Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories by Thornton W. Burgess

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"Now, there wasn't any more breakfast than Old King Bear wanted
himself, and by the time Mr. Panther arrived, there wasn't so much as
a crumb left. Then, one after another, the others came dropping in,
each licking his chops, and all very polite to Old King Bear. At first
he didn't know what to make of it, but pretty soon Mr. Fox delicately
hinted that they had come in response to the invitation sent by Mr.
Possum, and that as they were all very hungry, they would like to know
when the feast would be ready. Right away Old King Bear knew that old
Mr. Possum had been up to some of his tricks, and he told his visitors
that they were the victims of a practical joke.

[Illustration: "As they were all very hungry, they would like to know
when the feast would be ready."]

"My, my, my, how angry everybody grew! With Old King Bear at their
head, they started out to hunt for old Mr. Possum. When he saw them
coming, he realized that what he had thought was a joke had become no
longer a laughing matter for him. He was too frightened to run, so
he scrambled up a tree. He quite forgot that Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynx
could climb just as fast as he. Up the tree after him they scrambled,
and he crept as far out as he could get on one of the branches. Mr.
Panther didn't dare go out there, so he just shook the branch. He
shook and shook and shook and shook, and the first thing old Mr.
Possum knew, he was flying through the air down to where the others
were all ready to pounce on him.

"Old Mr. Possum was frightened almost to death. He shut his eyes, and
then he landed with a thump that knocked all the wind from his body.
When he got his breath again, he still kept his eyes closed, for he
couldn't bear the thought of looking at the cruel teeth and claws of
Old King Bear and the others. Presently, while he was wondering why
they didn't jump on him and tear him to pieces, Old King Bear spoke:

"'I guess Mr. Possum won't play any more jokes, Mr. Panther,' said he.
'You just knocked the life out of him when you shook him off that
branch.'

"Mr. Panther came over and sniffed at Mr. Possum and turned him over
with one paw. All the time Mr. Possum lay just as if he were dead,
because he was too frightened to move. 'I didn't mean to kill him,'
said Mr. Panther. 'We certainly will miss him. What will we do with
him?'

"'Leave him here as a warning to others,' growled Old King Bear.

"Each in turn came up and sniffed of Mr. Possum, and then they all
went about their business. He waited long enough to make sure that
they were out of sight, and then took the shortest way home. When he
got there and thought it all over, he thought that the best joke of
all was the way he had made everybody think that he was dead. And then
a bright idea struck him: he would try the same trick whenever he was
caught. So the next time he got in trouble, instead of running away,
he tried playing dead. It was such a success that he taught his
children how to do it, and they taught their children, and so on down
to Unc' Billy, whom you know. Unc' Billy says it is a lot easier than
running away, and safer, too. Besides, it is always such a joke. Now,
don't bother me any more, for I want to take a nap," concluded
Grandfather Frog.

"Thank you!" cried Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk,
and started off to hunt up Unc' Billy Possum.

IV

WHY REDDY FOX WEARS RED

Peter Rabbit sat in the middle of the dear Old Briar-patch making
faces and laughing at Reddy Fox. Of course that wasn't a nice thing to
do, not a bit nice. But Peter had just had a narrow escape, a very
narrow escape, for Reddy Fox had sprung out from behind a bush as
Peter came down the Lone Little Path, and had so nearly caught Peter
that he had actually pulled some fur out of Peter's coat. Now Peter
was safe in the dear Old Briar-patch. He was a little out of breath,
because he had had to use his long legs as fast as he knew how, but he
was safe. You see, Reddy Fox wouldn't run the risk of tearing his
handsome red coat on the brambles. Besides, they scratched terribly.

"Never mind, Peter Rabbit, I'll get you yet!" snarled Reddy, as he
gave up and started back for the Green Forest.

"Reddy Fox is very sly!
Reddy Fox is very spry!
But sly and spry, 'tis vain to try
To be as sly and spry as I."

When Peter Rabbit shouted this, Reddy looked back and showed all his
teeth, but Peter only laughed, and Reddy trotted on. Peter watched him
out of sight.

"My! I wish I had such a handsome coat," he said, with a long sigh,
for you know Peter's coat is very plain, very plain, indeed.

"You wouldn't, if you had to wear it for the same reason that Reddy
Fox has to wear his. A good heart and honest ways are better than
fine clothes, Peter Rabbit."

Peter looked up. There was saucy, pert, little Jenny Wren fussing
around in one of the old bramble bushes.

