Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories

  VI

  WHY SAMMY JAY HAS A FINE COAT

  Sammy Jay has a very fine coat, a very beautiful coat. Everybody knowsthat. In fact, Sammy's coat has long been the envy of a great many ofhis neighbors in the Green Forest. Some of them, you know, have verymodest coats. They are not beautiful at all. And yet the owners ofsome of these plain coats are among the most honest and hard-workingof all the little people who live in the Green Forest. They find ithard, very hard indeed, to understand why such a scamp andmischiefmaker as Sammy Jay should be given such a wonderful blue coatwith white trimmings.

  Peter Rabbit often had thought about it. He has a number of featheredfriends whom he likes ever so much better than he does Sammy Jay. Infact, he and Sammy are forever falling out, because Sammy delights totease Peter. He sometimes makes up for it by warning Peter when Grannyor Reddy Fox happens to be about, and Peter is honest enough torecognize this and put it to Sammy's credit. But in spite of this, itnever seemed to him quite right that Sammy Jay should be so handsomelydressed.

  "Of course," said Peter to Grandfather Frog, "Old Mother Nature knowsa great deal more than I do--"

  "Really! You don't mean to say so! Chug-a-rum! You don't mean to sayso, Peter!" interrupted Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very muchsurprised at what Peter said.

  "You don't mean to say so, Peter," interruptedGrandfather Frog.]

  Peter grinned and wrinkled his nose at Grandfather Frog.

  "Yes," said he, "Old Mother Nature knows a great deal more than I do,but it seems to me as if she had made a mistake in giving Sammy Jaysuch a handsome coat. There must be a reason, I suppose, but for thelife of me I cannot understand it. I should think that she would givesuch a thief as Sammy Jay the very homeliest suit she could find. Youmay depend I would, if I were in her place."

  Grandfather Frog chuckled until he shook all over.

  "It's lucky for some of us that you are not in her place!" said he."Chug-a-rum! It certainly is lucky!"

  "If I were, I would give you a handsome coat, too, Grandfather Frog,"replied Peter.

  Grandfather Frog suddenly swelled out with indignation. "Chug-a-rum!Chug-a-rum! What's the matter with the coat I have got, Peter Rabbit?Tell me that! Who's got a handsomer one?" Grandfather Frog glared withhis great, goggly eyes at Peter.

  "I didn't mean to say that you haven't got a handsome coat. Your coat_is_ handsome, very handsome indeed, Grandfather Frog," Peter hastenedto say. "I always did like green. I just love it! And I should thinkyou would be ever so proud of your white and yellow waistcoat. I wouldif it were mine. What I meant to say is, that if I were in Old MotherNature's place, I would give some plain folks handsome suits.Certainly, I wouldn't give such a rascal as Sammy Jay one of thehandsomest coats in all the Green Forest. Knowing Sammy as well as Ido, it is hard work to believe that he came by it honestly."

  Grandfather Frog chuckled way down deep in his throat.

  "Sammy came by it honestly enough, Peter. Yes, Sir, he came by ithonestly enough, because it was handed down to him by his father, whogot it from his father, who got it from his father, and so on, wayback to the days when the world was young, but--" Grandfather Frogpaused, and that dreamy, far-away look which Peter had seen so oftencame into his great, goggly eyes.

  "But what, Grandfather Frog?" asked Peter eagerly, when he could keepstill no longer.

  Grandfather Frog settled himself comfortably on his big green lily-padand looked very hard at Peter.

  "I'm going to tell you a story, Peter Rabbit," said he, "so that neveragain will you be led to doubt that Old Mother Nature knows exactlywhat she is about. In the first place, Sammy Jay is not wholly toblame for all his bad habits. Some of them were handed down to himwith his fine coat, just the same as your troublesome curiosity washanded down to you with the white patch on the seat of your trousers."

  Peter nodded. He had felt a great many times that he just couldn'thelp this habit of poking that wobbly little nose of his in where ithad no business to be, any more than he could change that funny littlebunch of white cotton, which he called a tail, for a really, trulytail.

  "Of course, you have heard all about what a very fine gentleman SammyJay's great-great-ever-so-great grandfather was thought to be until itwas discovered that he was all the time stealing from his neighborsand putting the blame on others, and how Old Mother Nature punishedhim by taking away the beautiful voice of which he was so proud, andgiving him instead the harsh voice which Sammy has now, and making himtell just what he is by screaming 'thief, thief, thief!' every time heopens his mouth to speak.

  "At first Old Mother Nature had intended to take away the fine coat ofwhich Mr. Jay was so proud, but when he discovered that he had losthis fine voice, he was so ashamed that he hurried away to hide himselffrom the eyes of his neighbors, so that Old Mother Nature didn't havetime to change his coat just then.

  'I'll wait a bit,' said she to herself, 'and see how he behaves.Perhaps he is truly sorry for what he has done, and I will not have topunish him more.'

  "But if Mr. Jay was truly sorry, he gave no signs of it. You see, hehad cheated his neighbors, and had stolen from them for so long, thathe found this the easiest way to get a living. His bad habits hadbecome fixed, as bad habits have a way of doing. Besides, right downin his heart, he wasn't sorry for what he had done, only angry athaving been found out. Now that he had been found out, of course everyone was on the watch for him, and it wasn't so easy to steal as it hadbeen before. So now, instead of going about openly, with his head heldhigh, he grew very crafty, and sneaked quietly about through the GreenForest, trying to keep out of sight, that he might the easier stealfrom his neighbors and make trouble for them.

  "When Old Mother Nature saw this, she changed her mind about takingaway his handsome suit. 'If I do that,' thought she, 'it will make itall the easier for him to keep out of sight, and all the harder forhis neighbors to know when he is about.'

  "So instead of giving him the plain, homely suit that she had thoughtof giving him, she made his coat of blue brighter than before andtrimmed it with the whitest of white trimmings, so that Mr. Jay hadone of the very handsomest coats in all the Green Forest. At first hewas very proud of it, but it wasn't long before he found that it wasvery hard work to keep out of sight when he wanted to. That brightblue coat was forever giving him away when he was out on mischief.Everybody was all the time on the watch for it, and so where in thepast Mr. Jay had been able, without any trouble, to steal all hewanted to eat, now he sometimes actually had to work for his food, andget it honestly or else go hungry.

  "You would suppose that he would have mended him ways, wouldn't you?"

  Peter nodded.

  "But he didn't. He grew more sly and crafty than ever. But in spite ofthis, he didn't begin to make as much trouble as before. He couldn't,you know, because of his bright coat. When Old Mother Nature foundthat Mr. Jay had passed along his bad habits to his children, shepassed along his handsome blue coat, too, and so it has been from thatlong-ago day right down to this. Sammy Jay's fine coat isn't a rewardfor goodness, as is Winsome Bluebird's, but is to help the otherlittle people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows to protectthemselves, and keep track of Sammy when he is sneaking and snoopingaround looking for mischief. Now what do you think, Peter Rabbit?"

  Peter scratched one long ear and then the other long ear thoughtfully,and he looked a wee bit ashamed as he replied: "I guess Old MotherNature makes no mistakes and always knows just what she is doing."

  "Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog in his deepest voice. "You may besure she does. And another thing, Peter Rabbit: Never judge any one byhis clothes. It is a great mistake, a very great mistake. Plainclothes sometimes cover the kindest hearts, and fine clothes often area warning to beware of mischief."

  "I--I don't know but you are right," admitted Peter.

  "I know I am," said Grandfather Frog.