Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories Read online

  II

  WHY PETER RABBIT CANNOT FOLD HIS HANDS

  Happy Jack Squirrel sat with his hands folded across his whitewaistcoat. He is very fond of sitting with his hands folded that way.A little way from him sat Peter Rabbit. Peter was sitting up verystraight, but his hands dropped right down in front. Happy Jacknoticed it.

  "Why don't you fold your hands the way I do, Peter Rabbit?" shoutedHappy Jack.

  "I--I--don't want to," stammered Peter.

  "You mean you can't!" jeered Happy Jack.

  Peter pretended not to hear, and a few minutes later he hopped awaytowards the dear Old Briar-patch, lipperty-lipperty-lip. Happy Jackwatched him go, and there was a puzzled look in Happy Jack's eyes.

  "I really believe he can't fold his hands," said Happy Jack tohimself, but speaking aloud.

  "He can't, and none of his family can," said a gruff voice.

  Happy Jack turned to find Old Mr. Toad sitting in the Lone LittlePath.

  "Why not?" asked Happy Jack.

  "Ask Grandfather Frog; he knows," replied Old Mr. Toad, and started onabout his business.

  And this is how it happens that Grandfather Frog told this story tothe little meadow and forest people gathered around him on the bank ofthe Smiling Pool.

  "Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog. "Old Mr. Rabbit, the grandfathera thousand times removed of Peter Rabbit, was always getting intotrouble. Yes, Sir, old Mr. Rabbit was always getting into trouble.Seemed like he wouldn't be happy if he couldn't get into trouble. Itwas all because he was so dreadfully curious about other people'sbusiness, just as Peter Rabbit is now. It seemed that he was just bornto be curious and so, of course, to get into trouble.

  "One day word came to the Green Forest and to the Green Meadows thatOld Mother Nature was coming to see how all the little meadow andforest people were getting along, to settle all the little troublesand fusses between them, and to find out who were and who were notobeying the orders she had given them when she had visited them last.My, my, my, such a hurrying and scurrying and worrying as there was!You see, everybody wanted to look his best when Old Mother Naturearrived, Yes, Sir, everybody wanted to look his best.

  "There was the greatest changing of clothes you ever did see. Old KingBear put on his blackest coat. Mr. Coon and Mr. Mink and Mr. Otter satup half the night brushing their suits and making them look as fineand handsome as they could. Even Old Mr. Toad put on a new suit underhis old one, and planned to pull the old one off and throw it away assoon as Old Mother Nature should arrive. Then everybody began to fixup their homes and make them as neat and nice as they knewhow--everybody but Mr. Rabbit.

  "Now Mr. Rabbit was lazy. He didn't like to work any more than PeterRabbit does now. No, Sir, old Mr. Rabbit was afraid of work. The verysight of work scared old Mr. Rabbit. You see, he was so busy mindingother people's business that he didn't have time to attend to his own.So his brown and gray coat always was rumpled and tumbled and dirty.His house was a tumble-down affair in which no one but Mr. Rabbitwould ever have thought of living, and his garden--oh, dear me, such agarden you never did see! It was all weeds and brambles. They filledup the yard, and old Mr. Rabbit actually couldn't have gotten into hisown house if he hadn't cut a path through the brambles.

  "Now when old Mr. Rabbit heard that Old Mother Nature was coming, hisheart sank way, way down, for he knew just how angry she would be whenshe saw his house, his garden and his shabby suit.

  "'Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?' wailed Mr. Rabbit, wringinghis hands.

  "'Get busy and clean up,' advised Mr. Woodchuck, hurrying about hisown work.

  "Now Mr. Woodchuck was a worker and very, very neat. He meant to havehis home looking just as fine as he could make it. He brought up someclean yellow sand from deep down in the ground and sprinkled itsmoothly over his doorstep.

  "'I'll help you, if I get through my own work in time,' shouted Mr.Woodchuck over his shoulder.

  "That gave Mr. Rabbit an idea. He would ask all his neighbors to helphim, and perhaps then he could get his house and garden in order bythe time Old Mother Nature arrived. So Mr. Rabbit called on Mr. Skunkand Mr. Coon and Mr. Mink and Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Chipmunk, and allthe rest of his neighbors, telling them of his trouble and asking themto help. Now, in spite of the trouble Mr. Rabbit was forever makingfor other people by his dreadful curiosity and meddling with otherpeople's affairs, all his neighbors had a warm place in their heartsfor Mr. Rabbit, and they all promised that they would help him as soonas they had their own work finished.

  "Instead of hurrying home and getting to work himself, Mr. Rabbitstopped a while after each call and sat with his arms folded, watchingthe one he was calling on work. Mr. Rabbit was very fond of sittingwith folded arms. It was very comfortable. But this was no time to bedoing it, and Mr. Skunk told him so.

  "'If you want the rest of us to help you, you'd better get thingsstarted yourself,' said old Mr. Skunk, carefully combing out his big,plumy tail.

  "'That's right, Mr. Skunk! That's right!' said Mr. Rabbit, startingalong briskly, just as if he was going to hurry right home and beginwork that very instant.

  "But half an hour later, when Mr. Skunk happened to pass the home ofMr. Chipmunk, there sat Mr. Rabbit with his arms folded, watching Mr.Chipmunk hurrying about as only Mr. Chipmunk can.

  "Finally Mr. Rabbit had made the round of all his friends andneighbors, and he once more reached his tumble-down house. 'Oh, dear,'sighed Mr. Rabbit, as he looked at the tangle of brambles which almosthid the little old house, 'I never, never can clear away all this! Itwill be a lot easier to work when all my friends are here to help,'So he sighed once more and folded his arms, instead of beginning workas he should have done. And then, because the sun was bright and warm,and he was very, very comfortable, old Mr. Rabbit began to nod, andpresently he was fast asleep.

  "Now Old Mother Nature likes to take people by surprise, and ithappened that she chose this very day to make her promised visit. Shewas greatly pleased with all she saw as she went along, until she cameto the home of Mr. Rabbit.

  "'Mercy me!' exclaimed Old Mother Nature, throwing up her hands as shesaw the tumble-down house almost hidden by the brambles and weeds.'Can it be possible that any one really lives here?'

  Then, peering through the tangle of brambles, she spied old Mr.Rabbit sitting on his broken-down doorstep with his arms folded andfast asleep.

  "At first she was very indignant, oh, very indignant, indeed! Shedecided that Mr. Rabbit should be punished very severely. But as shewatched him sitting there, dreaming in the warm sunshine, her angerbegan to melt away. The fact is, Old Mother Nature was like all therest of Mr. Rabbit's neighbors--she just couldn't help lovinghappy-go-lucky Mr. Rabbit in spite of all his faults. With a longstick she reached in and tickled the end of his nose.

  "Mr. Rabbit sneezed, and this made him wake up. He yawned and blinked,and then his eyes suddenly flew wide open with fright. He haddiscovered Old Mother Nature frowning at him. She pointed a longforefinger at him and said:

  'In every single blessed day There's time for work and time for play. Who folds his arms with work undone Doth cheat himself and spoil his fun.'

  "'Hereafter, Mr. Rabbit, you and your children and your children'schildren will never again be able to sit with folded arms until you orthey have learned to work.'

  "And that is why Peter Rabbit cannot fold his arms and still lives ina tumble-down house among the brambles," concluded GrandfatherFrog.