The Adventures of Prickly Porky | Page 5

it has legs or
wings, and you didn't say anything about its having wings," demanded
Mrs. Peter.
Peter scratched his head in great perplexity. Suddenly he had a happy
thought. "Mr. Blacksnake runs fast enough, but he doesn't have legs,
does he?" he asked in triumph.
Little Mrs. Peter looked a bit discomfited. "No-o," she admitted slowly,
"he doesn't have legs; but I never could understand how he runs
without them."
"Well, then," snapped Peter, "if he can run without legs, why can't other
creatures? Besides, this one didn't run exactly; it rolled. Now I've told
you all I'm going to. I need a long nap, after all I've been through, so
don't let any one disturb me."
"I won't," replied Mrs. Peter meekly. "But, Peter, if I were you, I
wouldn't tell that story to any one else."

VI
PETER HAS TO TELL HIS STORY MANY TIMES
Once you start a story you cannot call it back; It travels on and on and
on and ever on, alack!
That is the reason why you should always be sure that a story you
repeat is a good story. Then you will be glad to have it travel on and on
and on, and will never want to call it back. But if you tell a story that
isn't true or nice, the time is almost sure to come when you will want to
call it back and cannot. You see stories are just like rivers,--they run on
and on forever. Little Mrs. Peter Rabbit knew this, and that is why she
advised Peter not to tell any one else the strange story he had told her
of the dreadful creature without legs or head or tail that had chased him
in the Green Forest. Peter knew by that that she didn't believe a word of

it, but he was too tired and sleepy to argue with her then, so he settled
himself comfortably for a nice long nap.
When Peter awoke, the first thing he thought of was the terrible
creature he had seen in the Green Forest. The more he thought about it,
the more impossible it seemed, and he didn't wonder that Mrs. Peter
had advised him not to repeat it.
"I won't," said Peter to himself. "I won't repeat it to a soul. No one will
believe it. The truth is, I can hardly believe it myself. I'll just keep my
tongue still."
But unfortunately for Peter, one of the Merry Little Breezes of Old
Mother West Wind had heard Peter tell the story to Mrs. Peter, and it
was such a wonderful and curious and unbelievable story that the
Merry Little Breeze straightway repeated it to everybody he met, and
soon Peter Rabbit began to receive callers who wanted to hear the story
all over again from Peter himself. So Peter was obliged to repeat it ever
so many times, and every time it sounded to him more foolish than
before. He had to tell it to Jimmy Skunk and to Johnny Chuck and to
Danny Meadow Mouse and to Digger the Badger and to Sammy Jay
and to Blacky the Crow and to Striped Chipmunk and to Happy Jack
Squirrel and to Bobby Coon and to Unc' Billy Possum and to Old Mr.
Toad.
Now, strange to say, no one laughed at Peter, queer as the story
sounded. You see, they all remembered how they had laughed at him
and made fun of him when he told about the great footprints he had
found deep in the Green Forest, and how later it had been proven that
he really did see them, for they were made by Buster Bear who had
come down from the Great Woods to live in the Green Forest. Then it
had been Peter's turn to laugh at them. So now, impossible as this new
story sounded, they didn't dare laugh at it.
"I never heard of such a creature," said Jimmy Skunk, "and I can't quite
believe that there is such a one, but it is very clear to me that Peter has
seen something strange. You know the old saying that he laughs best
who laughs last, and I'm not going to give Peter another chance to have

the last laugh and say, 'I told you so.'"
"That is very true," replied Old Mr. Toad solemnly. "Probably Peter has
seen something out of the ordinary, and in his excitement he has
exaggerated it. The thing to do is to make sure whether or not there is a
stranger in the Green Forest. Peter says that it came down the hill
where Prickly Porky the Porcupine lives. Some one ought to go ask
him what he knows about it. If there is such a terrible creature up there,
he ought to