"Hello, Jenny!" said Peter. "Why does Reddy wear a red coat?"

"Do you mean to say that you don't know?" Jenny Wren looked very hard
at Peter with her sharp eyes. "I thought everybody knew that! You
certainly are slow, Peter Rabbit. I haven't time to tell you about it
now. Go ask Grandfather Frog; he knows all about it." Jenny Wren
bustled off before Peter could find his tongue.

Now, you all know how full of curiosity Peter Rabbit is. Jenny Wren's
busy tongue had set that curiosity fairly boiling over. He just
couldn't sit still for wondering and wondering why Reddy Fox wears a
red coat. He had never thought anything about it before, but now he
couldn't get it out of his head. He just _had_ to know. So, making
sure that Reddy Fox had disappeared in the Green Forest, Peter started
for the Smiling Pool, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as he could go.
There he found Grandfather Frog setting on his big green lily-pad,
just as usual.

"If you please, Grandfather Frog, why does Reddy Fox wear a red coat?"
panted Peter, quite out of breath.

"Chug-a-rum!" grunted Grandfather Frog crossly. "Don't you know that
it is very impolite to disturb people when they are having a nap?"

"I--I'm very sorry. Indeed I am, Grandfather Frog," said Peter very
humbly. "Will you tell me if I come again some time when you are not
so sleepy?"

Now, like everybody else, Grandfather Frog is rather fond of Peter
Rabbit, and now Peter looked so truly sorry, and at the same time
there was such a look of disappointment in Peter's eyes, that
Grandfather Frog forgot all about his crossness.

"Chug-a-rum!" said he. "You and your questions are a nuisance, Peter
Rabbit, and I may as well get rid of you now as to have you keep
coming down here and pestering me to death. Besides, any one who has
to keep such a sharp watch for Reddy Fox as you do ought to know why
he wears a red coat. If you'll promise to sit perfectly still and ask
no foolish questions, I'll tell you the story."

Of course Peter promised, and settled himself comfortably to listen.
And this is the story that Grandfather Frog told:

"A long time ago, when the world was young, old Mr. Fox, the
grandfather a thousand times removed of Reddy Fox, was one of the
smartest of all the forest and meadow people, just as Reddy is now. He
was so smart that he knew enough not to appear smart, and the fact is
his neighbors thought him rather dull. He wore just a common, everyday
suit of dull brown, like most of the others, and there wasn't anything
about him to attract attention. He was always very polite, very polite
indeed, to every one. Yes, Sir, Mr. Fox was very polite. He always
seemed to be minding his own business, and he never went around asking
foolish questions or poking his nose into other people's affairs."

Grandfather Frog stopped a minute and looked very hard at Peter after
he said this, and Peter looked uncomfortable.

"Now, although Mr. Fox didn't appear to take any interest in other
people's affairs and never asked questions, he had two of the
sharpest ears among all the little meadow and forest people, and while
he was going about seeming to be just minding his own business, he was
listening and listening to all that was said. Everything he heard he
remembered, so that it wasn't long before he knew more about what was
going on than all his neighbors together. But he kept his mouth tight
closed, did Mr. Fox, and was very humble and polite to everybody.
Every night he came home early and went to bed by sundown, and
everybody said what good habits Mr. Fox had.

"But when everybody else was asleep, Mr. Fox used to steal out and be
gone half the night. Yes, Sir, sometimes he'd be gone until almost
morning. But he always took care to get home before any of his
neighbors were awake, and then he'd wait until everybody was up before
he showed himself. When he came out and started to hunt for his
breakfast, some one was sure to tell him of mischief done during the
darkness of the night. Sometimes it was a storehouse broken into, and
the best things taken. Sometimes it was of terrible frights that some
of the littlest people had received by being wakened in the night and
seeing a fierce face with long, sharp teeth grinning at them.
Sometimes it was of worse things that were told in whispers. Mr. Fox
used to listen as if very much shocked, and say that something ought
to be done about it, and wonder who it could be who would do such
dreadful things.

"By and by things got so bad that they reached the ears of Old Mother
Nature, and she came to find out what it all meant. Now, the very
night before she arrived, Mrs. Quack, who lived on the river bank,
had a terrible fright. Somebody sprang upon her as she was sleeping,
and in the struggle she lost all her tail feathers. She hurried to
tell Old Mother Nature all about it, and big tears rolled down her
cheeks as she told how she had lost all her beautiful tail feathers.
Mother Nature called all the people of the forest and the meadows
together. She made them all pass before her, and she looked sharply at
each one as they went by. Mr. Fox looked meeker than ever, and he was
very humble and polite.

