Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories

by Thornton W. Burgess

  XV

  WHY SPOTTY THE TURTLE CARRIES HIS HOUSE WITH HIM

  Spotty the Turtle sat on an old log on the bank of the Smiling Pool,taking a sun-bath. He had sat that way for the longest time withoutonce moving. Peter Rabbit had seen him when he went by on his way tothe Laughing Brook and the Green Forest to look for some one to passthe time of day with. Spotty was still there when Peter returned along time after, and he didn't look as if he had moved. A suddenthought struck Peter. He couldn't remember that he ever had seenSpotty's house. He had seen the houses of most of his other friends,but think as hard as ever he could, he didn't remember having seenSpotty's.

  "Hi, Spotty!" he shouted. "Where do you live?"

  Spotty slowly turned his head and looked up at Peter. There was atwinkle in his eyes, though Peter didn't see it.

  "Right here in the Smiling Pool. Where else should I live?" hereplied.

  "I mean, where is your house?" returned Peter. "Of course I know youlive in the Smiling Pool, but where is your house? Is it in the bankor down under water?"

  "It is just wherever I happen to be. Just now it is right here," saidSpotty. "I always take it with me wherever I go; I find it much thehandiest way."

  "Hi, Spotty!" he shouted. "Where do you live?"]

  With that Spotty disappeared. That is to say, his head and legs andtail disappeared. Peter stared very hard. Then he began to laugh, forit came to him that what Spotty had said was true. His house waswith him, and now he had simply retired inside. He didn't need anyother house than just that hard, spotted shell, inside of which he wasnow so cosily tucked away.

  "That's a great idea! Ho, ho, ho! That's a great idea!" shouted Peter.

  "Of course it is," replied Spotty, putting nothing but his head out,"You will always find me at home whenever you call, Peter, and that ismore than you can say of most other people."

  All the way to his own home in the dear Old Briar-patch, Peter thoughtabout Spotty and how queer it was that he should carry his housearound with him.

  "I wonder how it happens that he does it," thought he. "No wonder heis so slow. Of course, it is very handy to have his house always withhim. As he says, he is always at home. Still, when he is in a hurryto get away from an enemy, it must be very awkward to have to carryhis house on his back. I--I--why, how stupid of me! He doesn't have torun away at all! All he has got to do is to go inside his house andstay there until the danger is past! I never thought of that before.Why, that is the handiest thing I ever heard of."

  Now Peter knew that there must be a good story about Spotty and hishouse, and you know Peter dearly loves a good story. So at the veryfirst opportunity the next day, he hurried over to the Smiling Pool toask Grandfather Frog about it. As usual, Grandfather Frog was sittingon his big green lily-pad. No sooner did Peter pop his head above theedge of the bank of the Smiling Pool than Grandfather Frog exclaimed:

  "Chug-a-rum! You've kept me waiting a long time, Peter Rabbit. I don'tlike to be kept waiting. If you wanted to know about Spotty theTurtle, why didn't you come earlier?" All the time there was a twinklein the big, goggly eyes of Grandfather Frog.

  Peter was so surprised that he couldn't find his tongue. He hadn'tsaid a word to any one about Spotty, so how could Grandfather Frogknow what he had come for? For a long time he had had a great deal ofrespect for Grandfather Frog, who, as you know, is very old and verywise, but now Peter felt almost afraid of him. You see, it seemed toPeter as if Grandfather Frog had read his very thoughts.

  "I--I didn't know you were waiting. Truly I didn't," stammered Peter."If I had, I would have been here long ago. If you please, how did youknow that I was coming and what I was coming for?"

  "Never mind how I knew. I know a great deal that I don't tell, whichis more than some folks can say," replied Grandfather Frog.

  Peter wondered if he meant him, for you know Peter is a great gossip.But he didn't say anything, because he didn't know just what to say,and in a minute Grandfather Frog began the story Peter so much wanted.

  "Of course you know, without me telling you, that there is a reasonfor Spotty's carrying his house around with him, because there is areason for everything in this world. And of course you know that thatreason is because of something that happened a long time ago, way backin the days when the world was young. Almost everything to-day is theresult of things that happened in those long-ago days. Thegreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Spotty the Turtle livedthen, and unlike Spotty, whom you know, he had no house. He was veryquiet and bashful, was Mr. Turtle, and he never meddled with any one'sbusiness, because he believed that the best way of keeping out oftrouble was to attend strictly to his own affairs.

