At that moment he looked up and saw jolly, round, red Mr. Sun wink.
Peter tried to wink back, and that made the two tears fall. But there
were no more tears to follow. You see that wink had made all the
difference in the world, Peter's heart had jumped right back where it
belonged. Mr. Sun was one of his oldest friends and you know
When trouble comes, a friendly face
Makes bright the very darkest place.
And so, just as he made bright all the Old Pasture, Mr. Sun also made
bright the dark little corners in Peter's heart just because he was an
old friend. To be sure Peter was still lonesome, but it was a different
kind of lonesomeness. He hadn't anybody to talk to, which is always a
dreadful thing to Peter, but he had only to look up to catch a friendly
wink, and somehow that not only made him feel better inside but it
seemed to make his aches and smarts better too.
CHAPTER VII
PETER FINDS TRACKS
Every day is different from every other day,
And always there is something new to see along the way.
Peter Rabbit.
Peter Rabbit had sat still just as long as he could. He was stiff and
lame and sore from the wounds made by Hooty the Owl, but his curiosity
wouldn't let him sit still a minute longer. He just HAD to explore the
Old Pasture. So with many a wry face and many an “Ouch” he limped out
from the shelter of the friendly old bramble-bush and started out to see
what the Old Pasture was like.
Now Hooty the Owl had taught Peter wisdom. With his torn clothes and his
aches and smarts he couldn't very well forget to be careful. First he
made sure that there was no danger near, and this time he took pains to
look all around in the sky as well as on the ground. Then he limped out
to the very patch of sweet clover where Hooty had so nearly caught him
the night before.
“A good breakfast,” said Peter, “will make a new Rabbit of me.” You know
Peter thinks a great deal of his stomach. So he began to eat as fast as
he could, stopping every other mouthful to look and listen. “I know it's
a bad habit to eat fast,” said he, “but it's a whole lot worse to have
an empty stomach.” So he ate and ate and ate as fast as he could make
his little jaws go, which is very fast indeed.
When Peter's stomach was stuffed full he gave a great sigh of relief and
limped back to the friendly old bramble-bush to rest. But he couldn't
sit still long, for he just had to find out all about the Old Pasture.
So pretty soon he started out to explore. Such a wonderful place as it
seemed to Peter! There were clumps of bushes with little open spaces
between, just the nicest kind of playgrounds. Then there were funny
spreading, prickly juniper-trees, which made the very safest places to
crawl out of harm's way and to hide. Everywhere were paths made by cows.
Very wonderful they seemed to Peter, who had never seen any like them
before. He liked to follow them because they led to all kinds of queer
places.
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