"Now when Mr. Fox had paid his respects and turned his back, Old
Mother Nature saw something red on the tail of his coat. It was
nothing but a little smear of red clay, but that was enough for Old
Mother Nature. You see, she knew that Mrs. Quack's home was right at
the foot of a red claybank. She didn't say a word until everybody had
paid their respects and passed before her. Then she told them how
grieved she was to hear of all the trouble there had been, but that
she couldn't watch over each one all the time; they must learn to
watch out for themselves.

"And so that you may know who to watch out for, from now on never
trust the one who wears a bright red coat," concluded Old Mother
Nature.

"All of a sudden Mr. Fox became aware that everybody was looking at
him, and in every face was hate. He glanced at his coat. It was bright
red! Then Mr. Fox knew that he had been found out, and he sneaked away
with his tail between his legs. The first chance he got, he went to
Old Mother Nature and begged her to give him back his old coat. She
promised that she would when his heart changed, and he changed his
ways. But his heart never did change, and his children and his
children's children were just like him. They have always been the
smartest and the sliest and the most feared and disliked of all the
little people on the meadows or in the forest. And now you know why
Reddy Fox wears a red coat," concluded Grandfather Frog.

Peter Rabbit drew a long breath. "Thank you, thank you, Grandfather
Frog!" said he. "I--I think hereafter I'll be quite content with my
own suit, even if it isn't handsome. Jenny Wren was right. A good
heart and honest ways are better than fine clothes."

V

WHY JIMMY SKUNK NEVER HURRIES

The Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind had just been
released from the big bag in which she carries them every night to
their home behind the Purple Hills and every morning brings them back
to the Green Meadows to romp and play all day. They romped and raced
and danced away, some one way, some another, to see whom they could
find to play with. Presently some of them spied Jimmy Skunk slowly
ambling down the Crooked Little Path, stopping every few steps to pull
over a loose stone or stick. They knew what he was doing that for.
They knew that he was looking for fat beetles for his breakfast. They
danced over to him and formed a ring around him while they sang:

"Who is it never, never hurries?
Who is it never, never worries?
Who is it does just what he pleases,
Just like us Merry Little Breezes?
Jimmy Skunk! Jimmy Skunk!"

Now not so far away but that he could hear them very plainly sat Peter
Rabbit, just finishing his breakfast in a sweet-clover patch. He sat
up very straight, so as to hear better. Of course some of the Merry
Little Breezes saw him right away. They left Jimmy to come over and
dance in a circle around Peter, for Peter is a great favorite with
them. And as they danced they sang:

"Who is it hops and skips and jumps?
Who is it sometimes loudly thumps?
Who is it dearly loves to play,
But when there's danger runs away?
Peter Rabbit! Peter Rabbit!"

Peter grinned good-naturedly. He is quite used to being laughed at for
always running away, and he doesn't mind it in the least.

"When danger's near, who runs away will live to run another day,"
retorted Peter promptly. Then he began the maddest kind of a frolic
with the Merry Little Breezes until they and he were quite tired out
and ready for a good rest.

"I wish," said Peter, as he stretched himself out in the middle of the
patch of sweet clover, "that you would tell me why it is that Jimmy
Skunk never hurries."

"And we wish that you would tell us the same thing," cried one of the
Merry Little Breezes.

"But I can't," protested Peter. "Everybody else seems to hurry, at
times anyway, but Jimmy never does. He says it is a waste of energy,
whatever that means."

"I tell you what--let's go over to the Smiling Pool and ask
Grandfather Frog about it now. He'll be sure to know," spoke up one of
the Merry Little Breezes.

"All right," replied Peter, hopping to his feet. "But you'll have to
ask him. I've asked him for so many stories that I don't dare ask for
another right away, for fear that he will say that I am a nuisance."

So it was agreed that the Merry Little Breezes should ask Grandfather
Frog why it is that Jimmy Skunk never hurries, and that Peter should
keep out of sight until Grandfather Frog had begun the story, for they
were sure that there would be a story. Away they all hurried to the
Smiling Pool. The Merry Little Breezes raced so hard that they were
quite out of breath when they burst through the bulrushes and
surrounded Grandfather Frog, as he sat on his big green lily-pad.

"Oh, Grandfather Frog, why is it that Jimmy Skunk never hurries?" they
panted.

"Chug-a-rum!" replied Grandfather Frog in his deepest, gruffest voice.
"Chug-a-rum! Probably because he has learned better."

