Mrs. Peter Rabbit Read online

  Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team

  MRS. PETER RABBIT

  By Thornton W. Burgess

  Illustrations by Harrison Cady

  1919

  TO MY DAUGHTER

  WHOSE ASSISTANCE IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS VOLUME HAS BEEN INVALUABLEIT IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER

  I PETER RABBIT LOSES HIS APPETITE

  II PETER RABBIT PLANS A JOURNEY

  III HOOTY THE OWL CHANGES HIS HUNTING GROUNDS

  IV THE SHADOW WITH SHARP CLAWS

  V IN THE OLD PASTURE

  VI PETER RABBIT IS STILL LONESOME

  VII PETER FINDS TRACKS

  VIII THE STRANGE TRACKS IN THE OLD PASTURE

  IX AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE

  X PETER RABBIT ALMOST DECIDES TO RETURN HOME

  XI PETER RABBIT HAS A SUDDEN CHANGE OF MIND

  XII PETER LEARNS SOMETHING FROM TOMMY TIT

  XIII LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL

  XIV SOME ONE FOOLS OLD JED THUMPER

  XV A PLEASANT SURPRISE FOR PETER

  XVI PETER RABBIT'S LOOKING-GLASS

  XVII PETER MEETS MISS FUZZYTAIL

  XVIII TOMMY TIT PROVES A FRIEND INDEED

  XIX OLD MAN COYOTE PAYS A DEBT

  XX LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL WHISPERS "YES"

  XXI PETER AND LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL LEAVE THE OLD PASTURE

  XXII SAMMY JAY BECOMES CURIOUS

  XXIII PETER INTRODUCES MRS. PETER

  XXIV DANNY MEADOW MOUSE WARNS PETER RABBIT

  XXV PETER RABBIT'S HEEDLESSNESS

  XXVI PETER RABBIT LISTENS TO MRS. PETER

  XXVII MISTAH MOCKER PLAYS A JOKE ON MRS. PETER

  XXVIII NEWS FROM THE OLD BRIAR-PATCH

  XXIX JIMMY SKUNK VISITS PETER RABBIT

  XXX REDDY FOX LEARNS THE SECRET

  XXXI BLACKY THE CROW HAS SHARP EYES

  XXXII PETER RABBIT'S NURSERY

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  Every one who could walk, creep, or fly headed for the Old Briar-patch..... Frontispiece

  He dodged and jumped, and all the time the shadow followed him

  That night Old Man Coyote started for the Old Pasture

  "The quickest way for me to know is for you to tell me," replied Jimmy

  CHAPTER I

  PETER RABBIT LOSES HIS APPETITE

  Good appetite, you'll always find, Depends upon your state of mind. --Peter Rabbit.

  Peter Rabbit had lost his appetite. Now when Peter Rabbit loses hisappetite, something is very wrong indeed with him. Peter has boastedthat he can eat any time and all the time. In fact, the two things thatPeter thinks most about are his stomach and satisfying his curiosity,and nearly all of the scrapes that Peter has gotten into have beenbecause of those two things. So when Peter loses his appetite or hiscuriosity, there is surely something the matter with him.

  Ever since Old Man Coyote had come to live on the Green Meadows, Peterhad been afraid to go very far from the dear Old Briar-patch where hemakes his home, and where he always feels safe. Now there wasn't anyreason why he should go far from the dear Old Briar-patch. There wasplenty to eat in it and all around it, for sweet clover grew almost upto the very edge of it, and you know Peter is very fond of sweet clover.So there was plenty for Peter to eat without running any risk of danger.With nothing to do but eat and sleep, Peter should have grown fat andcontented. But he didn't.

  Now that is just the way with a lot of people. The more they have andthe less they have to worry about, the more discontented they become,and at last they are positively unhappy. There was little Danny MeadowMouse, living out on the Green Meadows; he was happy all the livelongday, and yet he had no safe castle like the dear Old Briar-patch wherehe could always be safe. Every minute of every day Danny had to keep hiseyes wide open and his wits working their very quickest, for any minutehe was likely to be in danger. Old Man Coyote or Reddy Fox or GrannyFox or Digger the Badger or Mr. Blacksnake was likely to come creepingthrough the grass any time, and they are always hungry for a fat MeadowMouse. And as if that weren't worry enough, Danny had to watch the sky,too, for Old Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, or his cousin Redtail, or Blackythe Crow, each of whom would be glad of a Meadow Mouse dinner. Yet inspite of all this, Danny was happy and never once lost his appetite.