  "He was a good deal like Spotty, just as fond of the water and just asslow moving, but he didn't have the house which Spotty has now. If hehad had, he would have been saved a great deal of trouble and worry.For a long time everybody lived at peace with everybody else. Thencame the trying time, of which you already know, when those who livedon the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest had the very hardest kindof work to find enough to eat, and were hungry most of the time. NowMr. Turtle, living in the Smiling Pool, had plenty to eat. He hadnothing to worry about on that score. Everybody who lives in theSmiling Pool knows that it is the best place in the world, anyway."

  Grandfather Frog winked at Jerry Muskrat, who was listening, and Jerrynodded his head.

  "But presently Mr. Turtle discovered that the big people were eatingthe little people whenever they could catch them, and that he wasn'tsafe a minute when on shore, and not always safe in the water,"continued Grandfather Frog. "He had two or three very narrow escapes,and these set him to thinking. He was too slow and awkward to run orto fight. The only thing he could do was to keep out of sight as muchas possible. So he learned to swim with only his head out of water,and sometimes with only the end of his nose out of water. When he wenton land, he would cover himself with mud, and then when he heardanybody coming, he would lie perfectly still, with his legs and histail and his head drawn in just as close as possible, so that helooked for all the world like just a little lump of brown earth.

  "One day he had crawled under a piece of bark to rest and at the sametime keep out of sight of any who might happen along. When he gotready to go on his way, he found that the piece of bark had caught onhis back, and that he was carrying it with him. At first he wasannoyed and started to shake it off. Before he succeeded, he heardsomeone coming, so he promptly drew in his head and legs and tail. Itwas Mr. Fisher, and he was very hungry and fierce. He looked at thepiece of bark under which Mr. Turtle was hiding, but all he saw wasthe bark, because, you know, Mr. Turtle had drawn himself whollyunder.

  "'I believe,' said Mr. Fisher, talking out loud to himself, 'that I'llhave a look around the Smiling Pool and see if I can catch thatslow-moving Turtle who lives there. I believe he'll make me a gooddinner.'

  "Of course Mr. Turtle heard just what he said, and he blessed thepiece of bark which had hidden him from Mr. Fisher's sight. For a longtime he lay very still. When he did go on, he took the greatest carenot to shake off that piece of bark, for he didn't know but that anyminute he might want to hide under it again. At last he reached theSmiling Pool and slipped into the water, leaving the piece of bark onthe bank. Thereafter, when he wanted to go on land, he would firstmake sure that no one was watching. Then he would crawl under thepiece of bark and get it on his back. Wherever he went he carried thepiece of bark so as to have it handy to hide under.

  "Now all this time Old Mother Nature had been watching Mr. Turtle, andit pleased her to see that he was smart enough to think of such aclever way of fooling his enemies. So she began to study how she couldhelp Mr. Turtle. One day she came up behind him just as he sat down torest. The piece of bark was uncomfortable and scratched his back, 'Iwish,' said he, talking to himself, for he didn't know that any oneelse was near, 'I wish that I had a house of my own that I could carryon my back all the time and be perfectly safe when I was inside ofit.'

  "'You shall hav
e,' said Old Mother Nature, and reaching out, shetouched his back and turned the skin into hard shell. Then she touchedthe skin of his stomach and turned that into hard shell. 'Now draw inyour head and your legs and your tail,' said she.

  "Mr. Turtle did as he was told to do, and there he was in the verybest and safest kind of a house, perfectly hidden from all hisenemies!

  "'Oh, Mother Nature, how can I ever thank you?' he cried.

  "'By doing as you always have done, attending wholly to your ownaffairs,' replied Old Mother Nature.

  "So ever since that long-ago day when the world was young, all Turtleshave carried their houses with them and never have meddled in thingsthat don't concern them," concluded Grandfather Frog.

  "Oh, thank you, Grandfather Frog," exclaimed Peter, drawing a longbreath. "That was a perfectly splendid thing for Old Mother Nature todo."

