt quite sad when he saw the -Bunny go skipping, lipity, lipity, down the long lane. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - HOW THE FUNNY BUNNY SMELLED A JOKE - - -Lipity, lipity, lipity, Nibble Rabbit hopped down the long lane from -Tommy Peele’s red barn. He was in a dreadful hurry to get home to the -Woods and Fields. - -Out in the Snowy Pasture the wind blew cold. The Red Cow stood with -her back to it, looking very sad and thoughtful, but she spoke to -Nibble politely, for she’d found her temper again. Pretty soon he was -passing the cornstalk tents in the Broad Field, but one of them -smelled so foxy that he didn’t wait there for Silvertip to come back. -Now he was in the Clover Patch. He stole past the oak that blew down -in the Terrible Storm, and around the Brush Pile. Then he went -straight for his own old hole. - -How he had dreamed of it when Tommy had him in that cage! No one had -been there since the Terrible Storm, for the doorway was drifted shut. -So in he popped. And then he almost popped right out again, for there -was someone in it. - -Yes, someone was in his very own home, and he couldn’t tell who. But -it was someone with a nice clovery breath, like White Cow’s, so Nibble -thought he couldn’t be dangerous. “Here!” he called. “Whoever you are, -wake up! This hole is mine!” - -But Someone never answered. - -He felt Someone’s warm fur, listened to Someone’s breathing. He -touched Someone’s fat side with his paw. Then he tried to shake -Someone by the scruff of his neck, but Someone was much too big for -him. And Someone wouldn’t wake. - -Nibble cocked his head on one side and thought about it. Then he tried -a few experiments. At last he said: “Very well. There’s plenty of room -for both of us in here. I don’t know but we’ll both be more -comfortable. But you just remember when you do wake up that this hole -is really mine.” Someone just slept on. But Nibble didn’t care, for he -made a perfectly lovely foot-warmer. - -The next morning Nibble brushed the sleep out of his eyes with his -furry paws and nudged Someone. “Come along,” he urged. “We’ll hunt -some breakfast.” For it was the dark of the moon when rabbits feed at -early dawn and dusk. They prefer moonlight at other times. “I’ll get -him out,” he thought, “and have a look at him.” - -Someone only made a little sucking noise as though he were eating -something perfectly delicious in his dream, and went on sleeping. - -“You’re a funny beast,” said Nibble, right out loud. “I’m going to ask -Doctor Muskrat about you.” Someone slept right on. So off Nibble set -for the pond among the cattails. And all the breakfast he found along -the way was some coarse grass, very dry and wind-whipped, and the dry -brown seed heads of yarrow. And that wasn’t much after the wonderful -breakfast Tommy had given him. - -Everything was all changed. The cattails were drifted waist deep in -snow, and the pond was all ice, so he could walk right up to Doctor -Muskrat’s house in the middle of it. He thumped No answer. He thumped -again, and then he danced as hard as he could on top of it. He was -having a very busy time, all by himself, when he heard Doctor -Muskrat’s gruff voice calling, “Who’s that? What do you think you’re -trying to do, anyway?” - -Nibble flashed about and saw the doctor’s tousled head poking from a -hole among the cattails. “Good morning,” he said politely, “I was just -looking for your front door.” - -“Well, you’ll find it here, over this warm spring—the one spot in the -pond that doesn’t freeze shut, so I always have a place to come for a -breath of fresh air.” The old doctor was puffing as he made his way -through the crusty hillocks between the bulrush stems. “Duck me, but -it’s Nibble! Dear, dear! What did you want? You aren’t ill?” And he -was all ready to dive back after one of his famous roots. - -“No, indeed, but you know everything,” Nibble began confidently. -“Won’t you please tell me who’s asleep in my home hole and won’t wake -up?” And he told all about it. - -“Hm!” Doctor Muskrat wriggled his nose thoughtfully, much as any nice -old gentleman will when his spectacles are pulled too far down on it. -“It sounds to me—it most certainly sounds to me like that fat old -bluffer, Snoof Woodchuck.” - -Nibble’s ears pricked. “Does he bite?” he asked anxiously. - -“Oh, no,” Doctor Muskrat reassured him. “He’s a harmless old crank, -and a strict vegetarian, though the garter snakes say he’s a snappish -fellow before he completely wakes up in the spring. Who wouldn’t be, -with their perpetual whispering and squirming? He lets it out that -he’s a kind of hermit, and sits meditating in his hole, with his eye -on the weather, but I’ve always suspected he was snoozing. On the day -after the first February moon casts her shadow, he pretends to come -out and deliver his opinion. Though I never knew any one who really -saw him.” - -Even People know the story. They call it Groundhog Day. And -“Groundhog” is just a rude nickname for the woodchuck. Though how any -one but the woodsfolk came to hear