VII
WHERE OLD MRS. 'GATOR MADE THE FIRST INCUBATOR
Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Quack the Mallard Duck are great friends. Theyhave been great friends ever since Peter tried to help Mrs. Quack whenshe and Mr. Quack had spent a whole summer on a little pond hidden deepin the Green Forest because Mr. Quack had a broken wing and so he andMrs. Quack simply couldn't keep on to their home in the Far North forwhich they had started. During that long summer Peter had become verywell acquainted with them. In fact he visited them very often, for asyou know, Peter is simply brimming over with curiosity, and there werewonderful things which Mr. and Mrs. Quack could tell him, for they aregreat travelers.
Now once, as Mrs. Quack was telling Peter about the far-away Southlandwhere she and Mr. Quack and many other birds spend each winter, shementioned Old Ally the 'Gator. People who live where he does call himjust 'Gator, but you and I would call him Alligator.
At the mention of Old Ally, all Peter's curiosity was awakened, for Mrs.Quack had said that foolish young ducks sometimes mistook him for an oldlog floating in the water and didn't find out the difference until hisgreat mouth flew open and he swallowed them whole. At that Peter's eyesthreatened to pop right out of his head and every time he visited thatlittle pond he pestered Mrs. Quack with questions about Old Ally the'Gator and Mrs. 'Gator. It seemed as if he couldn't think of anythingelse. And when Mrs. Quack just happened to mention that little 'Gatorsare hatched from eggs just as her own children are, it was almost toomuch for Peter to believe.
"What?" he squealed, hopping up and down in excitement. "Do you mean totell me that anything as big as Old Ally, big enough to swallow youwhole, can come from an egg? I don't believe it! Besides, only birds layeggs."
"Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, Peter, you must take that back!"
cried Mrs. Quack.
"Why must I take it back?" demanded Peter.
"Because as usual you've let your tongue run loose, and that is a badhabit, Peter. It certainly is a bad habit. How about the Snake family?"
"Oh!" said Peter, looking very foolish. "I forgot all about the Snakes.They do lay eggs."
"And how about Spotty the Turtle? Didn't he come from an egg?" persistedMrs. Quack.
Peter looked more foolish than before, if that were possible. "Y-e-s,"he replied slowly and reluctantly.
"Then don't be so quick to doubt a thing just because you've never seenit," retorted Mrs. Quack. "I've seen Mrs. 'Gator build her nest morethan once, and I've seen her eggs, and I've seen the baby 'Gators; andwhat is more, I'm not in the habit of telling things that I don't knoware so."
"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Quack." Peter was very humble. "I do indeed.Please forgive me. Is--is Mrs. 'Gator's nest at all like yours?"
Peter seemed so truly sorry for having doubted her that Mrs. Quackrecovered her good nature at once. "No," said she, "it isn't. If Ihadn't seen her make it, I wouldn't have known it was a nest. You see,one spring I got hurt so that I couldn't take my usual long journey tothe Far North and had to spend the summer way down in the Southlandwhere I always lived in the winter, and that is how I happened to learnabout Mrs. 'Gator's nest and eggs and a lot of other things. Mrs. 'Gatoris lazy, but she is smart. She's smart enough to make Mr. Sun do herwork. What do you think of that?"
Right away Peter was all excitement. You see, that sounded as if theremight be a story behind it. "I never have heard of such a thing!" hecried. "How did she learn to do such a smart thing as that? Of course Idon't for a minute believe that she herself discovered a way to get Mr.Sun to work for her. Probably it was her ever-so-great-grandmother whofirst did it. Isn't that so, Mrs. Quack?"
Mrs. Quack nodded. "You've guessed it, Peter," said she. "It allhappened way, way back in the days when the world was young."
"Tell me about it! Please, please tell me about it, Mrs. Quack, and thefirst chance I get, I'll do something for you," begged Peter.
Mrs. Quack carefully went over all her feathers to see that every onewas in place, for she is very particular about how she looks. When shewas quite satisfied, she turned to Peter, fidgeting on the bank.
