Mother West Wind Where Stories | Page 4

voice were Old Man
Coyote's.
Very carefully Peter peeped out. Old Man Coyote had sat down close
by the log in which Peter was hiding. On a dead tree close at hand sat
Ol' Mistah Buzzard, who had come up from way down south for the
summer, and it was to him that Old Man Coyote was talking.
"I was over by Farmer Brown's barn last night," said Old Man Coyote,
"and I caught a glimpse of Robber the Brown Eat. What a disgrace he
is to the whole Rat tribe! For that matter, he is a disgrace to all who live
on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest. He isn't much like his
cousin, Miser the Trade Rat."
"Mah goodness! Do yo' know Miser?" exclaimed Ol' Mistah Buzzard.
"Do I know Miser? I should say I do!" replied Old Man Coyote. "I've
tried to catch him enough times to know him. He kept a junk shop very
near where I used to live way out west. Do you know him, Mr.
Buzzard?"
"Ah cert'nly does," chuckled Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "Ah cert'nly does. Ah
never did see such a busy fellow as he is. Ah done see his junk shop
many times, and always it done be growin' bigger. Ah wonders, Brer

Coyote, if yo' ever heard the story of his
Great-great-ever-so-great-gran'-daddy, the first of the family, and how
and where he started the business that's been kept in the family ever
since."
"No," said Old Man Coyote, "I never did, and I've wondered about it a
great deal."
Peter Rabbit almost forgot that he was hiding. He was so eager to hear
that story that he was right on the point of speaking up and begging Ol'
Mistah Buzzard to tell it when he remembered Old Man Coyote. Just in
the nick of time he clapped a hand over his mouth. It seemed to Peter a
long, long time before Old Man Coyote said:
"I'd like to hear that story, Mr. Buzzard, if it isn't too much to ask of
you."
"Not at all, Brer Coyote; not at all. Ah'll be mor'n pleased to tell it to
yo'. Ah cert'nly will," said Ol' Mistah Buzzard, and Peter settled
himself comfortably to listen.
"Yo' see it was this way," began Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "Ah got it from
mah gran'daddy, and he got it from his gran'daddy, and his gran'daddy
got it from--"
"I know," interrupted Old Man Coyote. "It was handed down from your
greatest-great-grandfather, who lived in the days when the world was
young and what you are going to tell me about happened. Isn't that it?"
"Yes, Suh," replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "Yes, Suh, that's it. Ol' Mother
Nature treat 'em all alike in those days. She's a right smart busy person,
and she ain't got no time fo' to answer foolish questions. No, Suh, she
ain't. So, quick as she get a new kind of critter made, she turn him loose
and tell him if he want to live he got to be right smart and find out for
hisself how to do it. Ah reckons yo' know all about that, Brer Coyote."
Old Man Coyote nodded, and Ol' Mistah Buzzard scratched his bald
head gently as if trying to stir up his memory. Peter Rabbit almost

squealed aloud in his impatience while he waited for Ol' Mistah
Buzzard to go on.
"When Ol' Mother Nature made Brer Trade Rat in the beginning and
turned him loose in the Great World, he was just plain Mistah Rat and
nothing more, same as his no 'count cousin, Robber the Brown Rat,"
continued Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "He had to win a name for hisself same
as ev'ybody else. He had mighty sharp wits, had this Mistah Rat, and
directly he found he had to shift for hisself he began to study and study
and study what he gwine to do to live well and be happy. He watched
his neighbors to see what they did, and it didn't take him long to find
out that if he would be respected he must have a home. Those without
homes were mostly no 'count folks, same as they are today.
"So Brer Rat made a nest close to the trunk of a tree on the edge of the
Green Forest, a soft, warm nest, and in collectin' the stuff to make it of
he learned the joy of bein' busy. Person'ly, yo' understand, Ah thinks he
was all wrong. Ah never am so happy as when Ah can take a sun-bath
with nothin' to do. But Brer Rat was never so happy as when he was
busy, and when he got that li'l nest finished time began to hang heavy
on his hands. Yes, Suh, it cert'nly did. Just because he