VIII. WHEN OLD MR. BADGER LEARNED TO STAY AT HOME
|THE first time Peter Rabbit saw Digger the Badger, he laughed at him.Yes, Sir, Peter laughed at him. He laughed until he had to hold hissides. When he got back to the dear Old Briar-patch, he told little Mrs.Peter all about Digger. That is, he told her all that he had seen, whichwas really very little indeed about Digger, as he found out later.
"I found him away over on the Green Meadows in a place where I havenever been before, and I almost stepped on him before I saw him.You should have seen me jump. I guess it is lucky I did, too, for hecertainly has got the wickedest-looking teeth, and I didn't like the wayhe snarled. Then at a safe distance I sat down and laughed. I just hadto. Why, his legs are so short and his coat hangs down so on each sidethat he doesn't seem to have any legs at all. And as for shape, hehasn't any. He is so broad and flat that he looks as if something bigand heavy had passed over him and rolled him out flat. But how he candig! If Johnny Chuck should ever see him digging, Johnny would die ofenvy. I'm going over there again to learn more about him."
"You'd better stay at home and mind your own affairs," replied littleMrs. Peter tartly. "No good comes of poking into the affairs of otherpeople." This is true, and Peter knows it, but he just couldn't keepaway from that part of the Green Meadows where he had discovered Diggerthe Badger. The more he saw of Digger, the greater became his curiosityabout him. The less Peter can find out for himself about any one, themore curious he becomes, and all he could find out about Digger was thathe slept most of the day, never went far from home, could dig fasterthan any one Peter had ever heard of, was short-tempered, and wastreated with respect by all his neighbors, even Old Man Coyote, whoseemed to know him very well.
All this made Peter more curious than ever, so one day, when Old ManCoyote happened along by the Old Briar-patch, Peter ventured to ask himabout Digger the Badger. Old Man Coyote happened to be feeling in finehumor, for he had just eaten a good dinner. So he sat down just outsidethe dear Old Briar-patch, and this is what he told Peter:
"Digger is an old friend of mine, and I would advise you to treat himwith the greatest respect, Peter, because if you don't, and he ever getshis claws on you, that will be the end of you. I wouldn't care to get ina fight with him myself, big as I am. You may have noticed that no oneever bothers him." Peter nodded, and Old Man Coyote continued: "I don'tknow of any one who minds his own business and keeps his nose out ofthe affairs of other people as Digger does. Greatest homebody I know of,unless it's Johnny Chuck, and even Johnny wanders off once in a while.But Digger never gets very far from his own doorstep. Says there is noplace like home, and he can't see what anybody wants to leave the bestplace in the world for, even if they can come back to it."
Mrs. Peter reached over and poked Peter in the back, but he didn't evenlook at her. You know, she is always trying to keep Peter from roamingabout so. Old Man Coyote went on with his story.
"It isn't because Digger is afraid. Goodness, no! I don't know of anyone better able to take care of himself than Digger the Badger. I guessit is because his family always have been home-lovers. I've heard mygrandfather tell how Digger's grandfather was just the same as Diggeris, and how he had heard his grandfather say the same thing aboutDigger's grandfather's grandfather. They say that the very first Badger,who founded the family way back in the days when the world was young,started this home-staying habit, and that all Badgers ever since thenhave been just like him. Digger is terribly proud of his family and ofold Mr. Badger, who founded it so long ago. I don't know as I wonder atit. Old Mr. Badger certainly had more sense than some of his neighbors.
"You see, when Old Mother Nature first turned him loose in the GreatWorld, he felt that she had not been at all fair in her treatment ofhim. His legs were so short and he was so broad and flat that everybodyor nearly everybody laughed at him and good-naturedly poked fun at him.He pretended not to care, but he did care, just the same. No one reallylikes to be laughed at for something he cannot help. Mr. Badger wouldwatch his neighbors, Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fox and Mr. Rabbit and others,run and jump, and then he would try to do as they did, and he couldn'tbecause his legs were so short and so clumsy. He would sit for hoursadmiring the graceful forms of his neighbors and comparing them with hisown homely shape. He would wonder what Old Mother Nature could have beenthinking of when she made him.
"But he didn't say so to her. No, indeed! He kept his thoughts tohimself and never let his neighbors know that he envied them in theleast. One day he wandered out from the Green Forest on to the GreenMeadows. He liked it out there. He liked to look up and see so muchof the blue, blue sky all at once. He liked to look off and see a longdistance. Of course, he couldn't do that in the Green Forest because ofthe trees. He liked being by himself because he felt so sensitive abouthis homely shape. He discovered that if he lay down flat on his stomachwhen any one came near, he was always passed unnoticed. Being so broadand flat and altogether shapeless, he could remain unseen right outthere on the open Green Meadows even when the grass was short, andthat was something that Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fox and even little Mr.Rabbit couldn't do. It pleased him. He began to be less envious of hisneighbors.
"Then one never-to-be-forgotten day the Red Terror, which men call fire,broke loose in the Green Forest, and all the little people fled beforeit. Across the meadows and past old Mr. Badger they raced, with fear intheir eyes, and behind them came the Red Terror. A terrible fear sprangup in the heart of Mr. Badger. With those short legs he never in theworld could run fast enough to escape. What should he do? What _could_he do? He looked at the great claws on his stout feet, and all in aflash an idea came to him. Perhaps if he dug a hole and crawled into it,the Red Terror would not find him. At once he began to dig, and how thedirt did fly! In just no time at all he was quite out of sight, and bythe time the Red Terror had reached there, he was so far down in theground that he didn't even feel the heat.
"When it was all over and the earth had cooled off so that he could comeout, he sat on the pile of dirt in front of his hole and did some hardthinking. He looked at his stout legs and long claws, and all at once itcame over him that Old Mother Nature had not been so unfair after all.She had provided him with a means to take care of himself which hewouldn't exchange with any of his neighbors for all their speed andbetter looks. Later, when he saw how some of them were worn out withrunning, and some of them even had burned places on their coats, thelast bit of envy disappeared.
"'I guess,' said he to himself, 'Old Mother Nature has given each onespecial blessings, but she expects us to find them out for ourselves.I've found mine out, some of them, anyway, and I'll just get busy andlook for the rest. I'm going straight over to the prettiest part of theGreen Meadows where the Red Terror hasn't been and dig myself a house inthe ground. There is no place like a good home, so what is the good ofroaming around? My legs were not intended for that, and those who havegot longer legs can do it if they want to.'
"He did just what he said he would do. He practised digging until he wasthe best digger of all the little people. The more he dug, the stouterand stronger his legs became, and soon he found that all his neighborsrespected his strength, and none would quarrel with him. Because hecould get plenty to eat near his home, he never went far from hisdoorstep, and from that time on he lived in perfect safety andcontentment. He brought his children up to do the same thing, and if youshould go over and ask Digger to-day, he would tell you that there is noplace like home, and that he envies no one. I'm glad, however, that notevery one agrees with him, or I should have hard work to get a living,"concluded Old Man Coyote with a sly wink at Mrs. Peter.
Mother West Wind When Stories Page 8
