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Thornton W. Burgess >> Mrs. Peter Rabbit
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
MRS. PETER RABBIT
BY
THORNTON W. BURGESS
With illustrations by
HARRISON CADY
1919
TO MY DAUGHTER
WHOSE ASSISTANCE IN THE PREPARATION
OF THIS VOLUME HAS BEEN INVALUABLE
IT IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I PETER RABBIT LOSES HIS APPETITE
II PETER RABBIT PLANS A JOURNEY
III HOOTY THE OWL CHANGES HIS HUNTING GROUNDS
IV THE SHADOW WITH SHARP CLAWS
V IN THE OLD PASTURE
VI PETER RABBIT IS STILL LONESOME
VII PETER FINDS TRACKS
VIII THE STRANGE TRACKS IN THE OLD PASTURE
IX AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE
X PETER RABBIT ALMOST DECIDES TO RETURN HOME
XI PETER RABBIT HAS A SUDDEN CHANGE OF MIND
XII PETER LEARNS SOMETHING FROM TOMMY TIT
XIII LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL
XIV SOME ONE FOOLS OLD JED THUMPER
XV A PLEASANT SURPRISE FOR PETER
XVI PETER RABBIT'S LOOKING-GLASS
XVII PETER MEETS MISS FUZZYTAIL
XVIII TOMMY TIT PROVES A FRIEND INDEED
XIX OLD MAN COYOTE PAYS A DEBT
XX LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL WHISPERS "YES"
XXI PETER AND LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL LEAVE THE OLD PASTURE
XXII SAMMY JAY BECOMES CURIOUS
XXIII PETER INTRODUCES MRS. PETER
XXIV DANNY MEADOW MOUSE WARNS PETER RABBIT
XXV PETER RABBIT'S HEEDLESSNESS
XXVI PETER RABBIT LISTENS TO MRS. PETER
XXVII MISTAH MOCKER PLAYS A JOKE ON MRS. PETER
XXVIII NEWS FROM THE OLD BRIAR-PATCH
XXIX JIMMY SKUNK VISITS PETER RABBIT
XXX REDDY FOX LEARNS THE SECRET
XXXI BLACKY THE CROW HAS SHARP EYES
XXXII PETER RABBIT'S NURSERY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Every one who could walk, creep, or fly headed for the Old
Briar-patch ..... Frontispiece
He dodged and jumped, and all the time the shadow followed him
That night Old Man Coyote started for the Old Pasture
"The quickest way for me to know is for you to tell me," replied Jimmy
CHAPTER I
PETER RABBIT LOSES HIS APPETITE
Good appetite, you'll always find,
Depends upon your state of mind.
Peter Rabbit.
Peter Rabbit had lost his appetite. Now when Peter Rabbit loses his
appetite, something is very wrong indeed with him. Peter has boasted
that he can eat any time and all the time. In fact, the two things that
Peter thinks most about are his stomach and satisfying his curiosity,
and nearly all of the scrapes that Peter has gotten into have been
because of those two things. So when Peter loses his appetite or his
curiosity, there is surely something the matter with him.
Ever since Old Man Coyote had come to live on the Green Meadows, Peter
had been afraid to go very far from the dear Old Briar-patch where he
makes his home, and where he always feels safe. Now there wasn't any
reason why he should go far from the dear Old Briar-patch. There was
plenty to eat in it and all around it, for sweet clover grew almost up
to the very edge of it, and you know Peter is very fond of sweet clover.
So there was plenty for Peter to eat without running any risk of danger.
With nothing to do but eat and sleep, Peter should have grown fat and
contented. But he didn't.
Now that is just the way with a lot of people. The more they have and
the less they have to worry about, the more discontented they become,
and at last they are positively unhappy. There was little Danny Meadow
Mouse, living out on the Green Meadows; he was happy all the livelong
day, and yet he had no safe castle like the dear Old Briar-patch where
he could always be safe. Every minute of every day Danny had to keep his
eyes wide open and his wits working their very quickest, for any minute
he was likely to be in danger. Old Man Coyote or Reddy Fox or Granny Fox
or Digger the Badger or Mr. Blacksnake was likely to come creeping
through the grass any time, and they are always hungry for a fat Meadow
Mouse. And as if that weren't worry enough, Danny had to watch the sky,
too, for Old Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, or his cousin Redtail, or Blacky
the Crow, each of whom would be glad of a Meadow Mouse dinner. Yet in
spite of all this, Danny was happy and never once lost his appetite.
But Peter Rabbit, with nothing to worry him so long as he stayed in the
Old Briar-patch, couldn't eat and grew more and more unhappy.