"Way back in the days when the world was young," said she, "Old MotherNature made the first Alligators before she made the first birds, or thefirst animals, so Old Ally and Mrs. 'Gator, who live way down south now,belong to a very old family and are proud of it. In the beginning ofthings there was very little dry land, as you may have heard, so old Mr.and Mrs. 'Gator, who of course were not old then, were made to live inthe water with the fish. Old Mother Nature was experimenting then. Shewas planning to make a great deal more land, and she wanted livingcreatures on it, so she gave the 'Gators legs and feet instead of fins,and lungs to breathe air instead of gills for breathing in the water asfish do. Then, having many other things to attend to, she told themthey would have to take care of themselves, and went about her business.
"It didn't take Mr. and Mrs. 'Gator long to discover that their legswere not of much use in the water, for they used their powerful tailsfor swimming. Then one day Mrs. 'Gator crawled out on land and rightaway discovered what those legs were for. She could go on dry land whilefishes could not. It didn't take her long to find out that nothing wasquite so fine as a sun-bath, as she lay stretched out on the bank, soshe and Mr. 'Gator spent most of their time on sunny days takingsun-baths.
"One day Old Mother Nature came along and whispered a wonderful secretto Mrs. 'Gator. 'I am going to give you some eggs,' whispered OldMother Nature, 'some eggs of your very own, and if you watch over themand keep them warm, out of each one a baby 'Gator will some day creep.But if you let those eggs get cold, there will be no babies. Don'tforget that you must keep them warm.'
"Old Mother Nature was as good as her word. She gave Mrs. 'Gator twentybeautiful white eggs, and Mrs. 'Gator was perfectly happy. Those eggswere the most precious things in all the Great World. It seemed as ifshe never would grow tired of looking at them and admiring them and ofdreaming of the day when her babies should come out of them. It was verypleasant to lie there in the sun and dream of the babies to come fromthose wonderful eggs. Suddenly, right into the midst of those pleasantdreams, broke the memory of what Old Mother Nature had said aboutkeeping those eggs warm. All in a twinkling happiness was turned toworry.
"'What can I do? What can I do?' Mrs. 'Gator kept saying over and over.'However can I keep them warm when Mr. Sun goes to bed at night? Oh,dear! Oh, dear! My beautiful eggs never, never will turn to darlingbabies! What can I do?'
"All this time Mr. 'Gator was a great deal more interested in makinghimself comfortable than he was in those eggs. He had picked out a placewhere all day long Mr. Sun poured down his warmest rays, and he had duga place to sprawl out in comfortably. The sand he had thrown in a pileat one side. When Mrs. 'Gator went to consult Mr. 'Gator about thoseprecious eggs and her worries when the cool of evening had come, shehappened to put one foot in that loose pile of sand, and she found thatwhile the sand on the outside was already cool, that down inside thepile was still warm. A clever idea came to her like a flash.
"First she sent Mr. 'Gator into the water to get his supper. Then shescooped a hole in that pile of warm sand, and in it she put her preciouseggs and carefully covered them up with sand. When this was done shestretched out close by to keep watch and see that nothing disturbedthose treasures. That was a very anxious night for Mrs. 'Gator. The sandon which she lay grew very cool. When at last day came and Mr. Sun oncemore began to shine, she opened that pile of sand and great was her joyto find that inside it was still warm. When Mr. 'Gator came crawling outof the water to spend the day in that comfortable bed he had dug, shechased him away and was so cross that he went off grumbling and duganother bed. Mrs. 'Gator waited until Mr. Sun had made the sand verywarm indeed, and then she made a great mound of it, and in the middleof it were her precious eggs. Night and day she kept guard, and all thetime she worried lest those eggs should not be warm enough. Then one daytwenty baby 'Gators dug their way out of that mound of sand. Yes
, Sir,they did.
"All this happened long, long ago when the world was young, and eversince then 'Gators have lived only way down south, where it is very warmand where Mr. Sun will hatch their eggs for them. And today it is donejust as I've told you, for I've seen with my own eyes Mrs. 'Gator buildher nest, cover her eggs, and then lie around while Mr. Sun did the workfor her. What do you think of that?"
"I think that if you hadn't told me that you had seen it with your owneyes, Mrs. Quack, I should think it a fairy story," replied Peter.
Mother West Wind Where Stories Page 7
