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Mother West Wind When Stories - Thornton W. Burgess · Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Mother west Wind When Stories by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: When mister Bluebird won his beautiful coat. Of all the
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  Speaker 1: joyous sounds of all the year, there is none more
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  Speaker 1: loved by Peter Rabbit, and the rest of us for
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  Speaker 1: that matter, than the soft whistle of Winsome blue Bird
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  Speaker 1: in the spring. The first time Peter hears it, he
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  Speaker 1: always jumps up in the air, kicks his long heels together,
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  Speaker 1: and does a funny little dance of pure joy, for
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  Speaker 1: he knows that Whence Bluebird is the herald of sweet
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  Speaker 1: mistress Spring, and that she is not far behind him.
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  Speaker 1: It is the end of the shivery sad time and
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of the happy glad time. And Peter rejoices
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  Speaker 1: when he hears that sweet, soft voice, which is sometimes
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  Speaker 1: so hard to locate, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere.
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  Speaker 1: So Peter loves Winsome blue Bird and never tires of
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  Speaker 1: seeing him about. You know, he wears a very very
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  Speaker 1: beautiful coat of blue, the blue of the sky when
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  Speaker 1: it is softest, and you love to lie on your
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  Speaker 1: back and look up into it and dream and dream.
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  Speaker 1: It always has seemed to Peter that Winsome's coat is
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  Speaker 1: one of the loveliest he ever has seen. As indeed
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  Speaker 1: it is, and that it is quite right and proper
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  Speaker 1: and just as it should be, that one having such
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful voice and bringing such a beautiful message should
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  Speaker 1: himself be beautiful. He said as much one day when
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  Speaker 1: he had run over to the Smiling Pool to pay
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  Speaker 1: his respects to Grandfather Frog. Jugger Rum certainly, of course,
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  Speaker 1: replied Grandfather Frog. When some bluebird has a beautiful nature,
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  Speaker 1: and his beautiful coat is the reward which old Mother
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  Speaker 1: Nature has given him. It has been in the family
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  Speaker 1: ever since his grandfather a thousand times removed was brave
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  Speaker 1: enough to become the herald of Mistress Spring. Oh, Grandfather Frog,
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  Speaker 1: that sounds like a story, cried Peter, Please please tell
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  Speaker 1: it to me, for I love when some bluebird, and
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  Speaker 1: I know I shall love him more when I have
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  Speaker 1: learned more about him. His great great, ever so great
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  Speaker 1: grandfather must have done something very fine to have one
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  Speaker 1: such a lovely reward. He did, replied Grandfather Frog. He
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  Speaker 1: became the herald of Mistress Spring when no one else would,
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  Speaker 1: and bravely carried his message of gladness and joy where
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  Speaker 1: it was sadly needed, in spite of cold and hardship
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  Speaker 1: which no one else was willing to face. Please please
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  Speaker 1: tell me all about it, begged Peter. Grandfather Frog appeared
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  Speaker 1: to consider for a few minutes, and Peter waited anxiously.
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  Speaker 1: Then Grandfather Frog cleared his voice. I will, said he
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  Speaker 1: because you ought to know it, everybody ought to know it,
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  Speaker 1: and when some bluebirds certainly never will tell it himself.
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  Speaker 1: He is too modest for that. It happened a great
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  Speaker 1: while ago, when the world was young. Mister Bluebird was
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  Speaker 1: one of the quietest and most modest of all the birdsds.
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  Speaker 1: He wore just a modest gray coat, and no one
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  Speaker 1: took any particular notice of him. In fact, he didn't
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  Speaker 1: even have a name. He never quarreled with his neighbors.
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  Speaker 1: He never was envious of those to whom old Mother
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  Speaker 1: Nature had given beautiful coats, or if he were, he
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  Speaker 1: never showed it. He just minded his own affairs and
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  Speaker 1: did his best to do his share of the work
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  Speaker 1: of the Great World, for even in the beginning of things,
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  Speaker 1: there was something for each one to do. Old Mother
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  Speaker 1: Nature was very busy those days making the great world
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  Speaker 1: a fit place in which to live. And as soon
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  Speaker 1: as she had started a new family of birds or animals,
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  Speaker 1: she had to leave them to take care of themselves
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  Speaker 1: and get along as best they could. Those who were
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  Speaker 1: too lazy or too stupid to take care of themselves disappeared,
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  Speaker 1: and others took their places. There was nothing lazy or
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  Speaker 1: stupid about mister Bluebird, and he quickly learned how to
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  Speaker 1: take care of himself and at the same time keep
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  Speaker 1: on the best of terms with his neighbors. When the
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  Speaker 1: place where the first birds lived became too crowded and
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  Speaker 1: old King Eagle led them out into the new land
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  Speaker 1: Old Mother Nature had been preparing for them, mister Bluebird
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  Speaker 1: was one of the first to follow him. The new
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  Speaker 1: land was very beautiful, and there was plenty of room
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  Speaker 1: and plenty to eat for all. Then came Jack Frost
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  Speaker 1: with snow and ice and drove all the birds back
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  Speaker 1: to the place they had come from. They made up
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  Speaker 1: their minds that they would stay there even if it
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  Speaker 1: were crowded. But after a while Old Mother Nature came
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  Speaker 1: to tell them that soon Jack Frost would be driven
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  Speaker 1: back from that wonderful new land, and Sweet Mistress Spring
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  Speaker 1: would waken all the sleeping plants and all the sleeping
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  Speaker 1: insects up there, so that it would be as beautiful
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  Speaker 1: as it was before, even more beautiful than the place
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  Speaker 1: where they were now. She said that she should expect
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  Speaker 1: them to go to the new land and make it
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  Speaker 1: joyous with their songs, and build their homes there, and
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  Speaker 1: help her to keep the insects and worms from eating
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  Speaker 1: all the green things. But first I want a herald
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  Speaker 1: to go before Mistress Spring, to tell those who have
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  Speaker 1: lived there all through the time of snow and ice
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  Speaker 1: that Mistress Spring is coming. Who will go as the
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  Speaker 1: herald of Sweet Mistress Spring, asked Old Mother Nature. All
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  Speaker 1: the birds looked at one another and shivered, and then
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  Speaker 1: one by one they tried to slip out of sight. Now,
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  Speaker 1: mister Bluebird had modestly waited for some of his big
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  Speaker 1: strung nameabers to offer to take the message of gladness
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  Speaker 1: up into that frozen land. But when he saw them
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  Speaker 1: slip away one by one, his heart drew hot with
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  Speaker 1: shame for them, and he flew out before Old Mother Nature.
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  Speaker 1: I'll go, said he, bobbing his head respectfully. Old Mother
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  Speaker 1: Nature just had to smile, because, compared with some of
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  Speaker 1: his neighbors, mister Bluebird was so very small. What can
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  Speaker 1: such a little fellow as you do? She asked, You
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  Speaker 1: will freeze to death up there, for it is still
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  Speaker 1: very cold. If you please, I can at least try,
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  Speaker 1: replied mister Bluebird modestly. If I find I can't go on,
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  Speaker 1: I can come back. And what reward do you expect,
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  Speaker 1: asked Old Mother Nature. The joy of spreading such good
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  Speaker 1: news as the coming of Mistress Spring will be all
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  Speaker 1: the reward I want, replied mister Bluebird. This reply so
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  Speaker 1: pleased Old Mother Nature that she then and there made
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  Speaker 1: mister Bluebird the herald of Mistress Spring and started him
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  Speaker 1: on his long journey. It was a long journey, and
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  Speaker 1: a hard journey, harder, very much harder for mister Bluebird
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  Speaker 1: than the same journey is for Winsome. These days, you see,
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  Speaker 1: everything was new to him, and then it was so
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  Speaker 1: cold he couldn't get used to the cold. It seemed
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  Speaker 1: sometimes as if he certainly would freeze to death. At
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  Speaker 1: these times when he sat shivering and shaking, he would
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  Speaker 1: remember that sweet Mistress Spring was not very far behind,
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  Speaker 1: and that he was her herald. This would give him courage,
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  Speaker 1: and he would bravely keep on. Whenever he stopped to rest,
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  Speaker 1: he would whistle the news that Mistress Spring was coming.
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  Speaker 1: And sometimes, just to keep up his own courage, he
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  Speaker 1: would whistle while he was flying, and he found it
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  Speaker 1: helped to keep warm. At night, he crept into hollow trees,
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  Speaker 1: and it was thus he learned how snug and safe
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  Speaker 1: and comfortable such places were, and he made up his
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  Speaker 1: mind that in just such a place he would build
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  Speaker 1: his nest when the time came. As he passed on,
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  Speaker 1: he left behind him great joy, and Mistress Spring found
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  Speaker 1: as she journeyed north that all in the forests and
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  Speaker 1: on the meadows were eagerly awaiting her, for they had
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  Speaker 1: heard the message of her coming. And she was glad
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  Speaker 1: and told Old Mother Nature how well her herald had
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  Speaker 1: done his work. When he had completed his errand mister
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  Speaker 1: Bluebird built a home and was as modest and retiring
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  Speaker 1: as ever, he didn't seem to think that he had
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  Speaker 1: done anything out of the usual. He simply rejoiced in
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  Speaker 1: his heart that he had been able to do what
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  Speaker 1: Old Mother Nature had requested, and it never entered his
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  Speaker 1: head that he should have any other reward than the
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  Speaker 1: knowledge that he had done his best, and that he
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  Speaker 1: had brought cheer and hope to many. When Jack Frost
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  Speaker 1: moved down from the far north in the fall, all
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  Speaker 1: the birds journeyed south again, and of course mister Bluebird
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  Speaker 1: went with them. The next season, when it was time
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  Speaker 1: for Mistress Spring to start north, Old Mother Nature assembled
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  Speaker 1: all the birds, and this time, instead of asking who
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  Speaker 1: would carry the message, she called mister Bluebird out before
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  Speaker 1: them and asked if he were willing to be the herald.
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  Speaker 1: Once more, mister Bluebird said that he would be glad
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  Speaker 1: to be the herald if she wished it. Then Old
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  Speaker 1: Mother Nature told all the birds how brave mister bluebird was,
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  Speaker 1: and how faithful and true, and she made all the
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  Speaker 1: other birds feel ashamed, especially those bigger and stronger than
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  Speaker 1: mister bluebird. Then she said, when some blue Bird, for
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  Speaker 1: that is to be your name. From now on, I
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  Speaker 1: hear and now appoint you the herald of Mistress Spring,
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  Speaker 1: and the honor shall descend to your children and your
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  Speaker 1: children's children forever and ever, and you shall be one
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  Speaker 1: of the most loved of all the birds. And because
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  Speaker 1: you are a herald, you shall have a bright coat,
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  Speaker 1: as all heralds should have. And because you are true
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  Speaker 1: and faithful, your coat shall be blue, as blue as
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  Speaker 1: the blue of the sky. She reached out and touched
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  Speaker 1: mister bluebird, and sure enough his sober gray coat turned
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  Speaker 1: the most wonderful blue. Then once more he started on
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  Speaker 1: his long journey, and he whistled his message more joyously
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  Speaker 1: than before. And because his whistle brought joy and gladness,
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  Speaker 1: and because he was beauty to see, it came about
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  Speaker 1: just as old Mother Nature had said it would, that
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  Speaker 1: he was one of the most loved of all the birds,
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  Speaker 1: even as his great great, ever so great grandson is
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  Speaker 1: to day. Peter drew a long breath. Thank you, Grandfather Frog,
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  Speaker 1: said he, I have always loved winsome Bluebird, and now
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  Speaker 1: I shall love him more. End of chapter one. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Arnold Banner, Mount Vernon, Maine.
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  Speaker 2: Chapter two of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
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  Speaker 2: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 2: Reading by Alison waldas Mother west Wind when Stories by
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  Speaker 2: Thoughton W. Burgess, Chapter two, When old Mister Gopher first
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  Speaker 2: got Pockets, there was one of Peter Rabbit's neighbors, of
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  Speaker 2: whose presence he was always aware, and yet whom he
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  Speaker 2: almost never saw. No, it wasn't Miner the mole, but
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  Speaker 2: it was one who lives in much the same way
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  Speaker 2: as Miner. When Peter would leave the dear old briar patch,
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  Speaker 2: he seldom went far without coming to a little pile
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  Speaker 2: of fresh earth. These little piles of earth had puzzled
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  Speaker 2: Peter a great deal for a long time. It sometimes
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  Speaker 2: seemed to Peter as if they appeared by magic. He
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  Speaker 2: would pass across a certain part of the green meadows,
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  Speaker 2: and there would be nothing but the green things growing there.
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  Speaker 2: When he returned the same way, there would be one
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  Speaker 2: or two, or maybe half a dozen piles of newly
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  Speaker 2: turned earth. Of course, said Peter the first time he
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  Speaker 2: noticed one of these little earth piles. Where there is
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  Speaker 2: a pile of earth like that, there must be a hole.
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  Speaker 2: Someone has been digging, and this is the dirt thrown out.
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  Speaker 2: But when Peter looked for the hole, he couldn't find one.
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  Speaker 2: There was no hole. It was very puzzling, but it
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  Speaker 2: was a fact. He kicked that pile of earth unti
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  Speaker 2: and he had scattered it far and wide, but there
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  Speaker 2: was no sign of a hole. Later he tried the
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  Speaker 2: same thing with other little piles of earth, but never
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  Speaker 2: once did he find a hole. It looked as if
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  Speaker 2: someone brought those little piles, dropped them on the green meadows,
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  Speaker 2: and then went away. Of course, no one did anything
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  Speaker 2: of the kind, and Peter knew it.
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  Speaker 3: He spent a.
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  Speaker 2: Good deal of time wondering who could make them. Then
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  Speaker 2: one day, as he was hopping along across the green meadows,
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  Speaker 2: the ground right in front of him began to move.
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  Speaker 2: It so startled Peter that his first thought was to run.
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  Speaker 2: Then he decided that it would be foolish to run
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  Speaker 2: till there was something to run from, So he sat
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  Speaker 2: perfectly still and watched that spot where the ground was moving.
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  Speaker 2: Earth loose earth was pushed up from underneath, And even
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  Speaker 2: as Peter sat there staring, with eyes popping out of
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  Speaker 2: his head and mouth wide open in wonder, the pile
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  Speaker 2: grew and grew until it was as big as any
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  Speaker 2: of the piles about which he so often had wandered.
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  Speaker 2: Then suddenly a head was thrust out of the middle
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  Speaker 2: of it, a homely head. In an instant it vanished,
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  Speaker 2: and a second later the hole where it had been
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  Speaker 2: was filled. Peter could hear the stranger packing the earth
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  Speaker 2: in from underneath. When Peter had recovered his breath and looked,
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  Speaker 2: there was no sign of the hole. No one would
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  Speaker 2: ever have guessed there had been one there. That was
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  Speaker 2: Peter Rabbit's first meeting with Grubby Gopher. Since then, he
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  Speaker 2: has seen Grubby several times, but Grubby has never were
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  Speaker 2: she would call neighborly, and Peter never has felt, and
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  Speaker 2: never will feel, really acquainted with him. But for one thing,
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  Speaker 2: Peter would have thought Grubby Gopher the most uninteresting fellow
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  Speaker 2: he ever had met. The one thing was the discovery
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  Speaker 2: that Grubby has the biggest pockets in his cheeks that
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  Speaker 2: Peter has ever seen. And another thing about those pockets,
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  Speaker 2: they are on the outside of Grubby's cheeks instead of
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  Speaker 2: being inside, as is the case with striped Chipmunk. When
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  Speaker 2: Peter discovered this, he became curious at once. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: who wouldn't be curious. Peter felt sure that there must
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  Speaker 2: be a story in connection with those pockets. He wondered
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  Speaker 2: what use grubby gopher hamp for pockets anyway? He wondered
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  Speaker 2: why they were outside instead of inside his cheeks. He
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  Speaker 2: wondered a great many things, did Peter, And when he
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  Speaker 2: just couldn't stand it any longer for wondering, he began
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  Speaker 2: to ask questions. Why does grubby gopher have pockets in
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  Speaker 2: his cheeks, he asked, Jimmy Skunk. Because they are handier
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  Speaker 2: there than they would be anywhere else, replied Jimmy, with
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  Speaker 2: a twinkle in his eyes. Have you seen any fat
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  Speaker 2: beetles this morning? Peter no, returned Peter shortly. Then an
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  Speaker 2: idea came to him. I'll tell you what, Jimmy said,
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  Speaker 2: he speaking eagerly. If you'll tell me about those queer
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  Speaker 2: pockets of Grubby's and how he came by them, I'll
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  Speaker 2: hope you hunt for some beetles. Is it a bargain Jimmy's.
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  Speaker 2: Jimmy Skunk scratched his nose thoughtfully, as if trying to
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  Speaker 2: decide which would have the better of the bargain. Then
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  Speaker 2: he grinned good naturedly. You know, Jimmy really is one
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  Speaker 2: of the best natured little people in the world, all right,
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  Speaker 2: he said, it's a bargain. You do your part and
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  Speaker 2: I'll do mine. Now, where shall I begin? Begin with
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  Speaker 2: the day's when the world was young? Of course, replied Peter.
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  Speaker 2: All good stories seemed to have had their beginnings then,
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  Speaker 2: so far as I can see. Of course, Grubby got
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  Speaker 2: those pockets from his father, and his father got them
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  Speaker 2: from his father, and so on. Way back to the
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  Speaker 2: first gopher, So begin right off with him, just as
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  Speaker 2: you say, replied Jimmy. Old mister Gopher. The first gopher,
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  Speaker 2: who wasn't old then, was one of the little people
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  Speaker 2: whom Old Mother Nature turned loose in the great world,
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  Speaker 2: which was just at its beginning, and told to make
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  Speaker 2: the best of life as they found it. No doubt
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  Speaker 2: they would need things which they hadn't got, but first
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  Speaker 2: they must find out what they really did need. Later,
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  Speaker 2: when she had more time, she would consider these needs,
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  Speaker 2: and if they were really needs, not just desires, she
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  Speaker 2: would see what could be done to supply them. So
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  Speaker 2: mister Gopher started out to make his way in the
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  Speaker 2: great world, and it wasn't long before he discovered that
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  Speaker 2: everybody else was doing the same thing. It one became
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  Speaker 2: clear to him that if everybody lived on the same
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  Speaker 2: kind of food, there wouldn't be enough to go around,
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  Speaker 2: and the biggest and strongest creatures would get all there once,
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  Speaker 2: leaving the smaller and weaker ones to starve. Not long
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  Speaker 2: after this, he discovered certain of his big neighbors had
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  Speaker 2: begun to look at him in a way that made
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  Speaker 2: him most uncomfortable. In fact, they looked at him with
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  Speaker 2: such hungry gleam in their eyes, and they licked their
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  Speaker 2: lips in such an unpleasant way. Whenever he met them,
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  Speaker 2: the little cold shivers ran all over him, and he
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  Speaker 2: decided that the less he was seeing, the better his chances.