"Oh!" said one of the Merry Little Breezes, in a rather faint,
disappointed sort of voice. Just then he spied a fat, foolish, green
fly and blew it right over to Grandfather Frog, who snapped it up in a
flash. Right away all the Merry Little Breezes began to hunt for
foolish green flies and blow them over to Grandfather Frog, until he
didn't have room for another one inside his white and yellow
waistcoat. Indeed the legs of the last one he tried to swallow stuck
out of one corner of his big mouth.

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog, trying very hard to get those
legs out of sight. "Chug-a-rum! I always like to do something for
those who do something for me, and I suppose now that I ought to tell
you why it is that Jimmy Skunk never hurries. I would, if Peter Rabbit
were here. If I tell you the story, Peter will be sure to hear of it,
and then he will give me no peace until I tell it to him, and I don't
like to tell stories twice."

"But he is here!" cried one of the Little Breezes. "He's right over
behind that little clump of tall grass."

"Humph! I thought he wasn't very far away," grunted Grandfather Frog,
with a twinkle in his great, goggly eyes.

Peter crept out of his hiding-place, looking rather shamefaced and
very foolish. Then the Merry Little Breezes settled themselves on the
lily-pads in a big circle around Grandfather Frog, and Peter sat down
as close to the edge of the bank of the Smiling Pool as he dared to
get. After what seemed to them a very long time, Grandfather Frog
swallowed the legs of the last foolish green fly, opened his big
mouth, and began:

"Of course you all know that long, long ago, when the world was young,
things were very different from what they are now, very different
indeed. The great-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Jimmy Skunk was
slimmer and trimmer than Jimmy is. He was more like his cousins, Mr.
Weasel and Mr. Mink. He was just as quick moving as they were. Yes,
Sir, Mr. Skunk was very lively on his feet. He had to be to keep out
of the way of his big neighbors, for in those days he didn't have any
means of protecting himself, as Jimmy has now. He was dressed all in
black. You know it wasn't until Old Mother Nature found out that he
was taking advantage of that black suit to get into mischief on dark
nights that she gave him white stripes, so that the darker the night,
the harder it would be for him to keep from being seen.

"Now Mr. Skunk was very smart and shrewd, oh, very! When the hard
times came, which made so many changes in the lives of the people who
lived in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadows, Mr. Skunk was very
quick to see that unless he could think of some way to protect
himself, it was only a matter of time when he would furnish a dinner
for one of his fierce big neighbors, and of course Mr. Skunk had no
desire to do that. It was then that he asked Old Mother Nature to give
him a bag of perfume so strong that it would make everybody ill but
himself. Mother Nature thought it all over, and then she did, but she
made him promise that he would never use it unless he was in great
danger.

"Mr. Skunk had to try his new defence only once or twice before his
enemies took the greatest care to let him alone. He found that he no
longer had to run for a safe hiding-place when he met Mr. Wolf or Mr.
Lynx or Mr. Panther. They just snarled at him and passed without
offering to touch him. So Mr. Skunk grew very independent and went
where he pleased when he pleased. And, because he no longer had to run
from his enemies, he got out of the habit of running. Then he made a
discovery. He watched those of his neighbors who were forever hurrying
about looking for food, hurrying because all the time there was great
fear upon them that an enemy might be near, hurrying because each was
fearful that his neighbor would get more than he. It wasn't long
before Mr. Skunk saw that in their hurry they overlooked a great deal.
In fact, by just following after them slowly, he found all he wanted
to eat.

"So Mr. Skunk began to grow fat. His neighbors, who were having hard
work to make a living, grew envious, and said unkind things about him,
and hinted that he must be stealing, or he never could have so much to
eat. But Mr. Skunk didn't mind. He went right on about his business.
He never worried, because, you know, he feared nobody. And he never
hurried, because he found that it paid best to go slowly. In that way
he never missed any of the good things that his hurrying, worrying
neighbors did. So he grew fatter and fatter, while others grew
thinner. After a while he almost forgot how to run. Being fat and
never hurrying or worrying made him good-natured. He kept right on
minding his own affairs and never meddling in the affairs of others,
so that by and by his neighbors began to respect him.

"Of course he taught his children to do as he did, and they taught
their children. And so, ever since that long-ago day, when the world
was young, that little bag of perfume has been handed down in the
Skunk family, and none of them has ever been afraid. Now you know why
Jimmy Skunk, whom you all know, is so independent and never hurries."