"I don't know what's the matter with me. I really don't know what's the
matter with me," said Peter, as he turned up his nose at a patch of
sweet, tender young clover. "I think I'll go and cut some new paths
through the Old Briar-patch."
Now, though he didn't know it, that was the very best thing he could do.
It gave him something to think about. For two or three days he was very
busy cutting new paths, and his appetite came back. But when he had made
all the paths he wanted, and there was nothing else to do, he lost his
appetite again. He just sat still all day long and moped and thought and
thought and thought. The trouble with Peter Rabbit's thinking was that
it was all about himself and how unhappy he was. Of course, the more he
thought about this, the more unhappy he grew.
"If I only had some one to talk to, I'd feel better," said he to
himself. That reminded him of Johnny Chuck and what good times they used
to have together when Johnny lived on the Green Meadows. Then he thought
of how happy Johnny seemed with his little family in his new home in the
Old Orchard, in spite of all the worries his family made him. And right
then Peter found out what was the matter with him.
"I believe I'm just lonesome," said Peter. "Yes, Sir, that's what's the
matter with me.
"It isn't good to be alone,
I've often heard my mother say.
It makes one selfish, grouchy, cross,
And quite unhappy all the day.
One needs to think of other folks,
And not of just one's self alone,
To find the truest happiness,
And joy and real content to own.
"Now that I've found out what is the trouble with me, the question is,
what am I going to do about it?"
CHAPTER II
PETER RABBIT PLANS A JOURNEY
It's a long jump that makes no landing.
Peter Rabbit.
"The trouble with me is that I'm lonesome," repeated Peter Rabbit as he
sat in the dear Old Briar-patch. "Yes, Sir, that's the only thing that's
wrong with me. I'm just tired of myself, and that's why I've lost my
appetite. And now I know what's the matter, what am I going to do about
it? If I were sure, absolutely sure, that Old Man Coyote meant what he
said about our being friends, I'd start out this very minute to call on
all my old friends. My, my, my, it seems an age since I visited the
Smiling Pool and saw Grandfather Frog and Jerry Muskrat and Billy Mink
and Little Joe Otter! Mr. Coyote sounded as if he really meant to leave
me alone, but, but--well, perhaps he did mean it when he saw me sitting
here safe among the brambles, but if I should meet him out in the open,
he might change his mind and--oh, dear, his teeth are terrible long and
sharp!"
Peter sat a little longer, thinking and thinking. Then a bright idea
popped into his head. He kicked up his heels.
"I'll do it," said he. "I'll make a journey! That's what I'll do! I'll
make a journey and see the Great World.
"By staying here and sitting still
I'm sure I'll simply grow quite ill.
A change of scene is what I need
To be from all my trouble freed."
Of course if Peter had really stopped to think the matter over
thoroughly he would have known that running away from one kind of
trouble is almost sure to lead to other troubles. But Peter is one of
those who does his thinking afterward. Peter is what is called
impulsive. That is, he does things and then thinks about them later, and
often wishes he hadn't done them. So now the minute the idea of making a
journey popped into his head, he made up his mind that he would do it,
and that was all there was to it. You see, Peter never looks ahead. If
he could get rid of the trouble that bothered him now, which, you know,
was nothing but lonesomeness, he wouldn't worry about the troubles he
might get into later.
Now the minute Peter made up his mind to make a journey, he began to
feel better. His lost appetite returned, and the first thing he did was
to eat a good meal of sweet clover.
"Let me see," said he, as he filled his big stomach, "I believe I'll
visit the Old Pasture. It's a long way off and I've never been there,
but I've heard Sammy Jay say that it's a very wonderful place, and I
don't believe it is any more dangerous than the Green Meadows and the
Green Forest, now that Old Man Coyote and Reddy and Granny Fox are all
living here. I'll start tonight when I am sure that Old Man Coyote is
nowhere around, and I won't tell a soul where I am going."
So Peter settled himself and tried to sleep the long day away, but his
mind was so full of the long journey he was going to make that he
couldn't sleep much, and when he did have a nap, he dreamed of wonderful
sights and adventures out in the Great World.
At last he saw jolly, round, red Mr. Sun drop down to his bed behind the
Purple Hills. Old Mother West Wind came hurrying back from her day's
work and gathered her children, the Merry Little Breezes, into her big
bag, and then she, too, started for her home behind the Purple Hills. A
little star came out and winked at Peter, and then way over on the edge
of the Green Forest he heard Old Man Coyote laugh. Peter grinned. That
was what he had been waiting for, since it meant that Old Man Coyote was
so far away that there was nothing to fear from him.
Peter hopped out from the dear, safe Old Briar-patch, looked this way
and that way, and then, with his heart in his mouth, started towards the
Old Pasture as fast as he could go, lipperty--lipperty--lip.
CHAPTER III
HOOTY THE OWL CHANGES HIS HUNTING GROUNDS
A full stomach makes a pleasant Day;
An empty stomach turns the whole world gray.
Peter Rabbit.
Hooty the owl sat on the tip-top of a tall dead tree in the Green Forest
while the Black Shadows crept swiftly among the trees. He was talking to
himself. It wouldn't have done for him to have spoken aloud what he was
saying to himself, for then the little people in feathers and fur on
whom he likes to make his dinner would have heard him and known just
where he was. So he said it to himself, and sat so still that he looked
for all the world like a part of the tree on which he was sitting. What
he was saying was this:
"Towhit, towhoo! Towhit, towhoo!
Will some one tell me what to do?
My children have an appetite
That keeps me hunting all the night,
And though their stomachs I may stuff
They never seem to have enough.
Towhit, towhoo! Towhit, towhoo!
Will some one tell me what to do?"
When it was dark enough he gave his fierce hunting call--"Whooo-hoo-
hoo, whoo-hoo!"
Now that is a terrible sound in the dark woods, very terrible indeed to
the little forest people, because it sounds so fierce and hungry. It
makes them jump and shiver, and that is just what Hooty wants them to
do, for in doing it one of them is likely to make just the least
scratching with his claws, or to rustle a leaf. If he does, Hooty, whose
ears are very, very wonderful, is almost sure to hear, and with his
great yellow eyes see him, and then--Hooty has his dinner.
The very night when Peter Rabbit started on his journey to the Old
Pasture, Hooty the Owl had made up his mind that something had got to be
done to get more food for those hungry babies of his up in the big
hemlock-tree in the darkest corner of the Green Forest. Hunting was very
poor, very poor indeed, and Hooty was at his wits' end to know what he
should do. He had hooted and hooted in vain in the Green Forest, and he
had sailed back and forth over the Green Meadows like a great black
shadow without seeing so much as a single Mouse.
"It's all because of Old Man Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox," said
Hooty angrily. "They've spoiled the hunting. Yes, Sir, that's just what
they have done! If I expect to feed those hungry babies of mine, I must
find new hunting grounds. I believe I'll go up to the Old Pasture.
Perhaps I'll have better luck up there."
So Hooty the Owl spread his broad wings and started for the Old Pasture
just a little while after Peter Rabbit had started for the same place.
Of course he didn't know that Peter was on his way there, and of course
Peter didn't know that Hooty even thought of the Old Pasture. If he had,
perhaps he would have thought twice before starting. Anyway, he would
have kept a sharper watch on the sky. But as it was his thoughts were
all of Old Man Coyote and Granny Fox, and that is where Peter made a
very grave mistake, a very grave mistake indeed, as he was soon to find
out.
CHAPTEE IV
THE SHADOW WITH SHARP CLAWS
Now what's the use, pray tell me this,
When all is said and done;
A thousand things and one to learn
And then forget the one?
For when that one alone you need,
And nothing else will do,
What good are all the thousand then?
I do not see; do you?
Peter Rabbit.
Forgetting leads to more trouble than almost anything under the sun.
Peter Rabbit knew this. Of course he knew it. Peter had had many a
narrow escape just from forgetting something. He knew just as well as
you know that he might just as well not learn a thing as to learn it and
then forget it. But Peter is such a happy-go-lucky little fellow that he
is very apt to forget, and forgetting leads him into all kinds of
difficulties, just as it does most folks.
Now Peter had learned when he was a very little fellow that when he went
out at night, he must watch out quite as sharply for Hooty the Owl as
for either Granny or Reddy Fox, and usually he did. But the night he
started to make a journey to the Old Pasture, his mind was so full of
Old Man Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox that he wholly forgot Hooty the
Owl. So, as he scampered across the Green Meadows, lipperty--lipperty--
lip, as fast as he could go, with his long ears and his big eyes and his
wobbly nose all watching out for danger on the ground, not once did he
think that there might be danger from the sky above him.
It was a moonlight night, and Peter was sharp enough to keep in the
shadows whenever he could. He would scamper as fast as he knew how from
one shadow to another and then sit down in the blackest part of each
shadow to get his breath, and to look and listen and so make sure that
no one was following him. The nearer he got to the Old Pasture, the
safer he felt from Old Man Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox. When he
scampered across the patches of moonshine his heart didn't come up in
his mouth the way it had at first. He grew bolder and bolder. Once or
twice he stopped for a mouthful of sweet clover. He was tired, for he
had come a long way, but he was almost to the Old Pasture now, and it
looked very dark and safe, for it was covered with bushes and brambles.
"Plenty of hiding places there," thought Peter. "It really looks as safe
as the dear Old Briar-patch. No one will ever think to look for me way
off here."
Just then he spied a patch of sweet clover out in the moonlight. His
mouth began to water. "I'll just fill my stomach before I go into the
Old Pasture, for there may not be any clover there," said Peter.
"You'd better be careful, Peter Rabbit," said a wee warning voice inside
him.
"Pooh!" said Peter. "There's nothing to be afraid of way up here!"
A shadow drifted across the sweet clover patch. Peter saw it. "That must
be made by a cloud crossing the moon," said Peter, and he was so sure of
it that he didn't even look up to see, but boldly hopped out to fill his
stomach. Just as he reached the patch of clover, the shadow drifted over
it again. Then all in a flash a terrible thought entered Peter's head.
He didn't stop to look up. He suddenly sprang sideways, and even as he
did so, sharp claws tore his coat and hurt him dreadfully. He twisted
and dodged and jumped and turned this way and that way, and all the time
the shadow followed him. Once again sharp claws tore his coat and made
him squeal with pain.
[Illustration: HE DODGED AND JUMPED, AND ALL THE TIME THE SHADOW
FOLLOWED HIM.]
At last, when his breath was almost gone, he reached the edge of the Old
Pasture and dived under a friendly old bramble-bush.
"Oh," sobbed Peter, "I forgot all about Hooty the Owl! Besides, I didn't
suppose he ever came way up here."
CHAPTER V
IN THE OLD PASTURE
Brambles never scratch those who understand and are considerate of them.
Peter Rabbit.
Peter Rabbit sat under a friendly bramble-bush on the edge of the Old
Pasture and panted for breath, while his heart went pit-a-pat, pit-a-
pat, as if it would thump its way right through his sides. Peter had had
a terrible fright. There were long tears in his coat, and he smarted and
ached dreadfully where the cruel claws of Hooty the Owl had torn him.
And there he was in a strange place, not knowing which way to turn, for
you know he never had visited the Old Pasture before.
But Peter had had so many narrow escapes in his life that he had learned
not to worry over dangers that are past. Peter is what wise men call a
phi-los-o-pher. That is a big word, but its meaning is very simple. A
philosopher is one who believes that it is foolish to think about things
that have happened, except to learn some lesson from them, and that the
best thing to do is to make the most of the present. Peter had learned
his lesson. He was sure of that.
"I never, never will forget again to watch out for Hooty the Owl," said
he to himself, as he nursed his wounds, "and so perhaps it is a good
thing that he so nearly caught me this time. If he hadn't, I might have
forgotten all about him some time when he could catch me. I certainly
wouldn't have watched out for him way up here, for I didn't think he
ever came up to the Old Pasture. But now I know he does, Mr. Hooty'll
have to be smarter than he's ever been before to catch me napping again.
My, how I do smart and ache! I know now just how Danny Meadow Mouse felt
that time Hooty caught him and dropped him into the Old Briar-patch.
Ouch! Well, as my mother used to say:
'Yesterday has gone away;
Make the most of just to-day.'
Here I am up in the Old Pasture, and the question is, what shall I do
next?"
Peter felt a queer little thrill as he peeped out from under the
friendly bramble-bush. Very strange and wonderful it seemed. Of course
he couldn't see very far, because the Old Pasture was all overgrown with
bushes and briars, and they made the very blackest of black shadows in
the moonlight. Peter wondered what dangers might be awaiting him there,
but somehow he didn't feel much afraid. No, Sir, he didn't feel much
afraid. You see those briars looked good to him, for briars are always
friendly to Peter and unfriendly to those who would do harm to Peter. So
when he saw them, he felt almost at home.
Peter drew a long breath. Then he cried "Ouch!" You see, he had
forgotten for a minute how sore he was. He was eager to explore this new
wonderland, for Sammy Jay had told him wonderful tales about it, and he
knew that here old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had found safety when Farmer
Brown's boy had hunted for them so hard on the Green Meadows and in the
Green Forest. He felt sure that there must be the most splendid hiding-
places, and it seemed as if he certainly must start right out to see
them, for you know Peter is very, very curious. But the first move he
made brought another "Ouch" from him, and he made up a wry face.
"I guess the best thing for me to do is to stay right where I am," said
he, "for here I am safe under this friendly old bramble."
So with a sigh Peter settled down to make himself as comfortable as he
could, and once, as far, far away on the Green Meadows he heard the
voice of Old Man Coyote, Peter even smiled.
"I haven't anything to fear from him, anyway, for he'll never think of
coming way up here," said he.
CHAPTER VI
PETER RABBIT IS STILL LONESOME
A sympathetic word or two
A wond'rous help is, when you're blue.
So pity him who sits alone
His aches and troubles to bemoan.
Peter Rabbit.
All the rest of that night Peter sat under a friendly old bramble-bush
on the edge of the Old Pasture and nursed the sore places made by the
claws of Hooty the Owl. At last jolly, round, red Mr. Sun began to climb
up in the blue, blue sky, just as he does every day. Peter looked up at
him, and he felt sure that Mr. Sun winked at him. Somehow it made him
feel better. The fact is, Peter was beginning to feel just a wee, wee
bit homesick. It is bad enough to be in a strange place alone, but to be
sore and to smart and ache as Peter did makes that lonesome feeling a
whole lot harder to bear. It is dreadful not to have any one to speak
to, but to look around and not see a single thing you have ever seen
before,--my, my, my, it certainly does give you a strange, sinking
feeling way down inside!
Before that long night was over Peter felt as if his heart had gone way
down to his very toes. Yes, Sir, that's the way he felt. Every time he
moved at all he cried "Ouch!" He just knew that he was growing more
stiff and sore every minute. Then he began to wonder what he should do
for something to eat, for he was in a strange place, you remember. And
that made him think of all his private little paths through the dear Old
Briar-patch, the little paths he had made all himself, and which no one
used but himself, excepting Danny Meadow Mouse when he came for a visit.
"Perhaps I shall never, never see them again," moaned Peter, and two big
tears filled his eyes and were just ready to drop.
At that moment he looked up and saw jolly, round, red Mr. Sun wink.
Peter tried to wink back, and that made the two tears fall. But there
were no more tears to follow. You see that wink had made all the
difference in the world, Peter's heart had jumped right back where it
belonged. Mr. Sun was one of his oldest friends and you know
When trouble comes, a friendly face
Makes bright the very darkest place.
And so, just as he made bright all the Old Pasture, Mr. Sun also made
bright the dark little corners in Peter's heart just because he was an
old friend. To be sure Peter was still lonesome, but it was a different
kind of lonesomeness. He hadn't anybody to talk to, which is always a
dreadful thing to Peter, but he had only to look up to catch a friendly
wink, and somehow that not only made him feel better inside but it
seemed to make his aches and smarts better too.
CHAPTER VII
PETER FINDS TRACKS
Every day is different from every other day,
And always there is something new to see along the way.
Peter Rabbit.
Peter Rabbit had sat still just as long as he could. He was stiff and
lame and sore from the wounds made by Hooty the Owl, but his curiosity
wouldn't let him sit still a minute longer. He just HAD to explore the
Old Pasture. So with many a wry face and many an "Ouch" he limped out
from the shelter of the friendly old bramble-bush and started out to see
what the Old Pasture was like.
Now Hooty the Owl had taught Peter wisdom. With his torn clothes and his
aches and smarts he couldn't very well forget to be careful. First he
made sure that there was no danger near, and this time he took pains to
look all around in the sky as well as on the ground. Then he limped out
to the very patch of sweet clover where Hooty had so nearly caught him
the night before.
"A good breakfast," said Peter, "will make a new Rabbit of me." You know
Peter thinks a great deal of his stomach. So he began to eat as fast as
he could, stopping every other mouthful to look and listen. "I know it's
a bad habit to eat fast," said he, "but it's a whole lot worse to have
an empty stomach." So he ate and ate and ate as fast as he could make
his little jaws go, which is very fast indeed.
When Peter's stomach was stuffed full he gave a great sigh of relief and
limped back to the friendly old bramble-bush to rest. But he couldn't
sit still long, for he just had to find out all about the Old Pasture.
So pretty soon he started out to explore. Such a wonderful place as it
seemed to Peter! There were clumps of bushes with little open spaces
between, just the nicest kind of playgrounds. Then there were funny
spreading, prickly juniper-trees, which made the very safest places to
crawl out of harm's way and to hide. Everywhere were paths made by cows.
Very wonderful they seemed to Peter, who had never seen any like them
before. He liked to follow them because they led to all kinds of queer
places.
Sometimes he would come to places where tall trees made him think of the
Green Forest, only there were never more than a few trees together. Once
he found an old tumble-down stone wall all covered with vines, and he
shouted right out with delight.