Latest / Lewis Carroll Classics Podcast / Mrs. Peter Rabbit-Thornton W. Burgess

Transcript

Mrs. Peter Rabbit-Thornton W. Burgess · Lewis Carroll Classics Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section one of Missus Peter Rabbit. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: by C. L. W. Rollins. Missus Peter Rabbit by Thornton W. Burgess.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Section one, Chapter one, Peter Rabbit loses his appetite. Good appetite,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: you'll always find depends upon your state of mind. Peter Rabbit,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit had lost his appetite. Now, when Peter Rabbit
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: loses his appetite, something is very wrong, indeed with him.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Peter has boasted that he can eat any time and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: all the time. In fact, the two things that Peter
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: thinks most about are his stomach and satisfying his curiosity.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: And nearly all of the scrapes that Peter has gotten
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: into have been because of those two things. So when
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Peter loses his appetite or his curiosity, there is surely
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: something the matter with him. Ever since old Man Coyote
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: had come to live on the Green Meadows, Peter had
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: been afraid to go very far from the dear old
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: briar patch, where he makes his home and where he
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: always feels safe. Now, there wasn't any reason why he
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: should go far from the dear old briar patch. There
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: was plenty to eat in it and all around it,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: For sweet clover grew almost up to the very edge
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: of it. And you know Peter is very fond of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: sweet clover. So there was plenty for Peter to eat
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: without running any risk of danger. With nothing to do
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: but eat and sleep, Peter should have grown fat and contented,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: but he didn't. Now that is just the way with
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: a lot of people. The more they have and the
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: less they have to worry about, the more discontented they become,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: and at last they are positively unhappy. There was little
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Danny meadow mouse living out on the green meadows. He
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: was happy all the livelong day, and yet he had
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: no safe castle like the dear old briar patch where
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: he could always be safe. Every minute of every day,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Dan had to keep his eyes wide open and his
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: wits working their very quickest, for any minute he was
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: likely to be in danger. Old Man Coyote or Reddy
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Fox or Granny Fox or Digger the Badger or mister
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Black Sneak was likely to come creeping through the grass
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: at any time, and they are always hungry for a
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: fat meadow mouse. And if that warn't worry enough, Danny
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: had to watch the sky too for old Whitetail the
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: marsh Hawk, or his cousin Redtail, or Blacky the Crow,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: each of whom would be glad of a meadow mouse dinner.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yet in spite of all this, Danny was happy and
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: never once lost his appetite. But Peter Rabbit, with nothing
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: to worry him so long as he stayed in the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: old briar patch, couldn't eat and grew more and more unhappy.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: I don't know what's the matter with me. I really
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: don't know what's the matter with me, said Peter as
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: he turned up his nose at a patch of sweet,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: tender young clover. I think I'll go and cut some
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: new paths through the old briar patch. Now, though he
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: didn't know it, that was the very best thing he
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: could do. It gave him something to think about. For
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: two or three days, he was very busy cutting new paths,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and his appetite came back. But when he had made
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: all the paths he wanted and there was nothing else
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to do, he lost his appetite again. He just sat
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: still all day long and moped and thought and thought
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: and thought. The trouble with Peter Rabbit's thinking was that
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: it was all about himself and how unhappy he was.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Of course, the more he thought about this, the more
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: unhappy he grew. If only I had some one to
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: talk to, I'd feel better, he said to himself. That
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: reminded him of Johnny Chuck and what good times they
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: used to have together when Johnny lived on the Green Meadows.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Then he thought of how happy Johnny seemed with his
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: little family and his new home in the Old Orchard,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: in spite of all the worries his family made him.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: And right then Peter found out what was the matter
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: with him. I believe I'm just lonesome, said Peter. Yes, sir,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: that's what's the matter with me. It isn't good to
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: be alone. I've often heard my mother say it makes
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: one selfish, grouchy, cross and quite unhappy all the day.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: One needs to think of other folks and not of
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: just one's self alone to find the truest happiness and
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: joy and real content to own. Now that I've found
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: out what is the trouble with me? The question is
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: what am I going to do about it? Chapter two,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit plans a journey. It's a long jump that
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: makes no landing, Peter Rabbit. The trouble with me is
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: that I'm lonesome, repeated Peter Rabbit as he sat in
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the dear old briar patch. Yes, sir, that's the only
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: thing that's wrong with me. I'm just tired of myself,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and that's why I've lost my appetite. And now I
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: know what's the matter. What am I going to do
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: about it? If I were sure, I absolutely sure that
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote meant what he said about our being friends,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I'd start out this very minute to call on all
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: my old friends. My, my, my, it seems an age
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: since I visited the Smiling Pool and saw Grandfather Frog,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Jerry Muskrat, and Billy Mink and little Joe Otter. Mister
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Coyote sounded as if he really meant to leave me alone.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: But but well, perhaps he did mean it when he
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: saw me sitting here safe among the brambles. But if
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: I should meet him out in the open, he might
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: change his mind. And oh dear, his teeth are terrible,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: long and sharp. Peter sat a little longer thinking and thinking,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: then a bright idea popped into his head. He kicked
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: up his heels. I'll do it, said he I'll make
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: a journey. That's what I'll do. I'll make a journey
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: and see the great world. By staying here and sitting still,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I'm sure I'll simply grow quite ill. A change of
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: scene is what I need to be from all my
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: trouble freed. Of course, if Peter had really stopped to
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: think the matter over thoroughly, he would have known that
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: running away from one kind of trouble it's almost sure
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: to lead to other troubles. But Peter is one of
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: those who does his thinking afterward. Peter is what is
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: called impulsive. That is, he does things and then thinks
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: about them later and often wishes he hadn't done them.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: So now, the minute the idea of making a journey
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: popped into his head, he made up his mind that
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: he would do it, and that was all there was
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to it. You see, Peter never looks ahead. If he
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: could get rid of the trouble that bothered him now,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: which you know was nothing but lonesomeness, he wouldn't worry
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: about the troubles. He might get into later now. The
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: minute Peter made up his mind to make a journey,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: he began to feel better. His lost appetite returned, and
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the first thing he did was eat a good meal
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: of sweet clover. Let me see, said he as he
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: filled his big stomach. I believe I'll visit the old pasture.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: It's a long way off, and I've never been there,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: but I've heard Sammy Jay say that it's a very
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: wonderful place, and I don't believe it is any more
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: dangerous than the green meadows in the Green Forest. Now
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: that old Man Coyote and Reddy and Granny Box are
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: all living here, I'll start to night when I am
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: sure that old Man Coyote is nowhere around, and I
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: won't tell a soul where I'm going. So Peter settled
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: himself and tried to sleep the long day away, But
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: his mind was so full of the long journey he
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: was going to make that he couldn't sleep much, and
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: when he did have a nap, he dreamed of wonderful
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: sights and adventures out in the great world. At last,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: he saw Jolly round Red Mister Sun drop down to
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: his bed behind the Purple Hills Old mother west Wind
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: came hurrying back from her day's work and gathered her
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: children the merry little breezes into her big bag, and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: then she too started for her home behind the Purple hills.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: A little star came out and winked at Peter. And
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: then way over on the edge of the green forest,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: he heard old man Coyote laugh. Peter grinned that was
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: what he had been waiting for, since it meant that
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote was so far away that there was
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: nothing to fear from him. Peter hopped out from the
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: dear safe old briar patch, looked this way and that way,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: and then, with his heart in his mouth, started towards
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the old pasture as fast as he could go. Lipperty
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: lipperty limp. Chapter three, Hooty the Owl changes his hunting grounds.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: A full stomach makes a pleasant day, an empty stomach
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: turns the whole world. Gray Peter Rabbit. Hooty the Owl
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: sat on the tip top of a tall dead tree
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: in the green forest, while the black shadows crept swiftly
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: among the trees. He was talking to himself. It wouldn't
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: have done for him to have spoken aloud what he
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: was saying to himself, for then the little people in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: feathers and fur on whom he likes to make his
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: dinner would have heard him and known just where he was.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: So he said it to himself, and sat so still
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: that he looked for all the world like a part
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: of the tree on which he was sitting. What he
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: was saying was this, to wit to woo, to whit
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: to woo, will some one tell me what to do?
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: My children have an appetite that keeps me hunting all
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: the night. And though their stomachs I may stuff, they
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: never seem to have enough to wit to woo, to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: wit to w oo, will some one tell me what
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: to do? When it was dark enough, he gave his
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: fierce hunting call oooo oooo. Now that is a terrible
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: sound in the dark woods, very terrible indeed to the
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: little forest people, because it sounds so fierce and hungry
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: it makes them jump and shiver. And that is just
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: what Hooty wants them to do, for in doing it,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: one of them is likely to make just the least
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: scratching with his claws, or to rustle a leaf. If
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: he does. Hooty, whose ears are very, very wonderful, is
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: almost sure to hear and with his great yellow eyes
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: see him. And then Hooty has his dinner. The very night,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: when Peter Rabbit started on his journey to the old pasture,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Hooty the Owl had made up his mind that something
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: had got to be done to get more food for
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: those hungry babies of his. Up in the big hemlock tree,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: in the darkest corner of the green forest, hunting was
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: very poor, very poor, indeed, and Hooty was at his
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: WIT's end to know what he should do. He had
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: hooted and hooted in vain in the green forest, and
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: he had sailed back and forth over the green meadows
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: like a great black shadow, without seeing so much as
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a single mouse. It's all because of old man Coyote
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and Granny and Reddy Fox, said Hooty angrily. They've spoiled
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the hunting. Yes, sir, that's just what they have done.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: If I expect to feed those hungry babies of mine,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I must find new hunting grounds. I believe I'll go
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: up to the old pasture. Perhaps I'll have better luck there.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: So Hooty the Owl spread his broad wings and started
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: for the old pasture. Just a little while after Peter
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Rabbit had started for the same place. Of course, he
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: didn't know that Peter was on his way there, And
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: of course Peter didn't know that Hooty even thought of
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the old pasture. If he had, perhaps he would have
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: thought twice before starting. Anyway, he would have kept a
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: sharper watch on the sky. But as it was, his
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: thoughts were all of old Man Coyote and Granny Fox.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: And that is where Peter made a very grave mistake,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: a very grave mistake, indeed, as he was soon to
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: find out Chapter four, The Shadow with Sharp Claws. Now,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: what's the use pray? Tell me this? When all is
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: said and done, A thousand things, and one to learn,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: and then forget the one, for when that one alone
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: you need and nothing else will do. What good are
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: all the thousand? Then? I do not see, do you,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit? Forgetting leads to more trouble than almost anything
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: under the sun. Peter Rabbit knew this, of course he
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: knew it. Peter had had many a narrow escape just
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: from forgetting something. He knew just as well as you
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: know that he might just as well not learn a
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: thing as to learn it and then forget it. But
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Peter is such a happy, go lucky little fellow that
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: he is very apt to forget, and forgetting leads him
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: into all kinds of difficulties, just as it does now.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Peter had learned when he was a very little fellow
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: that when he went out at night, he must watch
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: out quite as sharply for Hooty the Owl as for
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: either Granny or Reddy Fox. And usually he did. But
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the night he started to make a journey to the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: old pasture, his mind was so full of old Man
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox that he wholly forgot
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Hooty the Owl. So as he scampered across the green
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: meadows the Liberty Liberty Lip as fast as he could go,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: with his long ears and his big eyes and his
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: wobbly nose, all watching out for danger on the ground,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: not once did he think that there might be danger
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: from the sky above him. It was a moonlight night,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: and Peter was sharp enough to keep in the shadows
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: whenever he could. He would scamper as fast as he
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: knew how from one shadow to the other, and then
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: sit down in the blackest part of each shadow to
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: get his breath and to look and listen, and so
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: make sure that no one was following him. The nearer
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: he got to the old pasture, the safer he felt
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: from old Man Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox. When
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: he scampered across the patches of moonshine, his heart didn't
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: come up in his mouth the way it had at first.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: He grew bolder and bolder. Once or twice he stopped
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: for a mouthful of sweet clover. He was tired, for
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: he had come a long way. But he was almost
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to the old pasture now, and it looked very dark
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: and safe, for it was covered with bushes and brambles.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Plenty of hiding places there, thought Peter. It really looks
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: as safe as the dear old briar patch. No one
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: will ever think to look for me way off here.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Just then he spied a patch of clover out in
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: the moonlight. His mouth began to water. I'll just fill
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: my stomach before I go into the old pasture, for
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: there may not be any clover there, said Peter. You'd
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: better be careful, Peter Rabbit, said a wee warning voice
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: inside him. Pooh, said Peter, there's nothing to be afraid
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of way up here, a shadow drifted across the sweet
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: clover patch. Peter saw it. That must be made by
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: a cloud crossing the moon, said Peter. And he was
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: so sure of it that he didn't even look up
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: to sea, but boldly hopped out to fill his stomach.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Just as he reached the patch of clover, the shadow
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: drifted over it again. Then, all in a flash, a
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: terrible thought entered Peter's head. He didn't stop to look up.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: He suddenly sprang sideways, and even as he did so,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: sharp claws tore his coat and hurt him dreadfully. He
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: twisted and dodged, and jumped and turned this way in
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: that way, and all the time the shadow followed him.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Once again, the sharp claws tore his coat and made
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: him squeal with pain. At last, when his breath was
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: almost gone, he reached the edge of the old pasture
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and dived under a friendly old bramble bush. Oh, sobbed Peter.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I forgot all about hood to the owl. Besides, I
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: didn't suppose he ever came away up here. Chapter five.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: In the old pasture, brambles never scratched those who understand
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: and are considerate of them, Peter Rabbit Peter rabbit sat
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: under a friendly bramble bush on the edge of the
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: old pasture and panted for breath, while his heart went pitapat, pittipat,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: as if it would thump its way right through his sides.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Peter had had a terrible fright. There were long tears
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: in his coat, and he smarted and ached dreadfully where
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: the cruel cloths of Hooty the Owl had torn him.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: And there he was in a strange place, not knowing
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: which way to turn. For you know, he had never
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: visited the old pasture before. But Peter had had so
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: many narrow escapes in his life that he had learned
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: not to worry over dangers that are past. Peter is
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: what wise men call a philossau fur. That is a
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: big word, but its meaning is very simple. A philosopher
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: is one who believes that it is foolish to think
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: about things that have happened, except to learn some lesson
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: from them, and that the best thing to do is
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: make the most out of the present. Peter had learned
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: his lesson. He was sure of that I never never
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: will forget again to watch out for Hooty the Owl,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: said he to himself, as he nursed his wounds, and
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: so perhaps it is a good thing that he so
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: nearly caught me this time. If he hadn't, I might
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: have forgotten all about him some time when he could
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: catch me. I certainly wouldn't have watched out for him
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: way up here, for I didn't think he ever came
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: up to the old pasture. But now I know he does.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Mister hoody'll have to be smarter than he's ever been
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: before to catch me napping again. My, how I do
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: smart an ache? I know now just how Danny meadow
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Mouse felt that time Hooty caught him and dropped him
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: into the old briar patch. Ouch, Well, has my mother
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: used to say, yesterday has gone away? Make the most
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: of just to day. Here I am up in the
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: old pasture, and the question is what shall I do next?
