Mother West Wind How Stories

West Wind "How" Stories, by Thornton W. Burgess

Project Gutenberg's Mother West Wind "How" Stories, by Thornton W. Burgess This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Mother West Wind "How" Stories
Author: Thornton W. Burgess
Illustrator: Harrison Cady
Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21286]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES ***

Produced by Mark C. Orton, Thomas Strong, Linda McKeown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[Illustration: "Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" yelled Blacky at the top of his voice. FRONTISPIECE. See page 132.]
BURGESS TRADE QUADDIES MARK
MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES
BY
THORNTON W. BURGESS
Illustrations by HARRISON CADY
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
By arrangement with Little, Brown, and Company
Copyright, 1916, BY THORNTON W. BURGESS.
All rights reserved
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To the cause of conservation of wild life and to increase of love for our little friends of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows through awakened interest in them and a better understanding of their value to us as faithful workers in carrying out the plans of wise Old Mother Nature, this little book is dedicated.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HOW OLD KING EAGLE WON HIS WHITE HEAD 3
II. HOW OLD MR. MINK TAUGHT HIMSELF TO SWIM 17
III. HOW OLD MR. TOAD LEARNED TO SING 31
IV. HOW OLD MR. CROW LOST HIS DOUBLE TONGUE 45
V. HOW HOWLER THE WOLF GOT HIS NAME 59
VI. HOW OLD MR. SQUIRREL BECAME THRIFTY 73
VII. HOW LIGHTFOOT THE DEER LEARNED TO JUMP 87
VIII. HOW MR. FLYING SQUIRREL ALMOST GOT WINGS 103
IX. HOW MR. WEASEL WAS MADE AN OUTCAST 117
X. HOW THE EYES OF OLD MR. OWL BECAME FIXED 131
XI. HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER 145
XII. HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE 161
XIII. HOW DRUMMER THE WOODPECKER CAME BY HIS RED CAP 175
XIV. HOW OLD MR. TREE TOAD FOUND OUT HOW TO CLIMB 191
XV. HOW OLD MR. HERON LEARNED PATIENCE 205
XVI. HOW TUFTY THE LYNX HAPPENS TO HAVE A STUMP OF A TAIL 219
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"CAW, CAW, CAW, CAW, CAW!" YELLED BLACKY AT THE TOP OF HIS VOICE Frontispiece
"OLD KING BEAR, WHO WAS KING NO LONGER, WOULD GROWL A DEEP, RUMBLY-GRUMBLY GROWL" 64
"ONE DAY MR. RABBIT SURPRISED MR. WEASEL MAKING A MEAL OF YOUNG MICE" 120
"HIS LEGS WERE SO LONG AND HIS NECK WAS SO LONG THAT ALL HIS NEIGHBORS LAUGHED AT HIM" 216

I
HOW OLD KING EAGLE WON HIS WHITE HEAD

MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES
I
HOW OLD KING EAGLE WON HIS WHITE HEAD
Peter Rabbit sat on the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch, staring up into the sky with his head tipped back until it made his neck ache. Way, way up in the sky was a black speck sailing across the snowy white face of a cloud. It didn't seem possible that it could be alive way up there. But it was. Peter knew that it was, and he knew who it was. It was King Eagle. By and by it disappeared over towards the Great Mountain. Peter rubbed the back of his neck, which ached because he had tipped his head back so long. Then he gave a little sigh.
"I wonder what it seems like to be able to fly like that," said he out loud, a way he sometimes has.
"Are you envious?" asked a voice so close to him that Peter jumped. There was Sammy Jay sitting in a little tree just over his head.
"No!" snapped Peter, for it made him a wee bit cross to be so startled.
"No, I'm not envious, Sammy Jay. I'm not envious of any bird. The ground is good enough for me. I was just wondering, that's all."
"Have you ever seen King Eagle close to?" asked Sammy.
"Once," replied Peter. "Once he came down to the Green Meadows and sat in that lone tree over there, and I was squatting in a bunch of grass quite near and could see him very plainly. He is big and fierce-looking, but he looks his name, every inch a king. I've wondered a good many times since how it happens that he has a white head."
"Because," replied Sammy, "he is just what he looks to be,--king of the birds,--and that white head is the sign of his royalty given his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather by Old Mother Nature, way back in the beginning of things."
Peter's eyes sparkled. "Tell me about it, Sammy," he begged. "Tell me about it, and I won't quarrel with you any more."
"All right, Peter. I'll tell you the story, because it will do you good to hear it. I supposed everybody knew it. All birds do. That is why we all look up to King Eagle," replied Sammy.
"Way back