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  Speaker 2: One other thing mister Gopher discovered, and this was that
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  Speaker 2: each one seemed to have some special gift. One was
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  Speaker 2: a good climber, another a swift runner, a third wonderful jumper. Afore,
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  Speaker 2: the great swimmer mister Gopher, could neither climb, nor run,
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  Speaker 2: nor jump nor swim particularly well. What could he do? Somehow,
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  Speaker 2: he had a feeling that old mother name had given
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  Speaker 2: him some special advantage. What could it be? He sat
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  Speaker 2: down and studied himself. Then he noticed for the first
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  Speaker 2: time that his hands were different from the hands of
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  Speaker 2: those about him. For his size. They were very large
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  Speaker 2: and strong, and on the three middle fingers of each
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  Speaker 2: hand were long, stout claws. What could he do with
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  Speaker 2: these besides fight? Dig? That was it he could dig.
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  Speaker 2: He tried it. Sure enough, he could dig at a
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  Speaker 2: surprising rate. Then came a new idea. He would dig
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  Speaker 2: himself a hole and live in it. That would keep
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  Speaker 2: him out of sight of his big neighbors with the
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  Speaker 2: hungry looking eyes and the watery mouths. So he dug
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  Speaker 2: himself a hole. And then he discovered that in order
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  Speaker 2: to get food, he must leave the hole, and so
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  Speaker 2: he was no better off than before. While he was
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  Speaker 2: studying over this, he started a little tunnel just for
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  Speaker 2: the fun of digging, for he liked to dig, did
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  Speaker 2: mister Gopher. Presently, he came to a root in his path,
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  Speaker 2: decided to cut it and get it out of his way.
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  Speaker 2: Then when he began to cut it, he made another discovery,
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  Speaker 2: one that tickled him after death. That root was good
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: to eat. He ate all of it, and then he
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: went on digging, hoping to find another. He did find another.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Then mister Gopher made up his mind that in the
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: future he would live underground and be safe. He would
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: make himself a comfortable house, and then from that he
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: would tunnel wherever he pleased for food. So mister Gopher
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: made a comfortable house underneath, and then he started digging
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: for food. Every once in a while he would make
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: an opening at the surface of the ground and push
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: out the dirt he had dug in making his tunnel,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: filling up the opening as soon as he had pushed
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: out all the dirt. In this way, he kept his
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: tunnels clear so that he could run back and forth
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: through them. So he lived very comfortably until one day
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: he happened to overhear mister Squirrel talking about the coming
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: of Jack Frost and telling how he wouldn't mind because
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: he was laying up stores of food in a storehouse.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: That's a good idea of mister squirrels, thought mister Gopher,
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: who was much troubled by what he had heard about
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: the coming of Jack Frost. I believe I'll do the
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: same thing. But when he tried it, he found it slow,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: hard work. You see, he could carry so little at
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: a time, and he had to carry it so far
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: that it was very discouraging. He had forgotten all about
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: old mother nature, until suddenly one day, she appeared before
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: him and smilingly asked what boon she could grant him.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Almost without thinking, he replied, pockets, big pockets in my cheeks.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Old Mother Nature looked surprised. Tell me about it, said she.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Why do you want pockets? And what would you do
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: with them if you had them? So mister Gopher explained
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: to Old Mother Nature how he had learned to live underground,
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: and how lately he had been trying to lay up
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: a store of food but had found it slow work.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Old Mother Nature was pleased to think that mister Gopher
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: had made the most of his opportunities, but she didn't
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: say so. I'll think it over, said she, and left him.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: But the very next time mister Gopher brushed her hand
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: against one of his cheeks, he discovered a great pocket there.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Hastily he felt of the other there was another great
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: pocket there. Then mister Gopher was perfectly happy. He felt
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: that there wasn't a single thing in all the world
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: that he can ask for to make him any happier.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: It is just the same way with Grubby to day.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: He is perfectly happy working in the dark under the ground,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: and very very proud of the big pockets. In his cheeks, concluded,
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Jimmy Skunk, thank you, Jimmy, thank you ever so much.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Now I'll help you find some fat beetles, cried Peter.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: End of chapter two, chapter three of Mother west Wind
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: When Stories. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Mother west Wind When Stories
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter three, When old mister Grouse
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Got his snow shoes. Peter Rabbit and Missus Grouse are
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: very good friends. In fact, they are the best of friends.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: For one thing, they are very near neighbors. Once in
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: a great while, Missus Grouse comes to the dear old
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: briar patch and walks along Peter's private little paths. However,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: that isn't often. But up in the bramble tangle on
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the edge of the green forest they spend a great
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: deal of time together. You see, they both fear the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: same enemies, and so they have a great deal to
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: talk over, and each is always ready to help the
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: other when winter comes. Peter is sometimes rather lonely. You
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: see a lot of his feathered friends fly away to
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the warm, sunny Southland to spend the winter. Other friends,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk and Grandfather Frog, for instance,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: retire and sleep all through the cold weather. Peter cannot
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: understand what they do it for, but they do so.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Peter has very few to gossip with after Jack Frost arrives,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: but he can always count on Missus Grouse, no matter
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: how hard Jack Frost pinches or how bitter the breath
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: of rough brother north wind. Somewhere in the green forest,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Missus Grouse is bravely doing her best to get enough
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to eat, and Peter knows that if he looks for her,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: he will find her. There was one thing about Missus
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Grouse that puzzled Peter for a long time, and this
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: was the difference between the footprints she made in the
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: soft damp earth after a rain in the summer and
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the prince she made in the snow. The first time
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: he noticed those prints in the snow, he actually didn't
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: know who had made them. You know how very very
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: curious Peter is. He followed those queer footprints, and when
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: he found that they led right straight into the bramble tangle,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: he just didn't know what to think. He sat down
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: on the edge of the bramble tangle and scratched his
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: long right ear with his long left hind foot. When
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Peter does this, it is a sign that he is
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: very much puzzled about something. Good morning, Peter Rabbit, you
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: seem to have something on your mind, said a voice
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: from the middle of the bramble tangle. Peter gave a
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: little start of surprise. Then he hopped into the bramble
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: tangle along one of the little paths he had cut there.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Good morning, missus Grouse, he replied, I have got something
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: on my mind. I have been following some strange tracks,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and I don't know what to make of them. He
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: pointed at one of them as he spoke. Oh, replied
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: missus Grouse, in a tone of great surprise. I made
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: those with my snow shoes. I supposed you knew snowshoes.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: What are snow shoes, asked Peter, looking more puzzled than ever.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Very proudly, Missus Grouse held out one foot for Peter
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to look at. Instead of the slim, smooth toes he
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: often had admired. Peter saw that the bottom of each
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: was covered for its whole length with queer looking, horny
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: little points that prevented the foot from sinking way down
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in the snow, as it would have done without them.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: This made it very easy for Missus Grouse to get
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: about on the snow instead of having to wade through it.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: My exclaimed Peter, How perfectly splendid. Where did you get them, oh,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: replied Missus Grouse, with pride in her voice. They have
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: been in the family a great many years. They were
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: given to my great great ever so great grandfather by
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: old mother Nature. Tell me about it, Do please tell
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: me about it? Begged Peter, who had not had a
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: story since Grandfather Frog went to sleep for the winter.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Missus Grouse fluffed out her feathers and settled herself comfortably.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: There isn't much to tell, she began, But all the same,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: our family always has been rather proud of the way
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: we came by ourself, no shoes. It all happened a
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: great while ago, way back in the time that Grandfather
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Frog tells about, when the world was young. Interrupted Peter,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Missus Grouse nodded and went on. Great Grandfather Grouse lived
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: very comfortably in those days, even when the hard times came,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: and so many took to killing their neighbors because food
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: was scarce, he always managed to get enough to eat
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: because he didn't believe in being fussy. When he couldn't
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: get what he wanted, he took what he could get
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: and was thankful. When he couldn't find grasshoppers or crickets,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: or bugs of any kind, or chestnuts or beech nuts
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: or berries that he liked, he ate such berries as
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: he could find, whether he liked them or not. And
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: when he couldn't find berries or seeds, he ate the
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: buds of trees. So one way or another he managed
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: to pick up a living and to keep out of
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the way of his enemies, for he was just as
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: smart as they were. You know, in those days there
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: were no hunters with dreadful guns, so Grandfather Grouse managed
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: to get along without really suffering until the coming of
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: the first snow. That first snow was hard on everybody,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: but it was particularly hard on grandfather Grouse. His slim
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: toes cut right through. They wouldn't hold him up at all.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Of course, he spent as much time as possible up
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: in the trees, but when he wanted to get low
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: hanging berries on the bushes, the kind that stay on
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: all winter, you know, he just had to stand on
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: the ground and reach up for them. Then too, his
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: feet were intended for walking and running rather than for
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: perching in trees, and it made his toes ache dreadfully
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: to have to cling to the branch of a tree
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: too long. I know just how it felt, because I
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: have had to do it when Reddy Fox has been
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: hunting for me. But Grandfather Grouse made the best of
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: a bad matter and didn't say a word, not a word.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: He waded around in the snow as best he could,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: but it was dreadfully tiresome. He couldn't take more than
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: a few steps without stopping to rest. And this wasn't all.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: The snow made his feet ache with the cold. He
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: had to keep drawing first one foot then the other
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: up to warm them in his feathers now. Grandfather Grouse
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: had sharp eyes, and he knew how to use them.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: He had to to keep out of danger. He watched
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the other little people, and he soon saw that those
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: with big feet, feet that were big for the size
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: of their bodies, didn't sink in like those with small,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: slim feet. For the first time in his life, he
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: began to wish that Old Mother Nature had made him different.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: He wished that he had broad feet, Yes, sir, he
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: wished just that. Then a thought popped into his head.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the snow wasn't going to last forever. Perhaps it
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: would go away and never come again. Then he wouldn't
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: want broad feet, but just the kind of feet he
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: already had, he sighed. Then he tried to smile bravely.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: I guess, said he talking out loud to himself, for
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: he thought he was quite alone. I guess the thing
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: to do is to stop worrying about the things I
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: haven't got, and make the most of the blessings I
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: have got. And he started to wade through the snow
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: for some berries. Just ahead. Now, Old Mother Nature happened
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: to be passing, and she overheard grandfather Grouse. I wish
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: that every one felt as you do, said she. It
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: would make things a great deal easier for me. But
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: what is it that you wished you had? Grandfather Grouse
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: felt both pleased and a little ashamed, ashamed that he
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: should even seem to be dissatisfied. At first, he tried
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: to pretend that everything really was all right, But after
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: a little urging, he told Old Mother Nature all about
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: his troubles since the coming of the snow. She listened
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: and looked thoughtful. Then she told Grandfather Grouse to be patient,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: and perhaps things would not be so bad as they seemed. Somehow,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Grandfather Grouse felt better after that, and when he went
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: to bed for the night in a big hemlock tree,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: he was almost cheerful. The next morning, when he flew
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: down to get his breakfast, he had the greatest surprise
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: of his life. Instead of sinking way down into the snow,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: he sank hardly at all. He could get about with
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: the greatest ease. He didn't know what to make of
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: it until he happened to look down at his feet,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: and then he saw that he had snowshoes. Interrupted Peter Rabbit,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: dancing about in great excitement. Just so, replied missus Grouse.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: He had snowshoes, just like the ones I have now.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: When spring came, old Mother Nature came around and took
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: them away because he no longer had need of them.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: But when the next winter came she returned them to him.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: She called them the reward of patience. And ever since
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: that long ago day, our family has had snowshoes in
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: the winter. I really don't know how we would get
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: along without them. I don't know how you would, replied
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit. Isn't it splendid how old mother Nature seems
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: to know just what everybody needs? And with that started
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: for the dear old Briar Patch to tell little missus
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Peter all about the snowshoes of Missus Grouse. End of
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: chapter three. Recording by Arnold Danner, Mount Vernon, Maine.
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: Chapter four of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: Recording by John and Daily Mother west Wind When Stories
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter four, When old mister Panther
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: lost his honor, Peter Rabbit, always curious, had overheard his
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: cousin Jumper the Hare, tell Prickly Porky the Porcupine that
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: it was lucky for him, whom of the panther was
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: too much afraid of men to come down to the
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: green forest to live, but kept to the great woods
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: and the big mountains. At the very mention of Puma,
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: the thousand little spears of Prickly Porky had rattled together,
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: and Peter had a queer feeling that this time, instead
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: of being rattled purposely to make others afraid, they rattled
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: because Prickly Porky himself shook with something very like fear.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: In fact, it seemed to Peter that Prickly Porky actually
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: turned pale. Now Peter knew nothing at all about Puma
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: the panther, and right away he was so full of
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: questions that he could hardly wait to get Jumper alone
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: so that he might satisfy his curiosity. The first chance
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: he got, he began to ask questions so fast that
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: Jumper clapped his hands over both ears and threatened to
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: run away. Who is Puma, Where does he live? Why
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: is Prickly Porky afraid of him? What does he look like?
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: It was then that Jumper clapped his hands over his ears.
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: Peter grinned, Please, cousin Jumper tell me about him.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: He begged.
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: Jumper pretended to con for a few minutes. Then, because
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: like most people, he likes to air his knowledge, and
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: also because he is very fond of his cousin Peter,
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: he told him what he knew about Puma the panther
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: in the first.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Place, said he. Puma is the biggest member of the cat.
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: Family living in the Great Woods. Is he bigger than
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: Toughy the Lynx, asked Peter eagerly. Jumper nodded, and Peter's
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: eyes opened very wide.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: He looks very much like black Pussy, Farmer Brown's cat,
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: only he is yellowish brown instead of black, and is
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: ever and ever and ever so many times bigger, continued Jumper.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: He has a long tail just like black Pussy, and
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: great claws which are terribly sharp. He is so soft
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: footed that he can steal through the woods without making
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: a sound. He can climb trees like happy jack squirrel.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: And he is so big and strong that everyone but
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: Buster Bear is afraid of him, even prickly Porky, for
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: he is so smart and cunning that he has found
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: a way to make prickly porkies thou and little spears
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: quite useless to protect him. But big and strong and
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: smart as he is, he is a coward because he
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: is a sneak, and all sneaks are cowards. Of course,
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: you know that, Peter.
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: Peter nodded. Everybody knows that, said he.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: But if he is so big and strong and smart.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: Why is he a sneak? I guess it's in his
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: blood and he can't help himself, replied Jumper. I guess
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: it is because way back in the beginning of things,
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: his great great ever so great grandfather lost his honor,
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: and none of the family ever has got it back again.
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: How did old mister Panther lose his honor? Demanded Peter, fairly,
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: itching with curiosity and eagerness, Well, replied Jumper, all I
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: know is what I've heard whispered about among the people
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: of the Great Woods. It may be true and it
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: may not be, but everyone.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: Here seems to believe it. As I said before, it
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: happened back in the beginning of things. Old King Bear
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: ruled the Great Woods then, and there was peace between
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: all the animals. Mister Panther was sleek and handsome and
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: graceful in all his movements. He knew it too. He
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: spent a great deal of time washing himself and smoothing
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: his fur, just as black pussy does. He would stretch
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: out in the sun for hours with his eyes closed
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: until they were just slits, but all the time he
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: saw all that was going on around him. He would
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: watch old King Bear shuffling about in his clumsy fashion,
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: and he would curl the end of his tail up
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: and twitch it scornfully. Then he would look at his
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: own trim form admiringly and think how much finer looking
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: a king he would make. The more he watched Old
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: King Bear, the more this feeling grew, he became envioush
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: and then jealous. But he took care never to let
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: Old King Bear know this. You see, there was one
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: thing about King Bear which mister Panther did, and that
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: was his strength. He had no desire to quarrel with
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: King Bear, so whenever they met, he was very polite
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: and said flattering things to him. But behind his back,
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: mister Panther made fun of him, but did it in
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: such an artful way that his neighbors merely thought that
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: they themselves were making the discovery of how much handsomer
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: mister Panther was than Old King Bear. After a while
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: came the hard time when food was scarce, and in
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: order to keep from starving, the big and strong began
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: to prey on their neighbors who were smaller, or weaker,
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: or more helpless. But the law was made that none
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: should kill more than what was needed to fill an
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: empty stomach for the time being. It was then that
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: mister Panther thought of a plan for making Old King
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: Bear hated by all his subjects. If they hate him,
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: they will refuse to have him as a king any longer,
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: and I, being next in strength and far more kingly
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: in appearance, will be made king in his place, reasoned
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: mister Panther. But he took care not to hint such
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: a thing. Presently, ugly stories began to float about. Some
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: one was killing, seemingly for the fun of killing. It
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: was dreadful, but it was true. Almost every day someone
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: was found killed but not eaten, And always there were
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: footprints going to and away from the place, and they
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: were the footprints of Old King Bear. So all the
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: forest people began to hate King Bear, and to mutter
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: among themselves that they would have him for king no longer. Finally,
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: some of them went to Old Mother Nature and told
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: her all about it. They asked that Old King Bear
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: be punished, and that some one else be made king
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: in his place. Old Mother Nature told them that she
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: would think it over. Quite unknown to Old King Bear,
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: she followed him about and watched him as he shuffled
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: about in his clumsy way. Hum it ought not to
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: be very hard to keep out of his way. Those
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: who are caught must be very stupid if he catches them,
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: thought she. Presently, her sharp eyes caught a glimpse of
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: a shadowy form sneaking along behind Old King Bear. It
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: was mister Panther, and he was stepping with the greatest
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: care so as to leave no footprints. Old Mother Nature
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: sat down and waited. She saw mister Panther bound away
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: through the trees. By and by he came back, bringing
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: the body of a hare which he had killed. He
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: laid it down where Old King Bear had left a
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: footprint in the soft earth, and then, with his long
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: tail twitching, he looked this way and that way to
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: make sure that no one had seen him, and then
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: bounded away. The next day, Old Mother Nature called all
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: the people of the forest before her, and they all came,
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: for none dared stay away. When they were all there,
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: she had, each in turn looked her straight in the
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: face while she asked if they had hunted fairly and honorably,
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: and only when they were hungry. Each in turn looked
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: her straight in the face and said that he had
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: until it came the turn of mister Panther. Mister Panther's
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: tail twitched nervously, and he looked everywhere but at Old
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: Mother Nature as she put the question to him, look
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: me straight in the face, and tell me on your
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: honor that you have hunted fairly, commanded Old Mother Nature.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: Mister Panther knew that all eyes were upon him, and
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: he tried his best to look her in the face.