  But Peter Rabbit, with nothing to worry him so long as he stayed in theOld Briar-patch, couldn't eat and grew more and more unhappy.

  "I don't know what's the matter with me. I really don't know what'sthe matter with me," said Peter, as he turned up his nose at a patchof sweet, tender young clover. "I think I'll go and cut some new pathsthrough the Old Briar-patch."

  Now, though he didn't know it, that was the very best thing he could do.It gave him something to think about. For two or three days he was verybusy cutting new paths, and his appetite came back. But when he had madeall the paths he wanted, and there was nothing else to do, he lost hisappetite again. He just sat still all day long and moped and thought andthought and thought. The trouble with Peter Rabbit's thinking was thatit was all about himself and how unhappy he was. Of course, the more hethought about this, the more unhappy he grew.

  "If I only had some one to talk to, I'd feel better," said he tohimself. That reminded him of Johnny Chuck and what good times they usedto have together when Johnny lived on the Green Meadows. Then he thoughtof how happy Johnny seemed with his little family in his new home in theOld Orchard, in spite of all the worries his family made him. And rightthen Peter found out what was the matter with him.

  "I believe I'm just lonesome," said Peter. "Yes, Sir, that's what's thematter with me.

  "It isn't good to be alone, I've often heard my mother say. It makes one selfish, grouchy, cross, And quite unhappy all the day. One needs to think of other folks, And not of just one's self alone, To find the truest happiness, And joy and real content to own.

  "Now that I've found out what is the trouble with me, the question is,what am I going to do about it?"

  CHAPTER II

  PETER RABBIT PLANS A JOURNEY

  It's a long jump that makes no landing.--Peter Rabbit.

  "The trouble with me is that I'm lonesome," repeated Peter Rabbit as hesat in the dear Old Briar-patch. "Yes, Sir, that's the only thing that'swrong with me. I'm just tired of myself, and that's why I've lost myappetite. And now I know what's the matter, what am I going to do aboutit? If I were sure, absolutely sure, that Old Man Coyote meant what hesaid about our being friends, I'd start out this very minute to callon all my old friends. My, my, my, it seems an age since I visited theSmiling Pool and saw Grandfather Frog and Jerry Muskrat and Billy Minkand Little Joe Otter! Mr. Coyote sounded as if he really meant to leaveme alone, but, but--well, perhaps he did mean it when he saw me sittinghere safe among the brambles, but if I should meet him out in the open,he might change his mind and--oh, dear, his teeth are terrible long andsharp!"

  Peter sat a little longer, thinking and thinking. Then a bright ideapopped into his head. He kicked up his heels.

  "I'll do it," said he. "I'll make a journey! That's what I'll do! I'llmake a journey and see the Great World.

  "By staying here and sitting still I'm sure I'll simply grow quite ill. A change of scene is what I need To be from all my trouble freed."

  Of course if Peter had really stopped to think the matter overthoroughly he would have known that running away from one kind oftrouble is almost sure to lead to other troubles. But Peter is oneof those who does his thinking afterward. Peter is what is calledimpulsive. That is, he does things and then thinks about them later, andoften wishes he hadn't done them. So now the minute the idea of makinga journey poppe
d into his head, he made up his mind that he would do it,and that was all there was to it. You see, Peter never looks ahead. Ifhe could get rid of the trouble that bothered him now, which, you know,was nothing but lonesomeness, he wouldn't worry about the troubles hemight get into later.

  Now the minute Peter made up his mind to make a journey, he began tofeel better. His lost appetite returned, and the first thing he did wasto eat a good meal of sweet clover.

  "Let me see," said he, as he filled his big stomach, "I believe I'llvisit the Old Pasture. It's a long way off and I've never been there,but I've heard Sammy Jay say that it's a very wonderful place, and Idon't believe it is any more dangerous than the Green Meadows and theGreen Forest, now that Old Man Coyote and Reddy and Granny Fox are allliving here. I'll start tonight when I am sure that Old Man Coyote isnowhere around, and I won't tell a soul where I am going."

