The Tale of Nimble Deer | Page 4

night, "nothing so
good to eat as water lilies."
His mother said, "Humph! Wait till you've tasted carrots!"
"Carrots!" Nimble echoed. "What are carrots and where can I find some?
Do they grow in this lake?"
"Carrots," his mother explained, "are vegetables and they grow in
Farmer Green's garden."

When he heard that, Nimble wanted to start for Farmer Green's place at
once. But his mother said, "No!" And he soon saw that she meant it,
too.
However, the word carrots was in his mouth a good deal of the time,
for days and nights afterward. But Nimble wasn't satisfied with having
only the word in his mouth. There was no taste to that at all. Nor could
he chew it, nor swallow it. He was wild to bite into a carrot and see if it
actually was more toothsome than a water lily. Again and again he said
to his mother, "Can't we go down to Farmer Green's garden patch
to-night? If we wait much longer somebody else will eat all the carrots
before we get a taste of them." Or maybe he would exclaim, "Let's have
some carrots for supper! Please!"
It was no wonder that Nimble's mother grew very tired of his teasing.
At last she said to him, when he was urging her to take him down the
hill and across the meadow to Farmer Green's vegetable garden,
"There's no sense in our going down there now. The carrots aren't big
enough yet. They aren't ready to eat. But later, if you show you're
trustworthy, and if you mind well, and if you grow enough, and if you
can start quickly and run fast, perhaps I'll see that you have your first
meal of carrots. Now, don't bother me any more!"
Well, there were so many ifs in his mother's promise that Nimble
almost gave up hope of ever getting to Farmer Green's garden patch.
He didn't quite dare expect that his mother would take him there with
her. But he made up his mind that if she didn't he would go on a carrot
hunt alone as soon as he could.
At the same time he practiced minding his mother, which was not
always a pleasant thing to do. And he practiced starting and running,
both of which were a good deal of fun. As for growing, Nimble did not
need to practice that at all; for he was getting heavier and taller every
day, without doing anything more than to eat and to sleep and to have
the best time possible.
Meanwhile he told everybody he met that if all went well he would be
eating carrots some day. And when his friends learned that he planned

to go on an excursion to Farmer Green's garden patch there wasn't one
of them that didn't say he would like to go too.
Jimmy Rabbit said he really ought to have a look at the cabbages. And
if Nimble didn't mind he thought it would be pleasant to join the party.
Patty Coon remarked that there were certain matters connected with
corn which he must attend to, and if there was no objection he would
go along with the rest, when the time came for the excursion. Even
Cuffy Bear, who almost never went near the farm buildings, declared
that there was nothing he would enjoy more than to make the trip with
Nimble and his mother. He had once tasted baked beans. And ever
since that occasion he had meant to see if he couldn't find some around
Farmer Green's house.
Of course it would have been awkward to say no. So Nimble said yes
to everybody. He even promised that he would let all his friends know
when the excursion should take place.
But of all these things he said not a word to his mother. He was not
sure that they would please her. In fact he was sure that they wouldn't.

V
NIMBLE'S MISTAKE
One morning Nimble's mother said to him, "To-night, just as the moon
rises, we'll start for Farmer Green's garden patch."
He knew what that meant. It meant that he was going to know, at last,
what carrots tasted like. And he was delighted.
"You've improved fast," his mother told him. "You've grown a good
deal. You start to run much more quickly than you did a month ago;
and you're quite speedy now. I must say that you don't mind me any too
well. Take care that to-night you do exactly as you're ordered!"
Nimble promised. "I'll be good," he said. "No matter how many carrots

you want me to eat, I'll finish every one."
"No matter if you haven't had a chance to eat a single carrot, if I tell
you to run you must obey instantly," his mother