about it is a mystery. - -“I’ll bet you a sassafras root,” went on the doctor contemptuously, -“that lazy old skeezicks never wakes up a day before Tad Coon.” - -“But if everybody thinks he does,” Nibble objected, “there must be -something behind it.” - -“There is,” Doctor Muskrat agreed. “There’s a lot of talk, and he’s -the one who starts it, too. It would make you sick to hear him -straddling around after the frost is out of the ground saying ‘I told -you so. I told you it would be bad weather, or good weather,’ -whichever it has happened to be. But I never saw any one who had heard -him say it.” - -[Illustration: The old doctor was puffing as he made his way through the -bulrush stems.] - -“Well,” Nibble insisted, “why doesn’t someone keep watch and tell on -him?” - -Doctor Muskrat shook his head. “If you didn’t keep watch so that -everyone would know they’d go right on believing him. And if you did -that, and he did wake up, the joke would be on you. And that’s never -any fun.” - -Well, that certainly kept Nibble quiet for a little while. He was -thinking. Pretty soon his nose began to wrinkle and his eyes hid like -little pinpoints, deep in his fur. He was trying so hard not to laugh. -“Doctor Muskrat,” said he, “how soon is that February moon?” - -Doctor Muskrat waddled up the bank and took a nip of willow stem. -“Grubs and clam shells!” he exclaimed in surprise. “Sap’s stirring. -Why, it’s only the hatching of an egg away. [That’s two weeks as the -woodsfolk count time.] Nibble,” he added curiously, “I believe you’re -smelling something.” - -“I am,” Nibble chuckled. “I’m smelling a wonderful joke. Half of it -will be on that old snoozer in my hole and the other half will -be—who’ll the other half be on?” - -“There aren’t many folks out,” answered the doctor, telling them off -on his paw. “There’s Chewee the Chickadee, Chaik the Jay, and Gimlet -the Woodpecker—you couldn’t possibly fool him —and the fieldmice. The -fieldmice! They do nothing but tattle and gossip and they’ll believe -anything!” - -And Nibble was delighted. “Well, the other half of this joke will be -on the fieldmice. Doctor Muskrat, did you ever hear that the fur of a -woodchuck woven into a mouse’s nest is a sure charm against an owl’s -catching them? But it’s got to be plucked the day after the first -February moon.” - -Doctor Muskrat thought a minute, and then he laughed. He laughed so -hard he slapped his tail on the ice, because he saw what Nibble Rabbit -was thinking about. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE GREAT WOODCHUCK—FUR CHARM AGAINST OWLS - - -Nibble Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat sat among the bulrushes on the Frozen -Pond and laughed and chuckled over the joke they were planning on the -old woodchuck in Nibble’s hole. He had everybody believing that he -came out of his hole on the day we call Groundhog Day (though the -woodsfolk never use a rude nickname like that even for a woodchuck) -and predicted the weather. That is, everybody believed it except -Nibble Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat. - -This was their plan. They would get every fieldmouse in the woods and -fields looking for the woodchuck on that particular day. Then if he -did wake up the joke would be on the fieldmice. And if he didn’t—well, -you just listen! - -Nibble hopped all about, from the Frozen Pond to the little cornstalk -tents in the Broad Field, looking for field-mice. And every time he -found one he’d say, “What’s this story that’s going around? I hear -that woodchuck fur plucked the day after the first February moon is a -sure charm against owls. Just the littlest tuft woven into a nest will -keep the young mice from being caught. Is there any truth in it?” - -The mouse wouldn’t let on that any one knew more about mouse secrets -than he did, so he’d say “Oh, that used to be an old mouse custom, but -of late years it’s been hard to find a woodchuck.” And then he’d -scuttle off to the holes and tunnels where the mice live and fuss and -gossip and chatter about it. - -Then they all ended up at the great hollow stump, where -Great-grandfather Mouse has lived for so very many years that his ears -are all crinkled, and set that agog. And poor old Great-grandfather -Mouse got so bewildered that he dragged himself down to the Frozen -Pond to talk with Doctor Muskrat. Which was exactly what Doctor -Muskrat had been hoping for. - -The Doctor was very polite and pleased to see him. “Certainly,” he -said, “I’ve heard the story. Fact is, I might have heard it from you -yourself when we were both very young. But, dear, dear, my memory -isn’t very good any more. Only I’m perfectly sure it was the day after -the first February moon!” He didn’t want any mistake about that. - -“Yes, yes,” agreed Great-grandfather Mouse, “I remember. I remember it -all, now you call it to mind. But where could I find a woodchuck?” - -“Well, seeing we’re such old friends,” whispered Doctor Muskrat, “I’ll -let you know. But it’s a secret. He’s down in Nibble Rabbit’s hole. I -expect