Old Mother West Wind | Page 7

is a 'fraid-cat,
'fraid-cat!"
And this is the way that Reddy Fox was surprised and that Johnny
Chuck found his way home.

CHAPTER IV
WHY JIMMY SKUNK WEARS STRIPES
Jimmy Skunk, as everybody knows, wears a striped suit, a suit of black
and white. There was a time, long, long ago, when all the Skunk family
wore black. Very handsome their coats were, too, a beautiful, glossy

black. They were very, very proud of them and took the greatest care of
them, brushing them carefully ever so many times a day.
There was a Jimmy Skunk then, just as there is now, and he was head
of all the Skunk family. Now this Jimmy Skunk was very proud and
thought himself very much of a gentleman. He was very independent
and cared for no one. Like a great many other independent people, he
did not always consider the rights of others. Indeed, it was hinted in the
wood and on the Green Meadows that not all of Jimmy Skunk's doings
would bear the light of day. It was openly said that he was altogether
too fond of prowling about at night, but no one could prove that he was
responsible for mischief done in the night, for no one saw him. You see
his coat was so black that in the darkness of the night it was not visible
at all.
Now about this time of which I am telling you Mrs. Ruffed Grouse
made a nest at the foot of the Great Pine and in it she laid fifteen
beautiful buff eggs. Mrs. Grouse was very happy, very happy indeed,
and all the little meadow folks who knew of her happiness were happy
too, for they all loved shy, demure, little Mrs. Grouse. Every morning
when Peter Rabbit trotted down the Lone Little Path through the wood
past the Great Pine he would stop for a few minutes to chat with Mrs.
Grouse. Happy Jack Squirrel would bring her the news every afternoon.
The Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind would run up a
dozen times a day to see how she was getting along.
One morning Peter Rabbit, coming down the Lone Little Path for his
usual morning call, found a terrible state of affairs. Poor little Mrs.
Grouse was heart-broken. All about the foot of the Great Pine lay the
empty shells of her beautiful eggs. They had been broken and scattered
this way and that.
"How did it happen?" asked Peter Rabbit.
"I don't know," sobbed poor little Mrs. Grouse. "In the night when I
was fast asleep something pounced upon me. I managed to get away
and fly up in the top of the Great Pine. In the morning I found all my
eggs broken, just as you see them here."
Peter Rabbit looked the ground over very carefully. He hunted around
behind the Great Pine, he looked under the bushes, he studied the
ground with a very wise air. Then he hopped off down the Lone Little
Path to the Green Meadows. He stopped at the house of Johnny Chuck.

"What makes your eyes so big and round?" asked Johnny Chuck.
Peter Rabbit came very close so as to whisper in Johnny Chuck's ear,
and told him all that he had seen. Together they went to Jimmy Skunk's
house. Jimmy Skunk was in bed. He was very sleepy and very cross
when he came to the door. Peter Rabbit told him what he had seen.
"Too bad! Too bad!" said Jimmy Skunk, and yawned sleepily.
"Won't you join us in trying to find out who did it?" asked Johnny
Chuck.
Jimmy Skunk said he would be delighted to come but that he had some
other business that morning and that he would join them in the
afternoon. Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck went on. Pretty soon they
met the Merry Little Breezes and told them the dreadful story.
"What shall we do?" asked Johnny Chuck.
"We'll hurry over and tell Old Dame Nature," cried the Merry Little
Breezes, "and ask her what to do."
So away flew the Merry Little Breezes to Old Dame Nature and told
her all the dreadful story. Old Dame Nature listened very attentively.
Then she sent the Merry Little Breezes to all the little meadow folks to
tell every one to be at the Great Pine that afternoon. Now whatever Old
Dame Nature commanded all the meadow folks were obliged to do.
They did not dare to disobey her. Promptly at four o'clock that
afternoon all the meadow folks were gathered around the foot of the
Great Pine. Broken-hearted little Mrs. Ruffed Grouse sat beside her
empty nest, with all the broken shells about her.
Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit, Johnny Chuck, Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter,
Jerry Muskrat,