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: But he couldn't do it. You see, he hadn't any honor,
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: he had lost it, and without honor, no one could
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: look another straight in the face. Instead, he turned and
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: began to slink away, and all who saw him wondered
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: how they ever could have thought him kingly looking. Then
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: Old Mother Nature told what she had seen the day before,
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: and at once everybody understood who it was that had
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: been doing the killing and trying to make it appear
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: that it was old King Bear. And they all turned
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: and shouted coward, sneak, coward sneak, until mister Panther fairly
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: ran to get out of hearing. From that time on
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: he lived by himself and would not look even timid
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: mister Hare in the face. Instead of hunting openly and boldly,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: like mister Wolf. He sneaked about in the forest and
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: hunted by stealth, so that all the people of the
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: forest looked on him with scorn, and most of them
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: feared him. They called him a coward, and they nicknamed
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: him sneak Cat. And to this day all panthers have
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: been the same, sneaking and cowardly in spite of their
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: great size and strength, for it has been in their
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: blood ever since the time when old mister Panther lost
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: his honor ended jumper.
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: Peter was silent for a minute.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: Then he said softly, I'm little intimid, but I'd rather
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: be that way than to be big like Puma. But
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: a coward and a sneak, I can look any one
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: in the face.
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: End of chapter four.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Chapter five of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: Mother west Wind Wends Stories by Thornton W. Burgess. Chapter five,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: When old mister Rat became an outcast robber. The brown
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: rat is an outcast among the little people of the
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: green meadows and the green forest. You know, an outcast
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: is one with whom no one else will have anything
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: to do. No one speaks to Rober, whoever meets him
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: pretends not to even see him, unless it happens to
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: be one of the hawk family, or one of the
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: owl family, or Shadow the weasel. If one of these
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: sees him, it is well for Robber to find a
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: safe hiding place without any loss of time. But the
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: rest of the little meadow and forest people turn their
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: backs on Robber and get out of his way, partly
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: because many of them are afraid of him, and partly
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: because they despise him and consider him quite beneath them.
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: He hasn't a single friend among them, not even among
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: his own relatives. The latter are ashamed of him. If
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: they could help it, they wouldn't even admit that they
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: are related to him. Just mention him to them, and
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: right away they will begin to talk about something else.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: Wag the wood rat and Bounder the kangaroo rat are
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: very different fellows and are well liked. But Robber the
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: brown rat is hated, Yes, sir, he is hated even
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: by his own relatives, which you will agree is a
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: dreadful state of affairs. Peter Rabbit had heard of Robber,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: but never had seen him until one moonlight night he
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: happened to go up to Farmer Brown's barn just out
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: of curiosity. He saw a hole under the barn and
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: was trying to decide whether or not to go in
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: and find out what was inside. When who should come
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: out but Robber himself. His coat was so rough and untidy,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: he was so dirty, he smelled so unclean, and he
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: looked so savage that Peter at once decided that he
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't interested in that barn and took himself off to
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: the green forest lipperty lipperty Lip as fast as he
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: could go. All the rest of the night he thought
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: about Robber the Brown Rat, and the very next day
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: he hurried over to the Smiling Pool to ask Grandfather
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: Frog how it was that Robber had become such a
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: disreputable fellow with not a single friend. Grandfather Frog had
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: had a good breakfast of foolish green flies and was
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: feeling in the very best of humor. Charorum said he,
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: Robber the brown Rat is an outcast because he is
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: all bad. His father was all bad, and his father's
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: father and so on. Way back to the beginning of things.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: When the world was young, there was no good in
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: any of them, and there is no good in Robber.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: He is a disgrace to the whole race of meadow
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: and forest people, and so he lives only where a
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: man lives, And I have heard that he is as
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: much hated by man as by the rest of us.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: Way back when the world was young, his great great
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: ever so great grandfather, who was the first of his race,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: lived with the rest of the little people in the
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: green forest, and old Mother Nature gave him the same
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: chance to make an honest living that she gave to
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: the rest. For a while, mister Rat was honest. He
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: was honest just as long as it was easier to
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: be honest than dishonest. But when the hard times came,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: of which you know, and food became scarce, mister Rat
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: was too lazy to even try to earn his own living.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: He discovered that it was easier to steal from his neighbors.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: He wasn't at all particular whom he stole from, but
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: he took from big and little alike. He was so
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: sly about it that for a long time no one
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: found him out. By and by his neighbors began to
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: wonder how it was that mister Rat always seemed fat
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: and well fed, and yet never was seen to work.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: But mister Rat was too crafty to be caught stealing.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: He said he didn't need much to live on, which
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: was an untruth, for he was a very greedy fellow. Now,
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: laziness is a habit that grows. First, mister Rat was
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: too lazy to work for his living, and little by
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: little he grew too lazy to be crafty. He grew
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: bolder and bolder in his stealing, until at last he
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: just took what he pleased, eased from those who were
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: smaller than he. Being well fed, he was strong. All
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: the little people of his own size and smaller feared him.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: The bigger people said it was no business of theirs,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: so long as he didn't steal from them. All the
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: time he was stealing from them, but hadn't been caught. Finally,
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: he grew too lazy to keep himself looking neat. His
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: coat was always unbrushed and untidy looking. He was always dirty,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: you see. It was too much work to even wash
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: his face and hands. There was always food sticking to
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: his whiskers. The little people kept away from him because
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: they were afraid of him. The bigger people would have
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with him because they were ashamed of him,
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: ashamed to be seen in his company. So lazy mister
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: Rat drew dirtier in his habits, bolder in his stealing,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: and impudent to everybody. He became quarrelsome. It was about
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: this time that the bigger people found him out. Mister
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: Lynx had secured the first meal he had had in
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: a week. Part of it he put away for the
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: next day before going to bed. He went to have
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: a look at it. Some of it was gone. That's queer,
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: muttered mister Lynx. I wonder who there is who dares
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: to steal from me. Mister Lynx hid where he could
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: watch what was left of that meal. By and by
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: he grew sleepy. He was just dozing off when he
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: heard a noise. There was mister Rat carrying off part
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: of what was left of that meal. But a snarl
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: of anger, mister Lynx leaked out, but mister Rat was
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: too quick for him. He slipped into a hole. Mister
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: Lynx grabbed at him and caught him by the tail.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: Mister Rat polled and mister Lynx pulled, but mister ster
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: Rat's tail was slippery and mister Lynx couldn't hold on.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: He did, however, pull all the hair from it. Of course,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: mister Lynx told what had happened, and after that mister
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: Rat did not dare show himself at all when the
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: bigger people were about, so he lived in holes and
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: continued to steal. Finally, Old King Bear called a meeting
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: and it was decided to drive mister Rat out of
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: the green forest and off the green meadows. Little mister
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Weasele said that he was not afraid of mister Rat
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: and he would go into all the holes and drive
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: mister Rat out. So mister Weasel went into hole after
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: hole until at last he found mister Rat. Mister Rat
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: tried to fight, but he found that little mister Weasel
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: was so slim and could move so quickly that he
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: couldn't get hold of him. So at last mister Rat
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: was forced to run to save his life. The minute
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: he appeared, all the others, big and little started for him.
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: Mister Rat gave one look and then with a squeal
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: of fright, he ran with all his might, dodging into
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: one hiding place after another, only to be chased out
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: of each. And so at last he turned away from
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: the green forest and the green meadows and ran to
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: the home of men, where he hid in dark places
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: and stole from men as he formerly had stolen from
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: his neighbors of the green forest. And because men are
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: wasteful and allow much food to spoil, mister rat found
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: plenty to fill his stomach, such as it was, but
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: often it was such as no one else would have touched.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: Once or twice, he tried to get back to the
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: green forest, but as soon as he was discovered, he
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: was driven back, and at last he gave up trying.
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: He grew more dirty than ever, and found finding everybody,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: even man, against him. He became savage of temper, living
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: wholly by stealing evil to look at and evil to
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: come near. For in the dirt of his coat he
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: carried sickness from place to place. In no place in
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: all the great world could he find a welcome. His
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: children followed in his footsteps, and his children's children, Old
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: mother Nature became so disgusted with them that she said
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: they should always remain outcasts until they should mend their ways.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: But this they never did, and so Robber the brown
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Rat is an outcast today, looked down on and hated
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: by every living thing. There is none to say a
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: good word for him, And to this day the tails
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: of Robber's family have been almost bare of hair, as
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: a reminder of how old mister Rat of long ago
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: came to be driven out of the green forest. Now
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: are you satisfied, Peter Rabbit, concluded Grandfather Frog. Yes, indeed,
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: and I thank you ever so much, declared Peter Hugh.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: It must be dreadful to be despised and hated by
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: all the great world. I wouldn't be in Robber's place
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: for anything, chug urum, I should hope not, said Grandfather Frog.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: End of chapter five. Recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Vernon, Maine.
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: Chapter six of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: Mother Best Wind When Stories by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter six,
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: When Mister Moose Lost his horns. Peter Rabbit had just
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: seen flatthorns the moose for the first time, and Peter
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: was having hard work to believe that there wasn't something
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: the matter with his eyes. Indeed, they looked as if
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: something was the matter with them, for they seemed about
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: to pop right out of his head. If anyone had
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: told Peter that any one as big as flatthorns lived
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: in the Great Woods, he wouldn't have believed it. But
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: now that he had seen that it was so, he
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: just had to believe. So Peter sat with his eyes
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: popping out and his mouth gaping wide open in the
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: most foolish way, as he stared in the direction in
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: which flatthorns had gone. Big, isn't he? Peter looked up
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: to see Blackie the Crow in the top of a
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: birch tree just at one side, and Blackie, too was
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: looking after flat horns. Then Blackie looked down at Peter
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: and began to laugh. Don't try to swallow him, Peter
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: said he Peter closed his mouth with a snap. My,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: but he is big, he exclaimed. I never felt so
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: small in all my life as when I first caught
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: sight of him. What queer horns he has? I suppose
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: they are horns, for he carries them on his head,
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: just as Lightfoot the deer does his. They are so
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: big I should think they would make his head ache.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: Perhaps they do, and that is why he drops them
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: every spring and grows a new pair during the summer, replied,
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: Blackie drops them, drops those great horns, and grows new
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: ones in a single summer. Do you mean to tell
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: me that hard things like those horns grow? And what
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: do you mean by saying that he drops them every spring? Why?
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: I saw him banging them against a tree just now,
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: and I guess if they ever were coming off, they
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: would have come off. Then you can't fool me with
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: any such story as that, Blackie. Have it your own way,
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: Peter replied, Blackie. Some people never can believe a thing
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: until they see it with their own eyes. All I've
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: got to say is just keep an eye on flat
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: horns in the spring, and then remember what I've told you.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: Before Peter could reply, Blackie had spread his wings and
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: with a harsh ah ah ah had flown away. Of course,
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: after that, Peter was very very curious about flatthorns the moose,
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: and he just ached all over it to ask about
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: those horns. But every time he saw them, the idea
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: that they ever would or could come off seemed so
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: impossible that he held his tongue, you see, he didn't
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: want to be laughed at. So the winter passed and
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: Peter was no wiser than before. Then the spring came,
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: and one never to be forgotten day, Peter was hurrying
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: along lipperty lipperty Lip, when right in front of him
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: lay something that made him stop short and stare even
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: harder than he had stared the first time he saw flatthorns?
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: What was it? Why it was one of those very
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: horns he had thought so much about, Yes, sir, that
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: is just what it was. Even then, Peter couldn't believe
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: it was so. He couldn't believe it until he had
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: hunted up flat horns himself and seen with his own
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: eyes that there were no longer any horns on that
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: great head. Then Peter had to believe. It seemed to
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: Peter the strangest thing he had ever heard of. There
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: must be a reason, and if there were, Grandfather Frog
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: would be sure to know it. So every day Peter
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: visited the Smiling Pool to see if Grandfather Frog had
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: wakened from his long winter's sleep. At last, one day
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: he found him and could hardly wait to tell him
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: how glad he was to see him once more, and
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: to be properly polite before he asked him about those
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: horns of flatthorns. The moose gagaron said, grandfather Frog, it's
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: pretty early in the season to be asking me for
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: a story. But seeing it is you, Peter, and that
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: you waited all winter for it, I'll tell it to you.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: Way way back in the days when the world was young,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: the first moose, the great great, ever so great grandfather
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: of flat horns, was the biggest of all the animals
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: in the green forest. But he had no horns, and
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: he was such a homely fellow that everybody laughed at
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: him and made fun of him. Now, nothing hurts quite
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: so much as being laughed at, I know, interrupted Peter.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: Mister Moose felt so badly about it that he used
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: to hide away and keep out of sight all he
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: possibly could, continued grandfather Frog. Big as he was and
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: strong as he was, he would turn and run away
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: to hide from even such little people as mister Skonk
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: and mister squirrel, and you're ever so great grandfather, mister rabbit.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: He just couldn't bear to be laughed at. Old Mother
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: Nature kept her eye on him, and at last she
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: took pity on him, and crowned his head the most
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: wonderful horns, horns so big that no one smaller than
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: mister Moose could possibly have carried them. Then mister Moose
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: threw up his head and carried it proudly, for now
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: no one laughed at him. He marched through the great
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: woods boldly, and even old King Bear, who was king,
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: no longer stepped aside respectfully. Then pride entered into mister Moose,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: Pride in his wonderful horns, pride in his great strength.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: He feared no one. He beat the bushes with his
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: great horns and bellowed until the great woods rang with
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: his voice, and all those who had once laughed at
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: him hid in fear. He proclaimed himself King of the
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: great Woods, and no one dared to deny it. So
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: he came and went when and where he pleased, and
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: felt himself every inch a king, and carried his great
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: horns as a crown. One day, in the beginning of
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: the springtime, he came face to face with old Mother Nature.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: Once he would have bowed to her very humbly, but
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: by now he had grown so proud and haughty that
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: instead of stepping aside for her to pass. He boldly
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: marched on, with his head held high, as if he
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: did not see her. It was Old Mother Nature who
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: stepped aside. She said nothing, but as he passed, she
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: reached forth and touched his great horns, and they fell
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: from his head, and with them fell all his pride
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: and haughtiness. At once some of his neighbors, who had
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: been hiding near and had seen all that had happened,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: began to mock him and make fun of him and
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: laugh at him. Then, with his head hung low in shame,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: did mister Moose slink away and hide, as he had
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: done in the beginning. And none could find him save
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: Old Mother Nature. Very humble was mister Moose when she
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: visited him. All his pride was melted away in shame.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: Old Mother Nature was sorry for him. She promised him
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: that he should have new horns, but that once a
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: year he should lose his horns, lest he should forget
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: and again become over proud and haughty. So, while he
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: kept hidden, the new horns grew and grew, until they
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: were greater and more wonderful than the ones he had
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: had before. Then mister Moose once more came forth, holding
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: his head high and glorying in his strength, and all
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: his neighbors treated him with the greatest respect, quite as
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: if he were really king of the great woods. But
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: he never forgot what Old Mother Nature had said to him.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: And when the spring came, he slipped away and hid,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: lest he should be seen without the glory of his horns.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: For in his heart he knew that old Mother Nature
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: would keep her word. Sure enough, his great horns dropped off,
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: and in humbleness and patience he waited for new horns
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: to grow. So it was all the years of his life,
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: and so it has been with his children and his
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: grandchildren even to this day. And so it is with flatthorns,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: and so it will be with his children. And the
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: Moose family never have forgotten, and never can forget, that
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: there is nothing so foolish as pride in personal appearance.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: Is that all, asked Peter, as grandfather Frog stopped. Isn't
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: that enough? Demanded Grandfather Frog testily. Just think it over
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: a while, and when you are tempted to be proud
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: and haughty, just remember the horns of mister Moose and
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: what happened to them. Thank you ever so much for
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: the stary story, replied Peter politely, as he hopped away,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: half way to the dear old briar patch. He paused
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: it served old mister Moose just right, he declared to
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: no one in particular, and so it did. End of
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: chapter six. Recording by Arnold Banner Mount Vernon mayin chapter
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: seven of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is a
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: Mother west Wind When Stories by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter seven,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: When mister Kingfisher took to the ground, Rabbit had taken
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: it into his funny little head to wander down the
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: Laughing Brook below the Smiling Pool. It was open there,
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: and in one place the bank was quite high and steep.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: Peter sat down on the edge of it and looked
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: down right under him. The Laughing Brook was very quiet
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: and clear. Peter sat gazing down into it. He could
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: see all the pebbles on the bottom, and queer little
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: plants growing among them. It seemed very queer, very queer
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: indeed to Peter that plants, real plants could be growing
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: down there under water. Somehow he couldn't make it seem
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: right that anything but fish should be able to live
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: down there. So Peter sat gazing down, lost in a
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: sort of daydream. The jolly little sunbeams made beautiful lights
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: and shadows in the water. Everything was so peaceful and
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: beautiful that Peter quite forgot he was sitting right out
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: in the open, where Redtail the hawk might spy him.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: He just gave himself up to dreams. Day dreams, you know,
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: presently those day dreams were very very near to being
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: sleep dreams, Yes, sir, they were. Peter actually was nodding.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: His big eyes would close, open, close, again, open, and
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: then close for a little longer. Suddenly, a sharp and
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: very loud noise, which seemed to come from right under
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: his very toes, put an end to all nodding and dreaming.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: It was a long, harsh rattle, and it startled Peter
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: so that he almost jumped out of his skin. Anyway,
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: he jumped straight up in the air, and the wonder
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: was that he didn't tumble head first down that steep bank,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: right into the laughing brook. A queer, prickly feeling ran
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: all over him. He blinked his eyes rapidly. Then he
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: saw a handsome blue and white and gray bird with
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: a head that looked too big for his body, flying
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: up the Laughing Brook, just above the water. And as
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: he flew he made that sharp, harsh, rattling noise which
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: had startled Peter so abruptly he paused in his flight,
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: hovered over the water an instant, shot down, and disappeared
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: with a tinkling little splash. A second later he was
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: in the air again, and in his stout spear like
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: bill was a gleaming, silvery thing. It was a little fish,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: a minnow, Rattles the kingfisher, exclaimed Peter as he watched
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: him fly over to a tree, pound the fish on
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: a branch, and then go through the funniest performance as
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: he tried to swallow them in a hole. Now where
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: did he come from, continued Peter. It certainly seemed to
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: me that he came from right under my very feet.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: But there isn't so much as a twig down there.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: Peter poked his head over the edge of the bank. No,
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a single thing down there on which Rattles
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: could have been sitting. He was still wondering about it
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: when his wobbly little nose caught a smell, a very
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: unpleasant smell. It was the smell of fish, and it
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: seemed to come from right under him. He leaned a
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: little farther over the edge of the bank, and then
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: he gave a funny little gasp. There was a hole
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: in the bank only a few inches below him, and
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: the smell certainly came from that hole. Could it be?
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: Could it possibly be that Rattles had come out of
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: that hole? It certainly seemed so, And yet Peter couldn't
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: quite believe it, the very idea of a bird living
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: in a hole in the ground. I don't believe it.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: I don't so there, exclaimed Peter, right out loud. What
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: is it you don't believe? Asked a voice. Peter looked down.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: There was Little Joe Otter looking up at him from
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: the water, his eyes twinkling. I don't believe that Rattles,
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: the Kingfisher, came out of that hole. Yet I don't
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: see where else he could have come from, replied Peter.
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: Little Joe chuckled, that's where he came from. Even if
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: you don't believe it, said he. I don't suppose you
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: will believe that he dug that hole himself. Either. Peter's
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: eyes opened very wide. I I'll believe it if you say,
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: on your honor that it really is so, he replied slowly.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: On my honor, it really is so, said little Joe Otter,
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: his eyes twinkling more than ever. Perhaps you would like
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: to know how the great great grandfather of Rattles, the Kingfisher,
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: happened to take the ground for a home. Peter's eyes
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: fairly danced. Do tell me, little Joe, Oh, please tell me,
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: he exclaimed. Little Joe climbed out of the water on
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: a rock just below Peter and settled himself comfortably. Once
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: upon a time he began in the beginning of things,
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: prompted Peter. Yes, in the beginning of things, replied little Joe.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: Way back when the world was young, lived the very
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: first of the Kingfisher family. From the very beginning, mister
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: Kingfisher was a very independent fellow. He cared nothing about
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: his neighbors. That is, he was not social. He was
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: polite enough, but he preferred his own company and was
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: never happier than when he was by himself. Of course,
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: his neighbors soon found this out. They called him odd
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: and queer and soon refused to even speak to him.
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: This just suited mister Kingfisher, and he went about his
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: business very well, content to be let alone. He spent
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: his days fishing, and because there were few other fishermen,
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: he always had plenty to eat. At night, he found
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: a comfortable roost in a tree, and so for a
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: time he was perfectly contented. By and by, he discovered
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: that most of his neighbors were building homes. At first
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: he gave little attention to this, but after a while,
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: seeing how happy they were, he began to think about
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: a home for himself. The more he thought about it,
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: the more he wanted one. But underneath mister Kingfisher's pointed
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: cap were very clever wits. He would do nothing hastily.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: So he flew up and down the brook, appearing to
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: do nothing but fish, And all the time he was
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: keeping his eyes open, and there were no sharper eyes
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: than those of mister Kingfisher. He was watching his neighbors
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: work to see where and how they made their homes.
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: He saw some of the birds building nests in the trees,
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: some building them in the bushes, and a few building
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: right on the ground. Of all, he saw he liked
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: best the home of Drummer the Woodpecker. That fellow has
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: the right idea, thought he he cuts a hole in
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: a tree, he is dry, he is warm, and no
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: one can get at him there. If I build a home,
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: that is the kind of place I want. He has
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: got what I call plain sense, plain common sense. After this,
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: mister Kingfisher watched until he was quite sure that no
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: one was around to see him, and then he tried
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: to make a hole in a tree as he had
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: seen Drummer the Woodpecker do. But right away he discovered
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: that two things were wrong. His bill was not made
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: for cutting wood, and his feet were not big enough
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: were the right shape for clinging to the side of
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: a tree. Mister Kingfisher was disappointed, very much disappointed. A
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: hole seemed to him the only kind of a place
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: for a home. He was thinking it over when he
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: happened to discover mister Muskrat digging a hole in the bank.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: At first he didn't pay much attention. Then all in
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: a flash, an idea, a wonderful idea, came to him.
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: Why shouldn't he have a home in the ground. No
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: one in the wide world would ever think of looking
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: for the home of a bird in the ground. With
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: a rattle of joy, mister Kingfisher flew off up the
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: brook to a steep sandy bank of which he knew
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: just the place, just the very place. He cried, I'll
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: make a hole just a little way from the top.
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: No one will see it except from below, and it
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: will be hard work for anyone to climb up that
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: sandy bank. He flew straight at the spot he had
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: selected and drove his big spear like bill into it.
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: Then he did it again and again. That bill wouldn't
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: cut wood like the bill of drummer the woodpecker, but
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: it certainly would cut into a sandy bank. In a
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: little while he had room to cling with his feet.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: Then he could work faster and more easily. Pretty soon
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: he had a hole deep enough to get into. He
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: would loosen the earth with his bill and scrape it
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: out with his feet. He was so pleased with his
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: discovery that he kept right on working. He almost forgot
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: to eat. All the time he could spare from fishing,
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: he spent digging. Day after day. He worked. When he
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: had a hole three or four feet straight into the bank,
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: he made a turn in it and then kept on digging.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: When he had gone far enough in he made a
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: little bedroom. At last the house was done. Mister Kingfisher
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: chuckled happily. No one could get at him. There he
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: had the best and safest home he knew of. It
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: was better than the home of Drummer the woodpecker. If
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: mister Mink happened to find it, and mister Kingfisher could
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: think of no one else who would be likely to,
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: there would be nothing to fear, for mister Mink would
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: never dare face that sharp bill in such a narrow place.
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: It all worked out just as mister Kingfisher thought it would.
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: No one dreamed of looking in the ground for his home,
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: and for a long long time he kept his secret
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: so well that his neighbors thought he had no home
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: and called him Rattles the homeless. From that day to
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: this the Kingfishers have made their homes in the ground,
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: concluded little Joe Otter. Isn't it wonderful? Exclaimed Peter as
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: he watched Rattles dive into the water and catch a
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: silvery Minnow. I didn't know that anyone wearing feathers had
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: so much sense. There's a great deal you don't know,
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: Peter replied, Little Joe Otter sliding into the water. End
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: of chapter seven. Recording by Arnold banner Man, Vernon, Maine.
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 5: Chapter eight of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 5: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 5: For more information or to volunteer, please visit libra dot org.
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 5: Recording by URI's Sonnont Mother west Wind wedd Stories by
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 5: Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter eight, When old Mister Badger learned
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 5: to stay at home. The first time Peter Rabbit saw
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 5: a digger, the Badger, he laughed at him. Yes, Sir
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 5: Peter laughed at him. He laughed until he had to
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 5: hold his sides. When he got back to the dear
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 5: old Briar Patch, he told little missus Peter all about Digger.
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 5: That is, he told her all that he had seen,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 5: which was really very little indeed about Digger, as he
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 5: found out later, I've found him away over on the
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 5: green meadows, in a place where I've never been before,
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 5: and I almost stepped on him before I saw him.
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 5: You should have seen me jump. I guess it's lucky
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 5: I did too, for he certainly has got the wickedest
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 5: looking teeth, and I didn't like the way he snarled. Then,
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 5: at a safe distance, I sat down and laughed. I
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 5: just had to why his legs are so short, and
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 5: his coat hangs down so on each side that he
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 5: doesn't seem to have any legs at all. And as
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 5: for his shape, he hasn't any. He's so broad and
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 5: flat that he looks as if something big and heavy
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 5: had passed over him and rolled him out flat. But
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 5: how he can dig? If Johnny Chuck should ever see
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 5: him digging, Johnny would die of envy. I'm going over
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 5: there again to learn more about him. You'd better stay
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 5: at home and mind your own affairs, replied little missus
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 5: Peter Tartly. No good comes of poking into the affairs
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 5: of other people. This is true, and Peter knows it.
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 5: But he just couldn't keep away from that part of
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 5: the green meadows where he had discovered Digger the Badger.
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 5: The more he saw a Digger, the greater became his
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 5: curiosity about him. The less Peter can find out for
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 5: himself about any one, the more curious he becomes. And
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 5: all he could find out about Digger was that he
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 5: slept most of the day, never went far from home,
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 5: could dig faster than any one Peter had ever heard of,
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 5: was short tempered, and was treated with respect by all
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 5: his neighbors, even Old Man Coyote, who seemed to know
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 5: him very well. All this made Peter more curious than ever.
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 5: So one day, when old Man Coyote happened along by
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 5: the old briar Patch, Peter ventured to ask him about
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 5: Digger the Badger. Old Man Coyote happened to be feeling
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 5: in fine humor, for he had just eaten a good dinner,
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 5: so he sat down just outside the dear old briar Patch,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 5: and this is what he told Peter. Digger is an
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 5: old friend of mine, and I would advise you to
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 5: treat him with the greatest respect, Peter, because if you
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 5: don't and he ever gets his claws on you, that
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 5: will be the end of you. I wouldn't care to
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 5: get in a fight with him myself, big as I am.
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 5: You may have noticed that no one ever bothers him.
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 5: Peter nodded, and old Man Coyote continued, I don't know
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 5: of any one who minds his own business and keeps
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 5: his nose out of the affairs of other people as
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 5: Digger does. Greatest homebody I know of, unless it's Johnny Chuck,
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 5: and even Johnny wanders off once in a while, but
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 5: Digger never gets very far from his own doorstep. Says
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 5: there is no place like home, and he can't see
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 5: what anybody wants to leave the best place in the
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 5: world for, even if they can come back to it.
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 5: Missus Peter reached over and poked Peter in the back,
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 5: but he didn't even look at her. You know, she's
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 5: always trying to keep Peter from roaming about. So old
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 5: Man Coyote went on with his story. It isn't because
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 5: Digger is afraid. Goodness, no, I don't know of anyone
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 5: better able to take care of himself than Digger the Badger.
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 5: I guess it's because his family always had been home lovers.
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 5: I've heard my grandfather tell how Digger's grandfather was just
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 5: the same as Digger is, and how he had heard
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 5: his grandfather say the same thing about Digger's grandfather's grandfather.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 5: They say that the very first Badger who founded the family,
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 5: way back in the days when the world was young,
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 5: started his home staying habit, and that all Badgers ever
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 5: since then have been just like him. Digger is terribly
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 5: proud of his family and of old mister Badger, who
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 5: founded it so long ago. I don't know, as I
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 5: wonder at it. Old mister Badger certainly had more sense
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 5: than some of his neighbors. You see, when Old Mother
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 5: Nature first turned him loose in the great world, he
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 5: felt that she had not been at all fair in
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 5: her treatment of him. His legs were so short and
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 5: he was so broad and flat that everybody, or nearly everybody,
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 5: laughed at him and good naturedly poked fun at him.
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 5: He pretended not to care, but he did care just
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 5: the same. No one really likes to be laughed at
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 5: for something he cannot help. Mister Badger would watch his neighbors,
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 5: mister Wolfe and mister Fox and mister Rabbit and others
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 5: run and jump, and then he would try to do
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 5: as they did, and he couldn't because his legs were
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 5: so short and so clumsy. He would sit for hours
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 5: admiring the graceful forms of his neighbors and comparing them
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 5: with his own homely shape. He would wonder what Old
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 5: Mother Nature could have been thinking of when she made him,
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 5: But he didn't say so to her. No one. He
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 5: kept his thoughts to himself and never let his neighbors
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 5: know that he envied them in the least. One day
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 5: he wandered out from the green forest on to the
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 5: green meadows. He liked it out there. He liked to
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 5: look up and see so much of the blue, blue
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 5: sky all at once. He liked to look off and
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 5: see a long distance. Of course, he couldn't do that
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 5: in the green forest because of the trees. He liked
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 5: being by himself, because he always felt so sensitive about
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 5: his homely shape. He discovered that if he laid down
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 5: flat on his stomach when any one came near, he
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 5: was always past unnoticed. Being so broad and flat and
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 5: altogether shapeless, he could remain unseen right out there on
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 5: the open green meadows, even when the grass was short.
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 5: And that was something that mister Wolf and mister Fox
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 5: and even little mister Rabbit couldn't do. It pleased him.
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 5: He began to be less envious of his neighbors. Then
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 5: one never to be forgotten day, the red terror which
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 5: men call fire, broke loose in the green forest, and
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 5: all the little people fled before it across the meadows
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 5: and passed old mister Badger. They raced with fear in
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 5: their eyes, and behind them came the Red Terror. A
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 5: terrible fear sprang up in the heart of mister Badger.
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 5: With those short legs, he never in the world could
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 5: run fast enough to escape. What should he do? What
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 5: could he do? He looked at the great claws on
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 5: his stout feet, and all in a flash an idea
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 5: came to him. Perhaps if he dug a hole and
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 5: crawled into it, the Red Terror would not find him.
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 5: At once he began to dig, and how the dirt
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 5: did fly in just no time at all. He was
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 5: quite out of sight, and by the time the Red
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 5: Terror had reached there, he was so far down in
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 5: the ground that he didn't even feel the heat. When
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 5: it was all over and the earth had cooled off
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 5: so he could come out, he sat on the pile
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 5: of dirt in front of his hole and did some
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 5: hard thinking. He looked at his stout legs and long claws,
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 5: and all at once it came over him that old
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 5: Mother Nature had not been so unfair. After all, she
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 5: had provided him with the means to take care of himself,
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 5: which he wouldn't exchange with any of his neighbors for
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 5: all their speed and better looks. Later, when he saw
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 5: how some of them were worn out with running, and
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 5: some of them had even burned places on their coats,
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 5: the last bit of envy disappeared. I guess, he said
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 5: to himself, Old Mother Nature has given each one special blessings,
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 5: but she expects us to find them out for ourselves.
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 5: I've found mine out some of them anyway, and I'll
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 5: just get busy and look for the rest. I'm going
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 5: straight over to the prettiest part of the green meadows,
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 5: where the red terror hasn't been, and dig myself a
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 5: house in the ground. There's no place like a good home,
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 5: So what's the good of roaming around? My legs were
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 5: not intended for that, and those who have gone longer
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 5: legs can do it if they want to. He did
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 5: just what he said he would do. He practiced digging
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 5: until he was the best digger of all the little people.
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 5: The more he dug, the stouter and stronger his legs became.
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 5: And soon he found that all his neighbors respected his strength,
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 5: and none would quarrel with him. Because he could get
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 5: plenty to eat near his home. He never went far
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 5: from his doorstep, and from that time on he lived
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 5: in perfect safety and contentment. He brought his children up
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 5: to do the same thing. And if you should go
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 5: over and ask Diggard to day, he would tell you
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 5: that there is no place like home, and that he
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 5: envies no one. I'm glad, however, that not everyone agrees
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 5: with him, or I should have hard work to get
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 5: a living, concluded old man Coyote, with a sly wink
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 5: at Missus Peter, end of chapter eight. Recording by URI's salant,
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 5: Chapter nine of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 5: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 5: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 5: Recording by Yuri's salant, Mother west Wind Wind Stories by
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 5: Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter nine. This isn't the story of
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 5: the Bob White, you know. And yet when I think
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 5: it over, I don't know but that it is. After all,
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 5: it is the story of the first Bob White, the great, great, great,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 5: ever so great grandfather of the Bob White, you know,
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 5: and I know, and everybody who has ever heard his
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 5: whistle knows. It's a story of that long ago time,
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 5: way back in the beginning of things, when the world
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 5: was young. And yet I guess it is just as
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 5: much our own Bob White story as it is his
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 5: great great great ever so great grandfather's. You see, it
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 5: is because of it, of what happened in that long
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 5: ago time, that Bob White is Bob White. So that
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 5: makes it his story too, doesn't it. Anyway, I'll tell
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 5: you the story, and I'll leave it to you to decide.
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 5: Old Mother west Wind told me the story, and she
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 5: got it from Peter Rabbit, and Peter got it from well,
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 5: I don't know for sure, but I suspect he got
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 5: it from Bob White himself. You know, Peter and Bob
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 5: White are great friends. They are very near neighbors. They
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 5: are such near neighbors and such good friends that if
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 5: it popped into Peter's funny little head to be curious
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 5: about Bob White's affairs, he wouldn't hesitate an instant to
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 5: ask Bob about them. Anyway, some one told Peter the story,
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 5: and I like to think that some one was none
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 5: other than brown coated little whistler Bob White the Quail himself.
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 5: Here is the story, as Old Mother west Wind told
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 5: it to me long long ago, way back in the
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 5: beginning of things, when the world was young, when the
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 5: green meadows were new, and the green forest was new,
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 5: and the smiling pool and the laughing brook and the
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 5: big river were new, and the little and big people
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 5: whom Old Mother Nature put in them to live were new, too,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 5: being the first each of his kind, things were different,
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 5: quite different from what they are now. Old Mother Nature
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 5: was busier than she is now, and goodness knows she
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 5: is busy enough these days. In fact, she is a
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 5: million times busier than the busiest other person in all
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 5: the great world. If she wasn't, if she grew tired
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 5: or lazy or careless or anything like that, I'm afraid
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 5: things would go so wrong with the great world that
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 5: they never never could be righted again. But in these
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 5: far away days, in the beginning of things, she was
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 5: busier still. It is always easier to keep things going
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 5: after they are once started than it is to start them,
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 5: and Old Mother Nature was just starting things. So she
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 5: started a great many of the little people oft in life,
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 5: and told them to make the best of things as
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 5: they found them in the great world, and do as
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 5: well as they could. While she was attending to other matters. Now,
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 5: one of these little people was a plump little person
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 5: in a coat of reddish brown feathers. He was mister Quayle,
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 5: the great, great, great, ever so great grandfather of all
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 5: the quails. To mister Quayle, as to all the others,
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 5: old Mother Nature said, the great world is new. There
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 5: is a place in it for you. But if you
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 5: must find that place for yourself, there is work for
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 5: you to do. But you must find out for yourself
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 5: what it is. When you have real need of anything,
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 5: come to me, but don't bother me until you do have.
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 5: No one who proves to be helpless or useless will
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 5: live long. Now run along and prove whether or not
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 5: you have a right to live. So, little mister Quayle
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 5: went out among the other people in the great world
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 5: to try and find his place. All the other people
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 5: were trying to find their places, and some of them
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 5: were having a dreadful time doing it. A great many
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 5: began by trying to do just what their neighbors did,
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 5: which was the very worst kind of a mistake. It
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 5: was a pure waste of time. Worse still, it wasn't
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 5: making a place in the work of the great world.
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 5: Little mister Quayle's eyes were very bright, and he used
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 5: them for all they were worth. His wits were quite
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 5: as bright, and he used these the same way. There
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 5: are two things for me to find out, he said
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 5: to himself, what I can't do, and what I can do.
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 5: The sooner I find out what I can to do,
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 5: the more time I'll have to find out what I
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 5: can do. I've got wings, and that must mean that
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 5: old mother Nature intends me to fly. I'm glad of that.
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 5: It must be fine to sail around up there in
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 5: the air and see all that's going on down below.
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 5: Up overhead, Old mister Buzzard was sailing round and round,
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 5: high up in the sky, with heartily emotion of his
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 5: broad wings. Little mister Quayle watched him a long time,
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 5: and a great longing to do the same thing filled him.
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 5: At last he sprang into the air, and right then
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 5: he made a discovery, Yes, sir, he made a discovery.
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 5: He must beat his wings with all his might in
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 5: order to stay in the air. When he stopped beating
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 5: them and held them spread out as old mister Buzzard did,
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 5: he found that he simply sailed a little way straight ahead,
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 5: and then began to come down. He must keep those
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 5: wings moving very fast, or else come down to the ground.
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 5: Then he made another discovery. In a very little while,
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 5: his wings were so tired that he just had to
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 5: stop flying. Little mister Quayle squatted in the grass and
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 5: panted for breath. He was disappointed, terribly disappointed. It's plain
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 5: to me that old mother Nature doesn't intend that I
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 5: shall spend my time sailing about in the air, said he.
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 5: He scratched his pretty little head thoughtfully. I can fly
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 5: pretty fast for a short distance, he continued talking to himself.
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 5: But that's all that must mean that I have been
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 5: given wings for use only in time of need. There
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 5: are some birds flitting about in a tree. They seem
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 5: to be having a good time. I think I'll join them.
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 5: If I can't sail about in the air, the next
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 5: best thing will be flitting about in the trees. So,
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 5: after he had rested a bit, little mister Quayle flew
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 5: to the tree where the other birds were flitting about,
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 5: and there he made another disappointing discovery. Try as he would,
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 5: he couldn't flit about as they did. Moreover, he didn't
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 5: feel comfortable perched in a tree for any length of time,
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 5: It made his toe ache to bend them around the
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 5: branch on which he was sitting. He watched the other birds,
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 5: and his bright eyes soon discovered that their feet were
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 5: different from his feet. Their toes were made to clutch
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 5: wings and hold them there comfortably, while his were not. Old.
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 5: Mother nature doesn't intend that I shall spend my time
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 5: flitting about in trees, said he sorrowfully, and flew down
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 5: to the ground once more. Right away his feet felt better,
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 5: all the ache left them. It was good to be
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 5: on the ground. Pretty soon he began to run about.
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 5: It was good to run about. He felt as if
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 5: he could run all day without getting tired. While hunting
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 5: for food, he discovered that if his toes were not
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 5: made for perching in trees, they certainly were made for
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 5: scratching over leaves in loose earth where stray seeds were hiding.
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 5: Then he made still another discovery. His coat was just
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 5: the right color to make it hard for others to
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 5: see him when he squatted down close to the ground.
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 5: If an enemy did discover him, his stout little wings
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 5: took him out of danger like a bullet. Little by little,
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 5: it came over him that he had found his place
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 5: in the great world, which was on the ground most
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 5: of the time. But he remembered what old Mother Nature
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 5: had said about work to do, and this worried him
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 5: a little. One day he watched mister Toad catching bugs.
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 5: Old mister Toad was grumbling. I can't keep up with
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 5: these pesky bugs, said he. When I get my stomach full,
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 5: I have to wait for it to get empty again
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 5: before I can catch any more. But they don't wait.
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 5: They keep right on eating all the time, and there
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 5: won't be any green things left if I don't have help.
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 5: Little mister Quayle grew thoughtful. Then he started in to
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 5: help old mister Toad catch bugs, so as to give
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 5: the green things a chance to grow. He had found
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 5: work to do, and he did it with all his might.
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 5: He forgot he ever had wanted to sail around the
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 5: air or flit about in the trees. He had found
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 5: his place in the great world, and he had found
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 5: work to do, and also he had found the secret
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 5: of the truest happiness. He was so happy that he
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 5: had to tell his neighbors about it. So every morning,
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 5: just before starting work, he would fly up on a
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 5: stump and whistle with all his might. What he tried
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 5: to say was all's all right, All's all right. But
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 5: what his neighbors thought he was saying was Bob Bob White,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 5: Bob Bob White. So they promptly called him Bob White,
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 5: and loved him for the cheer which his clear whistle
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 5: brought to them. When Old Mother Nature came to see
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 5: how things were getting on, she found little mister Quayle
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 5: the happiest and the most useful of all the birds.
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 5: And as she listened to his whistle, she smiled and said,
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 5: I love you, Bob White, and all the world shall
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 5: love you, and all the world has loved him to
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 5: this very day. End of chapter nine. Recording by Yuri's Salant,
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 5: Chapter ten of.
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 6: Mother west Wind When Stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 6: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 6: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 6: by Denise Nordell. Mother west Wind When Stories by Thornton W. Burgess,
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 6: Chapter ten, When teeny Weeny became grateful? Did something move
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 6: among the dead leaves along that old log? Or was
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 6: it the wind that stirred them. Peter Rabbit stared very
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 6: hard trying to find out, not that it made the
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 6: least bit of difference to Peter it didn't If something
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 6: alive had moved those leaves, That something was too small
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 6: for Peter to fear it. Probably it was a worm
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 6: or a bug. It might have been a beadle that
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 6: looked like a good place for beetles. There was Jimmy
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 6: Skunk ambling down the lone little path this very minute,
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 6: and Jimmy always appeared to be looking for beetles. Peter
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 6: stared harder than ever. A leaf moved, another turned fairly over.
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 6: There wasn't any wind just then. Dead leaves don't turn
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 6: over of themselves, so there must be something alive there.
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 6: What has Peter on his mind this morning to make
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 6: him stare? So, asked Jimmy Skunk as he ambled up.
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 6: Peter grinned. I was just wondering, said he, if there
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 6: are any fat beetles under that log over there. Those
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 6: dead leaves along the side of it have a way
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 6: of moving once in a while without cause that I
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 6: can see there, What did I tell you? Sure enough,
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 6: a couple of leaves had moved, Jimmy Skunk's eyes brightened.
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 6: He actually almost hurried over to that old log and
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 6: began to rake away the leaves. Suddenly he stopped and sniffed.
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 6: At the same time, Peter thought he saw something dart
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 6: in at the hollow end of that log. It might
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 6: have been a shadow, but Peter had a feeling that
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 6: it wasn't. Jimmy Skunk sniffed once more, and then deliberately
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 6: turned his back on that old log, and with his
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 6: nose turned up his face the very picture of disgust
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 6: and disappointment. He rejoined Peter. Teeny Weeny, clever and spry
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 6: disappears while you wink and I said, Jimmy, oh, exclaimed Peter.
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 6: Is that who it was? I suppose he was hunting
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 6: beetles himself. He's such a little mite of a fellow
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 6: that I should think a good sized beetle could almost
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 6: carry him away. I declare to goodness, I don't see
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 6: how anyone so small manages to live. Danny meadow mouse
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 6: and Whitefoot the wood mouse are small enough, but they
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 6: are giants compared with teeny Weeny the shrew. They have
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 6: a hard enough time keeping alive. And I should think
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 6: that any one smaller would stand no chance at all.
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 6: Do you know teeny Weeny very well? Asked Jimmy. No,
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 6: confessed Peter. I've seen him only a few times and
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 6: then had no more than a glimpse of him. And
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 6: yet he lives right around here where you come and
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 6: go every day, said Jimmy. I know it, replied Peter.
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 6: I suppose it is because he is so small he
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 6: can hide under next to nothing. Jimmy grinned. I don't see,
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 6: but what you've answered yourself, he chuckled. It's because he
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 6: is so small that teeny Weeny manages to keep out
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 6: of harm. He isn't very good eating anyway, so I
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 6: have heard say why because there isn't enough of him
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 6: to make a bite, asked Peter. No, replied Jimmy. Of course,
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 6: I don't know anything about it, but I've heard those
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 6: who do say that a shrew doesn't taste good, and
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 6: that no one who is at all particular about his
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 6: food will touch one. I'm told that Hooty the owl
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 6: hunts teeny Weeny, but Hooty isn't at all particular. You know,
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 6: if teeny Weeny tastes the way he smells, I, for
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 6: one don't want to try him. Peter laughed right out.
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 6: He couldn't help it. The idea of Jimmy Skunk being
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 6: fussy about smells was too funny. What are you laughing at,
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 6: demanded Jimmy, suspiciously at the idea that anyone so small
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 6: can smell bad enough to make any difference, replied Peter.
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 6: I wonder how he comes to have that bad smell.
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 6: It's a reward, replied Jimmy. It's a reward handed down
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 6: to him from the days when the world was young,
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 6: and his great great, great, ever so great grandfather, the
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 6: first shrew you know, who was also called teeny weeny,
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 6: was given it by old mother Nature because he had
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 6: sense enough to be grateful and to tell her that
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 6: he was. It's a story, cried Peter. It's tis a story,
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 6: and you've just got to tell it to me. Jimmy
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 6: Skunk say please, grinned Jimmy, please, please, please please, replied Peter.
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 6: If that isn't enough, I'll say it as many times more.
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 6: I guess that will do, because after all, it isn't
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 6: so very much of a story, returned Jimmy, scratching his
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 6: head as if he were trying to stir up his memory.
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 6: It happened way back in the beginning of things, that
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 6: when Old Mother Nature had about finished making the birds
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 6: and the animals, she had just a teeny weeny pinch
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 6: of the stuff they were made of left over. Because
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 6: she couldn't then and can't now bear to be wasteful,
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 6: she started to make something. First, she started to make
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 6: it into a very tiny mouse. Then she changed her
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 6: mind and started to make it into a tiny mole. Finally,
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 6: she changed her mind again and made it into something
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 6: like each but not just like either, blew the breath
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 6: of life into it and set it free in the
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 6: great world. That was teeny Weeny, the first shrew and
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 6: the smallest of all animals. For a while, teeny Weeny
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 6: wished that he hadn't been made at all. He wished
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 6: that Old Mother Nature hadn't been so thrifty and saving.
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 6: What was the good of being an animal at all?
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 6: If he wasn't big enough to be recognized as such.
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 6: That's the way he felt about it for a while.
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 6: It hurt his feelings to have Old King Bear say,
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 6: after just missing him with his great foot, I beg
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 6: your pardon. You are so tiny. I thought you were
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 6: a bug of some kind. Of course, I don't mind
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 6: stepping on bugs, but I wouldn't step on you for
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 6: the world. Why don't you grow so that we can
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 6: see you? Yes, why don't you, asked old mister wolf.
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 6: If you get stepped on, don't blame us. Even mister
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 6: meadow mouse laughed at him because he was so small.
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 6: Teeny Weeny was quite furious at that. So for a
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 6: while he was very unhappy because he was so small.
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 6: He ate and ate and ate, hoping that this would
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 6: make him grow bigger. But it didn't. He remained as
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 6: small as ever, the smallest of all the four footed people,
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 6: and his temper didn't improve not a bit. He was
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 6: fretful and snappish. He said all sorts of things about
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 6: old Mother Nature because she had made him so small.
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 6: He almost hated her. He couldn't see a single advantage
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 6: in being small. Time went on, and at length came
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 6: the hard times of which you have heard, the times
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 6: when food was so scarce and most of the little
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 6: people were always hungry. Then it was that the big
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 6: and strong began to hunt the small and weak. As
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 6: you know, at first, teeny Weeny was in a regular
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 6: panic of fear. He felt that because he was so
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 6: small he hadn't any chance at all. But after a
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 6: while he made a discovery, a most amazing discovery. It
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 6: quite took his breath away when he first realized it.
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 6: It was that because he was so small, he had
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 6: more chance than some of those of whom he had
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 6: been envious. Because he was so small, he could slip
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 6: out of sight in a twinkling. He could slip into
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 6: holes that no one else could get into. A leaf
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 6: on the ground would hide him. Then he discovered that
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 6: because he was so small, it didn't take much food
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 6: to fill his stomach, and he had no trouble in
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 6: finding all he needed to eat. While his neighbors were
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 6: going hungry, he was fat and comfortable. Bugs there were,
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 6: and worms there were in plenty, and so on the
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 6: he lived. One day he saw old Mother Nature, and
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 6: she looked worried. She was worried. It was in the
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 6: very middle of the hard times, and wherever she went,
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 6: the little people of the green forest and the green
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 6: meadows crowded about her to complain and ask her help.
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 6: Teeny Weeny remembered all the bitter things he had said,
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 6: and all the bitter thoughts he had had because she
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 6: had made him so small, and he was ashamed, Yes, sir,
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 6: he was ashamed. You see, he realized by this time
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 6: that his small size was his greatest blessing. What did
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 6: teeny Weeny do but march right straight up to Old
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 6: Mother Nature the first chance he got and tell her
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 6: how grateful he was for what she had done for him.
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 6: He was quite honest. He told her how he had felt,
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 6: and how he had said bitter things, and how sorry
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 6: he was now that he understood how well off he was.
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 6: Then he thanked her once more and turned to leave.
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 6: Old Mother Nature called him back. She was wonderfully pleased
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 6: to have these few words of thanks amid so many complaints,
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 6: teeny Weeny, said she. Because you have been smart enough
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 6: to see and honest enough to admit a blessing when
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 6: you have thought it a hardship, and because you have
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 6: been grateful instead of complaining, I herewith give you this
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 6: musky odor, which will be distasteful to even the hungriest
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 6: of your enemies. It is a further protection to you
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 6: and your children and your children's children forever and ever.
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 6: And so it was, and so it has been, and
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 6: so it is, and that's all concluded. Jimmy Skunk end
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 6: of chapter ten. Recording by Denise Nordal Modesto, California.
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: Mother west Wind When Stories by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter eleven,
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: When old mister Hare Became a Turncoat. Turncoat isn't considered
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: a very nice name to call any one. You see,
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: it is supposed to mean one who has turned traitor,
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: as it were, has been on one side and has
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: gone over to the other side. If a soldier who
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: was fighting for France should go over to the German
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: army and fight for Germany against France, he would be
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: a turncoat. Benedict Arnold, of whom you have read in history,
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: was a turncoat. But the meaning isn't always bad. Just
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: take the case of jumper the Hare. In summer he
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: wears a coat of brown, but in winter he wears
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: a coat of white, the white of the pure driven snow.
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: So you see he is a turncoat. But in his
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: case it doesn't mean anything bad at all. On the contrary,
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: it means something rather nice and very interesting. Now you know,
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: Jumper is the cousin of Peter Rabbit, and looks very
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: much like Peter Rabbit, save that he is very much
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: larger and has longer hind legs and longer ears. But
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: Peter wears the same little homely brown coat in winter
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: that he does in summer, the only difference being that
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: it is thicker and so warmer. I am afraid that
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: Peter has sometimes let a little envy creep into his
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: heart when he has met his cousin wearing a coat
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 1: of pure white. Be that as it may. Peter puzzled
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: over the matter a great deal until he found out
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: from Grandfather Frog how it happens that Jumper has such
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: a lovely winter coat. It happened one evening in early June,
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: when Peter was hopping along down the lone little path
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: through the green forest, that he met Jumper and stopped
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: to gossip for a few minutes. He had not seen
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: Jumper since gentle sister south Wind had swept away the
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: last of the winter's snow. Then Jumper's coat had been white,
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: now was brown. This reminded Peter that he never had
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: been able to tease Jumper into telling him how he
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: could change his coat that way. None of Peter's other
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: friends of the winter seemed to know, for he had
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: asked all of them, and each had told him to
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: ask Grandfather Frog. Of course, Peter couldn't do that in winter,
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 1: because Grandfather Frog was then fast asleep in the mud
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: at the bottom of the Smiling Pool. With the coming
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: of spring, he had forgotten all about the matter. Now,
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 1: at sight of Jumper once more, it all came back
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: to him. When Peter and Jumper part heard, Peter started
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: for the Smiling Pool lipperty lipperty Lip. He arrived there
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: quite out of breath. Grandfather Frog smiled a big, broad smile.
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: Before Peter could say a word, Grandfather Frog spoke, if
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: you will catch a foolish green fly for me, Peter,
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you the story, said he. For a full minute,
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: Peter couldn't find his tongue. He was so surprised. How
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: do you know what story I want? He stammered. At last,
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but that doesn't make any difference, replied
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: Grandfather Frog. Catch me a foolish green fly and I'll
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: tell you any story you want. But but but I
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: can't catch foolish green flies, cried Peter. I would if
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: I could, but I can't. And you know I can't.
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 1: You can try, replied Grandfather Frog, gruffly, but with a
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: twinkle in his eyes which Peter didn't see. Peter hesitated,
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: Then suddenly he shut his lips in a way that
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: meant he had made up his mind to something. He
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: looked this way and that way. Whichever way he looked,
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: he saw foolish green flies flitting about. He jumped for
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: one and missed it. He jumped for another and missed it.
• 1:51:29
  Speaker 1: It was the beginning of such a funny performance that
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: Grandfather Frog nearly rolled off his big green lily pad
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: with laughter. Peter raced and jumped this way and that
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: way on the banks of the Smiling Pool as if
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: he had gone quite crazy, and at last, in his excitement,
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: jumped right into the Smiling Pool itself after a foolish
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: green fly, but not one did he catch. As he
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: crawled out of the water looking for lor Grandfather Frog
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: took pity on him, server rum said, he lie down
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: there in the sun and dry off, Peter, and I'll
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: tell you the story. But I haven't caught you a
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: foolish green fly, exclaimed Peter. No, but you've tried, and
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: willingness to try is just as deserving of reward as
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 1: successful effort. Now what was it you wanted to know,
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: replied grandfather Frog. If you please, I want to know
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: how it is that my cousin jumper, the hare, happens
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: to have a white coat in winter. It seems to
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: me very curious, replied Peter. A long time ago, in
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: the beginning of things began, grandfather Frog, old mother Nature
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: gave the first hair a brown coat and turned him
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: out into the great world to shift for himself, just
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: as she had done with all the other animals. That
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 1: was a very easy matter for old mister Hare, who
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't old then. Of course. You see, those were good times,
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: with plenty for all to eat without trying to eat
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: each other. Mister Hare was very bashful, and like most
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: bashful people, he liked to be by himself. So he
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: made his home in the most lonely part of the
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: green forest, and was very happy and contented for a
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: long time. Now, being alone so much made him very timid,
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 1: ready to jump and run at the least unusual sound.
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: And this, it happens, proved to be a very good
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: thing for mister Hare. You see, being by himself that way,
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: he had plenty to eat, even after the hard times
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: of which you have heard had begun. So he was
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 1: in splendid condition, was mister Hare, even after some of
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: the other little people had begun to grow thin because
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: of lack of food. One day, mister Lynx happened to
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: stray to that part of the green forest where mister
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: Hare was living. He saw mister Hare before mister Hare
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: saw him, he licked his lips hungrily, Ah thought he
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 1: this is where I get a good dinner. With this,
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 1: he began to creep ever so softly towards mister Hare.
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 1: But careful as he was, he stepped on a tiny
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 1: stick and it snapped instantly. Away went mister Hare, without
• 1:54:45
  Speaker 1: stopping to see what had made the noise. That was
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: because he had grown so timid from living so much alone.
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: Then mister Lynx made a mistake with a yell. He
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 1: started after mister Hale, and so mister Hare learned that
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: it was no longer safe to trust his neighbors. Mister
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: Lynx didn't catch mister Hare because mister Hare was too
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: swift a foot for him, but he gave him such
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: a scare that mister Hare was more timid than ever
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: others tried to catch him, And little by little, mister
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: Hare learned that he must always be on the watch,
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: and that safety lay in two things, his long legs
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: and his brown coat. He learned about the latter by
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: being surprised once by mister Wolf. He knew that mister
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: Wolf didn't see him as he crouched among the brown leaves.
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: For once he was too frightened to run. Mister Wolf
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: was so close to him, and this, as it happened,
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: was a very good thing. Mister Wolf trotted right past
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: without seeing him or smelling him. After that, mister Hare
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: tried that trick often, for he was smart, was mister Hare.
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 1: When he suspected that he had been seen, he ran,
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: But when he felt sure that he hadn't been seen,
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 1: he sat tight right where he happened to be. But
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: when the first snow came, mister Hare found himself in
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 1: a peck of trouble. He didn't dare sit still when
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: an enemy was near, because his brown coat stood out
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: so against the white snow. And when he ran. It
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: was an easy matter to keep him in sight. One
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 1: day he was squatting under a snow covered hemlock bow
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: when he was startled by the howl of mister Wolf
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: not far away. In his fright, he jumped up, and
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: the next thing he knew down came the snow from
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: the bow all over him. Then, to his dismay, he
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 1: saw mister Lynx not two jumps away. He sat still,
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: ill from force of habit. Mister Lynx didn't see him
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: and went right past. Presently, mister Wolf came along, and
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: he went right past. Mister Hare was puzzled. Then he
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: just happened to glance at his coat. He was white
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 1: with snow from head to foot. Then he understood, and
• 1:57:21
  Speaker 1: a great idea popped into his head. If only he
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 1: could have a brown coat in summer and a whitecoat
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: in winter, he felt sure that he could take care
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: of himself. He thought about it a great deal. Finally
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: he screwed up his courage and went to old Mother Nature.
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: He told her all about how he had learned to
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 1: sit tight when he wasn't seen, but that it didn't
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 1: always succeed when there was snow on the ground. Then
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: he told her how mister Lynx and mister Wolf had
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: run right past him the time he was covered with snow.
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: Very timidly, he asked Old Mother Nature if she thought
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 1: it possible that he might have a white coat in winter.
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 1: Old Mother Nature said that she would think about it.
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: It was almost the end of winter then, and he
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: heard nothing from Old Mother Nature. With the coming of summer,
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: he quite forgot his request, But Old Mother Nature didn't.
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: She kept an eye on mister Hare and saw how
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 1: timid he was, and how he was in constant danger
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 1: from his hungry neighbors. With the beginning of the next winter,
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 1: mister Hare discovered one day that his coat was turning white.
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: He watched it day by day and saw it grow
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: whiter and whiter, until it was as white as the
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: snow itself. Then he knew that Old Mother Nature had
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 1: not forgotten his request, and at once hastened to thank her.
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: And from that day to this the Hares have had
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 1: brown coats in summer and whitecoats in winter, concluded grandfather Frog.
• 1:59:06
  Speaker 1: Oh thank you, grandfather Frog, cried Peter, with a little
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: sigh of contentment. I wish I could catch a foolish
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: green fly for you. I'll take the will for the deed,
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 1: Peter replied Grandfather Frog, and he suddenly snapped up a
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 1: foolish green fly that flew too near end of chapter eleven.
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: Recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Vernon, Maine. Chapter twelve of
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 1: Mother west Wind When Stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Mother
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: west Wind When Stories by Thorne W. Burgess, Chapter twelve,
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 1: When Great Grandfather Swift first used a chimney. Of all
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 1: his feathered friends and neighbors, there was none whom Peter
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: Rabbit enjoyed watching more than he did Sooty the chimney Swift.
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: There were two very good reasons why Peter enjoyed watching Sooty.
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 1: In the first place, Soody always appeared to be having
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: the very best of good times. And you know, it
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 1: is always a pleasure to watch anyone having a good time.
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: Oh missed a buzzard sailing and sailing high in the
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: sky with only an occasional movement of his great wings
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 1: always seemed to be enjoying himself, And so did Skimmer
• 2:00:48
  Speaker 1: the swallow skimming just above the tall grass of the
• 2:00:52
  Speaker 1: green meadows, or wheeling gracefully high in the air. But
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: neither these two, nor any other bird ever seemed to
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: Peter to be getting so much real fun out of
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: flying as Sooty the Swift. Just to hear him shout
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: as he raced with swiftly beating wings and then glided
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: in a short half circle, was enough to make you
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: want to fly yourself, thought Peter. The second reason why
• 2:01:21
  Speaker 1: Peter enjoyed watching Sootie was that he was very much
• 2:01:24
  Speaker 1: a bird of mystery, in spite of the fact that
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: Peter saw him every day through the long summer. You know,
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: we all enjoy anything that is mysterious. To Peter, there
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: was no end of mystery about Sooty the Swift. He
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: was not like other birds. In the first place, he
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 1: hardly looked like a bird at all. His tail was
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: so short that it was hardly worth calling a tail,
• 2:01:52
  Speaker 1: his neck was so short that his head seemed a
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: part of his body. And then, in all the time
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: he had known him, Peter never had seen Sooty still
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: for a single instant all missed. A buzzard would come
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: down from high up in the blue blue sky and
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: sit for hours on a dead tree in the green forest,
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: or walk about on the ground. Skimmer the swallow would
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: sit on the branch of a tree or on the
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: very top of Farmer Brown's barn and twitter sociably. But
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: Sooty the Swift was always in the air, at least
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 1: he always was whenever Peter saw him. Sometimes Peter used
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 1: to wonder if Sooty slept in the air as ducks
• 2:02:38
  Speaker 1: sleep on the water. Of course, he didn't really think
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 1: that he did, But never seeing him anywhere but in
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: the air, he was ready to believe almost anything. Then
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: one evening, just at dusk, Peter happened to be over
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: in the old orchard close by Farmer Brown's house, and
• 2:02:58
  Speaker 1: he saw something that puzzled him more than ever. He
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 1: saw Sooti the Swift right above the chimney on Farmer
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 1: Brown's house. It seemed to Peter as if something happened
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: to Sootie. He beat his wings in a queer way,
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: but instead of flying on, he dropped right straight down, down, down,
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 1: and disappeared. He had fallen down that chimney. Peter waited
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 1: a long time, but Sootie didn't appear again. And finally
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: Peter went home with the feeling that he never again
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: would see Sooty. But he did see him again. He
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 1: saw him the very next day, flying and shouting and
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: seemingly having just as good a time as ever. It
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: was then that Peter's curiosity would no longer be denied.
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 1: He headed straight for the Smiling Pool to consult Grandfather Frog.
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 1: He'll know all about Sootie if anybody does, thought Peter,
• 2:03:59
  Speaker 1: and her eat as fast as he could. Lipperty lipperty lip.
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: Grandfather Frog was in his usual place on his big
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: green lily pad. One glance told Peter that Grandfather Frog
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 1: was in the best of humor, so he wasted no time.
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 1: Grandfather Frog cried Peter before he was fairly on the
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 1: bank of the Smiling Pool. I saw something queer last night,
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: and you are the only one I know of who
• 2:04:27
  Speaker 1: can tell me what it meant, because you are the
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: only one I know who knows all about everything. Grandfather
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 1: Frog smiled. It was a great, big, broad smile. It
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: pleased him to have Peter say that he knew everything. Jiggerrum,
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: not everything, Peter. I don't know everything, nobody does, said he.
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 1: But if I happen to know what you want to know.
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 1: I'll be glad to tell you now what is it
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: that is on your mind? Peter at once plunged into
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 1: his story. He told Grandfather Frog how much he enjoyed
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: watching Sooty fly, and how little he knew about Sootie.
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: He wound up by telling how he had seen Sootie
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 1: fall down that chimney, and how surprised he had been
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 1: to see Sooty about the next day as well and
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 1: happy as ever. He called Sooty a swallow, for that
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 1: is what Peter thought that Sooty was. He always had
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: thought so. When Peter had finished, Grandfather Frog chuckled. It
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 1: was a long, deep chuckle that seemed to come clear
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: from his toes. When he had enjoyed his chuckle to
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 1: his heart's content, he looked up at Peter and blinked
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: his great goggly eyes. What would you say, Peter, if
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 1: I should tell you that Sooty isn't a member of
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: the Swallow family at all? He asked. I'd believe you,
• 2:05:59
  Speaker 1: replied Peter, But I never again would dare guess what
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 1: family anybody belonged to. From his looks, well, sot he
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: isn't a swallow at all, said Grandfather Frog slowly. He
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: is a swift, which is another family altogether. Furthermore, he
• 2:06:19
  Speaker 1: didn't fall down that chimney, No, sir, he didn't fall
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 1: down that chimney. He flew down, and he did it
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 1: because he lived there. Now, listen, and I'll tell you
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 1: a story. Peter needed no second invitation. A story from
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: Grandfather Frog is always one of Peter's greatest treats. As
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: you know, juggle rum began Grandfather Frog as he always does.
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 1: When Old Mother Nature first peopled the great world, she
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 1: made each bird a little different from every other bird,
• 2:06:56
  Speaker 1: and each animal a little different from every other animal.
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 1: Then she turned them loose to make their way the
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: best they could, and let them alone to test them
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: and see how each would make the best of his advantages.
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 1: Mister Swift, the great great, ever so great grandfather of Sootie,
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 1: felt at first as if Old Mother Nature had forgotten
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: to give him any advantages at all. He was homely,
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: There wasn't so much as a single bright feather in
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: his whole coat. He had a tail which might as
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: well have been no tail at all. So far as
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: he could see, he had tiny feet on which he
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 1: couldn't walk at all, and with which it was all
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: he could do to hang on to a twig when
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: he wanted to rest. But when it came to wings,
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 1: he wasn't long in discovering that in these he was
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 1: blessed beyond most of his neighbors. Those wings certainly were
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 1: made for speed. They were long and narrow, and they
• 2:08:02
  Speaker 1: drove him through the air faster than his neighbors with
• 2:08:05
  Speaker 1: broader wings could fly, and with a great deal less effort.
• 2:08:10
  Speaker 1: He could fly all day without getting tired, and he
• 2:08:14
  Speaker 1: never was so happy as when darting about high in
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: the air. Of course, it didn't take him long to
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: find out that he could catch all kinds of flying insects,
• 2:08:26
  Speaker 1: and so he had no trouble in filling his stomach
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 1: while flying, for his mouth was very wide. It must
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: be thought he that old Mother Nature expects me to
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 1: live in the air. I wish I could sleep while
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 1: I am flying, but I can't. I never feel comfortable
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: sitting on a twig. One day he discovered that he
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: could do something that no other bird could do. By
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 1: using his wings in a certain way, he could drop
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 1: right straight down without really falling He practiced this a
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: great deal, just for fun. Then one day, as he
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 1: was flying over a rocky place, he saw right under
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: him a great hole that went straight down into the ground.
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: It interested him. He wondered what it was like inside.
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 1: The more he wondered, the more he wanted to find out.
• 2:09:22
  Speaker 1: So one day, after many trials, he dropped straight down
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: into the hole by means of that new way of
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 1: flying he had discovered. He didn't go very far down
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 1: because it was so dark in there, and he was
• 2:09:37
  Speaker 1: beginning to get a wee bit frightened. On his way up,
• 2:09:41
  Speaker 1: he brushed against the side of the rocky wall, and
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 1: without knowing why, he put out both feet and clung
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 1: to it, folding his wings for a minute's rest. Then
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: he found that by pressing his funny little tail, which
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 1: ended in sharp spines, against the wall, he rested more
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 1: comfortably than ever he had before in all his short life.
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 1: He could cling to a rough wall very much easier
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 1: than he could sit on a perch. After that, he
• 2:10:13
  Speaker 1: spent his nights in that hole and was happy. A
• 2:10:17
  Speaker 1: long time later, he was far from home when night
• 2:10:20
  Speaker 1: was coming on, and he knew that he wouldn't be
• 2:10:23
  Speaker 1: able to get there before dark. Looking down as he flew,
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 1: he saw the hollow trunk of a great tree which
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 1: had been broken off by the wind. Why not sleep
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: in that? He circled over it two or three times,
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: and then dropped straight down inside it. He liked it.
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 1: He liked it better than he did the hole in
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 1: the rocks. After that he made his home in a
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 1: hollow tree. In course of time, Old King Eagle led
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 1: the birds to a new part of the great world,
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 1: which Old Mother Nature had been preparing for them to
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 1: spend the summer in. Mister Swift went with the others,
• 2:11:05
  Speaker 1: But when he got there he could find no hole
• 2:11:08
  Speaker 1: in the ground, and no hollow tree. But he found
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 1: something else. He found the queer homes of men, and
• 2:11:15
  Speaker 1: on top of each a straight, tall thing quite like
• 2:11:19
  Speaker 1: a hollow tree, only all black inside and made of
• 2:11:23
  Speaker 1: what seemed like stone. Having no other place to go,
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 1: he tried one of them. The next day he searched
• 2:11:31
  Speaker 1: for a hollow tree, but could find none, and so
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 1: returned to that chimney, for that is what it was.
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: So it was every day. After a little he began
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 1: to like the chimney. It was easy to get in
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 1: and out of, No one ever bothered him there. It
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 1: was easy to cling to the wall of it. At
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 1: last he decided to build a nest there, and from
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 1: that day to this the Swifts had lived in the
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 1: chimneys on the houses of men. When you thought you
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 1: saw Soodie fall, it was simply going home to spend
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 1: the night, concluded Grandfather Frog. Thank you, replied Peter, with
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 1: a long sigh. It's a funny world, isn't it, Grandfather Frog.
• 2:12:19
  Speaker 1: The idea of living in a chimney the very idea.
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 1: End of chapter twelve. Recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Vernon, Maine.
• 2:12:36
  Speaker 7: Chapter thirteen of Mother West Wims whim Stories. This is
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 7: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 2:12:46
  Speaker 7: For more information and to find out how you can volunteer,
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 7: please visit us at LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Nathaniel Dory.
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 7: Dispatches from the New American Frontier at WordPress dot com.
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 7: Mother West Wins Wins Stories by Thornton W. Burgess. Chapter thirteen.
• 2:13:07
  Speaker 7: When Peter Rabbit met Bluffer, the adder hop and he's
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 7: skipped down the crooked little path. Lipperty lipperty Lip went
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 7: Peter Rabbit in his usual heedless, careless way. Peter never
• 2:13:19
  Speaker 7: can seem to get it into his funny little head
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 7: why he should be careful when there appears to be
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 7: no particular reason for being careful. He is like a
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 7: great many people, careful when he knows there's danger near,
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 7: but as heedless as you please when he thinks that
• 2:13:33
  Speaker 7: all is safe. He has got to see or hear
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 7: danger before he will believe that it is near. Like
• 2:13:39
  Speaker 7: a lot of other folks, he has yet to wake
• 2:13:41
  Speaker 7: up to the fact that the only way to keep
• 2:13:43
  Speaker 7: out of trouble is to always be prepared for trouble.
• 2:13:46
  Speaker 7: So Peter hopped and skipped down the crooked little path,
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 7: as he had a thousand times before, without a thought
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 7: of danger. Nothing ever happened to him on the crooked
• 2:13:55
  Speaker 7: little path, and so he thought nothing ever could. Suddenly,
• 2:13:59
  Speaker 7: as he round it a little turn, there was a
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 7: sound that made Peter stop so suddenly that he almost
• 2:14:04
  Speaker 7: fell over backward, a sound that made every hair on
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 7: his body stand on end and his eyes pop out
• 2:14:11
  Speaker 7: with fright. It was a hiss, the loudest, most awful
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 7: hiss he had ever heard. For just a second, Peter
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 7: was too frightened to move.
• 2:14:20
  Speaker 3: There.
• 2:14:21
  Speaker 7: Coiled up right in the crooked little path was a
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 7: member of the snake family, whom he had never seen before,
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 7: and such a fierce ugly looking fellow as he was
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 7: no wonder, Peter was frightened. This snake at the flattest
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 7: head Peter had ever seen. His body was rather short
• 2:14:36
  Speaker 7: and thick, and his neck was flattened away. That made
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 7: it appear very large and gave to him a very
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 7: ugly and dangerous look. As soon as he could get
• 2:14:44
  Speaker 7: his wits together, Peter turned and raised pell mell at
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 7: the crooked little path as fast as his long legs
• 2:14:49
  Speaker 7: would take him. Looking behind him, he didn't see in
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 7: front of him. It almost ran to Jimmy Skunk. In fact,
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 7: he would have if Jimmy hadn't cried, Ah, there, why
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 7: don't you look where you are going? What is the
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 7: matter with you? Anyway, Peter Rabbit. Peter was so startled
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 7: by Jimmy that he jumped to one side, as if
• 2:15:08
  Speaker 7: he suddenly had stepped on something hot. Then he saw
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 7: who it was. Oh Jimmy, he cried, You mustn't go
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 7: down the crooked little path. Why not? Demanded Jimmy Skunk,
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 7: staring at Peter and noting how frightened Peter was because
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 7: panted Peter right down there in the middle of it
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 7: is one of mister Blacksnake's cousins, and I know by
• 2:15:29
  Speaker 7: his looks that he is one of the dangerous kind,
• 2:15:32
  Speaker 7: like Buzztail the rattler. Oh, I nearly ran into him,
• 2:15:36
  Speaker 7: and he hissed enough to make your hair rise. He's
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 7: got a terrible temper. I wouldn't go near him again
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 7: for the world. Where are you going, Jimmy down the
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 7: crooked little path to have a look at this terrible fellow,
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 7: replied Jimmy over his shoulder. Perhaps I can teach him
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 7: some manners. Oh, Jimmy, to be careful, begged Peter. He
• 2:15:55
  Speaker 7: is really very terrible. I know his bite must be awful.
• 2:15:59
  Speaker 7: I guess it is worse, not a Buzztail the rattler.
• 2:16:01
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't go if I were you. I'm not such
• 2:16:04
  Speaker 7: afraid as you, Peter replied Jimmy Skunk and ambled on
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 7: down the crooked little path. Peter wasn't sure about it,
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 7: but he thought he heard Jimmy chuckle. That settled matters
• 2:16:14
  Speaker 7: for Peter. If Jimmy was laughing at him, for warning
• 2:16:17
  Speaker 7: him of danger. He could just go on and get
• 2:16:19
  Speaker 7: a good fright, it would serve him right. Peter hesitated
• 2:16:23
  Speaker 7: a minute. Then at a safe distance, he followed. He
• 2:16:26
  Speaker 7: wanted to see Jimmy Skunk when he rounded that little
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 7: turn in the crooked little path and heard that terrible hiss.
• 2:16:33
  Speaker 7: Jimmy ambled along slowly, for you know, he never hurries.
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 7: Presently he disappeared around that little turn, and right away
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 7: Peter heard that terrible hiss. He expected to see Jimmy
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 7: come racing back, and he was all ready to make
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 7: fun of him for pretending to be so brave. But
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 7: Jimmy didn't come. Once more, Peter heard that angry hiss
• 2:16:52
  Speaker 7: and felt his hair or eyes on end. Then all
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 7: was still. Peter waited as long as he could stand it,
• 2:16:58
  Speaker 7: and then his curiosity at the best him. Slowly and carefully,
• 2:17:02
  Speaker 7: he tiptoed along until he could see around the turn
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 7: and the crooked little path. What he saw quite took
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 7: his breath away. There sat Jimmy Skunk, looking down at
• 2:17:10
  Speaker 7: something stretched out at his feet. It was that dreadful
• 2:17:13
  Speaker 7: snake on his back, and he appeared to be quite dead.
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 7: Jimmy reached out and poked him. Mister snake didn't move.
• 2:17:20
  Speaker 7: Jimmy poked him some more, and still he didn't move. Oh, Jimmy, however,
• 2:17:25
  Speaker 7: did you dare to kill him? Cried Peter. Jimmy looked
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 7: back at Peter and grinned. Come with me, and I
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 7: will tell you a story, said he. Peter hesitated, but
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 7: the thought of a story was too much for him,
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 7: and he followed Jimmy down the crooked little path, taking
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 7: pains to go around the body of mister Snake, and
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 7: not very near it at that. Although he knew it
• 2:17:44
  Speaker 7: was silly and foolish to be afraid of one who
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 7: was dead, Jimmy didn't go far. He sat down and
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 7: waited for Peter to join him. From where they were
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 7: they could see the body of mister Snake stretched out
• 2:17:54
  Speaker 7: on its back and the crooked little path. Somehow, now
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 7: that he was dead, mister Snake did looked so very
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 7: fierce and terrible. In fact, he didn't look nearly so
• 2:18:03
  Speaker 7: big as he had when he was alive. Peter was
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 7: thinking of this when his heart gave a funny little jump.
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 7: He had turned his head for just a second, and
• 2:18:11
  Speaker 7: now as he looked back at mister snake. He felt
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 7: that his eyes must be playing tricks, for mister Snake
• 2:18:17
  Speaker 7: was on his stomach instead on his back. Peter opened
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 7: his mouth to say something, but Jimmy made a sign
• 2:18:24
  Speaker 7: to keep still, so Peter kept still and with popping eyes,
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 7: watched mister snake. Presently. He saw mister Snake's head come
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 7: up a little at a time and then move from
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 7: side to sides if mister Snake were looking to see
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 7: the way was clear. Slowly, mister snake began to glide forward. Then,
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 7: as it satisfied that no one was watching, he moved faster,
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 7: as if in a hurry to get away from there,
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 7: and then a moment he disappeared. Peter gulped two or
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 7: three times, as if trying to swallow the truth, and
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 7: then turned to stare at Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy laughed right
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 7: out because Peter looked so funny. You didn't kill him,
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 7: after all, gasped Peter. No, replied, Jimmy, I didn't even
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 7: touch him until you saw me poke him. But he
• 2:19:08
  Speaker 7: lay there on his back. He'd looked quite as puzzled
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 7: as he felt. Was he just pretending to be done
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 7: the way Uncle Billy possum does, demanded Peter. Jimmy nodded.
• 2:19:18
  Speaker 7: You guessed it, he replied, But why did he do it?
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 7: Persisted Peter, such a puzzled look on his face. That
• 2:19:24
  Speaker 7: Jimmy just had to laugh again because he was afraid
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 7: and tried to fool me into thinking him dead so
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 7: that I would leave him alone, replied Jimmy, afraid that fellow. Afraid,
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 7: exclaimed Peter in an unbelieving tone of voice. Why when
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 7: I saw him first, he was the most savage, dangerous
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 7: looking fellow that ever I've met. Once more, Jimmy laughed,
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 7: all on his looks, Peter said, he yes, sir, All
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 7: his fierceness is in his looks. Really, he is one
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 7: of the most harmless and gentle fellows in the world.
• 2:19:56
  Speaker 7: He tried to scare me, just as he frightened you,
• 2:19:58
  Speaker 7: and when he found out it wouldn't work, he tried
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 7: the other plan, pretended that he was dead. No one
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 7: but old mister Toad is the least reason in the
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 7: world to be afraid of him. All is fierceness, is
• 2:20:09
  Speaker 7: just pretending, and that is how he comes by his name,
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 7: which is Bluffer the puff adder. I'm surprised that you've
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 7: never happened to meet him before. I believe some folks
• 2:20:17
  Speaker 7: call him the hog nosed snak. I always like to
• 2:20:20
  Speaker 7: meet him just to see him try to scare me.
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 7: And when he finds he can't, I do a little
• 2:20:25
  Speaker 7: pretending myself and give him a little scare by pretending
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 7: that I am going to fight him. Then he always
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 7: rolls over on his back and pretends that he is dead.
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 7: I suppose he is chuckling to himself now because he
• 2:20:36
  Speaker 7: thinks that he fooled us. The next time you meet him,
• 2:20:39
  Speaker 7: just showing me you know he's perfectly harmless, and see
• 2:20:41
  Speaker 7: how quickly he'll stop pretending that he is so ugly
• 2:20:44
  Speaker 7: and dangerous. He learned that trick of bluffing from his father,
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 7: that his father learned from his father, and so on,
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 7: way back to the days when the world was young.
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 7: I would tell you the story now if I had time,
• 2:20:56
  Speaker 7: but I haven't. Then you'll have to do it some
• 2:20:58
  Speaker 7: other time order to Peter, for I shall give you
• 2:21:01
  Speaker 7: no peace until you do. End of chapter Mother West
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 7: Winds wind Stories, Chapter fourteen. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 7: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 7: information or to find out how you can volunteer, Please
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 7: visit us at LibriVox dot org. Recorded by Nathaniel Dory
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 7: Mother West Winds wind Stories by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter fourteen,
• 2:21:34
  Speaker 7: When mister Woodmouse learned from the birds, Peter Rabbit will
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 7: never forget the first time that he saw Whitefoot the woodmouse,
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 7: pop out of a nest in a bush a few
• 2:21:43
  Speaker 7: feet above his head. It wasn't so much the surprise
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 7: of seeing whitefoot as it was the discovery that the
• 2:21:49
  Speaker 7: nest was Whitefoot's own. Peter had seen that nest often.
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 7: It was in a bush just a little above one
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 7: of Peter's favorite paths, in the edge of the green forest.
• 2:21:57
  Speaker 7: Always he had supposed that it belonged to one of
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 7: his feats friends. He had seen many such nests, at
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 7: least he supposed he had. That was because he hadn't
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 7: taken the trouble to look at this one. Particularly. He
• 2:22:08
  Speaker 7: hadn't used his eyes. If he had, he might have
• 2:22:11
  Speaker 7: seen that this, while very like other nests he had seen,
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 7: was different. It was different, and that it had a roof. Yes, sir,
• 2:22:19
  Speaker 7: this particular nest had a roof, and it had a
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 7: doorway a very small doorway, And this doorway was underneath
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 7: a very queer place for a bird to make a doorway,
• 2:22:28
  Speaker 7: had there been any bird of his acquaintance who would
• 2:22:30
  Speaker 7: build a roof to a nest anyway? All of which
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 7: goes to show how easy it is to see things
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 7: about really seeing them at all. It was just a
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 7: dusk that Peter happened along this particular little path and
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 7: saw Whitefoot, the wood mouse, pop out of that nest. Hello,
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 7: exclaimed Peter, What are you doing up there? What business
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 7: have you in that nest? Have you been stealing eggs? No?
• 2:22:53
  Speaker 7: I haven't been stealing eggs, retorted Whitefoot indignantly. And if
• 2:22:57
  Speaker 7: I haven't any business in this nest, I should like
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 7: to know who who has it's my nest? Who is
• 2:23:02
  Speaker 7: a better right net? Your nest? Exclaimed Peter. Why I
• 2:23:07
  Speaker 7: thought you lived in a hollow tree, or a hollow log,
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 7: or a hole in the ground or some such place.
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 7: How long is it since you learned to build a
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 7: nest like a bird? And who taught you? Whitefoot knew
• 2:23:17
  Speaker 7: by the tone of Peter's voice that Peter didn't believe
• 2:23:20
  Speaker 7: a word of what he had been told. He looked
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 7: very hard at Peter, and that his big, soft black
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 7: eyes was an indignant look which Peter couldn't help. But see,
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 7: I don't care whether you believe it or not. This
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 7: is my nest, and I built it, said he indignantly.
• 2:23:36
  Speaker 7: At least I built it over, he added, for Whitefoot
• 2:23:40
  Speaker 7: is very truthful. In the winter, I do live in
• 2:23:42
  Speaker 7: a hollow tree, or a hollow log, or a hole
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 7: in the ground, whichever is most comfortable. But in the
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 7: warm weather I have a summer house, and this is it.
• 2:23:51
  Speaker 7: My family has known how to build such homes ever
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 7: since the days of my great great ever so great grandfather,
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 7: when the world was young. It was he who learned
• 2:23:59
  Speaker 7: the secret and has been in our family ever since.
• 2:24:02
  Speaker 7: Peter's long ears stood straight up with excited interest and curiosity.
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 7: Tell me about it, he begged. Tell me how your
• 2:24:08
  Speaker 7: great great ever so great grandfather learned how to build
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 7: a nests like a bird. Please tell me, whitefoot. Whitefoot
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 7: sat up and daintily washed his pretty white hands. I
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 7: don't think I will, he replied slowly. You don't believe
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 7: me when I said this nest is mine, and I'm
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 7: sure you won't believe the story of my great grandfather.
• 2:24:27
  Speaker 7: I don't like telling stories to people who don't believe,
• 2:24:30
  Speaker 7: but I will believe it, cried Peter. If you say
• 2:24:33
  Speaker 7: it is true, I'll believe every word of it. Please
• 2:24:36
  Speaker 7: tell me the story, Whitefoot, Oh, please do. Peter was
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 7: very much in earnest. I'm sorry if I didn't believe
• 2:24:42
  Speaker 7: you at first when you said this nest was yours.
• 2:24:45
  Speaker 7: But I do now, Whitefoot, I do now, please please
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 7: tell me the story. Whitefoot's black eyes snapped and twinkled.
• 2:24:53
  Speaker 7: He enjoyed being teased for that story. You see, he's
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 7: such a little fellow, such a very little fellow, that
• 2:24:59
  Speaker 7: his bigger neighbors said, and take any notice of him
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 7: unless it is to try to catch him. There are
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 7: several who would be glad to swallow Whitefoot if they
• 2:25:05
  Speaker 7: could catch him. So being such a little fellow, he
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 7: felt rather puffed up, rather important. You know that Peter
• 2:25:12
  Speaker 7: Rabbit should be so interested and should actually be begging
• 2:25:15
  Speaker 7: him for a story. He climbed up to a crotch
• 2:25:17
  Speaker 7: in a tree just a little above Peter's head, a
• 2:25:20
  Speaker 7: place where he could watch out for danger. Made himself
• 2:25:23
  Speaker 7: comfortable with his back against the trunk of the tree.
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 7: Carefully combed his fur for white, that is very particular
• 2:25:28
  Speaker 7: how he looks, and then began his story. Always, ever
• 2:25:33
  Speaker 7: since the world was young, mice have been among the
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 7: smallest of the little people the green meadows and the
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 7: green forest, And because of this they've had to live
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 7: by their wits, if they would live at all. In
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 7: the beginning of things, it was not so, I've heard
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 7: it said, because there was plenty for all to eat,
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 7: and no cause to the big and strong to kill
• 2:25:51
  Speaker 7: the small and weak. But when the hard times came,
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 7: and hunger lived the doing of many dreadful things, all
• 2:25:57
  Speaker 7: the mouse tribe found they were a danger all the time,
• 2:26:00
  Speaker 7: just as they are today. My great great great grandfather,
• 2:26:04
  Speaker 7: the first of all the wood mice, chose the green
• 2:26:06
  Speaker 7: forest for his home instead of the green meadows, where
• 2:26:09
  Speaker 7: his cousin, old mister meadow Mouse liked best to live.
• 2:26:12
  Speaker 7: He chose the green forest because it was always beautiful there,
• 2:26:15
  Speaker 7: and because among the roots of the tree, and in
• 2:26:17
  Speaker 7: the trees themselves, there were so many hiding places. He
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 7: was very small, just as I am, and he was
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 7: very smart, just as you are, inquired Peter, with a
• 2:26:27
  Speaker 7: twinkle in his eye. I didn't say that retorted Whitefoot indignantly.
• 2:26:32
  Speaker 7: I never have claimed to be very smart, though I've
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 7: been smart enough to keep out of the clutches of
• 2:26:36
  Speaker 7: ready flocks and Hooty the Owl and all the others
• 2:26:39
  Speaker 7: who hunt me. But great great great grandfather was smart.
• 2:26:44
  Speaker 7: In the green forest. He prepared for himself many hiding
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 7: places somewhere in the ground. Some were in holes in trees,
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 7: and some were in hollow stumps and logs. For a while,
• 2:26:55
  Speaker 7: he felt quite safe and easy in his mind, even
• 2:26:58
  Speaker 7: when the times had become so hard, in foods so
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 7: scarce the night and day, some of his big neighbors
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 7: like mister Lynx and mister Fox and mister Wolfe and
• 2:27:05
  Speaker 7: mister Owl and mister Hawk, and even old King Bear
• 2:27:09
  Speaker 7: were sure to come prowling about looking for little people
• 2:27:11
  Speaker 7: like himself. You see, he had plenty to eat himself
• 2:27:14
  Speaker 7: because he had been forehanded and had stored away seed
• 2:27:17
  Speaker 7: in some of his hiding places. And he felt perfectly
• 2:27:19
  Speaker 7: safe because the doors to his hiding places were so
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 7: very small that none of these people could follow him
• 2:27:24
  Speaker 7: into them. So he used to laugh at all those
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 7: who hunted him, and sometimes would dodge into one of
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 7: his little doorways right unto their very noses. But one
• 2:27:32
  Speaker 7: day he saw old King Bear tear open an old
• 2:27:35
  Speaker 7: hollow stump of his great claws, and he knew that
• 2:27:38
  Speaker 7: King Bear was looking for him. Another day, by chance,
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 7: he happened to see mister Weasel slip into one of
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 7: his smallest doorways, and then, in great fear to hold
• 2:27:46
  Speaker 7: Grandfather wood Mouse. His enemies knew now where to look
• 2:27:49
  Speaker 7: for him and how to get into his hiding places.
• 2:27:52
  Speaker 7: They were no longer safe. I must find a new
• 2:27:55
  Speaker 7: hiding place and keep it a secret, thought he For
• 2:27:57
  Speaker 7: many days he went about thinking and thinking. One day
• 2:28:01
  Speaker 7: he had this very much in his mind as he
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 7: watched mister capbird build a nest, all want to flash.
• 2:28:06
  Speaker 7: A great idea came to him. If you could have
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 7: a home and a bush like that of mister capbird,
• 2:28:11
  Speaker 7: no one ever ever would think of looking for him there.
• 2:28:14
  Speaker 7: If birds can build nests, why can't, I? Thought he.
• 2:28:18
  Speaker 7: All that day he watched the building of mister Capbird's nest,
• 2:28:21
  Speaker 7: trying to see how each stick was placed and had
• 2:28:24
  Speaker 7: the nest was lined with fine roots and grass and
• 2:28:27
  Speaker 7: strips of grape vine bark. The next day he hunted
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 7: up some old nests and bushes not too high above
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 7: the ground, and climbed up to them. He even pulled
• 2:28:35
  Speaker 7: some of them to pieces to see how they were made,
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 7: and then tried to put them together again. I believe
• 2:28:40
  Speaker 7: I can do it, he exclaimed over and over to himself.
• 2:28:44
  Speaker 7: I believe I can do it anyway. It will do
• 2:28:46
  Speaker 7: no harm to try. No harm can come of trying.
• 2:28:49
  Speaker 7: He remembered an old nest in a bramble bush not
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 7: far from where he lived. This, he examined very carefully.
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 7: It would do for a foundation. Then he went to work,
• 2:28:58
  Speaker 7: taking care to build o when no one was near
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 7: to discover his secret. He brought grass and fine roots,
• 2:29:04
  Speaker 7: and he made that nest more comfortable than it had
• 2:29:06
  Speaker 7: been when it was first built. He built a roof
• 2:29:09
  Speaker 7: over it so that it would shelter him in bad weather,
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 7: and to get into it he made a little round doorway.
• 2:29:14
  Speaker 7: When it was finished, he was very proud of it,
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 7: as he had reason to be. He carried seeds into it,
• 2:29:19
  Speaker 7: and then he made his home for the summer and
• 2:29:21
  Speaker 7: weigh into the fall. Of course, no one ever dreamed
• 2:29:24
  Speaker 7: of looking for him. And what seemed like a bird's nest,
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 7: and many a time, he peeped out and watched his
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 7: hungry neighbors walk under him, without ever suspecting that he
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 7: was near. Of course, he taught his children the secret
• 2:29:34
  Speaker 7: and nest building which he had learned from the birds,
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 7: and that has been the most precious secret in our
• 2:29:39
  Speaker 7: family ever since. You won't tell any one, will you, Peter,
• 2:29:42
  Speaker 7: he concluded anxiously. No, said Peter, I won't tell any one,
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 7: of course I won't. He must be a nice stattles
• 2:29:49
  Speaker 7: sort of sky parlor in the summer, he added, wistfully,
• 2:29:53
  Speaker 7: it is, replied Whitefoot, I just love my summer home.
• 2:29:57
  Speaker 7: With this, he climbed up to his snug nest, and
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 7: the last Peter saw of him was his long, slim
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 7: tale disappearing through the little round doorway. End of chapter fourteen.
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 6: Chapter fifteen of Mother west Wind When Stories. This is
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 6: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 2:30:24
  Speaker 6: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 6: Recording by Denise Nordell. Mother west Wind When Stories by
• 2:30:33
  Speaker 6: Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter fifteen, When mister Hummingbird got his
• 2:30:38
  Speaker 6: long bill, I saw him here, I saw him there
• 2:30:41
  Speaker 6: and now he is not anywhere, He is not there,
• 2:30:44
  Speaker 6: he is not here yet no one saw him disappear.
• 2:30:48
  Speaker 6: Peter Rabbit didn't intend that for any ears but his own.
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 6: But it never is safe to talk out loud if
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 6: you want no one else to hear. Huh, said a
• 2:30:55
  Speaker 6: voice right back of Peter. Peter started ever so little
• 2:30:59
  Speaker 6: and hastily turned his head, but saw no one. Huh,
• 2:31:02
  Speaker 6: said the voice again, Huh are you a poet, Peter Rabbit?
