Then Old Man Coyote laughed his terrible laugh once more and trotted
over to the tumble-down stone-wall in which his keen nose told him Peter
Rabbit was hiding.
“One good turn deserves another, and I always pay my debts, Peter
Rabbit,” said he. “You did me a good turn some time ago down on the Green
Meadows, when you told me how Granny and Reddy Fox were planning to make
trouble for me by leading Bowser the Hound to the place where I took my
daily nap, and now we are even. I don't think that old gray Rabbit will
dare to poke so much as his nose out of his bull-briar castle for
a week. Now I am going back to the Green Meadows, Good night, Peter
Rabbit, and don't forget that I always pay my debts.”
“Good night, and thank you, Mr. Coyote,” said Peter, and then, when Old
Man Coyote had gone, he added to himself in a shame-faced way: “I didn't
believe him when he said that he guessed we would be friends.”
CHAPTER XX
LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL WHISPERS “YES”
Love is a beautiful, wonderful thing.
There's nothing quite like it on all the
green earth.
'Tis love in the heart teaches birdies to sing,
And gives the wide world all its joy and
its mirth.
Peter Rabbit.
Peter Rabbit was finding this out. Always he had been happy, for
happiness had been born in him. But the happiness he had known before
was nothing to the happiness that was his when he found that he loved
little Miss Fuzzytail and that little Miss Fuzzytail loved him, Peter
was sure that she did love him, although she wouldn't say so. But love
doesn't need words, and Peter had seen it shining in the two soft,
gentle eyes of little Miss Fuzzytail. So Peter was happy in spite of the
trouble that Old led Thumper, the big, gray Rabbit who was the father of
little Miss Fuzzytail, had made for him in the Old Pasture.
He had tried very hard, very hard indeed, to get little Miss Fuzzytail
to go back with him to the dear Old Briar-patch on the Green Meadows,
but in spite of all he could say she couldn't make up her mind to leave
the Old Pasture, which, you know, had been her home ever since she was
born. And Peter couldn't make up his mind to go back there and leave
her, because--why, because he loved her so much that he felt that he
could never, never be happy without her. Then, when Old Jed Thumper was
hunting Peter so hard that he hardly had a chance to eat or sleep, had
come Old Man Coyote the Wolf and given Old Jed Thumper such a fright
that for a week he didn't dare poke so much as his nose out of his
bull-briar castle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account