XI
HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER
Peter Rabbit was bothered. He was bothered in his mind, and when Peteris bothered in his mind, he loses his appetite. It was so now. He hadbeen up in the Old Orchard and, as is his way, had stopped at JohnnyChuck's for a bit of gossip. As he sat there talking, it suddenly cameover him that Johnny was looking unusually fat. He said so. Johnnyyawned in a very sleepy way as he replied:
"One has to get fat in order to sleep comfortably all winter. I've gotto get fatter than I am now before I turn in." And with that, JohnnyChuck fell to eating as if his sides were falling in instead ofthreatening to burst, and Peter could get no more from him.
So he went home to think it over, and the more he thought, the moretroubled he became. How could anybody sleep all winter? And what gooddid just getting fat do? Johnny Chuck couldn't eat his own fat, so whatwas the use of it? "Must be it's to keep him warm," thought Peter andbrightened up. But why wasn't a good thick coat of fur just as good oreven better? He didn't have any trouble keeping warm. Neither did BillyMink or Little Joe Otter or Reddy Fox. No, it couldn't be that JohnnyChuck put on all that fat just to keep warm. Besides, he would spend thewinter way down deep in the ground, and there was no excuse for beingcold there.
"I couldn't sleep all winter if I wanted to, and I wouldn't if I could,for there is too much fun to miss," muttered Peter, as he started forthe Smiling Pool in search of Grandfather Frog. He found him sitting onhis big lily-pad, but somehow Grandfather Frog didn't look as chipperand smart as usual. "He certainly is growing old," thought Peter. "Heisn't as spry as he used to be. Seems as if he had grown old in the lasttwo or three weeks. Too bad, too bad."
Aloud, Peter said: "Why, Grandfather Frog, how well you are looking! Youare enough to make us young fellows envious."
Grandfather Frog looked at Peter sharply. Perhaps he read the truth inPeter's eyes. "Chug-a-rum!" said he. "Be honest, Peter. Be honest. Don'ttry to flatter, because it is a bad habit to get into. I know how Ilook. I look old and tired. Now isn't that so?"
Peter looked a little shamefaced. He didn't know just what to say, so hesaid nothing and just nodded his head.
"That's better," said Grandfather Frog gruffly. "Always tell the truth.The fact is I _am_ tired. I am so tired that I'm going to sleep for thewinter, and I'm going to do it this very day."
"Oh, Grandfather Frog," (Peter had found his tongue), "please tell mesomething before you go. I can understand how you may want to sleep allwinter because you have no nice fur coat to keep you warm, but why doesJohnny Chuck do it, and how does he do it? Why doesn't he starve todeath?"
Grandfather Frog had to smile at the eager curiosity in Peter's voice."I see you are just as full of questions as ever, Peter," said he. "Isuppose I may as well tell you one more story, because it will be a longtime before you will get another from me. Johnny Chuck sleeps all winterbecause he is sensible, and he is sensible because it runs in the familyto be sensible. His great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather was sensible.It's a very good thing to have good sound common sense run in thefamily, Peter."
Once more Peter nodded his head. Jerry Muskrat, who was sitting on theBig Rock, listening, winked at Peter, and Peter winked back. Then hemade himself comfortable and prepared not to miss a word of GrandfatherFrog's story.
"You must know, Peter, that a long time ago when the world was young,there was a time when there was no winter," began Grandfather Frog."That was before the hard times of which I have told you before.Everybody had plenty to eat, and everybody was on the best of terms withall his neighbors. Then came the hard times, and the beginning of thehard times was the coming of rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost.Their coming made the first winter. It wasn't a very long or a very hardwinter, but it was long enough and hard enough to make a great deal ofdiscomfort, particularly for those little people who lived altogether ontender young green plants. Yes, Sir, it certainly was hard on them. Someof them nearly starved to death that first winter, short as it was. OldMr. Chuck, who, of course, wasn't old then, was one of them. By the timethe tender, young, green things began to grow again, he was just ashadow of what he used to be. He was so thin that sometimes he used tolisten to see if he couldn't hear his bones rattle inside his skin.