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 6: This time Peter turned wholly around in a single jump.
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 6: Staring at him from under a mullion leaf, was Old
• 2:31:12
  Speaker 6: mister Toad. What's a poet, demanded Peter. A poet is
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 6: someone who who say, Peter Rabbit, have you eaten something
• 2:31:21
  Speaker 6: that went to your head? Old mister Toad looked really anxious. No,
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 6: replied Peter, It went to my stomach. Everything I eat
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 6: goes to my stomach. Then it can't be that you
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 6: are a real poet, sighed old mister Toad. I was
• 2:31:33
  Speaker 6: a little afraid you might be when I overheard you
• 2:31:35
  Speaker 6: just now. On the whole. I am rather glad, Peter.
• 2:31:38
  Speaker 6: It would be so tiresome to have to listen to
• 2:31:40
  Speaker 6: you talking that way. By the way. Who is it
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 6: that is not there and is not here yet? No
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 6: one saw him disappear. Hummer the humming bird, replied Peter eagerly.
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 6: You see him in one place, and before you can
• 2:31:52
  Speaker 6: get your mouth open to speak, he is somewhere else.
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 6: Then in the shake of your tail, he isn't anywhere
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 6: at all. I mean, he isn't anywhere in sight. I
• 2:32:01
  Speaker 6: haven't any tail, retorted old mister Toad rather testily. I
• 2:32:04
  Speaker 6: got rid of the silly thing long ago, as you
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 6: very well know, Peter Rabbit. Excuse me, mister Toad. I
• 2:32:10
  Speaker 6: didn't mean anything personal. It was just a way of
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 6: speaking to show how quickly Hummer disappears. I was thinking
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 6: of my own tail, said Peter. Huh, grunted old mister Toad.
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 6: Just as before then, you weren't thinking of much. Peter laughed.
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 6: Not so very much, he replied, Still, I can shake it,
• 2:32:26
  Speaker 6: even if there isn't much of it. See, he stood
• 2:32:29
  Speaker 6: up and twitched his funny little tail until solemn old
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 6: mister Toad had to laugh in spite of himself. Hummer
• 2:32:35
  Speaker 6: is such a wonderful little fellow, continued Peter eagerly. He
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 6: is so tiny it doesn't seem possible that he can
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 6: be like other birds. I don't feel really acquainted with
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 6: him because he isn't still long enough for me to
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 6: do more than nod to him. That's true, replied old
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 6: mister Toad, nodding sagely. He isn't still down near the ground,
• 2:32:55
  Speaker 6: but if you happen to find his home, you would
• 2:32:57
  Speaker 6: often see him sitting near it, as still as any
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 6: other birds. By the way, Peter, did you ever hear
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 6: how it happened that he comes by such a long bill?
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 6: A story? Cried Peter, jumping up and down and clapping
• 2:33:09
  Speaker 6: his hands. Oh, mister Toad, I never did hear, and
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 6: I'm just dying to know. Please do tell me. There
• 2:33:14
  Speaker 6: was a twinkle in old mister Toad's beautiful eyes, for
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 6: they really are beautiful, you know. He backed a little
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 6: further under the big mullion leaf where the sun couldn't
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 6: reach him, opened and closed his big mouth two or
• 2:33:26
  Speaker 6: three times without making a sound, rolled his eyes back
• 2:33:29
  Speaker 6: as if he were looking away way into the past.
• 2:33:32
  Speaker 6: And then, just as Peter had begun to think that
• 2:33:34
  Speaker 6: there wasn't going to be any story after all, he
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 6: began to talk in a funny little voice that seemed
• 2:33:39
  Speaker 6: to come from way down where his throat and his
• 2:33:42
  Speaker 6: stomach meet. It was a long long time ago, said he.
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 6: I know, it was way back when the world was young,
• 2:33:49
  Speaker 6: interrupted Peter eagerly. Oh so you know the story after all,
• 2:33:53
  Speaker 6: do you, grunted old mister Toad rather crossly. I beg
• 2:33:56
  Speaker 6: your pardon.
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 6: Indeed, I'm sorry. Peter hastened to say, very well, very well,
• 2:34:02
  Speaker 6: grumbled old mister Toad. But don't do it again. Now
• 2:34:05
  Speaker 6: I'll have to begin all over again. It was a long, long,
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 6: long time ago, in the beginning of things, when old
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 6: Mother Nature had made all the big birds and the
• 2:34:14
  Speaker 6: middle sized birds and the little birds, that she discovered
• 2:34:17
  Speaker 6: that she had just a teeny weeny bit of the
• 2:34:19
  Speaker 6: things birds are made of left over. There wasn't enough
• 2:34:23
  Speaker 6: to make even the head of an ordinary bird. No
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 6: bird had used for another head anyway. Now, Old Mother
• 2:34:29
  Speaker 6: Nature never could bear to waste anything, and she didn't
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 6: intend to begin. So she made a teeny weeny bird,
• 2:34:34
  Speaker 6: and she made him just as perfect as any other bird.
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 6: She gave him feathers just like any other bird, only
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 6: of course, his feathers were teeny weeny. She gave him
• 2:34:43
  Speaker 6: a tail, just like any other bird, only it was
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 6: a teeny weeny tail. She gave him feet with toes
• 2:34:49
  Speaker 6: and claws, just like any other bird, only they were
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 6: teeny weeny feet. And she gave him a bill, only
• 2:34:55
  Speaker 6: it was a teeny weeny bill, and it was short.
• 2:34:58
  Speaker 6: And because he was soaked teen weenie and yet a
• 2:35:01
  Speaker 6: perfect bird, Old Mother Nature was very proud of him,
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 6: so she gave him a beautiful green coat. The beautiful
• 2:35:07
  Speaker 6: ruby throat was not given him until later, when he
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 6: proved so brave of heart and so loyal to King Eagle.
• 2:35:13
  Speaker 6: You remember, I remember, said Peter. He got his ruby
• 2:35:16
  Speaker 6: throat when old King Eagle won his crown of White.
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 6: When Old Mother Nature sent little mister Hummingbird out into
• 2:35:22
  Speaker 6: the great world to join the other birds, she told
• 2:35:25
  Speaker 6: him that tiny as he was, she could treat him
• 2:35:28
  Speaker 6: no differently from the others, and that he would have
• 2:35:30
  Speaker 6: to take care of himself and prove that he was
• 2:35:32
  Speaker 6: worthy to live and have a place in the work
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 6: of the great world, For that was a law which
• 2:35:37
  Speaker 6: she could not break for any one great or small.
• 2:35:40
  Speaker 6: So little mister Hummingbird darted away to join the other
• 2:35:43
  Speaker 6: birds and find a place for himself in the great world.
• 2:35:46
  Speaker 6: When the other birds first saw him, they laughed at
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 6: him because he was so tiny and made fun of him,
• 2:35:51
  Speaker 6: though truth to tell, some of them were envious because
• 2:35:54
  Speaker 6: of his beautiful coat, and others were envious because of
• 2:35:57
  Speaker 6: the way in which he could dart about, for not
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 6: one among them could fly so swiftly as little mister hummingbird.
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 6: Tiny though he was, he was stout of heart and
• 2:36:05
  Speaker 6: fairly bursting with spunk. He would dash into the very
• 2:36:08
  Speaker 6: faces of those who tried to tease him, and would
• 2:36:11
  Speaker 6: be away again before they could so much as strike
• 2:36:13
  Speaker 6: at him. So it wasn't long before they let him alone,
• 2:36:16
  Speaker 6: though among themselves they still looked on him as a
• 2:36:19
  Speaker 6: joke and were sure he would not live long, being
• 2:36:22
  Speaker 6: such a teeny weeny fellow. Of course, mister hummingbird had
• 2:36:25
  Speaker 6: a teeny weeny stomach, and he soon discovered that he
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 6: couldn't eat the things that other birds did, but must
• 2:36:31
  Speaker 6: hunt for teeny weeny things. It didn't take him long
• 2:36:34
  Speaker 6: to find out that there were many teeny weeny insects
• 2:36:37
  Speaker 6: just suited to him, especially about the flowers. So mister
• 2:36:40
  Speaker 6: hummingbird spent most of his time darting about among the flowers,
• 2:36:44
  Speaker 6: catching teeny weeny insects to fill his teeny weeny stomach.
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 6: One day he paused in front of a deep throated
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 6: flower and discovered that many teeny weeny insects had hidden
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 6: in the heart of it. Try as he would, he
• 2:36:56
  Speaker 6: could not reach them. Now his own swift little wings
• 2:36:59
  Speaker 6: were not quicker than mister Hummingbird's temper, and he promptly
• 2:37:02
  Speaker 6: pulled that flower to pieces. Then he caught all the
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 6: little insects, and in doing this he discovered that in
• 2:37:08
  Speaker 6: the heart of the flower were sweet juices better than
• 2:37:11
  Speaker 6: anything he had ever tasted before. After that, he wasted
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 6: no time hunting for teeny weeny insects in the air,
• 2:37:17
  Speaker 6: but darted from one deep throated flower to another, pulling
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 6: them to pieces, and filling his teeny weeny stomach with
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 6: the insects hiding there and the sweet juices. One day
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 6: along came old Mother Nature to see how things were
• 2:37:29
  Speaker 6: going on. Every side were beautiful flowers torn to rags.
• 2:37:33
  Speaker 6: She threw up her hands in dismay. Dear me, she cried,
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 6: I wonder who can have been doing such dreadful mischief?
• 2:37:41
  Speaker 6: Just then she caught sight of little mister hummingbird tearing
• 2:37:43
  Speaker 6: another flower to pieces. Sternly, she called him before her,
• 2:37:47
  Speaker 6: and he came fearlessly. Why are you tearing my beautiful
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 6: flowers to pieces, she demanded, Because it is the only
• 2:37:54
  Speaker 6: way I can get the food in the hearts of them,
• 2:37:56
  Speaker 6: and it is the food best suited to me, replied
• 2:37:59
  Speaker 6: little mister humt bird, promptly, but respectfully. Old Mother Nature
• 2:38:03
  Speaker 6: tried to look severe, but a twinkle crept into her eyes. Secretly,
• 2:38:07
  Speaker 6: she was pleased with the fearlessness of the teeny weeny bird.
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 6: That may be, but I cannot have my beautiful flowers
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 6: destroyed this way. It will never do at all, said she.
• 2:38:17
  Speaker 6: She scratched her head thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 6: she reached out and took hold of mister hummingbird's teeny
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 6: weeny bill. Pull, said she. Little mister hummingbird pulled with
• 2:38:28
  Speaker 6: all his might, and his bill was pulled out until
• 2:38:30
  Speaker 6: it was long and slender, and his tongue was pulled
• 2:38:32
  Speaker 6: out long with it. Now, said old Mother Nature, I
• 2:38:36
  Speaker 6: guess you won't have to pull my flowers to pieces.
• 2:38:39
  Speaker 6: Little mister hummingbird darted away to the nearest deep throated flower,
• 2:38:42
  Speaker 6: and found that he could reach the teeny weeny insects
• 2:38:45
  Speaker 6: and the sweet juices without the least trouble. And from
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 6: that time on he took the greatest care not to
• 2:38:50
  Speaker 6: hurt the beautiful flowers. That is how Hummer, whom you know,
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 6: happens to have a long bill, concluded old mister Toad.
• 2:38:58
  Speaker 6: And I suppose that is why he seems to love
• 2:39:00
  Speaker 6: the flowers, so said Peter, as he looked down at
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 6: old mister Toad thoughtfully it is, replied old mister Toad,
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 6: and yawned sleepily. End of chapter fifteen. Recording by Denise
• 2:39:12
  Speaker 6: Nordell Modesto, California.
• 2:39:22
  Speaker 2: Chapter sixteen of Mother Westwind When Stories by Thornton W. Burgess.
• 2:39:30
  Speaker 2: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 2: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 2: visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by Alison baldas Mother west
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 2: Wind When Stories by Thornton W. Burgess, Chapter sixteen, When
• 2:39:54
  Speaker 2: old mister bat got his wings. It happens that the
• 2:40:01
  Speaker 2: merry little breezes, who, as you know, are the children
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 2: of old Mother west Wind, are quite as fond of stories,
• 2:40:06
  Speaker 2: as is Peter Rabbit. In fact, whenever they suspect that
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 2: Peter is going to ask some one for a story,
• 2:40:13
  Speaker 2: they manage to be about so that they may hear
• 2:40:15
  Speaker 2: it too. Now, the Merry little Breezes are very fond
• 2:40:18
  Speaker 2: of Grandfather Frog, and many many times they have helped
• 2:40:22
  Speaker 2: him get a good dinner by blowing foolish green flies
• 2:40:24
  Speaker 2: within his reach. It was after one of these times
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 2: that Grandfather Frog promised them a story. Now, the Merry
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 2: little Breezes did not intend to let Grandfather Frog forget
• 2:40:35
  Speaker 2: that promise, so one afternoon, when they had grown tired
• 2:40:38
  Speaker 2: of romping on the green meadows, they danced over to
• 2:40:41
  Speaker 2: the smiling pool and settled around the big green lily
• 2:40:44
  Speaker 2: pad on which Grandfather Frog was dozing. Altogether they shouted,
• 2:40:49
  Speaker 2: we know you're old, we know you're wise, and what
• 2:40:52
  Speaker 2: you say we dearly prize. So tell a tale of
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 2: olden days, and then mayhap we'll go our ways. Chugger rum,
• 2:41:01
  Speaker 2: What shall it be about, demanded Grandfather Frog, waking up
• 2:41:05
  Speaker 2: quite good natured. Tell us why flitter the bats can
• 2:41:10
  Speaker 2: fly when none of the other animals can, cried one
• 2:41:13
  Speaker 2: of the merry little Breezes, grandfather Frog cleared his throat
• 2:41:18
  Speaker 2: several times, and then he began, And this is the
• 2:41:21
  Speaker 2: story he told. Once upon a time, when the world
• 2:41:26
  Speaker 2: was young, Old mister Bat, the many times great grandfather
• 2:41:29
  Speaker 2: of Flitter, whom you all know, lived in a cave
• 2:41:32
  Speaker 2: on the edge of the green forest. Old mister Bat,
• 2:41:36
  Speaker 2: well little, quite as little as Flitter is now. He
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 2: didn't have any wings then, No, sir, Old mister Bat
• 2:41:43
  Speaker 2: had no wings.
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 2: Old mister Bat's teeth were small and not made for
• 2:41:48
  Speaker 2: cracking hard seeds and things of that sort, so he
• 2:41:51
  Speaker 2: lived mostly on insects. He used to hunt for them
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 2: under sticks and stones. Sometimes he had hard work to
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 2: find enough for a meal, because you know, so many
• 2:42:00
  Speaker 2: other green forest people were hunting for them too. Now,
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 2: Old mister Bat's eyes were very small, very very small, indeed,
• 2:42:09
  Speaker 2: and the bright sun hurt them. So Old mister Bat
• 2:42:12
  Speaker 2: used to stay in his cave all day and hunt
• 2:42:14
  Speaker 2: for his meals only after jolly mister Sun had gone
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 2: to bed behind the purple hills. When he did come out,
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 2: most of the crawling bugs had been caught by others,
• 2:42:23
  Speaker 2: and it was hard work finding them. So often mister
• 2:42:26
  Speaker 2: Bat went hungry. One evening, old mister Bat noticed that
• 2:42:31
  Speaker 2: at twilight a great many bugs fly about. He sat
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 2: at a big stone at the mouth of his cave
• 2:42:37
  Speaker 2: and watched. It seemed to him that the air was
• 2:42:39
  Speaker 2: full of bugs. By and bye, a big fat fellow
• 2:42:43
  Speaker 2: came so near that old mister Bat forgot where he
• 2:42:45
  Speaker 2: was and jumped for him. Jumped right off the top
• 2:42:48
  Speaker 2: of the big stone. Of course, he got a hard tumble,
• 2:42:52
  Speaker 2: but he didn't mind it a bit, not a bit,
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 2: for he had caught the bug. After that, old mister
• 2:42:57
  Speaker 2: Bat used to spend most of the time he was
• 2:42:59
  Speaker 2: awake jumping for flying bugs. One night he made a
• 2:43:03
  Speaker 2: very long jump from a very high stone and got
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 2: such a fall that all the breath was knocked out
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 2: of his funny little body. When he had gotten his
• 2:43:11
  Speaker 2: breath back, he discovered that some one was looking down
• 2:43:14
  Speaker 2: and smiling at him. It was Old Mother Nature. Pretty
• 2:43:18
  Speaker 2: hard work to get dinner that way, isn't it, mister Bad,
• 2:43:22
  Speaker 2: asked Old Mother Nature. Mister Bat aloud.
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 7: That it was.
• 2:43:27
  Speaker 2: How would you like to fly, asked Old Mother Nature.
• 2:43:31
  Speaker 2: Mister Bad thought that that would be very fine, indeed,
• 2:43:35
  Speaker 2: But that was quite out of the question, because as
• 2:43:37
  Speaker 2: you know he hadn't any wings. Old mother Nature said
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 2: no more, but something seemed to be pleasing her greatly,
• 2:43:44
  Speaker 2: as she left mister Bat. The next evening, when old
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 2: mister Batt awoke, he really didn't know whether he was
• 2:43:51
  Speaker 2: himself or not, No, sir, he didn't. His legs were
• 2:43:56
  Speaker 2: much longer than they used to be, and really of
• 2:43:58
  Speaker 2: no use at all for walking between them was a
• 2:44:01
  Speaker 2: queer thin skin. He couldn't run, he couldn't even crawl
• 2:44:05
  Speaker 2: very well. At last, after much work, he managed to
• 2:44:10
  Speaker 2: get to the top of a big rock. He was
• 2:44:12
  Speaker 2: very hungry, and when a big fat bug came along,
• 2:44:16
  Speaker 2: he forgot all about his troubles and tried to jump.
• 2:44:18
  Speaker 2: But instead of jumping as he always had, he just
• 2:44:21
  Speaker 2: tumbled off the big rock as he fairly spread out
• 2:44:24
  Speaker 2: his legs. What do you think happened? Why, old mister
• 2:44:28
  Speaker 2: Bat found that he could fly, And ever since that
• 2:44:32
  Speaker 2: long ago time the bats have lived in dark caves
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 2: and have been able to fly, concluded grandfather Frog Splendid
• 2:44:42
  Speaker 2: cried the merry little breezes, and we thank you ever
• 2:44:45
  Speaker 2: and ever so much. Then they had a race to
• 2:44:49
  Speaker 2: see who could be the first to blow a foolish
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 2: green fly over to Grandfather Frog. End of chapter sixteen.
• 2:45:02
  Speaker 2: End of Mother West Wind Wind Stories,