that sly young bunny means to be married in the spring, and -won’t his hole be nicely lined with woodchuck fur, just won’t it?” - -“Great grass seeds!” exploded Great-grandfather Mouse. “It’s a mouse -charm. No rabbit has anything to do with it.” So he stumped off home, -dragging his fat old tail and wagging his crinkled ears, and in half -an hour more people knew about Doctor Muskrat’s secret than if Chatter -Squirrel had shouted it from the treetops. They knew where the -woodchuck was and they meant to get some fur off him, too. - -And Nibble Rabbit was all but turning somersaults on his little paddy -feet out behind the bulrushes because he was so amused over it. - -The great day came at last—Groundhog Day—the day when the woodchuck -ought to come out to foretell the weather for spring. And Nibble -Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat weren’t the only ones who were watching for -him. - -For all the snow around the mouth of Nibble’s hole was tunnelled by -the mice, and they were scuffling and squeaking beneath it; so it’s a -wonderful thing Silvertip the Fox didn’t hear them. And Nibble thought -what a wonderful joke it would be if that woodchuck did come walking -out of the hole. So he shook him and jounced him and pulled his round, -mousy ears and his long spiky whiskers. But, no! That woodchuck just -wouldn’t wake up. So finally Nibble gave it up and crawled out of -doors. And there at the mouth of the hole he met old Great-grandfather -Fieldmouse, who was too fat and clumsy for any tunnel. - -“Good morning,” said Nibble. “I see you’ve come to greet my friend Mr. -Woodchuck when he comes out to foretell the weather.” - -“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Great-grandfather -Fieldmouse very severely. “This is the day we come for our regular -charm of woodchuck fur to keep our young safe from owls.” He spoke as -solemnly as though he had done it every year of his life. “It’s -strictly a mouse charm,” he went on, “and no rabbit is going to keep -us from it!” He said that because Doctor Muskrat had given him the -idea that Nibble meant to keep it all for himself. And Doctor Muskrat -gave him that idea because he didn’t want Great-grandfather Mouse to -suspect that Nibble had invented the whole story about the charm. -Doctor Muskrat knew they’d never bother about coming after the -woodchuck fur unless they thought that someone else wanted it as much -as they did. - -“Very well,” Nibble answered meekly; “but please leave a little for -me.” - -“We’ll see if there’s enough to go round,” replied the mouse. And with -that he laid back his ears—he’s so old that they’re all crinkled—and -marched down into Nibble’s own hole. And out he came with a mouthful -of fur. And every fieldmouse from all the woods and fields solemnly -marched in and did the very same thing as if they’d done it every year -of their lives, too. - -And maybe you think Nibble Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat didn’t laugh -until their sides were fit to split—maybe you think they didn’t. -Because they knew they were going to be able to prove to every one of -the woodsfolk just where Mr. Woodchuck was and what he was doing on -the next day after the first February moon. - -After the last mouse had left his hole, Nibble went in to see what -they had done. He came out again in a hurry. “Whew!” he said to Doctor -Muskrat. “I’ll have to sleep in the Pickery Things to-night. It’s all -mousy in there. But they’ve plucked that sleepy old woodchuck as bare -as an egg.” - -And Doctor Muskrat chuckled. “Just you wait until he wakes up in the -spring!” - -That wasn’t till a long way after St. Patrick’s Day, when the little -gray pussies hung on all the willows. And he took three whole days to -wake up in. For the first day he just grunted and groaned and made the -noise that the woodsfolk take his name from. “Snoof, snoof!” he’d go -as though he were trying to sneeze, but was too lazy to do it. And the -minute he did that, Nibble hurried down to Doctor Muskrat in the marsh -and told him about it. - -“Very good,” said Doctor Muskrat. “Tell me how he behaves to-morrow.” - -On the second day Snoof Woodchuck had turned over in the hole with his -feet in the air and was acting as a dog does when he has a dream. -Nibble told Doctor Muskrat. - -“Very well,” said the Doctor. “He’ll stand on them to-morrow, and -we’ll all be there to greet him.” Then he waddled off to the hollow -stump where Great-grandfather Fieldmouse lives. And Great-grandfather -Fieldmouse poked his head out. - -“Well, well?” he demanded in his crotchety voice, because he’s very -old— so old that his ears are all crinkled. “What do you want now?” - -“I just wanted to let you know that to-morrow morning Snoof Woodchuck -will take the air an hour after sun-up,” said Doctor Muskrat very -politely. - -“Well, what’s that got to do with me?” demanded Great-grandfather -Fieldmouse. - -“I let you know because we’re such old friends,” said Doctor Muskrat. -“Surely you remember that as long as the mice kept up the good old -custom of gathering to thank the woodchuck, the woodchuck stayed here -and you always had your charm.” - -“I suppose so, I suppose so,” grunted Great-grandfather Fieldmouse. - -So on the third day, when Snoof Woodchuck climbed out into the air, -all the fieldmice were assembled. He was very much complimented. He -bowed pompously, this way and that—and oh, how funny he looked, as -though the moths had been at him! “Hmm, hmm!” he began importantly. -“As I told you when I predicted the weather on the next day after the -first February moon——” - -But he never got any further. For the mice simply squealed in -surprise, “Why, that was the day we came for our charms of woodchuck -fur. You were fast asleep!” - -“You old bluffer,” jeered Doctor Muskrat, “we caught you napping this -time!” - -“Look at yourself!” squealed Nibble Rabbit, standing on his tallest -toes to hop about. “See if you’re not mouse-eaten! You’re as naked as -you were born—yah! I’m ashamed to look at you!” And the mice all -echoed him. - -And that woodchuck scuttled back into the very bottom of the hole and -hid there until midnight. And then he went so far away that no one -ever saw him again or even heard of him. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - WHAT DOCTOR MUSKRAT THOUGHT ABOUT TRAPS - - -Quite a long while ago I promised to tell what Tommy Peele was doing -in the Broad Field when he let Nibble Rabbit’s storm party out of the -little cornstalk tent. Well, to begin with, he was looking for the -tracks of the woodsfolk. But as long as the snow lay deep on the -ground he didn’t find many. - -For Doctor Muskrat and the fieldmice and Nibble Rabbit were about the -only ones who stayed there. Doctor Muskrat was too clever to leave -tracks where any one would see them. And the fieldmice had their -tunnels far below the crust, so you never saw anything of them. And -you’d have to creep around among the Pickery Things before you’d see -many signs of Nibble Rabbit. - -But the birds called very often to get a drink from the warm spring -hidden among the bulrushes that was Doctor Muskrat’s front door. It -was Chewee the Chickadee who brought news of the quail. “They have to -go a long way in the deep woods every day to find enough seeds for so -large a flock,” he said. “And they told me that I must leave every -last weed head that pricked up above the snow in their thicket for -Nibble Rabbit.” - -Now that was very nice of the quail because there were very few seeds -left, and Nibble was eating the dried grasses that the Pickery Things -kept from him and the delicate bark from the sunny side of the -willows. - -[Illustration: Snoof Woodchuck comes out of his hole.] - -Chaik, the Jay, perked his crest thoughtfully. “It must be horrid to -live in big flocks like that where you can never find a full crop for -everyone at once. The partridge are perching in some evergreens. They -say it’s safer than sleeping in the snow where they might be frozen in -again. Only they can’t find anything to eat but birch and poplar buds, -and they’re awfully hungry. But not so hungry as Hooter the Owl and -his wife. I wonder why they flew away right in the middle of the -terrible storm.” - -“Silvertip the Fox left then, too,” said Gimlet the Woodpecker, who -had been working in the orchard back of Tommy Peele’s barn. “There -must be something in that.” - -“There is,” said Nibble. “I was the game Mrs. Hooter chased into the -cornstalk tent, but Silvertip was the one who came out of it. He -mussed their feathers and they tweaked his ears, and now they’re -afraid to meet each other!” - -Chaik laughed. “The owls are still quarrelling,” he told Nibble. - -“Well, Silvertip has learned to get into the chicken-coop,” Gimlet -reported, “and Chirp Sparrow says that’s climbing into a peck of -trouble.” - -“Who cares?” Nibble rejoiced. “Now that Slyfoot’s gone to find a -better hunting ground we have no one to look out for.” - -But Doctor Muskrat spoke up very thoughtfully. “Yes, Nibble. Sooner or -later we’ll have to look out for Man.” - -“Shucks!” sniffed Nibble, carelessly flopping his ears. “No Man ever -comes here unless it’s Tommy Peele. And he’s such a little one, who’s -afraid of him?” - -“I am.” And Doctor Muskrat stroked his whiskers with his paw. “You -can’t judge the size of his jaw by the size of his trail, nor know how -far he’ll reach out to bite you!” - -But Nibble merely twiddled his tail to show how little he cared for a -whole flock of Tommy Peeles. While Tommy had him in a cage up by the -barn Tommy had been good to him. And none of the tame beasts were -afraid of Tommy Peele. “He hasn’t any teeth to speak of,” Nibble -protested, “and he hasn’t any claws. He couldn’t hurt any one. I’ve -been right in his very paws, so I know.” - -“Yes, you have,” agreed Doctor Muskrat. “And how did you get there? -Didn’t he reach out and catch you when he was the whole length of the -pasture away?” - -And this time Nibble didn’t feel like twiddling his tail. It was -perfectly true. He knew that somehow Tommy had been