Mother West Wind "Where" StoriesBurgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
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Mother West Wind "Where" Stories
Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
Animals -- Juvenile fiction
It is the same way with Peter's big cousin, Jumper the Hare. The truth
is the whole family is happy-go-lucky. Happy Jack Squirrel says that
every blessed one of them is shiftless. It does look that way. It is a
pity that Peter and Jumper never have learned a lesson from Little Chief
Hare, who is commonly supposed to be a relative of theirs, although, as
a matter of fact, he is neither a Hare nor a Rabbit, but is a Pika,
which is another family altogether. He is also called a Coney and
sometimes the Calling Hare. But if you want sure-enough proof that he
is neither a Rabbit nor a Hare, just watch him, if you are lucky enough
to have a chance, cut and dry and store away a great pile of hay for
winter use. No true member of Peter's family ever would think of doing
such a thing as that, more is the pity.
Peter never has seen Little Chief, because Little Chief lives high up on
a mountain of the Far West among the rocks where Peter would never go,
even if he could, but he has heard all about him. Old Man Coyote told
him all about him, and he got the story from his grandfather, who got it
from his grandfather, who had one time visited the great mountain where
Little Chief's ever-so-great-grandfather lived in the very place where
Little Chief lives now. Old Man Coyote had chased Peter into the dear
Old Briar-patch one cold winter day, and as he peered through the
brambles at Peter he noticed that Peter was very thin, very thin indeed.
Old Man Coyote grinned.
"I'm just as well pleased not to have caught you this time, Peter," said
he. "You wouldn't make much of a dinner just now. When I dine I want
something more than skin and bones. It must be that you are having as
hard work as I am to get a living these days."
"I am," replied Peter. "With all this snow and ice on the ground, there
is nothing to eat but bark and such tender twigs as I can reach, and
they are not very filling. But they'll keep me alive until better times
come, and then perhaps I'll get fat enough to suit you." It was Peter's
turn to grin.
Old Man Coyote grinned back good-naturedly. "I should think, Peter,"
said he, "that when there is so much sweet grass and clover in the
summer, you would make some of it into hay and store it away for winter,
as Little Chief Hare does. There's the thrifty little hay-maker for
you!"
"Who is Little Chief, and where did he learn to make hay?" demanded
Peter, his ears standing straight up with curiosity.
Old Man Coyote likes to tell a story once in a while, and having nothing
else to do just then, he sat down just outside the dear Old Briar-patch
and told Peter all about Little Chief and his hay-making.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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