  So Peter settled himself and tried to sleep the long day away, buthis mind was so full of the long journey he was going to make that hecouldn't sleep much, and when he did have a nap, he dreamed of wonderfulsights and adventures out in the Great World.

  At last he saw jolly, round, red Mr. Sun drop down to his bed behindthe Purple Hills. Old Mother West Wind came hurrying back from her day'swork and gathered her children, the Merry Little Breezes, into her bigbag, and then she, too, started for her home behind the Purple Hills. Alittle star came out and winked at Peter, and then way over on the edgeof the Green Forest he heard Old Man Coyote laugh. Peter grinned. Thatwas what he had been waiting for, since it meant that Old Man Coyote wasso far away that there was nothing to fear from him.

  Peter hopped out from the dear, safe Old Briar-patch, looked this wayand that way, and then, with his heart in his mouth, started towards theOld Pasture as fast as he could go, lipperty--lipperty--lip.

  CHAPTER III

  HOOTY THE OWL CHANGES HIS HUNTING GROUNDS

  A full stomach makes a pleasant Day; An empty stomach turns the whole world gray. Peter Rabbit.

  Hooty the owl sat on the tip-top of a tall dead tree in the Green Forestwhile the Black Shadows crept swiftly among the trees. He was talking tohimself. It wouldn't have done for him to have spoken aloud what he wassaying to himself, for then the little people in feathers and fur onwhom he likes to make his dinner would have heard him and known justwhere he was. So he said it to himself, and sat so still that he lookedfor all the world like a part of the tree on which he was sitting. Whathe was saying was this:

  "Towhit, towhoo! Towhit, towhoo! Will some one tell me what to do? My children have an appetite That keeps me hunting all the night, And though their stomachs I may stuff They never seem to have enough. Towhit, towhoo! Towhit, towhoo! Will some one tell me what to do?"

  When it was dark enough he gave his fierce hunting call--"Whooo-hoo-hoo,whoo-hoo!"

  Now that is a terrible sound in the dark woods, very terrible indeedto the little forest people, because it sounds so fierce and hungry. Itmakes them jump and shiver, and that is just what Hooty wants themto do, for in doing it one of them is likely to make just the leastscratching with his claws, or to rustle a leaf. If he does, Hooty, whoseears are very, very wonderful, is almost sure to hear, and with hisgreat yellow eyes see him, and then--Hooty has his dinner.

  The very night when Peter Rabbit started on his journey to the OldPasture, Hooty the Owl had made up his mind that something had got tobe done to get more food for those hungry babies of his up in the bighemlock-tree in the darkest corner of the Green Forest. Hunting was verypoor, very poor indeed, and Hooty was at his wits' end to know what heshould do. He had hooted and hooted in vain in the Green Forest, andhe had sailed back and forth over the Green Meadows like a great blackshadow without seeing so much as a single Mouse.

  "It's all because of Old Man Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox," saidHooty angrily. "They've spoiled the hunting. Yes, Sir, that's just whatthey have done! If I expect to feed those hungry babies of mine, Imust find new hunting grounds. I believe I'll go up to the Old Pasture.Perhaps I'll have better luck up there."

  So Hooty the Owl spread his broad wings and started for the Old Pasturejust a little while after Peter Rabbit had started for the same place.Of course he didn't know that Peter was on his way there, and of coursePeter didn't know that Hooty even thought of the Old Pasture. If he had,perhaps he would have thought twice before starting. Anyway, he wouldhave kept a sharper watch on the sky. But as it was his thoughts wereall of Old Man Coyote and Granny Fox, and that is where Peter made avery grave mistake, a very grave mistake indeed, as he was soon to findout.

  CHAPTER IV

  THE SHADOW WITH SHARP CLAWS

  Now what's the use, pray tell me this, When all is said and done; A thousand things and one to learn And then forget the one? For when that one alone you need, And nothing else will do, What good are all the thousand then? I do not see; do you? Peter Rabbit.

  Forgetting leads to more trouble than almost anything under the sun.Peter Rabbit knew this. Of course he knew it. Peter had had many anarrow escape just from forgetting something. He knew just as well asyou know that he might just as well not learn a thing as to learn it andthen forget it. But Peter is such a happy-go-lucky little fellow thathe is very apt to forget, and forgetting leads him into all kinds ofdifficulties, just as it does most folks.