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Peter felt a queer little thrill as he peeped out
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: from under the friendly bramble bush. Very strange and wonderful
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: it seemed. Of course, he couldn't see very far, because
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the old pasture was all overgrown with bushes and briars,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: and they made the very blackest of black shadows in
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: the moonlight. Peter wondered what the dangers might be awaiting
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: him there, But somehow he didn't feel much afraid. No, sir,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: he didn't feel much afraid. You see, those briars looked
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: good to him, for briars are always friendly to Peter
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: and unfriendly to those who would do harm to Peter.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Peter drew a long breath, then he cried ouch. You see,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: he had forgotten for a minute how sore he was.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: He was eager to explore this new wonderland, for Sammy
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Jay had told him wonderful tales about it, and he
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: knew that here old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: found safety when Farmer Brown's boy had hunted for them
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: so hard on the green meadows and in the green forest.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: He felt sure that there must be the most splendid
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: hiding places, and it seemed as if he certainly must
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: start right out to see them, for you know, Peter
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: is very, very curious. But the first move he made
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: broad another ouch from him, and he made up a
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: wry face. I guess the best thing for me to
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: do is to stay right where I am, said he,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: for here I am safe under this friendly old bramble.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: So with a sigh, Peter settled down to make himself
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: as comfortable as he could, and once as far far
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: away on the green meadows, he heard the voice of
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote. Peter even smiled. I haven't anything to
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: fear from him anyway, for he'll never think of coming
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: away up here, said he. Chapter six, Peter Rabbit is
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: still lonesome. A sympathetic word or two, A wondrous help
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: is when you're blue. So pity him who sits alone
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: his aches and troubles to bemoan Peter Rabbit. All the
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: rest of that night, Peter sat under a friendly old
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: bramble bush on the edge of the old pasture and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: nursed the sore places made by the claws of Hooty
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: the owl. At last, Jolly round Red mister Sun began
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to climb up in the blue blue sky, as he
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: does every day. Peter looked up at him, and he
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: felt sure that mister Son winked at him. Somehow it
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: made him feel better. The fact is, Peter was beginning
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: to feel just a wee wee bit homesick. It is
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: bad enough to be in a strange place alone, but
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: to be sore and to smart and ache, as Peter did,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: makes that lonesome feeling a whole lot harder to bear.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: It is dreadful not to have any one to speak to,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: but to look around and not see a single thing
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: you have ever seen before. My, my, my, it certainly
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: does give you a strange sinking feeling way down inside.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Before that long night was over, Peter felt as if
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: his heart had gone way down to his buried toes. Yes, sir,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: that's the way he felt. Every time he moved at all,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: He cried ouch. He just knew that he was growing
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: more stiff and sore every minute. Then he began to
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: wonder what he should do for something to eat, for
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: he was in a strange place, you remember, And that
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: made him think of all his private little paths through
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the dear old briar patch, the little paths he had
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: made all himself, in which no one used but himself,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: excepting Danny meadow Mouse when he came for a visit.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Perhaps I shall never never see them again, moaned Peter,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: And two big tears filled his eyes and were just
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: ready to drop. At that moment he looked up and
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: saw Jolly round red mister sun wink. Peter tried to
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: wink back, and that made the two tears fall, but
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: there were no more tears to follow. You see that
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: wink had made all the difference in the world. Peter's
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: heart had jumped right back to where it belonged. Mister
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Sun was one of his oldest friends, and you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: when trouble comes, a friendly face makes bright the very
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: darkest place. And so just as he made Bride all
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the old pasture, mister Son also made bright the dark
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: little corners in Peter's heart, just because he was an
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: old friend. To be sure, Peter was still lonesome, but
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: it was a different kind of lonesomeness. He hadn't anybody
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: to talk to, which is always a dreadful thing to Peter.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: But he had only to look up to catch a
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: friendly week, and somehow that not only made him feel
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: better inside, but it seemed to make his aches and
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: smarts better too. End of section one. Recording by C. L.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: W Rawlins, Longview, Texas, May twenty eleven. Section two of
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Missus Peter Rabbit by Thornton W. Burgess. This LibriVox recording
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Chapter seven Peter finds tracks
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: every day is different from every other day, and always
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: there is something new to see along the way Peter Rabbit.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit had sat still just as long as he could.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: He was stiff and lame and sore from the wounds
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: made by Hooty the Owl, but his curiosity wouldn't let
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: him sit still a minute longer. He just had to
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: explore the old pasture. So with many a wry face
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: and many an ouch, he limped out from the shelter
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: of the friendly old bramble bush and started out to
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: see what the old pasture was like. Now, Hooty the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Owl had taught Peter wisdom with his torn clothes and
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: his eggs and smarts, he couldn't very well forget. To
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: be careful. First, he made sure that there was no
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: danger near, and this time he took pains to look
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: all around in the sky as well as on the ground.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Then he limped out to the very patch of sweet
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: clover where Hooty had so nearly caught him the night before.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: A good breakfast, said Peter will make a new rabbit
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: of me. You know, Peter thinks a great deal of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: his stomach, So he began to eat as fast as
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: he could, stopping every other mouthful to look and listen.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: I know, it's a bad habit to eat fast, said he,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: But it's a whole lot worse to have an empty stomach.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: So he ate, and ate, and ate as fast as
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: he could make his little jaws go, which is very fast. Indeed,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: when Peter's stomach was stuffed full, he gave a great
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: sigh of relief and limped back to the friendly old
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: bramble bush to rest. But he couldn't sit still long,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: for he just had to find out all about the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: old pasture. So pretty soon he started out to explore
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: such a wonderful place, as it seemed to Peter. There
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: were clumps of bushes with little open spaces between, just
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the nicest kind of playgrounds. Then there were funny, spreading,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: prickly juniper trees, which made the very safest places to
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: crawl out of harm's way and to hide. Everywhere were
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: paths made by cows. Very wonderful, they seemed to Peter,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: who had never seen any like them before. He liked
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: to follow them because they led to all kinds of
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: queer places. Sometimes he would come to places where tall
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: trees made him think of the green forest, only there
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: were never more than a few trees together. Once he
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: found an old, tumble down stone wall, all covered with vines,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and he shouted right out with delight. It's a regular castle,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: cried Peter, and he knew that there he would be
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: safe from everyone but Shadow the Weasel. But he never
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: was wholly safe from Shadow the Weasel anywhere, so he
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: didn't let that thought worry him. By and by he
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: came to a web place called a The ground was soft,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: and there were little pools of water. Great ferns grew here,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: just as they did along the bank of the Laughing Brook,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: only more of them. There were pretty birch trees and
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: wild cherry trees. It was still and dark and oh
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: so peaceful. Peter liked that place and sat down under
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: a big fern to rest. He didn't hear a sound
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: excepting the beautiful, silvery voice of veeried the thrush. Listening
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to it, Peter fell asleep, for he was very tired.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: By and bye Peter. We awoke. For a minute. He
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: couldn't think where he was. Then he remembered, But for
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: a long time he sat perfectly still, thinking of his
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: adventures and wondering if he would be missed down on
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the green meadows. Then all of a sudden, Peter saw
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: something that made him sit up so suddenly that he
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: cried ouch, for he had forgotten all about how stiff
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and sore he was. What do you think Peter saw tracks? Yes, sir,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: he saw tracks, rabbit tracks in the soft mud, and
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Peter knew that he hadn't made them. Chapter eight, The
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: strange tracks in the old pasture. Who has an attentive
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: ear and eye will learn a lot if he'd but try.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit, Peter Rabbit stared and stared at the tracks
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: in the soft mud of the swamp in the old pasture.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: He would look first at the tracks, then at his
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: own feet, and finally back at the tracks again. He
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: scratched his long right ear with his long right hind foot,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: then he scratched his long left ear with his long
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: left hind foot, all the time staring his hardest at
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: those strange tracks. They certainly were the tracks of a rabbit,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: and it was equally certain that they were not his own.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: They are too big for mine, and they are too
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: small for Jumper the hares. Besides, Jumper is in the
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: green forest, and not weigh off up here, said Peter
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: to himself. I wonder, will I wonder if he will
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: try to drive me away? You see, Peter knew that
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: if he had found a strange rabbit in his dear
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: old briar patch, he certainly would have tried his best
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: to drive him out, for he felt that the old
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: briar patch belonged to him. Now, he wondered if the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: maker of these tracks would feel the same way about
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: the old pasture. Peter looked troubled as he thought it over.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Then his face cleared. Perhaps, he said, hopefully he is
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: a new comer here too, And if he is, I'll
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: have just as much right here as he has. Perhaps
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: he simply has big feet and isn't any bigger or
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: stronger than I am. And if that's the case, I'd
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: like to see him drive me out. Peter swelled himself
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: out and tried to look as big as he could
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: when he said this. But swelling himself out this way
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: reminded him of how stiff and sore he was from
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the wounds given him by Hooty the Owl, and he
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: made a wry face. You see, he realized all of
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: a sudden that he didn't much feel like fighting my
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: said Peter, I guess I'd better find out all about
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: this other fellow before I have any trouble with him.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: The old pasture looks big enough for a lot of rabbits,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: and perhaps if I don't bother him, he won't bother me.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: I wonder what he looks like. I believe I'll follow
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: these tracks and see what I can find. So Peter
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: began to follow the tracks of the strange rabbit, and
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: he was so interested that he almost forgot to limp.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: They led him this way, and they led him that
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: way through the swamp, and then out of it. At
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the foot of a certain birch tree. Peter stopped. Ha
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: He said, now I shall know just how big this
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: fellow is. How is he to know why that tree
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: was a kind of rabbit measuring stick? Yes, sir, that's
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: just what it was. You see, rabbits like to keep
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: a record of how they grow, just as some little
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: boys and girls do. But as they have no doors
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: or walls to stand against, they use trees. And this
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: was the measuring tree of the rabbit whose tracks Peter
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: had been following. Peter stopped at the foot of it
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and sat down to think it over. He knew what
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: that tree meant perfectly well. He had one or two
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: measuring trees of his own on the edge of the
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: green forest. He knew too, that it was more than
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: a mere measuring tree. It was the kind of no
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: trespassing sign. It meant that some other rabbit had lived
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: here for some time and felt that he owned this
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: part of the old pasture. Peter's nose told him that
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: for the tree smelt very very strong of rabbit, of
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the rabbit with big feet. This was because whoever used
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: it for a measuring tree used to rub himself against
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: it as far up as he could reach. Peter hopped
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: up close to it. Then he sat up very straight
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and stretched himself as tall as he could. But he
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: wisely took care not to rub against the tree. You see,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: he didn't want to leave his own mark there, so
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: he stretched and stretched, But stretched as he would, he
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: couldn't make his wobbly little nose reach the mark made
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: by the other rabbit. My sakes, he is a big fellow,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Peter. I guess I don't want to meet him
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: until I felt better and stronger than I do now.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine an unpleasant surprise. Legs are very useful when
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: you want to run away. Long sharp teeth are splendid
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: if to fire, you want to stay. But a far
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: far greater blessing whether one may stay or quit, is
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: a clever, trusty, quick and ever ready wit Peter Rabbit.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit sat in a snug hiding place in the
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: old pasture and thought over what he had found out
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: about the strange rabbit whose tracks he had followed. They
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: had led him to a rubbing or measuring tree where
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: the strange rabbit had placed his mark, And that mark
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: was so high up on the tree that Peter knew
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: the strange rabbit must be a great deal bigger than himself.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: If he's bigger, of course he is stronger, thought Peter.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: And if he is both bigger and stronger, of course
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: it won't be the least bit of use for me
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: to fight him. Then anyway, I'm too stiff and sore
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: to fight. And then he has no business to think
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: he owns the old pasture, because he doesn't. I have
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: just as much right here as he has, Yes, sir,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: I have just as much right in this old pasture
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: as he has. And if he thinks he can drive
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: me out, he is to find out that he never
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: was more mistaken in his life. I'll show him, yes, siree,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: I'll show him. I guess my wits are as sharp
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: as his, and I wouldn't wonder if they are a
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: little bit sharper. Foolish Peter Rabbit, there he was boasting
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: and bragging to himself of what he would do to
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: someone whom he hadn't even seen, all because he had
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: found a sign that told him the old pasture in
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: which he had made up his mind to make his
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: new home was already the home of someone else. Peter
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: was a lot like other people. He wasn't fair, No, sir,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: he wasn't fair. He let his own desires destroy his
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: sense of fair play. It was all right for him
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: to put up signs and the dear old briar patch
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: in the green forest, warning other rabbits that they must
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: keep away. But it was all wrong for another rabbit
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: to do the same thing in the old pasture. Oh my, yes,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: that was quite a different matter. The very thought of
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: it made Peter very, very angry when he thought of
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: this other rabbit. It was always as the stranger. That
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: shows just how unfair Peter was. Because you see Peter
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: himself was really the stranger. It was his first visit
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: to the old pasture, while it was very plain that
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the other had lived there for some time. But Peter
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: couldn't or wouldn't see that. He had counted so much
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: on having the old pasture to himself and doing as
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: he pleased that he was too upset and disappointed to
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: be fair. If the other rabbit had been smaller than he, well,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: that might have made a difference. The truth is, Peter
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: was just a wee bit afraid, and perhaps it was
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: that wee bit of fear that made him unfair and unjust. Anyway,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: the longer he sat and thought about it, the angrier
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: he grew, and the more he bragged and boasted to
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: himself about what he would do. I'll just keep out
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: of sight until my wounds are healed, and then we'll
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: see who owns the old pasture, thought Peter. No sooner
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: had this thought popped into his head than he received surprise,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: such an unpleasant surprise. It was three heavy thumps right
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: behind him. Peter knew what that meant, of course, he
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: knew it meant that he must run or fight. It
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: meant that he had been so busy thinking about how
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: smart he was going to be, that he had forgotten
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: to cover his own tracks, and so the maker of
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the big tracks he had followed had found him out. Thump, thump, thump,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: there it was again. Peter knew by the sound that
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: it was of no use to stay and fight, especially
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: when he was so sore and stiff. There was nothing
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: to do but run away. He simply had to, and
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: that is just what he did do. While his eyes
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: are filled with tears of rage and bitterness. Chapter ten,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit almost decides to come home. I have no
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: doubt that you've been told how timid folks are sometimes
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: bold Peter Rabbit, in all his life, Peter Rabbit had
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: never been so disappointed. Here he was in the old
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: pasture about which he had dreamed and thought so long,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and in reaching which he had had such a narrow
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: escape from Hooty the Owl, and yet he was unhappy.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: The fact is, Peter was more unhappy than he could
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: remember ever to have been before. Not only was he unhappy,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: but he was in great fear. And the worst of
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: it was he was in fear of an enemy who
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: could go wherever he could go himself. You see, it
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: was this way. Peter had expected to find some enemies
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: in the old Pasture. He had felt quite sure that
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: fierce old mister Goshawk was to be watched for, and
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: perhaps mister Redtail, and one or two others of the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Hawk family. He knew that Granny and Reddy Fox had
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: lived there once upon a time and might come back
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: if things got too unpleasant for them on the Green
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: meadows now that old man Coyote had made his home there.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: But Peter didn't worry about any of these dangers. He
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: was used to them, was Peter. He had been dodging
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: them ever since he could remember. A friendly bramble bush,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: a little patch of briars, or an old old stone
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: wall near was all that Peter needed to feel perfectly
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: safe from these enemies. But now he was in danger
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: wherever he went, For he had an enemy. He could
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: go everywhere he could, and it seemed to Peter that
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: this enemy was following him all the time. Who was it?
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Why it was a great, big old rabbit with a
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: very short temper, who, because he had lived there for
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: a long time, felt that he owned the old pasture
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: and that Peter had no right there. Now, in spite
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: of all his trouble. Peter had seen enough of the
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: old pasture to think it a very wonderful place, a
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: very wonderful place. Indeed, he had seen just enough to
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: want to see more. You know how very curious Peter is.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: It seemed to him that he just couldn't go back
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: to the dear old briar patch on the green meadows
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: until he had seen everything to be seen in the
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: old pasture. So he couldn't make up his mind to
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: go back home, but stayed and stayed, hoping each day
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: that the old gray rabbit would get tired of hunting
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: for him and would let him alone. But the old
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: gray rabbit didn't do anything of the kind. He seemed
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: to take the greatest delight in waiting until Peter thought
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: that he had found a corner of the old pasture
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: where he would be safe, and then in stealing there
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: when Peter was trying to take a nap, and driving
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: him out twice. Peter had tried to fight, but the
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: old gray rabbit was too big for him. He knocked
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: all the wind out of poor Peter with a kick
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: from his big hind legs, and then with his sharp
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: teeth he tore Peter's coat. Poor Peter, his coat had
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: already been badly torn by the cruel claws of Hooty
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: the Owl, and old Mother Nature hadn't had time to
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: mend it when he fought with the old gray rabbit.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: After the second time, Peter didn't try to fight again.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: He just tried to keep out of the way. And
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: he did too. But in doing it he lost so
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: much sleep, and he had so little to eat, that
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: he grew thin and thin and thinner, until with his
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: torn clothes he looked like a scarecrow. And still he
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: hated to give in when there was still so much
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: to see. Persistence, I was taught will win, and so
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: I will persist, said he, And he did persist day
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: after day, until at last he felt that he really
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: must give it up. He had stretched out wearily on
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: a tiny sunning bank in the farthest corner of the
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: old pasture, and had just about made up his mind
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: that he would go back that very night to the
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: dear old briar patch on the green meadows, when a
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: tiny rustle behind him made him jump to his feet
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: with his heart in his mouth. But instead of the
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: angry face of the old great rabbit he saw. What
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: do you think why two of the softest, gentlest eyes
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: peeping at him from behind a big fern. Chapter eleven,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit has a sudden change of mind. Whatever you
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: decide to do, make up your mind to see it
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: through Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit stared at the two soft,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: gentle eyes peeping at him from behind the big fern,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: just back of the sunning bank in the far corner
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: of the old pasture. He had so fully expected to
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: see the angry face of the big, gray, old rabbit
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: who had made life so miserable for him, that for
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: a minute he couldn't believe that he really saw what
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: he did see, and so he just stared and stared.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: It was very rude, of course it was. It was
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: very rude. Indeed, it is always rude to stare at
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: any one. So it was no wonder that after a
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: minute the two soft gentle eyes disappeared behind one of
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: the great green leaves of the fern. Peter gave a
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: great sigh. Then he remembered how rude he had been
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: to stare. So I I beg your pardon, said Peter,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: in his politest manner, which is very polite indeed, for
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: Peter can be very polite when he wants to be.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to frighten you.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Please forgive me with the greatest eagerness. Peter waited for
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: a reply. You know. It was because he had been
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: so lonesome that he had left his home in the
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: dear old briar patch on the Green Meadows. And since
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: he had been in the old pasture, he had been
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: almost as lonesome, for he had had no one to
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: talk to. So now he waited eagerly for a reply.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: You see, he felt sure that the owner of such
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: soft gentle eyes must have a soft gentle voice and
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: a soft gentle heart. And there was nothing in the
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: world that Peter needed just then so much as sympathy.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: But though he waited and waited, there wasn't a sound
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: from the big fern. Perhaps you don't know who I am.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: I'm Peter Rabbit, and I've come up here from the
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: Green Meadows, and I'd like very much to be your friend,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: continued Peter. After a while, still there was no sound.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: Peter peeped from the corner of one eye at the
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: place where he had seen the two soft gentle eyes,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: but there was nothing to be seen but the gently
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: waving leaf of the big fern. Peter didn't know just
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: what to do. He wanted to hop over to the
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: big fern and pete behind it, but he didn't dare to.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: He was afraid that whoever was hiding there would run away.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: I'm very lonesome, won't you speak to me? Said Peter
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: in his gentlest voice, and then he sighed a deep,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: doleful sort of sigh. Still there was no reply. Peter
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: had just about made up his mind that he would
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: go over to the big fern when he saw those
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: two soft, gentle eyes peeping from under a different leaf.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: It seemed to Peter that never in all his life
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: had he seen such beautiful eyes. They looked so shy
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: and bashful that Peter held his breath for fear that
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: he would frighten them away. After a time, the eyes disappeared.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Then Peter saw a little movement among the ferns, and
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: he knew that whoever was there was stealing away. He
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: wanted to follow, but something down inside him warned him
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: that it was best to sit still. So Peter just
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: sat where he was and kept perfectly still for the
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: longest time, but the eyes didn't appear again, and at
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: last he felt sure that whoever they belonged to had
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: really gone away. Then he sighed another great sigh, for
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: suddenly he felt more lonesome than ever. He hopped over
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: to the big fern and looked behind it. There in
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: the soft earth was a footprint, the foot of a rabbit,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: and it was smaller than his own. It seemed to
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Peter that it was the most wonderful little footprint he
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: had ever seen. I believe, said Peter right out loud,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: that I'll change my mind. I won't go back to
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: the dear old briar patch just yet, after all. Chapter twelve,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: Peter learns something from Tommy Tit. When you find a
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: friend in trouble, pass along a word of cheer. Often
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: it is very helpful just to feel a friend is near.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit, Hello, Peter Rabbit, what are you doing way
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: up here? And what are you looking so mournful about?
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Peter gave a great start of pleased surprise. That was
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: the first friendly voice he had heard for days and days.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Hello yourself, Tommy Tit, shouted Peter joyously. My my, my,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: but I am glad to see you. But what are
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: you doing up here in the old pasture yourself? Tommy Tit,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: the chickadee, hung head down from the tip of a
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: slender branch of a maple and winked a saucy, bright
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: eye at Peter. I've got a secret up here, he said. Now,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: there is nothing in the world. Peter Rabbit loves more
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: than a secret, but he cannot keep one to save him. No, Sir,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit can no more keep a secret than he
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: can fly. He means, to his intentions on the very
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: best in the world. But alas alack, poor Peter's tongue
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: is very very loosely hung, and so because he must talk,
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: and will talk every chance he gets, he cannot keep
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: a secret. People who talk too much never can. What
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: is your secret, asked Peter eagerly. Tommy Tit looked down
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: at Peter and his sharp little eyes twinkled. It's a
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: nest with six of the dearest little babies in the
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: world in it, he replied. Oh, how lovely, cried Peter.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Where is it, Tommy Tit In a hollow birch stub,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: replied Tommy, his eyes twinkling more than ever. But where
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: is the hollow birch stub, persisted Peter. Tommy laughed. That's
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: my real secret, said he, And if I should tell you,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't be a secret at all. Now tell me
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: what you are doing up here in the old pasture,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit. Peter saw that it was of no use
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: to tease Tommy Tit for his secret, so instead he
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: poured out all his own troubles. He told how lonesome
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: he had been in the dear old briar patch on
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: the green meadows because he didn't dare go about for
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: fear of old man Coyote, and how at last he
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: had decided to visit the old pasture. He told how
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Hooty the owl had nearly caught him on his way,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: and then, how ever, since his arrival he had been
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: hunted by the big gray old rabbit, so that he
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: could neither eat nor sleep, and had become so miserable
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: that at last he had made up his mind to
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: go back to the dear old briar patch. Oh, interrupted Tommy, tit.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: I know him. He's old Jed Thumper, the oldest, biggest
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: crossest rabbit anywhere around. He's lived in the old pasture
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: so long that he thinks he owns it. It's a
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: wonder he hasn't killed you. I guess perhaps he would.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: I've only I can run faster than he can, replied Peter,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: looking a little shamefaced because he had to own up
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: that he ran away instead of fighting. Tommy Tit laughed.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: That's the very wisest thing you could have done, said he.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: But why don't you go back to the dear old
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: briar patch in the green meadows. Peter hesitated and looked
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: a wee bit foolish. Finally, he told Tommy Tit all
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: about the two soft, gentle eyes he had seen peeping
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: at him from behind a big fern, and how he
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: wanted to know who the eyes belonged to. If that's
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: all you want to know, I can tell you, said
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Tommy Tit, jumping out into the air to catch a
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: foolish little bug who tried to fly past. Those eyes
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: belonged to little miss Fuzzytail, and she's the favorite daughter
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: of old Jed Thumper. You take my advice, Peter Rabbit,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: and trot along home to the old briar patch before
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: you get into any more trouble. There's my wife calling, Yes, dear,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: I'm coming. Chicket eat eat e and with a wink
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: and a nod to Peter Rabbit off flew Tommy Tit.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: End of section two recording by C. L. W. Rallins, Longview, Texas,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: May twenty eleven. Section three of Missus Peter Rabbit by
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Thornton W. Burgess. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen, little Miss Fuzzytail. Foolish questions waste time, but
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: wise questions lead to knowledge. Peter Rabbit, little Miss Fuzzytail.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: Peter said it over and over again as he sat
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: on the sunning bank in the far corner of the
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: old pasture where Tommy Tit, the chickadee had left him.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: It's a pretty name, said Peter, Yes, sir, it's a
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: pretty name. It's the prettiest name I've ever heard. I
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: wonder if she is just as pretty. I I think
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: she must be. Yes, I am quite sure she must be.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Peter was thinking of the soft, gentle eyes he had
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: seen peeping at him from behind the big fern, and
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: of the dainty little footprint he had found there afterward,
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: So he sat on the stunning bank dreaming pleasant dreams
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: and wondering if he could find little Miss Fuzzytail, if
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: he should go look for her now. All the time,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: although Peter didn't know it, little Miss Fuzzytail was very
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: close by. She was right back in her old hiding
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: place behind the big fern, shyly peeping out at him
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: from under a great leaf where she was sure he
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: wouldn't see her. She saw the long tears in Peter's coat,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: made by the cruel claws of Hooty the owl, and
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: she saw the places where her father, old jed Thumper,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: had pulled the hair out with his teeth. She saw
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: how thin and miserable Peter looked, and tears of pity
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: filled the soft, gentle eyes of little Miss Fuzzytail. For
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: you see, she had a very tender heart. He's got
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: a very nice face, thought Miss Fuzzytail. And he certainly
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: was very polite. And I do love good manners. And
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Peter is such a nice sounding name. It sounds so
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: honest and good and true. Poor fellow, poor Peter Rabbit. Here,
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: little Miss Fuzzytail wiped her eyes. He looks so miserable.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: I do wish I could do something for him. I I, oh, dear,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: I do believe he is coming right over here. I
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: guess i'd better be going how he limps once more,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: The tears filled her soft, gentle eyes as she stole away,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: making not the least little sound. When she was sure
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: she was far enough away to hurry without attracting Peter's attention,
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: she began to run. I saw him talking to my
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: old friend, Tommy Tit the chickadee, and I just know
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: that Tommy will tell me all about him, she thought,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: as she scampered along certain private little paths of her own.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Just as she expected, she found Tommy Tit and his
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: anxious little wife phoebe very busy hunting for food for
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: six hungry little babies, snugly hidden in a hollow near
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: the top of the old birch stub. Tommy was too
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: busy to talk then, so little miss Fuzzytail sat down
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: under a friendly bramble bush to rest and wait. And
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: while she waited, she carefully washed her face and brushed
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: her coat until it fairly shone. You see, not in
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: all the old pasture or the green forest was there
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: so slim and trim and neat and dainty a rabbit
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: as little Miss Fuzzytail, and she was very very particular
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: about her appearance. By and by Tommy Tit stopped to rest.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: He looked down at Miss Fuzzytail and winked a saucy
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: black eye. Miss Fuzzytail winked back. Then both laughed, for
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: they were very good friends. Indeed, tell me Tommy Tit
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: all about. Peter Rabbit commanded little Miss Fuzzytail, and Tommy did.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen, Some one fools, Old Jed Thumper, You cannot
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: judge a person's temper by his size. There is more
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: meanness in the head of a weasel than in the
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: hole of a bear. Peter Rabbit, Old Jed Thumper sat
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: in his bull briar castle in the middle of the
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: old pasture, scowling fiercely and muttering to himself. He was
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: very angry, was Old Jed Thumper. He was so angry
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: that presently he stopped muttering and began to chew rapidly
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: on nothing at all but his temper, which is a
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: way angry rabbits have. The more he chewed his temper,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: the angrier he grew. He was big and stout and
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: strong and gray. He had lived so long in the
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: old pasture that he felt that it belonged to him,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: and that no other rabbit had any right there unless
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: he said so. Yet here was a strange rabbit who
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: had had the impudence to come up from the green
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: meadows and refused to be driven away such impudence. Of course,
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: it was Peter rabbit, of whom Old Jed Thumper was thinking.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: It was two days since he had caught a glimpse
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: of Peter, but he knew that Peter was still in
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: the old pasture, for he had found fresh tracks each day.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: That very morning, he had visited his favorite feeding ground,
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: only to find Peter's tracks there. It had made him
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: so angry that he had lost his appetite, and he
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: had gone straight back to his bull briar castle to
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: think it over. At last, Old Jed Thumper stopped chewing
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: on his temper, he scowled more fiercely than ever, and
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: stamped the ground impatiently. I'll hunt that fellow till I
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: kill him, or drive him so far from the old
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: pasture that he'll never think of coming back. I certainly will,
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: he said aloud, and started forth to hunt. Now, it
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: would have been better for the plans of old Jed Thumper,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: if he had kept them to himself instead of speaking aloud.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Two dainty little ears heard what he said, and two soft,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: gentle eyes watched him leave the bulbriar castle. He started
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: straight for the far corner of the old pasture, where,
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: although he didn't know it, Peter Rabbit had found a warm,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: little sunning bank. But he hadn't gone far when, from
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: way off in the opposite direction, he heard a sound
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: that made him stop short and prick up his long
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: to listen. There it was again, thump, thump. He was
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: just going to thumb back an angry reply, when he
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: thought better of it. If I do that, thought he,
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: I'll only warn him and he'll run away, just as
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: he has before. So instead he turned and hurried in
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: the direction from which the thumbs had come, taking the
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: greatest care to make no noise. Every few jumps he
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: would stop to listen. Twice more he heard those thumbs,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: and each time new rage filled his heart, and for
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: a minute or two he chewed his temper. Oh he's
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: down on my blueberry patch, he muttered. At last, he
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: reached the blueberry patch. Very softly, he crept to a
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: place where he could see and not be seen. No
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: one was there, No, sir, no one was there. He
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: waited and watched, and there wasn't a hair of Peter
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: Rabbit to be seen. He was just getting ready to
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: go look for Peter's tracks when he heard that thump
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: thump again. This time it came from his favorite clover patch,
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: where he never allowed even his favorite daughter, little miss Fuzzytail,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: to go. Anger nearly choked him as he hurried in
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: that direction, But when he got there, just as before,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: no one was to be seen. So all the morning long,
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: Old Jed Thumper hurried from one place to another and
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: never once caught sight of Peter Rabbit. Can you guess why? Well,
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: the reason was that all the time Peter was stretched
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: out on his warm, sunning bank getting the rest he
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: so much needed. It was someone else who was fooling
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: Old Jed Thumper Chapter fifteen, A pleasant surprise for Peter.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: Sticks will break, and sticks will bend, and all things
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: bad will have an end Peter Rabbit all morning while
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: someone was fooling Old Jed Thumper, the cross old rabbit
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: who thought he owned the old pasture. Peter Rabbit lay
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: stretched out on the warm little sunning bank, dreaming of soft,
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: gentle eyes and beautiful little foot prince. It was a
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: dangerous place to go to sleep, because at any time
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: fierce mister Goshawk might have come that way. And if
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: he had and had found Peter Rabbit asleep, why that
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: would have been the end of Peter and all the
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: stories about him. Peter did go to sleep, you see,
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: the sunning bank was so warm and comfortable, and he
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: was so tired and had had so little sleep for
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: such a long time, that, in spite of all he
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: could do, he nodded and nodded, and finally slipped off
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: into dreamland. Peter slept a long time, for no one
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: came to disturb him. It was past noon when he
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: opened his eyes and blinked up at jolly round red
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: mister sun. For a minute, he couldn't remember where he was.
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: When he did, he sprang to his feet and hastily
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: looked this way in that way, My gracious, exclaimed Peter,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: My gracious, what a careless fellow I am. It's a
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: wonder that old jed Thumper didn't find me asleep. My
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: but I'm hungry. Seems as if I hadn't had a
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: good square meal for a year. Peter stopped suddenly and
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: began to wrinkle his nose. Mmmm, said he. If I
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: didn't know better, I should say that there is a
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: patch of sweet clover close by. M n my, my,
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Am I really awake or am I still dreaming? I
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: certainly do smell sweet clover. Slowly Peter turned his head
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: in the direction from which the delicious smell seemed to come.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Then he whirled around and stared as hard as ever
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: he could, his mouth gaping wide open in surprise. He blinked,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: rubbed his eyes, then blinked again. There could be no
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: doubt of it. There on the edge of the sunning
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: bank was a neat, little pile of tender sweet clover. Yes, sir,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: there it was. Peter walked all around it, looking for
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: all the world as if he couldn't believe that it
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: was real. Finally, he reached out and nibbled the leaf
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: of it. It was real, there was no doubt in
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: Peter's mind. Then someone had put it there while Peter
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: was asleep, and Peter knew that it was meant for him.
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: Who could it have been? Suddenly a thought popped into
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: Peter's head, he stopped eating and hopped over to the
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: big fern from behind which he had first seen the
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: two soft, gentle eyes peeping at him the day before.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: There on the soft earth was a fresh footprint, and
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: it looked very very much like the footprint of dainty
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: little miss Fuzzytail. Peter's heart gave a happy little jump.
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: He felt sure now who had put the clover there.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: He looked wistfully about among the ferns, but she was
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen. Finally, he hopped back to the
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: pile of clover and ate it every bit, and it
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: seemed to him that it was the sweetest, tenderest clover
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: he had ever tasted in all his life. Chapter sixteen,
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit's looking Glass. If people by their looks are
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: judged as judged, the sure to be why each should
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: always look his best. I'm sure you will agree, Peter Rabbit.
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: For the first time in his life, Peter Rabbit had
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: begun to think about his clothes. Always he had been
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: such a happy, go lucky fellow that it never had
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: entered his head to care how he looked. He laughed
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: at Sammy Jay for thinking so much of that beautiful
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: blue and white coat he wears, and he poked fun
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: at Reddy Fox for bragging so much about his handsome suit.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: As for himself, Peter didn't care how he looked. If
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: his coat was whole or in rags and tags, it
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: was all the same to Peter. But now Peter, sitting
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: on the edge of his sunning bank in the far
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: corner of the old pasture, suddenly realized that he wanted
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: to be good looking. Yes, sir, he wanted to be
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: good looking. He wished that he were bigger. He wished
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: that he were the biggest and strongest rabbit in the world.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: He wished that he had a handsome coat. And it
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: was all because because of the soft, gentle eyes of
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: little Miss Fuzzytail that he had seen peeping out at
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: him so often. He felt sure that it was little
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: Miss Fuzzytail herself who had left the pile of sweet
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: clover close by his sunning bank the other day while
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: he was asleep. The fact is Peter Rabbit was falling
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: in love. Yes, sir, Peter Rabbit was falling in love.
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: All he had seen of little Miss Fuzzytail were her
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: soft gentle eyes, for she was very shy and had
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: kept out of sight, but ever since he had first
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: seen them, he had thought and dreamed of nothing else,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: until it seemed as if there were nothing in the
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: world he wanted so much as to meet her. Perhaps
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: he would have wanted this still more if he had
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: known that it was she who had fooled her father,
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: Old Jed Thumper, the big gray old Rabbit, so that
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: Peter might have the long nap on the sunning bank
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: he so needed. I've just got to meet her. I've
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: just got to said Peter to himself, And right then
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: he begin to wish that he were big and fine looking.
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: My I must be a sight, he thought. I wonder
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: how I do look anyway? I must hunt up a
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: looking glass and find out. Now, when Peter Rabbit thinks
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: of doing a thing, he wastes very little time. It
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: was that way now. He started at once for the
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: bit of swamp where he had first seen the tracks
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: of Old Jed Thumper. He still limped from the wounds
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: made by Hooty the Owl, but in spite of this,
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: he could travel pretty fast, and it didn't take him
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: long to reach the swamp. There, just as he expected,
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: he found a looking glass. What was it? Like why
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: it was just a tiny pool of water. Yes, sir,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: it was a quiet pool of water that reflected the
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: ferns growing around it, and the branches of the trees
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: hanging over it, and Peter Rabbit himself sitting on the
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: edge of it. That was Peter's looking glass. For a
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: long time he stared into it. At last he gave
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: a great sigh. My, but I am a sight, he exclaimed.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: He was. His coat was ragged and torn from the
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: claws of Hooty the Owl and the teeth of old
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: Jed Thumper. The white patch on the seat of his
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: trousers was stained and dirty from sitting down in the mud.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: There were burrs tangled in his waistcoat. He was thin,
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: and altogether a miserable looking rabbit. It must be that
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: miss Fuzzytail just pities me. She certainly can't admire me,
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: muttered Peter as he pulled out the burrs. For the
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: next hour, Peter was very busy. He washed, and he brushed,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: and he combed. When at last he had done all
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: that he could, he took another look in his looking glass,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: and what he saw was a very different looking rabbit.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: Though I am homely link and lean. I can at
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: least be neat and clean, said he as he started
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: back for the Sunning Bank. Chapter seventeen, Peter meets Miss
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: Fuzzytail that this is true. There's no denying. There's nothing
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: in the world like trying Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit was
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: feeling better. Certainly, he was looking better. You see, just
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: as soon as old Mother Nature saw that Peter was
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: trying to look as well as he could and was
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: keeping himself as neat and tidy as he knew how,
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: she was ready to help, as she always is. She
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: did her best with the rants in his coat made
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: by the claws of Hooty the Owl and the teeth
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: of old Jed Thumper. And so what wasn't long before
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: Peter's coat looked nearly as good as new. Then too,
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: Peter was getting enough to eat these days. Days and
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: days had passed since he had seen old Jed Thumper,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: and this had given him time to eat and sleep.
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: Peter wondered what had become of Old Jed Thumper. Perhaps
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: something has happened to him, thought Peter. I I almost
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: hope something has. Then, being ashamed of such a wish,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: he added something not very dreadful, but which will keep
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: him from hunting me for a while and trying to
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: drive me out of the old pasture. Now, all this
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: time Peter had been trying to find little miss Fuzzytail.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: He was already in love with her, although all he
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: had seen of her were her two soft, gentle eyes,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: shyly peeping at him from behind a big fern. He
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: had wondered here and sauntered there looking for her. But
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: although he found her footprints very often, she always managed
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: to keep out of his sight. You see, she knew
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: the old pasture so much better than he did, and
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: all the little paths in it, that she had very
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: little trouble in keeping out of his way. Then too,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: she was very busy, for it was she who was
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: keeping her cross father, old Jed Thumper away from Peter,
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: because she was so sorry for Peter. But Peter didn't
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: know this. If he had, I am afraid that he
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: would have been more in love than ever. The harder
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: she was to find, the more Peter wanted to find her.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: He spent a great deal of time each day brushing
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: his coat and making himself look as fine as he could,
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: And while he was doing it, he kept wishing over
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: and over again that something would happen so that he
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: could show little miss Fuzzytail what a smart, brave fellow
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: he really was. But one day followed another, and Peter
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: seemed no nearer than ever to meeting little Miss Fuzzytail.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: He was thinking of this one morning and was really
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: growing very downhearted as he sat under a friendly bramble bush,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: when suddenly there was a sharp little scream of fright
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: from behind a little juniper tree. Somehow Peter knew whose
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: voice that was, although he had never heard it before.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: He sprang around the little juniper tree, and what he
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: saw filled him with such rage that he didn't once
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: stop to think of himself. There was little Miss Fuzzytail
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: in the clutches of Black Pussy, Farmer Brown's cat, who
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: often stole away from home to hunt in the old pasture.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: Like a flash, Peter sprang over Black Pussy, and as
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: he did so, he kicked with all his might. The
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: cat hadn't seen him coming, and the kick knocked her
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: right into the prickly juniper tree. Of course, she lost
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: her grip on little Miss Fuzzytail, who hadn't been hurt
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: so much as frightened. By the time the cat got
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: out of the juniper tree, Peter and Miss Fuzzytail were
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: sitting side by side, safe in the middle of a
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: bull briar patch. Oh, how brave you are, sobbed, little
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: Miss Fuzzytail. And this is the way that Peter Rabbit
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: at last got his heart's desire. Chapter eighteen, Tommy Tit
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: proves a friend. Indeed, nothing in all the world is
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: so precious as a true friend Peter Rabbit. After Peter
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: Rabbit had saved little Miss Fuzzytail from Black Pussy, the
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: cat who belonged way down at Farmer Brown's house and
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: had no business hunting in the old pasture, he went
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: with her as near to her home as she would
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: let him. She said that it wasn't necessary that he
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: should go a single step, but Peter insisted that she
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: needed him to see that no more harm came to her.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: Miss Fuzzy Tale laughed at that, for she felt quite
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: able to take care of herself. It had been just
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: stupid carelessness on her part that had given Black Pussy
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: the chance to catch her, she said, and she was
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: very sure that she would never be so careless again.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: What she didn't tell Peter was that she had been
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: so busy peeping at him and admiring him, that she
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: had quite forgotten to watch out for danger for herself. Finally,
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: she said that he could go part way with her,
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: But when they were almost within sight of the bullbriar
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: castle of her father, Old Jed Thumper, the big gray rabbit,
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: who thought he owned the old pasture, she made Peter
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: turn back. You see, she was afraid of what Old
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: Jed Thumper might do to Peter. And well, the truth is,
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: she was afraid of what he might do to her
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: if he should find out that she had made friends
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: with Peter. So Peter was forced to go back, but
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: he took with him a half promised that she would
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: meet him the next night up near his sunning bank
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: in the far corner of the old pasture. After that
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: there were many pleasant days for Peter Rabbit. Sometimes little
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: miss Fuzzytail would meet him, and sometimes she would shyly
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: hide from him, But somehow somewhere he managed to see
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: her every day, and so all the time in Peter's
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: heart was a little song. The sky is blue, the
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: leaves are green in the gold and sunbeams Pete between
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: my hardest joyful lads can be, and all the world
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: looks bright to me. And then one day Old Jed
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: Thumper found out all about how his daughter, little Miss Fuzzytail,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: and Peter Rabbit had become such good friends. Old Jed
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: Thumper went into a terrible rage. He chewed and chewed
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: with nothing in his mouth, that is, nothing but his
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: temper the way an angry rabbit will, He vowed and
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: declared that if he never ate another mouthful, he would
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: drive Peter Rabbit from the old pasture. My, my, my,
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: those were bad days for Peter Rabbit. Yes, sir, those
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: certainly were bad days. Old Jed Thumper had found out
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: how little Miss Fuzzytail had been fooling him by making
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: him think Peter was in part so the old Pasture
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: in quite the opposite direction from where he really was.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: Worse still, he found Peter's favorite sunning bank in the
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: far corner of the old pasture and would hide near
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: it and try to catch Peter. Every time Peter tried
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: to get a few minutes rest there, he did something
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: worse than that. One day he saw fierce mister Goshawk hunting,
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: He let mister Goshawk almost catch him, and then ducked
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: under a bramble bush. Then he showed himself again and
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: once more escaped in the same way. So he led
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: fierce mister Goshawk to a point where mister Goshawk could
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: look down and see Peter Rabbit stretched out on his
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: sunning bank trying to get a little rest. Right away,
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: mister Goshawk forgot all about Old Jed Thumper and sailed
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: up in the sky from where he could swoop down
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: on Peter, while Old Jed Thumper, chuckling to himself, wickedly
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: hid where he could watch what would happen. That certainly
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: would have been the last of Peter Rabbit if it
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: hadn't been for Tommy Tit the Chicken. Tommy saw mister
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: Goshawk and just in time warned Peter, and so mister
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: Goshawk got only his claws full of soft earth for
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: his pains, while Old Jed Thumper once more chewed on
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: nothing in rage and disappointment. Dear me, dear me, those
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: were certainly dreadful days for Peter Rabbit and little miss Fuzzytail.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: You see, all the time little Miss Fuzzytail was terribly
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: worried for fear that Peter would be caught. End of
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: section three recording by C. L. W. Rollins, Longview, Texas,
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: June twenty eleven. Section four of Missus Peter Rabbit by
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: Thornton W. Burgess. This libor Rocks recording is in the
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: public domain. Chapter nineteen Old Man Coyote pays a debt
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: some little seeds of goodness you'll find in every heart
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: to sprout and keep on growing when once they get
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: a start. Peter Rabbit. Matters went from bad to worse
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: with Peter Rabbit and little Miss Fuzzytail. Peter would have
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: made up his mind to go back to his old
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: home in the dear old briar patch on the Green Meadows,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: but he felt that he just couldn't leave little Miss Fuzzytail,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: and little Miss Fuzzytail couldn't make up her mind to
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: go with Peter because she felt that she just couldn't
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: leave the old pasture which had always been her home.
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: So Peter spent his days and nights ready to jump
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: and run from Jed Thumper, the gray old rabbit, who
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: thought he owned the old pasture and who had declared
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: that he would drive Peter out. Now, Peter, as you know,
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: had an old friend in the Old Pasture, Tommy Tit
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: the chickadee. One day, Tommy took it in his head
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: to fly down to the Green Meadows. There he found
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: everybody wondering what had become of Peter Rabbit. For you remember,
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: Peter had had stolen away from the dear old Briar
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: patch in the night and had told no one where
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: he was going. Now, one of the first to ask
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: Tommy Tit if he had seen Peter Rabbit was Old
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: Man Coyote. Tommy told him where Peter was, and of
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: the dreadful time Peter was having. Old Man Coyote asked
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of questions about the old pasture and thanked
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: Tommy very politely as Tommy flew over to the Smiling
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: Pool to call on Grandmother Frog and Jerry Muskrat. That night,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: after Jolly round, Red Mister Sun had gone to bed
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: behind the Purple Hills, and the black shadows had crept
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: over the Green meadows. Old Man Coyote started for the
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: Old Pasture. Now he had never been there before, but
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: he had asked so many questions of Tommy Tit and
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: he is so smart anyway, that it didn't take him
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: long to go all through the old pasture and to
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: find the bull briar castle of Old Jed Thumper, who
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: was making life so miserable for Peter Rabbit. He wasn't
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: at home, but old Man Coyote's wonderful nose soon found
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: his tracks, and he followed them swiftly without making a sound.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: Pretty soon he came to a bramble bush, and under
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: it he could see Old Jed Thumper. For just a minute,
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: he chuckled a noiseless chuckle to himself. Then he opened
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: his mouth and out came that terrible sound which had
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: so frightened all the little people on the green meadows
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: when Old Man Coyote had first come there to live.
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: Ha ha ha ho ho ho he he he ho
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: ho he ho. Old Jed Thumper had never heard anything
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: like that before. It frightened him so that before he
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: thought what he was doing, he had jumped out from
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: under the bramble bush. Of course, this was just what
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote wanted. In a flash, he was after him,
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: and then begin such a race as the old pasture
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: had never seen before, round and round this way and
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: that way along the cow paths raced Old Jed Thumper
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: with Old Man Coyote at his heels, until at last
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: out of breath, so tired that it seemed to him
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: he couldn't run another step. Frightened almost out of his senses,
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: Old Jed Thumper reached his bull briar castle and was safe.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: Then Old Man Coyote laughed his terrible laugh once more,
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: and trotted over to the tumble down stone wall in
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: which his keen nose told him Peter Rabbit was hiding.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: One good turn deserves another, and I always pay my debts,
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit said, he You did me a good turn
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: some time ago down on the green meadows when you
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: told me how Granny and Reddy Fox were planning to
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: make trouble for me by leading bows or the hound
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: to the place where I took my daily nap. And
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: now we are even. I don't think that old Gray
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: Rabbit will dare to poke so much as his nose
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: out of his bulbriar castle for a week. Now I
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: am going back to the green meadows. Good night, Peter Rabbit,
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: and don't forget that I always pay my debts. Good night,
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: and thank you mister Coyote, said Peter. And then when
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote had gone, he added to himself in
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: a shamefaced way. I didn't believe him when he said
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: that he guessed we would be friends. Chapter twenty, little
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: Miss Fuzzytail whispers, Yes, love is a beautiful, wonderful thing.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: There's nothing quite like it on all the green earth.
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: Tis love in the heart, teaches birdies to sing, and
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: gives the wide world all its joy and its mirth.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit, Peter Rabbit was finding this out. He had
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: always been happy, for happiness had been born in him,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: but the happiness he had known before was nothing to
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: the happiness that was his when he found that he
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: loved little Miss Fuzzytail, and that little Miss Fuzzytail loved him,
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: Peter was sure that she did love him, although she
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: wouldn't say so. But love doesn't need words, and Peter
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: had seen it shining in the two soft, gentle eyes
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: of little Miss Fuzzytail. So Peter was happy in spite
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: of the trouble that Old Jed Thumper, the big gray
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: rabbit who was the father of little Miss Fuzzytail, had
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: made for him in the old pasture he had tried
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: very hard, very hard, indeed, to get little Miss Fuzzytail
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: to go back with him to the dear old briar
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: patch on the green meadows. But in spite of all
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: he could say, she couldn't make up her mind to
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: leave the old pasture, which you know, had been her
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: home ever since she was born. And Peter couldn't make
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: up his mind to go back there and leave her,
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: because why because he loved her so much that he
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: felt that he could never, never be happy without her. Then,
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: when Old Jed Thumper was hunting Peter so hard that
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: he hardly had a chance to eat or sleep, had
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: come old Man Coyote the Wolf and given Old Jed
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: Thumper such a fright that for a week he didn't
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: dare poke so much as his nose out of his
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: bull briar castle. Now, although old Man Coyote didn't know it,
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: his terrible voice had frightened a little Miss Fuzzytail almost
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: as much as it had Old Jed Thumper. You see,
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: she had never heard it before, she didn't even know
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: what it was. And all that night she had crouched
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: in her most secret hiding place, shivering and shaking with fright.
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: The next morning Peter had found her there. She hadn't
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: slept a wink, and she was still too frightened to
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: even go look for her breakfast. Oh, Peter Rabbit, did
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: you hear that terrible noise last night? She cried? What noise?
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: Asked Peter, just as if he didn't know anything about it.
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: Why that terrible voice, cried little Miss Fuzzytail, and shivered
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: at the thought of it. What was it like, asked Peter. Oh,
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you, said little Miss Fuzzytail. It wasn't
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: like anything I had ever heard before. It was something
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: like the voice of Hooty the Owl, and the voice
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: of Dippy the loon, and the voice of a little
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: yelping dog all in one. And it was just terrible. Oh,
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: replied Peter. You must mean the voice of my friend,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: old Man Coyote. He came up here last night just
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: to do me a good turn, because I once did
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: him a good turn. Then he told all about how
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: old Man Coyote had come to the Green Meadows to live,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: and how he was smarter than even old Granny Fox.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: But he didn't tell her how he himself had once
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: been frightened almost out of a year's growth by that
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: terrible voice, or that it was because he hadn't really
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: believed that old Man Coyote was his friend that had
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: led him to leave the old briar Patch and come
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: up to the old pasture. Is is he fond of rabbits,
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: asked little Miss Fuzzytail. Peter was quite sure that he was.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: And do you think he'll come up here hunting again?
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: She asked. Peter didn't know, but he's expected that he would. Oh, dear,
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: wailed little Miss Fuzzytail. No, I never, never will feel
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: safe again. Then Peter had a happy thought. I'll tell
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: you what, said he The safest place in the world
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: for you and me is mind dear old briar patch.
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: Won't you go there now? Little Miss Fuzzytail sighed and
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: dropped a terr or two. Then she nestled up close
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: to Peter, Yes, she whispered. Chapter twenty one, Peter and
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: little Miss Fuzzytail leave the old pasture. A danger passed
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: as a danger passed, so why not just forget it
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: watch out instead for the one ahead until you've safely
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: met it. Peter Rabbit. As soon as little Miss Fuzzytail
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: had agreed to go with him to make her home
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: in the dear Old Briar Patch down on the Green Meadows.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit fairly boiled over with impatience to start. He
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: had had so much trouble in the old pasture that
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: he was afraid if they waited too long, little miss
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: Fuzzytail might change her mind. And if she should do that, well,
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: Peter didn't know what he would do. But Peter, who
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: always had been so happy, go lucky, with no one
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: to say think about but himself, now felt for the
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: first time responsibility. That's a big word, but it is
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: a word that everybody has to learn the meaning of
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: some time. Johnny Chuck learned it when he made a
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: home for Polly Chuck and Farmer Brown's orchard and tried
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: to keep it a secret so that no harm would
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: come to Polly. It means taking care of other people
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: or other people's things, and feeling that you must take
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: even greater care than you would of yourself or your
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: own things. So while Peter himself would have been willing
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: to take chances, and might even have made the journey
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: down to the dear Old Briar Patch, in broad daylight.
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: He felt that that wouldn't do at all for little
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: miss Fuzzytail, and that he must avoid every possible chance
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: of danger for her. So Peter waited for a dark night,
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: not too dark, you know, but a night when there
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: was no moon to make great patches of light, but
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: only the kindly little stars looking down and twinkling in
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: the friendly way they have. At least there was just
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: such a night. All the afternoon, little Miss Fuzzytale went
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: about in the old Pasture, saying good bye to her friends,
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: and visiting each one of her favorite little paths and
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: hiding places. And I suspect that in each one she
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: dropped a terr or two. For you see, she felt
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: sure that she never would see them again, although Peter
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: had promised that he would bring her back to the
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: Old Pasture for a visit whenever she wanted to come.
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: At last it was time to start. Peter led the way,
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: very big and brave and strong and important he felt,
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: and very timid and frightened, felt little Miss Fuzzytail, hopping
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: after him, close at his heels. You see, she felt
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: that she was going out into the great world of
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: which she knew nothing at all, Oh, Peter, she whispered,
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: Supposing we should meet Reddy Fox, I wouldn't know where
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: to run or hide. We are not going to meet
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: Reddy Fox, replied Peter. But if we should, all you
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: have to do is just to keep your eyes on
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: the white patch on the seat of my trousers and
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: follow me. I have fooled ready so many times that
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: I am not afraid of him. Never in all his
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: life had Peter been so watchful and careful. That was
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: because he felt his responsibil a tea. Every few jumps
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: he would stop to sit up and look and listen.
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: Then little Miss Fuzzytail would nestle up close to him,
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: and Peter's heart would swell with happiness, and he would
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: feel oh so proud and important. Once they heard the
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: sharp bark of Reddy Fox, but it was a long
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: way off, and Peter smiled, for he knew that Reddy
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: was hunting on the edge of the green forest. Once
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: a dim shadow swept across the meadow grass ahead of them,
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: Peter dropped flat in the grass and kept perfectly still,
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: and little Miss Fuzzytail did just as he did. As
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: she had promised, she would wha what was it, she whispered.
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: I think it was Hooty the owl. Peter whispered back,
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: but he didn't see us. After what seemed like a
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: long long time, they heard Hoody's fierce hunting call, but
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: it came from way back of them, on the edge
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: of the old pasture. Peter hopped to his feet. Come on,
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: said he There's nothing to fear from him now. So
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: slowly and watchfully, Peter led the way down across the
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: green meadows, while the little stars looked down and twinkled
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: in the most friendly way. And just as jolly round
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: red mister Sun started to kick off his bedclothes. Behind
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: the purple hills, they reached the dear old Briar Patch.
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: Here we are, cried Peter. Oh, I'm so glad, cried
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: little miss Fuzzytail, hopping along one of Peter's private little paths.
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two, Sammy Jay becomes curious. Learn all you
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: can about others, but keep your own affairs to yourself,
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit. Of course, it was Sammy Jay who first
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: found out that Peter Abbot was back in the dear
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: old Briar Patch. Sammy took it into his head to
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: fly over there the very morning of Peter's home coming. Indeed,
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: little miss Fuzzytail hadn't had time to half see the
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: dear old Briar Patch, which you know, was to be
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: her new home, when Peter saw Sammy Jay coming. Now,
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: Peter was not quite ready to have all the world
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: know that there was a missus Peter, for of course
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: that was what little Miss Fuzzytail was. Now that she
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: had come to make her home with Peter, they wanted
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: to keep by themselves for a little while and just
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: be happy with each other. So as soon as Peter
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: saw Sammy Jay headed towards the old Briar patch, he
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: hid little miss Fuzzytail under the thickest sweet briar bush
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: and then hurried out to the nearest sweet clover patch.
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: Of course, Sammy Jay saw him ride away, and of
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: course Sammy was very much surprised. Hullo, Peter Rabbit, where'd
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: you come from? He shouted, as he settled himself comfortably
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: in a little poplar tree growing on the edge of
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: the old briar patch. Oh, said Peter with a very
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: grand air. I've been on a long journey to see
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: the great world, which means said Sammy Jay with a chuckle,
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: that you've been in the old pasture all this time.
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: And let me tell you, Peter Rabbit, the old Pasture
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: is a very small part of the great world. By
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: the way, Tommy did the chickin. He was down here
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: the other day and told us all about you. He
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: said that you had fallen in love with little miss Fuzzytail,
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: and he guessed that you were going to make your
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: home up there. What's the matter? Did her father, old
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: Jed Thumper drive you out? No, he didn't, snapped Peter angrily.
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: It's none of your business what I came home for,
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: Sammy Jay. But I'll tell you just the same. I
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: came home because I wanted to. Sammy chuckled, for he
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: dearly loves to tease Peter and make him angry. Then
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: the imp of mischief, who seems always to live just
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: under that smart cap of Sammy's, prompted him to ask,
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: did you come home alone? Now, Peter couldn't say yes,
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: for that would be an untruth, and whatever faulse Peter
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: may have, he is at least truthful, So he just
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: pretended not to have heard Sammy's question. Now, when Sammy
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: had asked the question. He had thought nothing about it.
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: It had just popped into his head by way of
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: something to say. But Sammy Jay is sharp, and he
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: noticed right away that Peter didn't answer, but began to
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: talk about other things. Ha ha, thought Sammy to himself.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: I believe he didn't come alone. I wonder now if
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: he brought Miss Fuzzytail with him. Right away, Sammy began
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: to peer down into the old briar patch, twisting and
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: turning so that he could see in every direction, and
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: all the time talking as fast as his tongue could go.
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: Two or three times he flew out over the old
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: briar patch, pretending to try to catch moths, but really
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: so that he could look down into certain hiding places.
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: The last time that he did this, he spied little
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: Missus Peter, who was you know, Miss Fuzzytail. At once,
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: Sammy Jay started for the green forest, screaming at the
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: top of his voice. Peter Rabbits married. Peter Rabbits Married.
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three. Peter introduces Missus Peter. It's what you
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: do for others, not what they do for you, that
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: makes you feel so happy all through and through and through,
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit made a wry face as he
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: listened to Sammy Dray shrieking at the top of his
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: voice as he flew through the green forest and over
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: the green meadows. Peter Rabbits married. Peter Rabbits married. He
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: saw the merry little breezes, who you know are the
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: children of old Mother west Wind, start for the dear
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: old briar patch as soon as they heard Sammy Jay,
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: and he knew that they would be only the first
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: of a lot of visitors. He hurried to where Missus
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: Peter was hiding under a sweetbriar bush. Do you hear
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: what that mischief maker Sammy Jay is screaming, asked Peter.
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: Missus Peter nodded. Don't don't you think it sounds kind of, well,
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: kind of nice, Peter, she asked in a bashful sort
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: of way. Peter chuckled. It sounds more than kind of
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: nice to me, said he. Do you know I used
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: to think that Sammy Jay never did and never could
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: say anything nice, But I've just changed my mind. Though
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: he isn't saying it to be nice, it really is
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: the nicest thing I've ever heard him say. We haven't
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: been able to keep our secret. So I think the
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: very best thing we can do is to invite everybody
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: to call. Then we can get it over with and
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: have a little time to ourselves. Here come the merry
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: little breezes, and I know that they will be glad
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: to take the invitations for us. Missus Peter agreed, for
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: she thought that anything Peter did or suggested was just
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: about right. So the merry little breezes were soon skipping
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: and dancing over the green meadows and through the green
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: forest with this message, mister and missus Peter Rabbit will
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: be at home in the old briar patch to their
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: friends tomorrow afternoon, at shadow time. Why did you make
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: it at shadow time, asked Missus Peter, Because that will
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: give all our friends a chance to come, replied Peter.
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: Those who sleep through the day will have waked up,
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: and those who sleep through the night will have not
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: gone to bed. Besides, it will be safer for some
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: of the smallest of them if the black shadows are
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: about for them to hide in on their way here.
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: How thoughtful you are, said little missus Peter, with a
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: little sigh of happiness. Of course, everyone who could walk,
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: creep or fly headed for the old briar patch the
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: next day at shadow time. For almost every one knows
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: and loves Peter Rabbit, and of course every one was
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: very anxious to meet Missus Peter. From the Smiling Pool
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: came Billy Meek, Little Joe Otter, Jerry Muskrat, Spotty the Turtle,
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: and old Grandmother Frog. From the green forest came Bobby
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: Coon unc Billy Possum and Missus Possum, Prickly Porky, the
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: porky Pine, Whitefoot, the wood mouse, Happy Jack, the gray squirrel, Chatterer,
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: the red squirrel, Blacky the Crow, Sammy Jay, Old Mista, Buzzard,
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: Missed the Mockingbird, and Sticky Toes the tree toad. From
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: the green meadows came Danny meadow Mouse, old Mister Toad,
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: Digger the Badger, Jimmy Skunk and Striped Chipmunk who lives
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: near the old stone wall between the edge of the
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: Green Meadows and the green Forest. Johnny and Polly Chuck
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: came down from the old orchard, and Drummer the woodpecker
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: came from the same place. Of course, old man Coyote
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: paid his respects, and when he came, everybody but Prickly
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: Porky and Digger the Badger and Jimmy Skunk made way
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: for him with great respect. Granny and Reddy Fox and
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: Hooty the Owl didn't call, but they sat where they
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: could look on and make fun. You see, Peter had
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: fooled all three so many times that they felt none
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: too friendly. Very proud looked Peter as he stood under
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: a bramble bush with Missus Peter by his side, and
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: introduced her to his many friends. And very sweet and
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: modest and retiring looked little Missus Peter as she sat
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: beside him. Everybody said that she was too sweet for anything.
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: And when Reddy Fox overheard that remark, he grinned and said,
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: not for me. She can't be too sweet for me,
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: And I hope I'll have a chance to find out, jest,
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: how sweet she is? What do you suppose he meant?
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four, Danny meadow Mouse warns Peter Rabbit. Good
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: advice is always needed, but alas is seldom heeded Peter Rabbit.
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: Danny meadow Mouse waited until all the rest if Peter
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: Rabbit's friends had left the old briar patch after paying
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: their respects to Peter and missus Peter. He waited for
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: two reasons, did Danny Meadow Mouse. In the first place,
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: he had seen old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox hanging
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: about a little way off, and though they had disappeared
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: after a while, Danny had an idea that they were
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: not far away, but were hiding so that they might
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: catch him on his way home. Of course, he hadn't
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: the slightest intention of giving them the chance. He had
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: made up his mind to ask Peter if he might
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: spend the night in a corner of the old briar patch,
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: and he was very sure that Peter would say he might,
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: for he and Peter are very good friends, very good friends. Indeed,
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: the second good reason Danny had for waiting was this
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: very friendship. You see, Peter had been away from the
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: Green Meadows so long that Danny felt sure he couldn't
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: know all about how things were there now, and so
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: he wanted to warn Peter that the Green Meadows were
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: not nearly as safe as before old Man Coyote had
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: come there to live. So Danny waited, and when all
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: the rest of the callers had left, he called Peter
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: to one side where little missus Peter couldn't hear. Danny
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: stood up on his hind legs so as to whisper
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: in one of Peter's ears. Do you know that old
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: man Coyote is the most dangerous enemy we have, Peter Rabbit?
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: Do you know that? He asked? Peter Rabbit shook his head.
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: I don't believe that, Danny said. He his terrible voice
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: has frightened you so that you just think him as
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: bad as he sounds. Why old man Coyote is a
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: friend of mine? Then he told Danny how old Man
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: Coyote had done him a good turn in the old
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: pasture in return for a good turn Peter had once
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: done him, and how he said that he always paid
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: his debts. Danny meadow Mouse looked doubtful. What else did
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: he say? He demanded nothing except that we were even now,
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: replied Peter. Ha said Danny meadow Mouse. The way he
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: said it, it made Peter turn to look at him sharply.
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: Ha said Danny again, if you are even, why you
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: don't owe him anything and he doesn't owe you anything.
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: Watch out, Peter Rabbit, Watch out. I would stick pretty
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: close to the old briar patch with missus Peter if
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: I were you, I would. Indeed, you used to think
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: old Granny Fox pretty smart. But old man Coyote is smarter. Yes, sir,
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: he is smarter, and every one of us has got
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: to be smarter than ever before to keep out of
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: his clutches. Watch out, Peter Rabbit, if you and old
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: man Coyote are even now. If you don't mind, I'll
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: curl up in my old hiding place for the night.
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: I really don't dare go back home to night. Of course,
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: Peter told Danny meadow Mouse that he was welcome to
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: spend the night in the old briar patch, and thanked
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: Danny for his warning as he bade him good night.
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: But Peter never carries his troubles with him for long,
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: and by the time he had rejoined a little Missus Peter,
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: he was very much inclined to laugh at Danny's spear.
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: What did that funny little meadow mouse have to say?
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: Asked Missus Peter. Peter told her, and then added, but
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: I don't believe we have anything to fear from old
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: man Coyote. You know he is my friend, but I
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: don't know that he is mine, replied little Missus Peter.
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: And the way she said. It made Peter look at
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: her anxiously. I believe Danny meadow Mouse is right. She continued, Oh, Peter,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: you will watch out, won't you? And Peter promised her
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: that he would. End of section four. Recording by C. L.
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: W Rawlins, Longview, Texas, July twenty eleven. Section five of
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: Missus Peter Rabbit by Thornton W. Burgess. This libribox recording
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Recording by C. L. W Rawlins,
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five Peter Rabbit's heedlessness. Heedlessness is just the
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: twin of thoughtlessness, you know, and where you find them
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: both at once, their troubles sure to grow. Peter Rabbit,
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit didn't mean to be heedless. No, indeed, oh
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: my no, Peter thought so much of Missus Peter. He
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: meant to be so thoughtful that she never would have
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: a thing to worry about. But Peter was heedless. He
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: was always heedless. This is the worst of a bad habit.
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: You can try to let go of it, but it
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: won't let go of you. So it was with Peter.
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: He had been heedless so long that now he actually
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: didn't know when he was heedless, When there was nobody
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: but himself to think about, and no one to worry
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: about him. His heedlessness didn't so much matter. If anything
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: had happened to him, then there would have been no
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: one to suffer. But now all this was changed. You see,
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: there was little missus Peter. At first, Peter had been
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: perfectly content to stay with her in the dear old
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: briar patch. He had led her through all his private
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: little paths, and they had planned where they would make
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: two or three more. He had showed her all his
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: secret hiding places. In the shortest way to the sweet
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: glover patch, he had pointed out where the lone little
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: path came down to the edge of the green forest,
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: and so out on to the green meadows. He had
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: shown her where the crooked little path came down the hill.
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: Little missus Peter had been delighted with everything, and not
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: once has she complained of being homesick for the old pasture.
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: But after a little while Peter began to get uneasy.
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: You see, in the days before old Man Coyote had
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: come to live on the green meadows, Peter had come
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: and gone about as he pleased. Of course, he had
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: had to watch out for Granny and Reddy Fox, but
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: he had had to watch out for them ever since
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: he was a baby, so he didn't fear them very much.
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: In spite of their smartness. He felt quite as smart
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: as they, and perhaps a little bit smarter. Anyway, they
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: never had caught him, and he didn't believe they ever would,
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: so he had come and gone as he pleased, and
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: poked his nose into everybody's business and gossip with everybody.
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: Of course, it was quite natural that Peter should want
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: to call on all his old friends and visit the
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: Green Forest, the old Orchard, the Laughing Brook, and the
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: Smiling Pool. Probably Missus Peter wouldn't have worried very much
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: if it hadn't been for the warning left by Danny
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: meadow Mouse. Danny had said that old man Coyote was
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 1: more to be feared than all the Hawk family and
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: all the Fox family together, because he was smarter and
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: slyer than any of them. At first, Peter had looked
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: very serious, but after Danny had gone back to his
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: own home, Peter had laughed at Danny for being so afraid,
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: and he began to go farther and farther away from
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: the safe old Briar patch one day, he had ventured
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: as far as half way up the crooked little path.
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: He was thinking so hard of a surprise he was
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: planning for little missus Peter, that he forgot to watch
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: out and almost ran into old Man Coyote. Before he
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: saw him. There was a hungry look, such a hungry
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: look in old man coyote eyes as he grinned and
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: said good morning, that Peter didn't even stop to be polite.
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: He remembered that Jimmy Skunk's old house was near, and
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: he reached it just one jump ahead of old Man Coyote.
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: I I thought that you said that we were friends,
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: panted Peter, as he heard mister Coyote sniffing at the doorway.
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: So we were until I had paid my debt to you.
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: Now that I paid that we are even. And it
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: is everybody to watch out for himself, replied old Man Coyote.
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: But don't forget that I always pay my debts. Peter Rabbit,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty six, Peter Rabbit listens to missus Peter. Safety
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: first is a wise rule for those who would live long,
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit was glad enough to get back
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: to the dear old Briar Patch after his narrow escape
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: from Old Man Coyote by dodging into Jimmy Skunk's old
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: house half way up the hill, and little Missus Peter
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: was glad enough to have him. You may be sure
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: she had been watching Peter when he so heedlessly almost
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: ran into old Man Coyote, and it had seemed to
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: her as if her heart stopped beating until Peter reached
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: the safety of that old house of Jimmy Skunk just
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: one jump ahead. Then she saw old Man Coyote hide
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: in the grass near by, and she was terribly, terribly
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: afraid that Peter would be heedless again and come out
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: thinking that mister Coyote had gone. Poor little Missus Peter.
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: She was so anxious that she couldn't sit still. She
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: felt that she just had to do something to warn Peter.
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: She stole out from the dear old briar Patch and
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: half way to where old Man Coyote was hiding. He
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: was so busy watching the doorway of the old house
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: where Peter was hiding that he didn't notice her at all.
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: Little Missus Peter found a bunch of tall grass behind
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: which she could sit up and still not be seen.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: So there she sat without moving for a long long time,
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: never once taking her eyes from old man Coyote in
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: the doorway of the old house. By and by she
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: saw Peter poke his nose out to see if the
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: way was clear. Old Man Coyote saw him too, and
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: began to grin. It was a hungry, wicked looking grin,
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: and it made little Missus Peter very very angry. Indeed,
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: she waited just a minute longer to make sure that
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: Peter was where he could see her, and then she
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: thumped the ground very hard, which you know was the
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: way rabbit signal to each other. Peter heard it right
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: away and thumped back that he would stay right where
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: he was. Though right down in his heart, Peter thought
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: that little Missus Peter was just nervous and foolish, for
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: he was sure that old man Coyote had given up
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: and gone away long ago. He knew that he never
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: never could catch Peter so long as Missus Peter was
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: watching him and ready to warn Peter. So he came
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: out of his hiding place with an ugly snarl and
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: sprang towards little Missus Peter just to frighten her. He
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: laughed as he watched her run and all breathless, dive
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: into the dear old briar patch, and then he trotted
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: away to his favorite napping place. As soon as Peter
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: was sure that he was safe, he started for home,
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: and there little missus Peter scolded him soundly for being
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: so heedless and thoughtless. Peter didn't have a word to
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: say for a long time. He sat thinking and thinking,
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: every once in a while scratching his head as if puzzled.
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: Little Missus Peter noticed it. What's the matter with you, Peter,
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: she asked. Finally, I'm just studying what old man Coyote
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: means by telling me one day that he is my friend,
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: and proving it by doing me a good turn, and
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: then trying to catch me the very next time he
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: sees me. I don't understand it, said Peter, shaking his head.
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: Oh you dear old stupid, replied little missus Peter. Now
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: you listen to me. You did old man Coyote a
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: good turn, and he paid you back by doing you
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: a good turn. That made you even, didn't it. Peter nodded, Well,
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: then you are right back where you started from, and
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote doesn't see any reason why he should
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: treat you any differently than at first. And I don't
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: see why he should either. When I come to think
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: it over, I tell you what, Peter, The thing for
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: you to do is to keep doing good turns to
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote, so that he will always be in
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: debt to you. Then he will always be your friend.
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: As little missus Peter stopped speaking, Peter sprang to his
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: feet the very thing. He cried. It's sort of a
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: golden rule, and I do believe it will work. Of
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: course it will, replied little missus Peter. Chapter twenty seven,
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: Mister Mocker plays a joke on Missus Peter this little point. Remember, please,
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: there's little gained by those who tease Peter Rabbit. Mister Mocker,
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 1: the mocking Bird had been very late in coming up
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: to the Green Meadows from way down south. The truth
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: is he had almost decided not to come. You see,
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: he loves the sunny Southland so much, and all who
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: live there love him so much that if it hadn't
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: been for Uncle Billy Possum and old mister Buzzard, he
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: never never would have thought of leaving, even for a
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: little while. Unc Billy and Old mister Buzzard are particular
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: friends of his very particular friends, and he felt that
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: he just had to come up for a little visit now.
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: Mister Mocker reached the Green Meadows just after Peter Rabbit
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: had brought little Missus Peter down from the Old Pasture
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: to live with him in the dear Old Briar patch.
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: He knew that little Missus Peter didn't know anything about him,
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: for he never had visited the old pasture where she
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 1: had spent her life. But he knew all the bird
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: people who do live there, for he had met them
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: in the sunny Southland where they spent the winter. I
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: believe I'll go pay my respects to missus Peter, said
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: mister Mocker one day, winking at old mister Buzzard. Ol
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: Mister Buzzard chuckled and winked back. Ah certainly hopes yo'll
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: behave yourself right proper, and not forget that YO is
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: a member or one of the oldest families in the South,
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: said he. Mister Mocker looked quite solemn as he promised
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: to behave himself, but there was a twinkle in his
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: eyes as he flew toward the Old Briar patch. There
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: he hid in a thick tangle of vines. Now it
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: happened that Peter Rabbit had gone over to the sweet
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: clover patch, and little Missus Peter was quite alone. Somehow
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: she got to thinking of her old home, and for
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: the first time she began to feel just a wee
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: wee bit homesake. It was just then that she heard
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: a familiar voice. Little Missus Peter pricked up her ears
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: and smiled, happily. That's the voice of Tommy tit the chickadee.
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: And it must be that his wife is with him,
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: for I hear him calling Phoebe, Phoebe. How lovely of
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: them to come down to see me so soon. Just
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: then she heard another voice, a deep, beautiful ringing voice,
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: a voice that she loved. It was the voice of
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: Very the Thrush. Oh, cried little Missus Peter, and then
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: held her breath so as not to miss one note
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: of the beautiful song. Hardly had the song ended when
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: she heard the familiar voice of Red Eye the Vireo.
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: Little Missus Peter clapped her hands happily. It must be
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: a surprise party by my old friends and neighbors of
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: the old pasture. She cried, how good of them to
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: come way down here, and how glad I shall be
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: to see them. With that, little miss Peter hurried over
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: to the tangle of vines from which all the voices
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: seemed to come, and eagerly peered this way and that
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: way for a sight of her friends. But all she
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: saw was a stranger wearing a very sober colored suit.
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: He was very polite and told her that he was
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: an old friend of Peter Rabbit. If you are a
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: friend of Peter, then you are a friend of mine,
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: said little missus Peter, very prettily. Have you seen anybody
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: in this tangle of vines since you arrived? I am
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: sure some friends of mine are here, but I haven't
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: been able to find them. No, said the stranger, who was,
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: of course mister Mocker the mocking Bird. I haven't seen
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: any one here, and I don't think there has been
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: any one here but myself. Oh yes, indeed there has,
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: cried little missus Peter. I heard their voices, and I
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: couldn't possibly be mistaken in those, especially the beautiful voice
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: of very the thrush. I oh like very much to
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: find them. Mister Mocker had the grace to look ashamed
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: of himself when he saw how disappointed little missus Peter was.
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: Very softly, he began to sing the song of very
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: the Thrush. Little missus Peter looked up quickly. There it is,
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: she cried. There she stopped, with her mouth gaping wide open.
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: She suddenly realized that it was mister Mocker who was singing. Um,
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: I'm very sorry, he stammered. I did it just for
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: a joke and not to make you feel bad. Will
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: you forgive me, yes, replied little missus Peter, if you
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: will come here often at shadow time and sing to me.
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: And mister Mocker promised that he would. Chapter twenty eight
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 1: News from the Old Briar Patch. To use your eyes
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: is very wise and much to be commended. But never
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: see what cannot be for such as you intended, Peter Rabbit.
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: Jenny Wren is a busy buddy, Yes, sir, she certainly
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: is a busy buddy. If there is anything going on
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: in her neighborhood that she doesn't know about, it isn't
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: because she doesn't try to find out. She is so
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: small and spry that it is hard work to keep
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: track of her, and she pops out at the most
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: unexpected times and places. Then before you can say a word,
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: she is gone. And in all the old orchard or
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: on the green meadows, there is not to be found
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: another tongue so busy as that of Jenny Wren. It
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: is sharp sometimes, but when she wants it to be so,
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: there is none smoother. You see, she is a great gossip.
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: Is Jenny Wren a great gossip? But if you get
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: on the right side of Jenny Wren and ask her
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: to keep a secret, she'll do it. No one knows
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: how to keep a secret better than she does. How
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: it happened, nobody knows, But it did happen that when
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit came home to the clear old Brier Patch,
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: bringing Missus Peter with him, Jenny Wren didn't hear about it.
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: Probably it was because the new home, which she had
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: just completed, was so carefully hidden that the messengers sent
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: by Peter to invite all his friends to call didn't
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: find it, and afterwards she was so busy with household
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: affairs that she didn't have time to gossip. Anyway, Peter
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: had been back some time before Jenny Wren knew it.
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: She was quite upset to think that she was the
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: last to hear the news, but she consoled herself with
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: the thought that she had been attending strictly to her duties,
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: and now that her children were able to look out
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: for themselves, she could make up for lost time. Just
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: as soon as she could get away, she started for
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: the Old Briar Patch. She wanted to hear all about
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: Peter's adventures in the old Pasture and to meet missus Peter.
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: But like a great many other busy buddies, she wanted
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: to find out all she could about Peter's affairs, and
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: she thought that the surest way to do it was
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 1: not to let Peter know that she was about until
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: she had had a chance to use her sharp little
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: eyes all she wanted to. So when she reached the
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: Old Briar Patch, she didn't make a sound. It didn't
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: take her long to find Peter. He was sitting under
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 1: one of his favorite bramble bushes, smiling to himself. He
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: smiled and smiled until Jenny Wren had to bite her
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: tongue to keep from asking what was so. He looks
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: tickled almost to death over something, but very likely if
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: I should ask him what it is, he wouldn't tell me,
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: thought Jenny Wren. I guess i'll look around a bit first,
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: I wonder where missus Peter is. So. Leaving Peter to
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: smile to his heart's content, she went peeking and peering
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: through the old briar patch. Of course, it wasn't a
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: nice thing to do, not a bit nice, But Jenny
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: Wren didn't stop to think of that. By and by
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: she saw something that made her flutter all over with excitement.
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: She looked and looked until she could sit no longer.
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: Then she hurried back to where Peter was sitting. He
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: was still smiling. Oh, Peter Rabbit, it's perfectly lovely, she cried.
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: Peter looked up quickly, and a worried look chased the
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: smile away. Hullo, Jenny Wren, where did you come from?
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: I haven't seen you since I got back, said he.
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: I've been so busy that I haven't had time to
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: call before, replied Jenny, I know what you've been smiling about, Peter,
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: and it's perfectly splendid. Has everybody heard the news, No,
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: said Peter. Nobody knows it but you, and I don't
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: want anybody else to know it just yet? Will you
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: keep it a secret Jenny Wren. Now, Jenny was just
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: bursting with desire to spread the news, but Peter looked
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: so anxious that finally she promised that she would keep
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 1: it to herself, and she really meant to. But though
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: Peter looked greatly relieved as he watched her start for home,
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: he didn't smile as he had before. I wish her
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: tongue didn't wag so much, said he. Chapter twenty nine,
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Skunk visits Peter Rabbit. It's hard to keep a
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 1: secret which you fairly ache to tell, so not to
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: know such secrets as often quite as well, Peter Rabbit.
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: On her way home from the Old Briar Patch, Jenny
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: Wren stopped to rest in a bush beside the crooked
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: little path that comes down the hill. When who should
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: come along but Jimmy Skunk. Now, just as usual, Jenny
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 1: Wren was fidgeting and fussing about, and Jimmy Skunk grinned
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: as he watched her. Ho Jenny Wren said, he, what
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: are you doing here? I'm resting on my way home
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: from the Old Briar Patch, if you must know, Jimmy
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: Skunk replied Jenny Wren, changing her position half a dozen
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: times while she was speaking. Ho ho ho, laughed, Jimmy Skunk,
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: do you call that resting? That's a joke, Jenny Wren, resting?
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: Why you couldn't sit still and rest if you tried,
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: I could sew. I'm resting right now, So there, Jimmy
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: Skunk protested Jenny Wren in a very indignant tone of voice,
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: and hopped all over the little bush while she was speaking.
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: I guess if you knew what I know, you'd be
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: excited too. Well. I guess the quickest way for me
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: to know is for you to tell me, replied Jenny. Well,
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: I guess the quickest way for me to know is
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: for you to tell me, replied Jimmy. I'm just aching
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: to be excited. Jimmy grinned for you know, Jimmy Skunk
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: never does get excited and never hurries no matter what happens.
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: You'll have to keep right on aching, then, replied Jenny
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: Wren with a saucy flirt of her funny little tail.
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: There's great news in the old Briar patch, and I'm
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: the only one that knows it. But I promise not
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: to tell. Jimmy pricked up his ears news in the
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: Old Briar Patch must have something to do with Peter Rabbit,
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: said he What has Peter done now? I'll never tell.
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: I'll never tell, cried Jenny Wren, growing so excited that
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: it seemed to Jimmy as if there was danger that
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: she would turn herself inside out. I promise not to,
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: and I never will. Then, for fear that she would
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: in spite of herself, she flew on her way home.
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: Jimmy watched her out of sight with a puzzled frown.
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: If I didn't know that she gets so terribly excited
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: over nothing, i'd think that there really is some news
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: in the Old Briar Patch, he muttered to himself. Anyway,
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: I haven't anything better to do, so I believe I'll
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: drop around that way and make Peter Rabbit a call.
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 1: He found Peter in some sweet clover just outside the
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: Old Briar Patch, and it struck Jimmy that Peter looked
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: uncommonly happy. He said, as much I am, replied Peter.
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 1: Before he thought, then, he added hastily. You see, I've
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: been uncommonly happy ever since I returned with missus Peter
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: from the Old Pasture. But I hear there's great news
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: over here in the old Briar Patch, persisted Jimmy Skunk,
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: What is it, Peter. Peter pretended to be very much surprised.
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: Great news, he repeated, great news? Why what news can
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: there be over here? Who told you that? A little
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 1: bird told me? Replied Jimmy slyly, it must have been
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: Jenny wrenn said Peter, once more, speaking before he thought.
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: Then there is news over here, cried Jimmy triumphantly. What
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: is it, Peter? But Peter shook his head as if
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 1: he hadn't the slightest idea and couldn't imagine Jimmy coaxed
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: and teased, but all in vain. Finally he started for home,
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: no wiser than before, just the same. I believe that
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 1: Jenny Wren told the truth, and that there is news
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 1: over in the old Briar Patch, he muttered to himself.
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: Something has happened over there, and Peter won't tell. I
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: wonder what it can be. Chapter thirty, Reddy Fox learns
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: the secret nothing that you ever do, nothing good or
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: nothing bad, but has effect on other folks, gives them
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 1: pain or makes them glad. Peter Rabbit, of course, Jenny
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: Wren didn't mean to tell the secret of the Old
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: Briar Patch, because she had promised Peter Rabbit that she wouldn't,
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: But she didn't see any harm in telling every one
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: she met that there was a secret there, at least
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 1: that there was great news there. And so, because Jenny
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 1: Wren is a gossip, it wasn't long before all the
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: little people on the Green Meadows and in the Green
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: Forest and around the Smiling Pool had heard it and
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: were wondering what the news could be. After Jimmy Skunk's
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: visit came a whole string of visitors to the Old
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: Briar Patch. One would hardly have left before another would appear.
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: Each one tried to act as if he had just
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: happened around that way and didn't want to pass Peter's
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: home without making a call. But each one asked so
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: many questions that Peter knew what had really brought him
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: there was the desire to find out what the news
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: in the Old Briar Patch could be. But Peter was
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: too smart for them, and they all went away no
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: wiser than they came, That is all but one, and
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: that one was ready fox. There isn't much going on
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: in the Green forest or on the green meadows that
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: Reddy doesn't know about. He is sly, is Reddy Fox,
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 1: and his eyes are sharp and his ears are key.
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: So little happens that he doesn't see or hear about.
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: Of course, he heard the foolish gossip of Jenny wren
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: and he pricked up his ears. So there's news down
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: in the Old Briar Patch? Is there a secret that
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 1: Jenny Wrenn won't tell? I think I'll trot down there
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: and make Peter a call. Of course he'll be glad
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 1: to see me. Reddy grinned wickedly as he said this
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: to himself, for he knew that there was no one
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: for whom Peter Rabbit had less love, unless it was
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: old Granny Fox. So Reddy trotted down to the Old
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: Briar Patch. Peter saw him coming and scowled, for he
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 1: guessed right away what Reddy was coming for, and he
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 1: made ready to answer all Reddy's questions and still tell
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: him nothing, as he had with all the others who
• 1:54:45
  Speaker 1: had called. But Reddy asked no questions. He didn't once
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: mention the fact that he had heard there was news
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: in the Old Briar Patch. He didn't once speak of
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: Jenny Wren. He just talked about the weather and the
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: old pasture where Peter had made such a long visit,
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: and all the time was as pleasant and polite as
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: if he and Peter were the dearest of friends. But
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 1: while he was talking, Reddy was using those sharp eyes
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: and those keen ears of his the best he knew how.
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 1: But the old briar patch was very thick, and he
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: could see only a little way into it, and out
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 1: of it came no sound to hint of his secret. There.
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 1: Then Reddy began to walk around the old briar patch
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: in quite the most matter of fact way. But as
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 1: he walked, that wonderful nose of his was testing every
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 1: little breath of air that came out of the old
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: briar patch. At last he reached a certain place where
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: a little stronger breath of air tickled his nose. He
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: stopped for a few minutes, and slowly a smile grew
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: and grew. Then, without saying a word, he turned and
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: trotted back towards the green forest. Peter Rabbit watched him go.
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 1: Then he joined missus Peter in the heart of the
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: old briar patch. My dear, he said, with a sigh
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 1: that was almost a sob Reddy Fox found out our secret.
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: Never mind, said little missus Peter brightly. It would have
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 1: to be found out soon anyways. Trotting back up the
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 1: lone little path, Reddy Fox was grinning broadly. It is news,
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 1: said he. Jenny Wren was right, it is news, but
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: I don't believe anybody else knows it yet, and I
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 1: hope they won't find it out right away, least of all,
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 1: old man Coyote. What a wonderful thing a good knows is?
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: It tells me what my eyes cannot see, nor my ears.
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: Here Chapter thirty one, Blackie the Crow has sharp eyes.
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: Mischief always waits to greet idle hands and idle feet,
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit, that is what a lot of people say
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: about Blackie the Crow. Of course, it is true that
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: Blackie does get into a lot of mischief, but if
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: people really knew him, they would find that he isn't
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 1: as black as he looks. In fact, Blackie the Road
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: is a whole lot of good in his own peculiar way.
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: But people are always looking for him to do bad things.
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: And you know, you most always see what you expect
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 1: to see. Thus the good Blackie does isn't seen while
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: the bad is, and so he has grown to have
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: a reputation blacker than the coat he wears. But this
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: doesn't worry Blackie the Crow, No, sir, it doesn't worry
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: him a bit. You see. He has grown used to it.
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 1: And then he is so smart that he is never
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: afraid of being caught when he does do wrong things.
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: No one has sharper eyes than Blackie, and no one
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: knows better how to use them. There is very little
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: going on in the green forest or on the green
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: meadows that he misses when he is about. The Day
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: after Reddy Fox visited the Old Briar Patch and with
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 1: his wonderful nose found out Peter Rabbit's secret, Blackie just
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: happened to fly over the Old Briar Patch on his
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: way to Farmer Brown's cornfield. Now, being over the Old
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: Briar Patch, he could look right down into it and
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: see all through it, just as he read. He remembered,
• 1:58:01
  Speaker 1: having heard Sammy Jay say something about gossipy little Jinny
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 1: Wren's having said that there was great news there. He
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: hadn't thought much about it at the time, but now
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: that he was right there, he might as well have
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: a look for himself and see if there was any
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 1: truth to it. So Blackie the crow flew a little lower,
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: and his sharp eyes looked this way and that way
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: through all the bramble bushes of the old briar patch.
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: He saw Peter Rabbit ride away and winked at him.
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 1: He thought Peter looked worried and anxious. Peter must touff
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 1: something on his mind, thought Blackie, I wonder where missus
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: Peter is. Just then he caught sight of her under
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 1: the thickest growing sweetbriar bush. He had opened his mouth
• 1:58:41
  Speaker 1: to shout hullo, missus Peter, when he saw something that
• 1:58:45
  Speaker 1: surprised him so that he didn't speak at all. He
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: almost forgot to flap his wings to keep himself in
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 1: the air. He hovered right where he was for a
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: few minutes, looking down through the brambles. Then, with a
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: hoarse chuckle, he started for the smiling, forgetting all about
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: farmer Brown's cornfield. Caw caw caw. He shrieked, Peter Rabbit's
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: got a family. Peter Rabbit's got a family. Reddy Fox
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: heard him and ground his teeth. Now, old man Coyote
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 1: will know, and we'll try to catch those young rabbits
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 1: when they ought to be mine, because I found out
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 1: about them first, he grumbled. Jimmy Skunk curd Blackie and
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: grinned broadly. So that's the great news jinnier in found out,
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 1: said he. I hope Peter will take better care of
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 1: his babies than he ever has of himself. I must
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 1: call it. Once. Redtail the Hawk heard, and he smiled too,
• 1:59:44
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't a kindly smile like Jimmy Skunk's. I
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 1: think young rabbit will taste very good for a change,
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 1: said he. Chapter thirty two, Peter Rabbit's Nursery. With home
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: the home you call your own, it really doesn't matter where.
• 2:00:04
  Speaker 1: There is no place in all the world that ever
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: will or can compare Peter Rabbit. The news was out
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: at last, thanks to Blacky the Crow. Peter Rabbit had
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 1: a family. Yes, Sir, Peter Rabbit had a family. Right away,
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 1: the old briar patch became the most interesting place in
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 1: the green Meadows to all the little people who lived
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: there and in the nearby green forest. Of course, all
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: of Peter's friends called as soon as they ever could.
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: They found Peter looking very proud and very important and
• 2:00:39
  Speaker 1: very happy. Missus Peter looked just as proud and just
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: as happy, but she also looked very anxious. You see,
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 1: while she was very glad to have so many friends call,
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 1: there were also other visitors. That is, they were not
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: exactly callers, but they hung around the outside of the
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: old briar patch, and they seemed quite as much interesting
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 1: as the friends who really called. Indeed, they seemed more interested.
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: Who were they? Why? Reddy Fox was one. Then there
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: was old Man Coyote, also Redtail the Hawk, and Digger
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: the Badger, and just at dusk, Hooty the Owl. They
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: all seemed very much interested, indeed, but every time little
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: miss Peter saw them she shivered. You see, she couldn't
• 2:01:24
  Speaker 1: help thinking that there was a dreadful, hungry look in
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: their eyes, and if the truth is to be told,
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: there probably was. But happy go lucky Peter Rabbit didn't
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 1: let this worry him. Hadn't he grown up from a
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: teeny weeny baby and been smart enough to escape all
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 1: these dangers which worried Missus Peter so And if he
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: could do it, of course, his own babies could do
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: it with him to teach them and show them how Besides,
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 1: they were too little to go outside of the old
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: briar patch. Now, indeed, they were too little to go
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: outside their nursery, which was in a clump of sweetbrier
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: bushes in the very middle of the old briar patch.
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 1: Peter felt that there they were perfectly safe. It isn't
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: time to worry yet, said Peter to little Missus Peter,
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 1: as he saw the fright in her eyes as the
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: shadow of redtail passed over them. I don't believe in
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: borrowing trouble. Time enough to worry when there is something
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: to worry about, and that won't be until these little
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: scallowags of ours are big enough to run around and
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 1: get into mischief. Did you ever see such beautiful babies
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 1: in all your life? For a minute, the worried look
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 1: left little Missus Peter, and she gazed at the four little,
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: helpless babies fondly. No, she replied softly, I never did, oh, Peter.
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: They are perfectly lovely. This one is the perfect image
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 1: of you. And I'm going to call him little Pete.
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 1: And don't you think his brother looks like his grandfather?
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: I think we'll call him Little Jed. Peter coughed behind
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: his hand as if something had stuck in his throat.
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 1: He had no love for Little Jed's grandfather, Old Jed Thumper,
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 1: the big gray old rabbit, who had tried so hard
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: to drive him from the old pasture. But he didn't
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 1: say anything. If Missus Peter wanted to name this one
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: Little Jed, he wouldn't say a word out loud. He said,
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: I think, my dear, that this one looks just as
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 1: you must have looked when you were little, And so
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 1: we'll call her Fuzzy, and her sister we'll call Wuzzy.
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: Continued Peter, was ever there such a splendid nursery for
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 1: baby rabbits? I don't believe there ever was, Peter. It's
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: better than my old nursery. And the old pastor, replied
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: little Missus Peter, as with a sigh of perfect happiness.
• 2:03:36
  Speaker 1: She stretched out beside their four babies, and Peter softly
• 2:03:40
  Speaker 1: tiptoed away to the nearest sweet clover patch, with his
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 1: heart almost bursting with pride of the doings of Peter
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: and Missus Peter Rabbit and their four children. There are
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: many more stories, so many that one book will not
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 1: hold all of them. Besides, bowed In the Hound insists
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: that I must write a book about him, and I
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 1: have promised to do it right away. So the next
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 1: book will be Bowser the Hound. End of section five
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 1: and end of Missus Peter Rabbit by Thornton W. Burgess.
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 1: Recording by C. L. W Rawlins, Longview, Texas, August two
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: thousand eleven,