the one who made -that dreadful wire snatch him into the air. And he hadn’t quite -forgotten how it all but squeezed the life right out of him when he -swung there. It hadn’t felt in the least like the soft touch of -Tommy’s hand. So he asked with a little shiver, “What are those jaws -like, Doctor Muskrat?” - -“They’re harder than bone, and colder than stone. They never miss, and -they never let go,” said the wise old Muskrat very earnestly. And -that’s the truth about a muskrat trap. It’s just a pair of steel jaws, -harder than bone and colder than stone, exactly as he said. And -they’re worked by a terrible spring. They never miss because the -spring won’t snap unless a beast steps right between them. And they -won’t let go again until the Man opens the spring again. No beast can -ever learn that. Because no beast has ever imagined that they weren’t -a part of the Man. - -“And a Man can have a whole pack of those jaws,” the old doctor went -on. “They’ll hide out in the leaves where you can’t see or hear them; -sometimes you just sniff the faintest chilly smell on them. They’re -worse than a whole pack of Silvertips because you can see and hear and -SMELL him.” - -“How awful!” breathed Nibble. “It isn’t fair!” - -“Well, Mother Nature wasn’t fair to Man in the First-Off Beginning,” -argued the wise old beast. “The cows complained and got their horns, -and so did a lot of others, but Man wouldn’t complain. It’s a law that -when a beast invents anything for himself he has a right to use it. So -you can’t blame Man for using anything.” - -“Well,” said Nibble thankfully, “I’m glad Tommy Peele doesn’t use -those jaws.” - -But up behind the barn Tommy Peele had his first pair of the awful -things. He wouldn’t have dreamed of using them on the chickens or -Watch the Dog, or even on Nibble Rabbit, because they were friends of -his. But he didn’t think any more of using them on a muskrat, that he -didn’t know, than the muskrat would have thought of using his sharp -teeth on Tommy Peele. And he wanted the muskrat’s skin. Which was -perfectly natural because every man has had to use some other -creature’s fur since the First-Off Beginning of things—until he got to -be friends with them. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - THE SINGULAR MISHAP OF DOCTOR MUSKRAT - - -Don’t you ever believe that a small boy who grows up in the open air -like Tommy Peele doesn’t know just as much about the ways of the wild -things as any of the wild things know about the ways of men. Only he -doesn’t know he knows it. Because he doesn’t have to hunt for every -meal as he used to in the First-Off Beginning. And the only way you -find out what you really do know, deep down inside you, is to use it. -All the same, the very day Tommy Peele got out his trap was the day -the muskrats began their spring running. He hadn’t seen their -footprints, even yet, but that something deep down inside him told him -it was time to expect them. - -That trap wasn’t a very good one. He got it from Louis Thomson, who -had a lot that he set out all through other people’s woods where he -thought the other people wouldn’t catch him, because he wasn’t quite -satisfied to hunt just on his own. And he knew this particular trap -was slow because it was all rusty, and it hadn’t a good spring. But he -made Tommy give him a two-bladed knife and his big glass shooter and -twenty cents to boot. For the Red Cow wasn’t the only one who was -greedy. - -But Tommy oiled it and cleaned it and got it to work. And he specially -showed it to Watch the Dog and told him to be very careful not to -sniff around and get his nose in it. And Watch spread himself out -beside Tommy while Tommy worked. Watch snoozed contentedly in the sun -and flopped his tail whenever Tommy talked to him. For the weather was -beginning to grow warmer. The thaw that the poor partridge had wanted -so badly had come. - -Down by the pond the ice was getting so soft that Nibble didn’t dare -thump on it to call Doctor Muskrat. And he wanted to call him a great -deal of the time. For he knew the wise old doctor was very careful -about making tracks near his warm spring. But all sorts of careless -young muskrats were wandering up and down the stream. They said it was -mating time, and they were trying to find some lady muskrat who would -be foolish enough to start housekeeping then. They ran in and out -among the willows, gnawing and digging and making the plainest sort of -trail, and then they would flop with their muddy feet right into the -drinking hole. - -I can tell you it made Nibble angry enough. He didn’t fancy drinking -after them, but they didn’t pay any attention to him. And Chaik the -Jay got into such a rage that he forgot he should have kept quiet -there. He perched on the tallest bulrush and cursed and squalled at -them. But when Doctor Muskrat heard the rumpus and lifted his head up -through the ice, with his long teeth showing between his gray -whiskers, they scuttled off as though Silvertip himself were after -them. - -And then the old doctor