"Of course he couldn't, but he was quite sure that when the wind blew,it went right through him. At last warm weather returned, just as itdoes now every summer, and once more there was plenty to eat. Some ofthe little people seemed to forget all about the hard times of the coldweather, but not Mr. Chuck. He had been too cold and too hungry to everforget. Of course, with plenty to eat, he soon grew fat and comfortableagain, but all the time he kept thinking about the terrible visit ofrough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost and wondering if they would comeagain. He talked about it with his neighbors but most of them laughedand told him that he was borrowing trouble, and that they didn'tbelieve that Brother North Wind and Jack Frost ever would come again.
"So after a while Mr. Chuck kept his thoughts to himself and went abouthis business as usual. But all the time he was turning over and over inhis mind the possibility of another period of cold and starvation andtrying to think of some way to prepare for it. He didn't once think ofgoing to Old Mother Nature and begging her to take care of him, for hewas very independent, was Mr. Chuck, and believed that those are besthelped who help themselves. So he kept studying and studying how hecould live through another cold spell, if it should come.
"'I haven't got as thick a fur coat as Mr. Mink or Mr. Otter or Mr.Squirrel or some others, and I can't run around as fast as they can, soof course I can't keep as warm,' said he to himself, as he sat taking asun-bath one day. 'I must find some other way of keeping warm. Now Idon't believe the cold can get very deep down in the ground, so if Ibuild me a house way down deep in the ground, it always will becomfortable. Anyway, it never will be very cold. I believe that is agood idea. I'll try it at once.'
"So without wasting any time, Mr. Chuck began to dig. He dug and he dugand he dug. When his neighbors grew curious and asked questions, hesmiled good-naturedly and said that he was trying an experiment. When hehad made a long hall which went down so deep that he was quite sure thatJack Frost could not get down there, he made a bedroom and put in it abed of soft grass. When it was finished, he was so pleased with it thathe retired to it every night as soon as the sun went down and didn'tcome out again until morning.
"'Anyway, I won't freeze to death,' said he. Then he sighed as heremembered how hungry, how terribly hungry he had been. 'Now if only Ican think of some way to get food enough to carry me through, I'll beall right.'
"At first he thought of storing up food, but when he tried that, he soonfound that the tender green things on which he lived wouldn't keep. Theyshriveled and dried, so that he couldn't eat them at all. He was stilltrying to think of some plan when Old Mother Nature sent warning thatrough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost were coming again. Mr. Chuck'sheart sank. He thought of how soon all the tender green things woulddisappear. Right then an idea was born in Mr. Chuck's head. He would eatall he could while he could, and then he would go down into his bedroomand sleep just as long as he could!
"So day after day he spent stuffing himself, and his neighbors calledhim Mr. Greedy. But he didn't mind that. He kept right on eating, and ofcourse he grew fatter and fatter, so that at last he was so fat he couldhardly get about. The days grew cooler and cooler, and then Mr. Chucknoticed that because he was so fat, he didn't feel the cold as he hadbefore. There came a morning at last when Mr. Chuck stuck his nose outto find Jack Frost waiting to pinch it. All the tender green things wereblack and dead. Back to his bed scrambled Mr. Chuck and curled up tosleep just as long as he could. He made up his mind that he wouldn'tworry until he had to. He had done his best, and that was all he coulddo.
"When Old Mother Nature came to see how the little people were faring,she missed Mr. Chuck. She asked his neighbors what had become of him,but no
one knew. At length she came to his house and looking insidefound him fast asleep. She saw right away what he had done and how fathe had grown. She knew without being told what it all meant, and theidea amused her. Instead of wakening him, as she had at first intendedto do, she touched Mr. Chuck and put him into a deeper sleep, saying:
"'You shall sleep, Mr. Chuck, Through the time of frost and snow. For your courage and your pluck You shall no discomfort know.'
"And so Mr. Chuck slept on until the tender young green things beganonce more to grow. The cold could not reach him, and the fat he hadstored under his skin took the place of food. When he awoke in thespring, he knew nothing of the hard times his neighbors were talkingabout. And ever since then the Chuck family has slept through thewinter, because it is the most comfortable and sensible thing to do. Iknow, because I have done the same thing for years. Good-by, PeterRabbit! No more stories until spring."
Before Peter could say a word, there was a splash in the Smiling Pool,and Grandfather Frog was nowhere to be seen.
"I--I don't see how they do it," said Peter, shaking his head in apuzzled way as he slowly hopped towards the dear Old Briar-patch.
XII
HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE