THE LUCKY MINK
During the warm weather, the Minks did not come often to the pond. Thenthey had to stay nearer home and care for their babies. In the winter,when food was not so plentiful and their youngest children were oldenough to come with them, they visited there every day. It was not farfrom their home.
The Minks lived by a waterfall in the river, and had burrows in thebanks, where the young Minks stayed until they were large enough to goout into the world. Then the fathers and mothers were very busy, for ineach home there were four or five or six children, hungry and restless,and needing to be taught many things.
They were related to the Weasels who lived up by the farmyard, and hadthe same slender and elegant bodies and short legs as they. Like theWeasels, they sometimes climbed trees, but that was not often. They didmost of their hunting in the river, swimming with their bodies almostall under water, and diving and turning and twisting gracefully andquickly. When they hunted on land, they could tell by smelling justwhich way to go for their food.
The Minks were a very dark brown, and scattered through their close,soft fur were long, shining hairs of an even darker shade, which madetheir coats very beautiful indeed. The fur was darker on their backsthan on the under part of their bodies, and their tapering, bushy tailswere almost black. Their under jaws were white, and they were very proudof them. Perhaps it was because they had so little white fur that theythought so much of it. You know that is often the way--we think most ofthose things which are scarce or hard to get.
There was one old Mink by the river who had a white tip on his tail, andthat is something which many people have never seen. It is even moreuncommon than for Minks to have white upper lips, and that happens onlyonce in a great while. This Mink was a bachelor, and nobody knew why.Some people said it was because he was waiting to find a wife with awhite tip on her tail, yet that could not have been, for he was too wiseto wait for something which might never happen. However it was he livedalone, and fished and hunted just for himself. He could dive morequickly, stay under water longer, and hunt by scent better than anyother Mink round there. His fur was sleeker and more shining than thatof his friends, and it is no wonder that the sisters of his friendsthought that he ought to marry.
When the Minks visited together, somebody was sure to speak of theBachelor's luck. They said that, whatever he did, he was always lucky."It is all because of a white tip on his tail," they said. "That makeshim lucky."
The young Minks heard their fathers and mothers talking, and wished thatthey had been born with white tips on their tails so that they could belucky too. Once the Bachelor heard them wishing this, and he smiled andshowed his beautiful teeth, and told them that it was not the tip of histail but his whole body that made him lucky. He did not smile _to_ showhis teeth, because he was not at all vain. He just smiled _and_ showedhis teeth.
USED TO FOLLOW HIM AROUND. _Page 191_]
There was a family of young Minks who lived at the foot of thewaterfall, where the water splashed and dashed in the way they likedbest. There were four brothers and two sisters in this family, and thebrothers were bigger than the sisters (as Mink Brothers always are),although they were all the same age. One was very much larger than anyof the rest, and so they called him Big Brother. He thought there wasnever such a fine Mink as the Bachelor, and he used to follow himaround, and look at the tip on his tail, and wish that he was lucky likehim. He wished to be just like him in every way but one; he did not wantto be a bachelor.
The other young Minks laughed at Big Brother, and asked him if hethought his tail would turn white if he followed the Bachelor longenough. Big Brother stood it very patiently for a while; then he snarledat them, and showed his teeth without smiling, and said he would fightanybody who spoke another word about it. Minks are very brave and veryfierce, and never know when to stop if they have begun to fight; so,after that, nobody dared tease Big Brother by saying anything moreabout the Bachelor. Sometimes they did look at his tail and smile, butthey never spoke, and he pretended not to know what they meant by it.
A few days after this, the Bachelor was caught in a trap--a common,clumsy, wooden trap, put together with nails and twine. It was not nearthe river, and none of his friends would have found him, if Big Brotherhad not happened along. He could hardly believe what he saw. Was itpossible that a trap had dared to catch a Mink with a white-tipped tail?Then he heard the Bachelor groan, and he knew that it was so. He hurriedup to where the trap was.
"Can't you get out?" said he.
"No," said the Bachelor. "I can't. The best way to get out is not to getin--and I've gotten in."
"Can't you do something with your lucky tail to make the trap open?"asked Big Brother.
"I could do something with my teeth," answered the Bachelor, "if theywere only where the tip of my tail is. Why are Minks always walking intotraps?" He was trying hard not to be cross, but his eyes showed how hefelt, and that was very cross indeed.
Then Big Brother became much excited. "I have good teeth," said he,"Tell me what to do."
"If you will help me out," said the Bachelor, "I will give you my luck."
"And what shall I do with the tail I have?" asked the young Mink, whothought that the Bachelor was to give him his white-tipped tail.
"Never mind now," answered the Bachelor, and he told the young Mink justwhere to gnaw. For a long time there was no sound but that of the youngMink's teeth on the wood of the trap. The Bachelor was too brave togroan or make a fuss, when he knew there was anybody around to hear.Big Brother's mouth became very sore, and his stomach became very empty,but still he kept at work. He was afraid somebody would come for thetrap and the Mink in it, before he finished.
"Now try it," said he, after he had gnawed for quite a while. TheBachelor backed out as far as he could, but his body stuck in the hole."You are rumpling your beautiful fur," cried the young Mink.
"Never mind the fur," answered the Bachelor. "I can smooth that downafterward. You will have to gnaw a little on this side." And he raisedone of his hind feet to show where he meant. It was a beautifulhindfoot, thickly padded, and with short partly webbed toes, and no hairat all growing between them. The claws were short, sharp, and curved.
Big Brother gnawed away. "Now try it," said he. The Bachelor backedcarefully out through the opening and stood there, looking tired andhungry and very much rumpled.
"You are a fine young Mink," said he. "We will get something to eat, andthen we will see about making you lucky."
They went to the river bank and had a good dinner. The Bachelor ate morethan Big Brother, for his mouth was not sore. But Big Brother was veryhappy. He thought how handsome he would look with a white-tipped tail,and how, after he had that, he could surely marry whoever he wished. Itwas the custom among his people to want to marry the best looking andstrongest. Indeed it is so among all the pond people, and that is onereason why they care so much about being good-looking. It is very hardfor a young Mink to have the one he loves choose somebody else, justbecause the other fellow has the bushiest tail, or the longest fur, orthe thickest pads on his feet.
"Now," said the Bachelor, "we will talk about luck. We will go to aplace where nobody can hear what we say." They found such a place andlay down. The Bachelor rolled over three times and smoothed his fur; hewas still so tired from being in the trap. Then he looked at the youngMink very sharply. "So you want my tail?" said he.
"You said you would give me your luck," answered Big Brother, "andeverybody knows that your luck is in your tail."
The Bachelor smiled. "What will you do with the tail you have?" said he.
"I don't know," answered Big Brother.
"You wouldn't want to wear two?" asked the Bachelor.
"Oh, no," answered Big Brother. "How that would look!"
"Well, how will you put my tail in place of yours?" asked the Bachelor.
"I don't know," answered the young Mink, "but you are so wise that Ithought you might know some way." He began to feel discourage
d, and tothink that the Bachelor's offer didn't mean very much after all.
"Don't you think?" said the Bachelor slowly, "don't you think that, ifyou could have my luck, you could get along pretty well with your owntail?"
"Why, yes," said the young Mink, who had begun to fear he was not goingto get anything. "Yes, but how could that be?"
The Bachelor smiled again. "I always tell people," said he, "that myluck is not in my tail, and they never believe it. I will tell you thesecret of my luck, and you can have luck like it, if you really careenough." He looked all around to make sure that nobody was near, and helistened very carefully with the two little round ears that were almosthidden in his head-fur. Then he whispered to Big Brother, "This is thesecret: _always do everything a little better than anybody else can_."
"Is that all?" asked the young Mink.
"That is enough," answered the Bachelor. "Keep trying and trying andtrying, until you can dive deeper, stay under water longer, run faster,and smell farther than other Minks. Then you will have good luck whentheirs is poor. You will have plenty to eat when they are hungry. Youcan beat in every fight. You can have sleek, shining fur when theirs isdull. Luck is not a matter of white-tipped tails."
The more the young Mink thought about it, the happier he became. "Idon't see that I am to have your luck after all," said he. "When I havelearned to do everything in the very best way, it will be luck of myown."
"Of course," answered the Bachelor. "Then it is a kind of luck thatcannot be lost. If I carried mine in the tip of my tail, somebody mightbite it off and leave me unlucky."
Big Brother kept the secret, and worked until he had learned to be aslucky as the Bachelor. Then he married the person he wanted, and she wasvery, very handsome. It is said that one of their sons has awhite-tipped tail, but that may not be so.
THE PLAYFUL MUSKRATS
One warm day in winter, when some of the pussy-willows made a mistakeand began to grow because they thought spring had come, a party ofMuskrats were visiting in the marsh beside the pond. All around themwere their winter houses, built of mud and coarse grasses. These homeslooked like heaps of dried rushes, unless one went close to them. If onedid that, he could plainly see what they were; and if one happened to bea Muskrat, and could dive and go into them through their waterydoorways, he would find under the queer roof of each, a warm, dry roomin which to pass the cold days.
"Fine weather!" said every Muskrat to his neighbor. "Couldn't sleep allof such a day as this." They spoke in that way, you know, because theyusually sleep in the daytime and are awake at night.
"We wish it would always be warm weather," said the young Muskrats."What's the use of winter?"
"Hard to tell," answered one Muskrat, who had lived in the marsh longerthan the rest. "Hard to tell: I know it always gives me a good appetite,though." Then all the Muskrats laughed. They were a jolly, good-naturedcompany, and easy to get along with. The other pond people liked themmuch better than they did their neighbors, the Minks. The Wild Ducks whonested in the sedges, were quite willing that the young Muskrats shouldplay with their children, and the Mud Hens were not afraid of them. MudHens cannot bear Minks. They say that when a Mud Chicken is missing fromthe nest, there is quite sure to be a Mink somewhere near with a fullstomach and down around the corners of his mouth.
Perhaps if the Wild Ducks and the Mud Hens were raising their familiesin the winter time it might be different, for then the Muskrats gethungry enough to eat almost anything. In spring and summer, when theycan find fresh grasses and young rushes, or a few parsnips, carrots, andturnips from the farmers' fields, other animals are quite safe. In thewinter they live mostly on roots.
"Fine day!" screamed the Gulls, as they swept through the air. "Pity theFrogs don't come out to enjoy it!"
"Yes, great pity," chuckled the old Muskrat. "How glad you would be tosee them!" He smiled all around his little mouth and showed his gnawingteeth. He knew that the Frogs were better off asleep in the mud at thebottom of the pond, than they would be sitting in the sunshine with afew hungry Gulls above them. The Turtles were sleeping all winter, too,in the banks of the pond. The Eels were lying at the bottom, stupid anddrowsy, and somewhere the Water-Adders were hidden away, dreaming ofspring. Of all the birds who lived by the water, only the Gulls werethere, and they were not popular. It is true that they helped keep thepond sweet and clean, and picked up and carried away many things whichmade the shore untidy, still, they were rude, and talked too loudly, andwore their feathers in such a way that they looked like fine largebirds, when really they were lean and skinny and small. The other pondpeople said that was just like them, always pretending to be more thanthey really were.
Fifteen young Muskrats, all brothers and sisters, and all born thesummer before, started off to look at the old home where they werechildren together. That is to say, they were not all there at once, butthere were five born early in the season; and when they were old enoughto look out for themselves, five more came to live in the old nest; andwhen these were old enough to leave the nest, another five were born.
It doesn't mean so much to Muskrats to be brothers and sisters as itdoes to some people, still they remembered that they were related, andthey played more with each other than with those young Muskrats who wereonly their cousins or friends. Their mother was very proud of them, andloved to watch them running around on their short legs, and to hear themslap their long, scaly tails on the water when they dove. They hadshort, downy fur, almost black on the back, soft gray underneath, and areddish brown everywhere else. There was very little fur on their tailsor on their feet, and those parts were black.
These fifteen children had been fairly well brought up, but you can seethat their mother had many cares; so it is not strange if they sometimesbehaved badly. In some other families, where there were only nine or tenbabies all the season, they had been brought up more strictly. Like allyoung Muskrats, they were full of fun, and there were few pleasantersights than to see them frolicking on a warm moonlight evening, whenthey looked like brown balls rolling and bounding around on the shore orplunging into the water. If they had all been exactly the same age, itwould have been even pleasanter, for the oldest five would put on airsand call the others "the children"; and the next five would call theyoungest five "babies"; although they were all well grown. There was nochance for the youngest five to call other Muskrats "babies," so whenthey were warm and well fed and good-natured they laughed and said,"Who cares?" When they were cold and hungry, they slapped their tails onthe ground or on the water and said, "Don't you think you're smart!"
When they got to talking so and their mother heard it, she would say,"Now, children!" in such a way that they had to stop. Their fathersometimes slapped them with his tail. Teasing is not so very bad, youknow, although it is dreadfully silly, but when people begin by teasingthey sometimes get to saying things in earnest--even really hateful,mean things. And that was what made the Muskrat father and mother stopit whenever they could.
Now the whole fifteen crowded around the old summer home, and some ofthem went in one way, and some of them went in another, for everyMuskrat's summer house has several burrows leading to it. When theyreached the old nest at the end, all of them tried to get in at once,and they pushed each other around with their broad little heads,scrambled and clutched and held on with their strong little feet. Fiveof them said, "It's our turn first. We're the oldest." And five moresaid, "Well, it's our turn next anyway, 'cause we're next oldest." Theothers said, "You might give up to us, because we're the youngest."
They pushed and scrambled some more, and one of the youngest childrensaid to one of the oldest, "Well, I don't care. I'm just as big as youare" (which was so). And the older one answered back, "Well, you're notso good-looking" (which was also true).
Then part of the brothers and sisters took sides with one, and part tooksides with the other. What had been a lovely frolic became anunpleasant, disgraceful quarrel, and they said such things as these:
"'Fore I'd make su
ch a fuss!"
"Who's making any more fuss than you are, I'd like to know?"
"Oh, yes. You're big enough, but you're just as homely as you can be. Sothere!"
"Quit poking me!"
"You slapped your tail on my back!"
"I'm going to tell on you fellows!"
"I dare you to!"
"Won't you catch it though!"
And many more things which were even worse. Think of it. Fifteen youngMuskrats who really loved each other, talking like that because theycouldn't decide whether the oldest or the youngest or thehalf-way-between brothers and sisters should go first into the old nest.And it didn't matter a bit who was oldest or who was youngest, and itnever would have happened had it not been for their dreadful habit ofteasing.
Just as they had become very hot and angry, they heard their mother'svoice say, "Now, children!" but they were too much excited to mind, andthey did not stop until their father came and slapped them with histail. Then they kept still and listened to their mother. She told themthat they should leave the place at once, and not one of them shouldeven set foot in the old nest. "Suppose somebody had gotten hurt," shesaid. This made the young Muskrats look very sober, for they knew thatthe Muskrat who is hurt in winter never gets well.
After she had let them think about this for a while, she said, "I shallpunish you all for this." Then there was no quarrel among her childrento see who should have the first turn--not at all.
One young Muskrat said, "Aren't you going to let us play any more?"
"Yes," said she. "I shall let you play all the rest of the day, but Ishall choose the games. The oldest five will play 'Mud Turtles inwinter,' the next five will play 'Frogs in winter,' and the youngestfive will play 'Snakes in winter.' The way to play these games is to lieperfectly still in some dark place and not say a word."
The young Muskrats looked at each other sorrowfully. They thought itsounded very much the same as being sent to bed for being naughty. Theydid not dare say anything, for they knew that, although their mother wasgentle, as Muskrats are most of the time, she could be very severe. Sothey went away quietly to play what she had told them they must. But itwas not much fun to play those games when all the others were having afine time in the sunshine.
There were nine of the young Muskrats who did not tease any after that.Even the other six were more careful.
Among the Pond People Page 19