would fume. “The Mink take them and their -love-making, the silly young things! What’s the sense of disturbing -the whole marsh just because they want everyone to know they’re old -enough to dig a nursery? Eh?” He forgot that he’d done the very same -thing in his own first spring. - -But Nibble thought they were having a mighty good time over it all. -Only he wished they wouldn’t leave quite so many tracks for Tommy -Peele to find. - -And the very next day there came Tommy, splashing through the big -puddles in his tall rubber boots, sloshing through the last of the -snowdrifts, and whistling a lively tune. And Nibble pricked up his -ears to listen. Because he thought that maybe Tommy was on a spring -wandering of his own, and this was his mating song. For he never -dreamed that whole generations of bunnies and muskrats and piping -birds would grow old and die before Tommy even thought of such a -thing. - -Tommy had on his blue sweater, but he’d left his red mittens hanging -back of the stove because he’d got them all wet snowballing. And Watch -was dancing along in front of him singing “Aourgh! aorugh!” which is -neither a mating song nor a proper hunting song. It was like Tommy’s -whistle—it showed that he was perfectly happy. - -But Nibble wasn’t. He was awfully uncomfortable. For all the -footprints of those foolish young beasts led straight to the warm -spring, which was still the only open water, though the ice was soft -and melting all over the pond. And you remember this was the wise old -doctor’s front door. - -Of course Tommy followed them right there. And Nibble crouched into a -clump of bulrushes close behind him—close enough to hear him working -over something; close enough to hear Watch saying in an excited tone, -“It’s all right! I can smell ’em—lots of ’em!” - -Nibble was so worried he nearly squirmed. He wanted to get out to the -little round house in the middle of the pond and warn Doctor Muskrat. -The minute Tommy’s back was turned he started to creep over the -crumbly ice toward it. But Watch’s back wasn’t turned. He bounced out -after Nibble. And he bounced right through the ice. And the minute -Doctor Muskrat heard that splashing and thrashing right in his front -pond, out he popped. “Clang!” That ugly trap had him by the paw! - -“Oh-h-h! Oow-w-w!” screamed the poor old doctor. But he didn’t lose -his head entirely. “Quick, Nibble,” he begged, “bite off my toes -before that dog gets here! I can’t reach them.” His own poor old teeth -were chattering with fear and pain. - -And that’s exactly what Nibble was trying to do when Watch floundered -out of the water. “Aourgh! I’ve got you!” he barked joyfully. Then he -stopped short and wagged his tail in the friendliest way. “Why, you’re -Tommy’s rabbit!” he said. And he tried to explain to Tommy Peele. - -But Tommy wouldn’t listen. He couldn’t think of anything but that poor -old beast, squealing over his hurt paw. It made Tommy’s own throat -hurt to hear him. He wanted to help, but the doctor couldn’t -understand. He just gnashed his teeth and snapped at Tommy. Then Tommy -managed to touch the spring of the trap with his toe. He stepped, and -it yawned open—just for an instant. Away went Doctor Muskrat. - -But Nibble wasn’t looking. He had leaped back into his hiding place in -the reeds and closed his eyes. - -He wished he could close his long ears as well. He expected to hear -his good old friend squeal when Tommy killed him. But all he heard was -a splash. - -Then Watch the Dog said, “I told you you’d be glad you were Tommy -Peele’s rabbit!” He was standing close beside Nibble and he was -looking over his shoulder to give an affectionate wag of his tail -toward Tommy Peele. Nibble looked, too. And there was Tommy -unfastening his trap from where he had tied it to a reed clump so it -couldn’t be dragged away. But there was no sign of any muskrat. - -“He’s gone,” Watch explained. “Tommy let him go. I expect that was -because he was a friend of yours.” Of course there was still too much -wolf in Watch for him to understand that Tommy had just been sorry for -hunting the doctor. But Watch was sure anything that small boy did was -wonderful, and reflected forever to his credit. - -“But why did he bite him if he didn’t mean to eat him?” Nibble asked -in a trembly voice. That was something he never did understand. And -Watch didn’t try to. He was cocking his ears to see what next Tommy -was going to do. - -Tommy yanked the trap loose from the reed clump. And he wasn’t proud -of owning it any more. He hated it— quite as much as Nibble or even -Doctor Muskrat did. He swung it about his head and threw it splash -into the hole Watch had made when he fell through the ice chasing -Nibble. - -Then he looked at a hole the doctor’s long teeth had slashed in his -tall rubber boot. “I don’t care,” he said defiantly. “I don’t care a -bit! I hurt him awfully. He had a perfect right to hurt me if he -wanted to.” - -The teeth hadn’t gone in deep enough really to bite Tommy’s toe, but -of course neither Nibble nor Doctor Muskrat ever guessed that. Their -hides belong to them and they couldn’t ever imagine that his tall -rubber boots weren’t any more a part of Tommy than those steel jaws of -his traps were. Watch could, because he sometimes wore a collar, and -on very cold nights Tommy covered him up with a blanket, but he never -thought of explaining it. - -[Illustration: “Clang!” That ugly trap had Dr. Muskrat by the paw.] - -Then Tommy marched all the way up to the house and got his cap full of -the same delicious meal he had given Nibble and the White Cow the day -the Red Cow chased him. It was “Thank you” to them for helping him get -away from her. He set out two little piles. Then he called: “Here -Bunny, Bunny, Bunny!” And that showed Nibble that one of those piles -was for him. So Watch was right. It was nice to be Tommy’s rabbit. - -And Watch explained: “The other is for your friend the Muskrat. Don’t -you eat it.” - -As though Nibble would! - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - TOMMY PEELE’S FRIENDS STAND UP FOR HIM - - -Of course Nibble Rabbit wouldn’t eat the pile of meal Tommy Peele left -for Doctor Muskrat. - -But he thought he was going to have a terrible time to keep all those -foolish young muskrats, who were scuttling round in the marsh trying -to start their spring love affairs, from doing it. He forgot that -everything around the place where Tommy had set it still smelled of -the little boy and his dog. So not another beast dared come near it. - -Chaik the Jay and Chewee the Chickadee stole a few beakfuls, but -Nibble knew Doctor Muskrat wouldn’t mind that. And he wanted company. -So he told them all about how Tommy had caught the doctor and let him -go again. And how Tommy had thrown away the trap. - -Chaik raised and lowered his crest, just as we sometimes do our -eyebrows, when we’re puzzled about anything. “He was lucky,” Chaik -said. “I’ve seen beasts suffer in a trap for whole days before they -died. And I never heard of any before that got out of one alive. I -believe that human is queer. Sometimes I think he’s trying to think -the way we woods folk do.” - -“I know it,” chimed in Chewee. “When it was so terribly cold I was -having an awful time. The ice had frozen over the cones so I couldn’t -even pick a living among the pine trees. And do you know what he did? -He tied a big lump of fat pork away out on the end of a springy -branch, so that fat house cat couldn’t reach it. Just for me! Wasn’t -that clever” And he began hopping about in the excited way he has -whenever he gets to talking. - -“Well, he most certainly is trying to make friends with us,” Nibble -observed. “Only catching us in traps isn’t a very comfortable way of -doing it. You fellows will have to help me convince Doctor Muskrat.” - -Help! He needed it. It was two whole days before the doctor poked his -head out of the hole where Watch had smashed the crumbly ice. The wise -old beast wasn’t using his front door any more. - -“Come on,” called Nibble cheerfully. “See what Tommy Peele left you to -say he was sorry he bit you.” - -“Not I,” growled the doctor. “I’ve had enough of his jaws.” He spread -out his paddle paw. The good roots he stores in his medicine chest had -nearly healed it, but his little toe was gone. “I’m going to move away -as soon as I can travel.” - -“Don’t do that,” pleaded Nibble. “If he bit your foot you certainly -bit his. Now he doesn’t mean ever to use those jaws again. He threw -them into that very hole.” - -Pop! Down went the doctor to have a look. And his face was mighty -surprised when it popped up again. “It’s the truth!” he said. “Those -jaws are biting the mud. We needn’t worry so long as we can keep an -eye on them. Nibble, I’ll just dip a whisker into that present Tommy -Peele left for me!” - -And he liked the meal quite as well as Nibble had—better, in fact. “I -tell you what, Nibble,” he said as he stopped for breath, “this was -mighty thoughtful of that Man. Now I wonder if he knew that I couldn’t -dig or swim with my paw hurting me, because his paw was hurting him? I -hope not.” - -And that was very nice of him, because it was all Tommy’s fault in the -beginning. Tommy had deliberately set that trap. - -Chaik the Jay swallowed such a big beakful of meal that he had to -crane his neck over it; then he blinked very seriously because Nibble -was giggling at him. “Do you s’pose we could all trust Tommy the way -Nibble can if we all were friends with him?” he demanded. - -“Of course, of course!” chirped the enthusiastic Chickadee. - -“Hm!” sniffed old Doctor Muskrat a bit gruffly, “that sounds very well -from you birds. You have wings so you can fly away from him.” - -“Certainly,” Chaik retorted, “but I’ve never seen him swim.” - -“Hmm, hmm!” the doctor snorted again. And he hitched himself on his -three sound legs over to a big stone that had grown warm in the sun -and spread himself out flat like a small furry rug. He meant to think -it over. But he felt so comfortable and full that he fell into a -snooze. - -Nibble was snoozing, too, snuggled up beside him, but he awoke when he -heard Tommy’s tall rubber boots splattering through the slush. His -father had put a patch on the hole, when he was mending an automobile -tire, so it was as good as ever. Nibble nudged the doctor and then -hurried over to greet Tommy, jumping the splashiest puddles and -pattering right through the little ones because he didn’t want his -friend to think Chaik and Chewee were the only ones who’d take the -trouble. And Tommy took an ear of corn out of his pocket and shared it -between them. - -Then Tommy ordered Watch to stay back while he tried to speak to -Doctor Muskrat. And the old doctor didn’t flash right into the -water—as he really meant to. He sat up, holding his poor paw in front -of him, and squinted his eyes to get a good look at the little boy. He -didn’t even jump when Tommy laid down the other ear of corn, nor when -Watch came sneaking disobediently up behind him because he wanted to -poke his nose into what was going on. For Tommy caught him by the fur -and pointed that inquisitive nose straight at the doctor. “There,” he -ordered, “take a good smell so you’ll know him again. That’s my -muskrat!” - -And Nibble was so pleased he took a leap and kicked his furry heels so -high that Tommy laughed at him. “You’re safe! You’re safe!” he -rejoiced. “Isn’t it almost worth being caught for?” - -[Illustration: Tommy’s tall rubber boots spattered through the slush.] - -And Doctor Muskrat considered his sore paw and then he considered the -little boy. And he looked very thoughtful. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - WISE WORDS FROM A WISE BEAST - - -Neither Nibble Rabbit, nor Chaik Jay, nor Chewee the Chickadee, nor -all of them together could make Doctor Muskrat say what he thought of -Tommy Peele. - -“No,” he insisted, “I haven’t made up my mind. It’s a safe rule for -any beast to do as his kind have done before him, and I never knew any -muskrats who made friends with a man.” - -“Nor any man who wanted to be friends with a muskrat, either,” pleaded -Nibble. “Tommy Peele’s different.” - -“That’s the way with men,” said the doctor. “They’re always changing. -Only the wild things stay the same.” - -“What is Man, anyway?” Nibble asked. “He isn’t a bird and he isn’t a -fish, and of course he isn’t a snake. But the bats, who came to my -storm party in the cornstalk tent, said he couldn’t be a beast because -he hadn’t any tail.” - -“Nonsense!” snorted the doctor. “Tad Coon’s cousin, the bear, hasn’t -any more tail than that. What did the bats think he was?” - -“A kind of a frog,” said Nibble promptly. “But Chatter Squirrel didn’t -agree with them.” - -“A frog! A frog! Had those bats ever seen a man, then? Or a frog, -either? Eh?” And the doctor made such a face of disdain that his -whiskers bristled up like a lot of long darning needles on Granny’s -fat pin cushion. “Why, a frog is less than a beast and a man—well, -there used to be a tale going around when I wasn’t much bigger than -Chewee there that Man was kin to Mother Nature herself in the very -First-Off Beginning.” The old muskrat sank his head back between his -shoulders and half closed his eyes. - -“Go on,” said Nibble breathlessly. - -“Eh? What?” The doctor came back with a start as though the shadow of -an owl had passed near him. “I was just thinking about that winter. -There was a big family of us the year I was born, for food was very -plentiful. So were minks. And when my mother thought she heard one -sniffing close by she’d tell us stories to keep us quiet. Otherwise we -wriggled around in that dark old house like a lot of tadpoles, popping -in and out of the water until you could almost swim on the very floor, -it was so wet from our dripping. And when we got to romping we’d -squeal more than a whole stump full of fieldmice.” Nibble couldn’t -imagine the dignified, portly old fellow scuttling and squeaking. A -rabbit hole is always very quiet. Because it’s on the ground and so -many hunters might hear it if it weren’t. - -“I just remember,” finished the doctor, “that one of our favourite -tales was about how Man quarrelled with Mother Nature in the First-Off -Beginning. She was used to the wild things. And most of them, -excepting the ones who came up from under the earth, are very -obedient. But Man just wouldn’t obey her. And she wouldn’t stand that, -because it would be unfair to the rest of us, and because he was kin -to her. So she said he could try getting along without her help and -see how he liked that. And he certainly surprised her. He——” - -But that’s as far as the wise old fellow ever got. For right then -there came a most startling interruption. And so many brand-new -happenings began that I’ll have to write a whole brand-new book to -tell about them all. - - THE END - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS *** - -***** This file should be named 64078-0.txt or 64078-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/0/7/64078/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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