  Then he started for his own home in the dear Old Briar-patch, and allthe way there he wondered and wondered how Grandfather Frog knew thathe wanted that story, and to this day he hasn't found out. You see, hedidn't notice that Grandfather Frog was listening when he asked Spottyabout his house. Of course, Grandfather Frog knows Peter and hiscuriosity so well that he had guessed right away that Peter would cometo him for the story, just as Peter did.

  XVI

  WHY PADDY THE BEAVER HAS A BROAD TAIL

  Usually the thing that interests us most is something that we haven'tgot ourselves. It is that way with Peter Rabbit. Peter is notnaturally envious. Oh, my, no! Peter is pretty well satisfied withwhat he has, which is quite as it should be. There is only one thingwith which Peter is really dissatisfied, and it is only once in awhile, when he hasn't much of anything else to think about, that he isdissatisfied with this. Can you guess what it is? Well, it is histail. Yes, Sir, that is the one thing that ever really troublesPeter.

  You see, Peter's tail is, nothing but a funny little bunch of cotton,which doesn't look like a tail at all. The only time he ever sees itis when he is back to the Smiling Pool and looks over his shoulder athis reflection in the water, and then, of course, he really doesn'tsee his tail itself. So sometimes when Peter sees the fine tails ofhis neighbors, a little bit of envy creeps into his heart for just alittle while. Why, even little Danny Meadow Mouse has a real tail,short as it is. And as for Happy Jack Squirrel and Reddy Fox and BobbyCoon and Jimmy Skunk, everybody knows what beautiful tails they have.Once Peter thought about it so much that Grandfather Frog noticed howsober he was and asked Peter what the trouble was. When Peter told himthat it seemed to him that Old Mother Nature had not been fair ingiving him such a foolish little tail when she had given others suchbeautiful ones, Grandfather Frog just opened his big mouth and laugheduntil he had to hold his sides.

  "Why, Peter," said he, "you look so sober, that I thought you reallyhad something to worry about. What would you do with a big tail, ifyou had one? It would always be in your way. Just think how many timesReddy Fox or old Granny Fox have almost caught you. They certainlywould have before this, if you had had a long tail sticking out behindfor them to get hold of. I had a long tail when I was young, and I wasmighty glad to get rid of it."

  After he heard that, Peter felt better. But he didn't lose interest intails, and he spent a great deal of time in wondering why some of hisneighbors had big, bushy tails and some had long, slim tails and whyhe himself had almost no tail at all. So when Paddy the Beaver cameto live in the Green Forest, and made a pond there by building awonderful dam across the Laughing Brook, the first thing Peter lookedto see was what kind of a tail Paddy has, and the first time he got agood look at it, his eyes popped almost out of his head. He juststared and stared. He hardly noticed the wonderful dam or the equallywonderful canals which Paddy had made. All he could think of was thatgreat, broad, flat, thick tail, which is so unlike any tail he hadever seen or heard of.

  The very next morning he hurried over to the Smiling Pool to tellGrandfather Frog about it. Grandfather Frog's big, goggly eyestwinkled.

  "Chug-a-rum!" said he. "Paddy the Beaver has one of the most usefultails I know of. Would you like to know how he comes by such a queertail?"

  The first thing Peter looked to see was what kind of atail Paddy has.]

  "Oh, if you please! If you please, Grandfather Frog! I didn't supposethere was such a queer tail in all the world, and I don't see whatpossible use it can be. Do tell me about it!" cried Peter.

  "Chug-a-rum! If you had used your eyes when you visited Paddy, youmight have guessed for yourself how he came by it," repliedGrandfather Frog gruffly. "Some people never do learn to use theireyes."

  Peter looked a bit sheepish, but he said nothing and waited patiently.Presently Grandfather Frog cleared his throat two or three times andbegan to talk.

  "Once upon a time, long, long ago, when the world was young--"

  "It seems to me that everything wonderful happened long ago when theworld was young," interrupted Peter.

  Grandfather Frog looked at Peter severely, and Peter hastened to beghis pardon.

  After a long time Grandfather Frog began again.

  "Once on a time, long, long ago, lived Mr. Beaver, thegreat-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Paddy up there in the GreenForest. Old Mr. Beaver was one of the hardest working of all of OldMother Nature's big family and one of the smartest, just as Paddy isto-day. He always seemed happiest when he was busiest, and because heliked to be happy all the time, he tried to keep busy all the time.

