"Really! You don't mean to say so! Chug-a-rum! You don't mean to say so, Peter!" interrupted Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very much surprised at what Peter said. [Illustration: "You don't mean to say so, Peter," interrupted Grandfather Frog.] Peter grinned and wrinkled his nose at Grandfather Frog. "Yes," said he, "Old Mother Nature knows a great deal more than I do, but it seems to me as if she had made a mistake in giving Sammy Jay such a handsome coat. There must be a reason, I suppose, but for the life of me I cannot understand it. I should think that she would give such a thief as Sammy Jay the very homeliest suit she could find. You may depend I would, if I were in her place." Grandfather Frog chuckled until he shook all over. "It's lucky for some of us that you are not in her place!" said he. "Chug-a-rum! It certainly is lucky!" "If I were, I would give you a handsome coat, too, Grandfather Frog," replied Peter. Grandfather Frog suddenly swelled out with indignation. "Chug-a-rum! Chug-a-rum! What's the matter with the coat I have got, Peter Rabbit? Tell me that! Who's got a handsomer one?" Grandfather Frog glared with his great, goggly eyes at Peter. "I didn't mean to say that you haven't got a handsome coat. Your coat _is_ handsome, very handsome indeed, Grandfather Frog," Peter hastened to say. "I always did like green. I just love it! And I should think you would be ever so proud of your white and yellow waistcoat. I would if it were mine. What I meant to say is, that if I were in Old Mother Nature's place, I would give some plain folks handsome suits. Certainly, I wouldn't give such a rascal as Sammy Jay one of the handsomest coats in all the Green Forest. Knowing Sammy as well as I do, it is hard work to believe that he came by it honestly." Grandfather Frog chuckled way down deep in his throat. "Sammy came by it honestly enough, Peter. Yes, Sir, he came by it honestly enough, because it was handed down to him by his father, who got it from his father, who got it from his father, and so on, way back to the days when the world was young, but--" Grandfather Frog paused, and that dreamy, far-away look which Peter had seen so often came into his great, goggly eyes. "But what, Grandfather Frog?" asked Peter eagerly, when he could keep still no longer. Grandfather Frog settled himself comfortably on his big green lily-pad and looked very hard at Peter. "I'm going to tell you a story, Peter Rabbit," said he, "so that never again will you be led to doubt that Old Mother Nature knows exactly what she is about. In the first place, Sammy Jay is not wholly to blame for all his bad habits. Some of them were handed down to him with his fine coat, just the same as your troublesome curiosity was handed down to you with the white patch on the seat of your trousers."