  Now Peter had learned when he was a very little fellow that when he wentout at night, he must watch out quite as sharply for Hooty the Owl asfor either Granny or Reddy Fox, and usually he did. But the night hestarted to make a journey to the Old Pasture, his mind was so full ofOld Man Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox that he wholly forgotHooty the Owl. So, as he scampered across the Green Meadows,lipperty--lipperty--lip, as fast as he could go, with his long earsand his big eyes and his wobbly nose all watching out for danger on theground, not once did he think that there might be danger from the skyabove him.

  It was a moonlight night, and Peter was sharp enough to keep in theshadows whenever he could. He would scamper as fast as he knew how fromone shadow to another and then sit down in the blackest part of eachshadow to get his breath, and to look and listen and so make sure thatno one was following him. The nearer he got to the Old Pasture, thesafer he felt from Old Man Coyote and Granny and Reddy Fox. When hescampered across the patches of moonshine his heart didn't come up inhis mouth the way it had at first. He grew bolder and bolder. Once ortwice he stopped for a mouthful of sweet clover. He was tired, for hehad come a long way, but he was almost to the Old Pasture now, and itlooked very dark and safe, for it was covered with bushes and brambles.

  "Plenty of hiding places there," thought Peter. "It really looks as safeas the dear Old Briar-patch. No one will ever think to look for me wayoff here."

  Just then he spied a patch of sweet clover out in the moonlight. Hismouth began to water. "I'll just fill my stomach before I go into theOld Pasture, for there may not be any clover there," said Peter.

  "You'd better be careful, Peter Rabbit," said a wee warning voice insidehim.

  "Pooh!" said Peter. "There's nothing to be afraid of way up here!"

  A shadow drifted across the sweet clover patch. Peter saw it. "That mustbe made by a cloud crossing the moon," said Peter, and he was so sure ofit that he didn't even look up to see, but boldly hopped out to fill hisstomach. Just as he reached the patch of clover, the shadow drifted overit again. Then all in a flash a terrible thought entered Peter's head.He didn't stop to look up. He suddenly sprang sideways, and even as hedid so, sharp claws tore his coat and hurt him dreadfully. He twistedand dodged and jumped and turned this way and that way, and all the timethe shadow followed him. Once again sharp claws tore his coat and madehim squeal with pain.

  HE DODGED AND JUMPED, AND ALL THE TIME THE SHADOWFOLLOWED HIM.]

  At last, when his breath was almost gone, he reached the edge of the OldPasture and dived under a friendly old bramble-bush.

  "Oh," sobbed Peter, "I forgot all about Hooty the Owl! Besides,
I didn'tsuppose he ever came way up here."

  CHAPTER V

  IN THE OLD PASTURE

  Brambles never scratch those who understand and are considerate of them. --Peter Rabbit.

  Peter Rabbit sat under a friendly bramble-bush on the edge of theOld Pasture and panted for breath, while his heart went pit-a-pat,pit-a-pat, as if it would thump its way right through his sides. Peterhad had a terrible fright. There were long tears in his coat, and hesmarted and ached dreadfully where the cruel claws of Hooty the Owl hadtorn him. And there he was in a strange place, not knowing which way toturn, for you know he never had visited the Old Pasture before.

  But Peter had had so many narrow escapes in his life that he had learnednot to worry over dangers that are past. Peter is what wise men call aphi-los-o-pher. That is a big word, but its meaning is very simple. Aphilosopher is one who believes that it is foolish to think about thingsthat have happened, except to learn some lesson from them, and that thebest thing to do is to make the most of the present. Peter had learnedhis lesson. He was sure of that.

  "I never, never will forget again to watch out for Hooty the Owl," saidhe to himself, as he nursed his wounds, "and so perhaps it is a goodthing that he so nearly caught me this time. If he hadn't, I might haveforgotten all about him some time when he could catch me. I certainlywouldn't have watched out for him way up here, for I didn't think heever came up to the Old Pasture. But now I know he does, Mr. Hooty'llhave to be smarter than he's ever been before to catch me napping again.My, how I do smart and ache! I know now just how Danny Meadow Mouse feltthat time Hooty caught him and dropped him into the Old Briar-patch.Ouch! Well, as my mother used to say: