The Adventures of Prickly Porky | Page 3

kept on coming down the tree just the same. Bowser saw him and
stopped in surprise. He had never seen anything quite like this big dark
fellow.
"Bow, wow, wow!" shouted Bowser in his deepest voice.
Now, when Bowser used that great deep voice of his, he was
accustomed to seeing all the little meadow people and forest folk run,
but this stranger did not even hurry. Bowser was so surprised that he
just stood still and stared. Then he growled his deepest growl. Still the
stranger paid no attention to him. Bowser did not know what to make

of it.
"I'll teach that fellow a lesson," said Bowser to himself. "I'll shake him,
and shake him and shake him until he hasn't any breath left."
By this time the stranger was down on the ground and starting for
another tree, minding his own business. Then something happened.
Bowser made a rush at him, and instead of running, what do you
suppose the stranger did? He just rolled himself up in a tight ball with
his head tucked down in his waistcoat. When he was rolled up that way,
all the little spears hidden in the hair of his coat stood right out until he
looked like a great chestnut-burr. Bowser stopped short. Then he
reached out his nose and sniffed at this queer thing. Slap! The tail of
the stranger struck Bowser the Hound right across the side of his face,
and a dozen of those little spears were left sticking there just like pins
in a pin-cushion.
"Wow! wow! wow! wow!" yelled Bowser at the top of his lungs, and
started for home with his tail between his legs, and yelling with every
jump. Then the stranger unrolled himself and smiled, and all the little
meadow people and forest folk who had been watching shouted aloud
for joy.
And this is the way that Prickly Porky the Porcupine made friends.

IV
PETER RABBIT HAS SOME STARTLING NEWS
Little Mrs. Peter Rabbit, who used to be Little Miss Fuzzytail, sat at the
edge of the dear Old Briar-patch, anxiously looking over towards the
Green Forest. She was worried. There was no doubt about it. Little Mrs.
Peter was very much worried. Why didn't Peter come home? She did
wish that he would be content to stay close by the dear Old Briar-patch.
For her part, she couldn't see why under the sun he wanted to go way
over to the Green Forest. He was always having dreadful adventures
and narrow escapes over there, and yet, in spite of all she could say, he

would persist in going there. She didn't feel easy in her mind one
minute while he was out of her sight. To be sure he always turned up
all right, but she couldn't help feeling that sometime his dreadful
curiosity would get him into trouble that he couldn't get out of, and so
every time he went to the Green Forest, she was sure, absolutely sure,
that she would never see him again.
Peter used to laugh at her and tell her that she was a foolish little dear,
and that he was perfectly able to take care of himself. Then, when he
saw how worried she was, he would promise to be very, very careful
and never do anything rash or foolish. But he wouldn't promise not to
go to the Green Forest. No, Sir, Peter wouldn't promise that. You see,
he has so many friends over there, and there is always so much news to
be gathered that he just couldn't keep away. Once or twice he had
induced Mrs. Peter to go with him, but she had been frightened almost
out of her skin every minute, for it seemed to her that there was danger
lurking behind every tree and under every bush. It was all very well for
Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, who
could jump from tree to tree, but she didn't think it a safe and proper
place for a sensible Rabbit, and she said so.
This particular morning she was unusually anxious. Peter had been
gone all night. Usually he was home by the time Old Mother West
Wind came down from the Purple Hills and emptied her children, the
Merry Little Breezes, out of her big bag to play all day on the Green
Meadows, but this morning Old Mother West Wind had been a long
time gone about her business, and still there was no sign of Peter.
"Something has happened. I just know something has happened!" she
wailed.
"Oh, Peter, Peter, Peter Rabbit Why will you be so heedless? Why will
you take such dreadful risks, So foolish and so needless?"
"Don't worry. Peter is smart enough to take care of himself,"