"Thank you! Thank you, Grandfather Frog!" cried the Merry Little
Breezes. "When you want some more foolish green flies, just let us
know, and we'll get them for you."

"Chug-a-rum! What are you looking so wistful for, Peter Rabbit?"
demanded Grandfather Frog.

"I--I was just wishing that I had a--" began Peter. Then suddenly he
made a face. "No, I don't either!" he declared. "I guess I'd better be
getting home to the dear Old Briar-patch now. Mrs. Peter probably
thinks something has happened to me." And away he went,
lipperty-lipperty-lip.

VI

WHY SAMMY JAY HAS A FINE COAT

Sammy Jay has a very fine coat, a very beautiful coat. Everybody knows
that. In fact, Sammy's coat has long been the envy of a great many of
his neighbors in the Green Forest. Some of them, you know, have very
modest coats. They are not beautiful at all. And yet the owners of
some of these plain coats are among the most honest and hard-working
of all the little people who live in the Green Forest. They find it
hard, very hard indeed, to understand why such a scamp and
mischiefmaker as Sammy Jay should be given such a wonderful blue coat
with white trimmings.

Peter Rabbit often had thought about it. He has a number of feathered
friends whom he likes ever so much better than he does Sammy Jay. In
fact, he and Sammy are forever falling out, because Sammy delights to
tease Peter. He sometimes makes up for it by warning Peter when Granny
or Reddy Fox happens to be about, and Peter is honest enough to
recognize this and put it to Sammy's credit. But in spite of this, it
never seemed to him quite right that Sammy Jay should be so handsomely
dressed.

"Of course," said Peter to Grandfather Frog, "Old Mother Nature knows
a great deal more than I do--"

"Really! You don't mean to say so! Chug-a-rum! You don't mean to say
so, Peter!" interrupted Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very much
surprised at what Peter said.

[Illustration: "You don't mean to say so, Peter," interrupted
Grandfather Frog.]

Peter grinned and wrinkled his nose at Grandfather Frog.

"Yes," said he, "Old Mother Nature knows a great deal more than I do,
but it seems to me as if she had made a mistake in giving Sammy Jay
such a handsome coat. There must be a reason, I suppose, but for the
life of me I cannot understand it. I should think that she would give
such a thief as Sammy Jay the very homeliest suit she could find. You
may depend I would, if I were in her place."

Grandfather Frog chuckled until he shook all over.

"It's lucky for some of us that you are not in her place!" said he.
"Chug-a-rum! It certainly is lucky!"

"If I were, I would give you a handsome coat, too, Grandfather Frog,"
replied Peter.

Grandfather Frog suddenly swelled out with indignation. "Chug-a-rum!
Chug-a-rum! What's the matter with the coat I have got, Peter Rabbit?
Tell me that! Who's got a handsomer one?" Grandfather Frog glared with
his great, goggly eyes at Peter.

"I didn't mean to say that you haven't got a handsome coat. Your coat
_is_ handsome, very handsome indeed, Grandfather Frog," Peter hastened
to say. "I always did like green. I just love it! And I should think
you would be ever so proud of your white and yellow waistcoat. I would
if it were mine. What I meant to say is, that if I were in Old Mother
Nature's place, I would give some plain folks handsome suits.
Certainly, I wouldn't give such a rascal as Sammy Jay one of the
handsomest coats in all the Green Forest. Knowing Sammy as well as I
do, it is hard work to believe that he came by it honestly."

Grandfather Frog chuckled way down deep in his throat.

"Sammy came by it honestly enough, Peter. Yes, Sir, he came by it
honestly enough, because it was handed down to him by his father, who
got it from his father, who got it from his father, and so on, way
back to the days when the world was young, but--" Grandfather Frog
paused, and that dreamy, far-away look which Peter had seen so often
came into his great, goggly eyes.

"But what, Grandfather Frog?" asked Peter eagerly, when he could keep
still no longer.

Grandfather Frog settled himself comfortably on his big green lily-pad
and looked very hard at Peter.

"I'm going to tell you a story, Peter Rabbit," said he, "so that never
again will you be led to doubt that Old Mother Nature knows exactly
what she is about. In the first place, Sammy Jay is not wholly to
blame for all his bad habits. Some of them were handed down to him
with his fine coat, just the same as your troublesome curiosity was
handed down to you with the white patch on the seat of your trousers."

Peter nodded. He had felt a great many times that he just couldn't
help this habit of poking that wobbly little nose of his in where it
had no business to be, any more than he could change that funny little
bunch of white cotton, which he called a tail, for a really, truly
tail.

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