  "He was very thrifty, was Mr. Beaver; not at all like some people Iknow. He believed in preparing to-day for what might happen to-morrow,and so when he had all the food he needed for the present, he storedaway food for the time when it might not be so easy to get. And hebelieved in helping himself, did Mr. Beaver, and not in leavingeverything to Old Mother Nature, as did most of his neighbors. That ishow he first came to think of making a dam and a pond. Like his smallcousin, Mr. Muskrat, he was very fond of the water, and felt most athome and safest there. But he found that sometimes the food which heliked best, which was the bark of certain kinds of trees, grew somedistance from the water, and it was the hardest kind of hard work toroll and drag the logs down to the water, where he could eat the barkfrom them in safety.

  "He thought about this a great deal, but instead of going to OldMother Nature and complaining, as most of his neighbors would havedone in his place, he studied and studied to find some way to make thework easier. One day he noticed that a lot of sticks had caught inthe stream where he made his home, and that because the water couldnot work its way between them as fast as where nothing hindered it, itmade a little pool just above the sticks. That made him think harderthan ever. He brought some of the logs and sticks from which he hadgnawed the bark and fastened them with the others, and right away thepool grew bigger. The more sticks he added, the bigger the pool grew.Mr. Beaver had discovered what a dam is for and how to build it.

  "'Why,' thought he, 'if I make a pond at the place nearest to my foodtrees, I can carry the water to the trees instead of the trees to thewater; and that will be easier and ever so much safer as well.'

  "So Mr. Beaver built a dam at just the right place, while all theother little people laughed at him and made fun of him for working sohard. Just as he had thought it would do, the dam made a pond, and thepond grew bigger and bigger, until it reached the very place where hisfood trees grew. Mr. Beaver built him a big, comfortable house out inthe pond, and then he went to work as hard as ever he could to cutdown trees and then cut them up into the right sized pieces to storeaway in his big food pile for the winter.

  "Now cutting down trees is hard work. Yes, Siree, cutting down treesis the hardest kind of hard work. Mr. Beaver had to sit up on his hindlegs to do it, and his legs grew very, very tired. In those days hehad a tail very much like the tail of Jerry Muskrat. It was veryuseful when he was swimming, but it was of no use at all at any othertime. Sometimes he tried to brace himself with it--when he wassitting up to cut trees, and found it of no help. But he didn'tcomplain; he just kept right on
working, and only stopped to rest whenhis legs ached so that he had to.

  "He was working just as usual one day when Old Mother Nature camealong to see how he was getting on. She saw the new dam and the newpond, and she asked Mr. Beaver who had made them. He told her that hehad and explained why. Old Mother Nature was greatly pleased, but shedidn't say so. She just passed the time of day with him and then satdown to watch him cut a tree. She saw him try to brace himself withhis useless tail, and she saw him stop to rest his tired legs.

  "'That looks to me like pretty hard work,' said Old Mother Nature.

  "'So it is,' replied Mr. Beaver, stretching first one leg and thenanother. 'But things worth having are worth working for,' and withthat he began cutting again.

  "'You ought to have something to sit on,' said Old Mother Nature, hereyes twinkling.

  "Mr. Beaver grinned. 'It would be very nice,' he confessed, 'but Inever waste time wishing for things I haven't got and can't get,' andwent right on cutting.

  "The next morning when he awoke, he had the greatest surprise of hislife. He had a new tail! It was broad and thick and flat. It wasn'tlike any tail he had ever seen or heard of. At first he didn't knowhow to manage it, but when he tried to swim, he found that it was evenbetter than his old tail for swimming. He hurried over to begin hisday's work, and there he made another discovery; his new tail was justthe most splendid brace! It was almost like a stool to sit on, and hecould work all day long without tiring his legs. Then was Mr. Beaververy happy, and to show how happy he was, he worked harder than ever.Later, he found that his new tail was just what he needed to pat downthe mud with which he covered the roof of his house.

  "'Why,' he cried, 'I believe it is the most useful tail in all theworld!'

  "And then he wished with all his might that Old Mother Nature wouldreturn so that he might thank her for it. And that," concludedGrandfather Frog, "is how Mr. Beaver came by his broad tail. You see,Old Mother Nature always helps those who help themselves. And eversince that long-ago day, all Beavers have had broad tails, and havebeen the greatest workers in the world."