Now, strange to say, no one laughed at Peter, queer as the story sounded. You see, they all remembered how they had laughed at him and made fun of him when he told about the great footprints he had found deep in the Green Forest, and how later it had been proven that he really did see them, for they were made by Buster Bear who had come down from the Great Woods to live in the Green Forest. Then it had been Peter"s turn to laugh at them. So now, impossible as this new story sounded, they didn"t dare laugh at it.
"I never heard of such a creature," said Jimmy Skunk, "and I can"t quite believe that there is such a one, but it is very clear to me that Peter has seen something strange. You know the old saying that he laughs best who laughs last, and I"m not going to give Peter another chance to have the last laugh and say, "I told you so.""
"That is very true," replied Old Mr. Toad solemnly. "Probably Peter has seen something out of the ordinary, and in his excitement he has exaggerated it. The thing to do is to make sure whether or not there is a stranger in the Green Forest. Peter says that it came down the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky the Porcupine lives. Some one ought to go ask him what he knows about it. If there is such a terrible creature up there, he ought to have seen it. Why don"t you go up there and ask him, Jimmy Skunk? You"re not afraid of anybody or anything."
"I will," replied Jimmy promptly, and off he started. You see, he felt very much flattered by Old Mr. Toad"s remark, and he couldn"t very well refuse, for that would look as if he were afraid, after all.
VII
JIMMY SKUNK CALLS ON p.r.i.c.kLY PORKY
"A plague upon Old Mr. Toad!" grumbled Jimmy, as he ambled up the Lone Little Path through the Green Forest on his way to the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives. "Of course I"m not afraid, but just the same I don"t like meddling with things I don"t know anything about. I"m not afraid of anybody I know of, because everybody has the greatest respect for me, but it might be different with a creature without legs or head or tail. Whoever heard of such a thing? It gives me a queer feeling inside."
However, he kept right on, and as he reached the foot of the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives, he looked sharply in every direction and listened with all his might for strange sounds. But there was nothing unusual to be seen. The Green Forest looked just as it always did. It was very still and quiet there save for the cheerful voice of Redeye the Vireo telling over and over how happy he was.
"That doesn"t sound as if there were any terrible stranger around here," muttered Jimmy.
Then he heard a queer, grunting sound, a very queer sound, that seemed to come from somewhere on the top of the hill. Jimmy grinned as he listened. "That"s p.r.i.c.kly Porky telling himself how good his dinner tastes," laughed Jimmy. "Funny how some people do like to hear their own voices."
The contented sound of p.r.i.c.kly Porky"s voice made Jimmy feel very sure that there could be nothing very terrible about just then, anyway, and so he slowly ambled up the hill, for you know he never hurries. It was an easy matter to find the tree in which p.r.i.c.kly Porky was at work stripping off bark and eating it, because he made so much noise.
"h.e.l.lo!" said Jimmy Skunk.
p.r.i.c.kly Porky took no notice. He was so busy eating, and making so much noise about it, that he didn"t hear Jimmy at all.
"h.e.l.lo!" shouted Jimmy a little louder. "h.e.l.lo, there! Are you deaf?"
Of course this wasn"t polite at all, but Jimmy was feeling a little out of sorts because he had had to make this call. This time p.r.i.c.kly Porky looked down.
"h.e.l.lo yourself, and see how you like it, Jimmy Skunk!" he cried.
"Come on up and have some of this nice bark with me." Then p.r.i.c.kly Porky laughed at his own joke, for he knew perfectly well that Jimmy couldn"t climb, and that he wouldn"t eat bark if he could.
Jimmy made a face at him. "Thank you, I"ve just dined. Come down here where I can talk to you without straining my voice," he replied.
"Wait until I get another bite," replied p.r.i.c.kly Porky, stripping off a long piece of bark. Then with this to chew on, he came half way down the tree and made himself comfortable on a big limb. "Now, what is it you"ve got on your mind?" he demanded.
At once Jimmy told him the queer story Peter Rabbit had told. "I"ve been sent up here to find out if you have seen this legless, headless, tailess creature. Have you?" he concluded.
p.r.i.c.kly Porky slowly shook his head. "No," said he. "I"ve been right here all the time, and I haven"t seen any such creature."
"That"s all I want to know," replied Jimmy. "Peter Rabbit"s got something the matter with his eyes, and I"m going straight back to the Old Briar-patch to tell him so. Much obliged." With that Jimmy started back the way he had come, grumbling to himself.
VIII
p.r.i.c.kLY PORKY NEARLY CHOKES
Hardly was Jimmy Skunk beyond sight and hearing after having made his call than Redeye the Vireo, whose home is in a tree just at the foot of the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives, heard a very strange noise. He was very busy, was Redeye, telling all who would listen how happy he was and what a beautiful world this is. Redeye seems to think that this is his special mission in life, that he was put in the Green Forest for this one special purpose,--to sing all day long, even in the hottest weather when other birds forget to sing, his little song of gladness and happiness. It never seems to enter his head that he is making other people happy just by being happy himself and saying so.
At first he hardly noticed the strange noise, but when he stopped singing for a bit of a rest, he heard it very plainly, and it sounded so very queer that he flew up the hill towards the place from which it seemed to come, and there his bright eyes soon discovered p.r.i.c.kly Porky. Right away he saw that p.r.i.c.kly Porky was in some kind of trouble, and that it was he who was making the queer noise. p.r.i.c.kly Porky was on the ground at the foot of a tree, and he was rolling over and kicking and clawing at his mouth, from which a little piece of bark was hanging. It was such a strange performance that Redeye simply stared for a minute. Then in a flash it came to him what it meant.
p.r.i.c.kly Porky was choking, and if something wasn"t done to help him, he might choke to death!
Now there was nothing that Redeye himself could do to help, for he was too small. He must get help somewhere else, and he must do it quickly.
Anxiously he looked this way and that way, but there was no one in sight. Then he remembered that Unc" Billy Possum"s hollow tree was not far away. Perhaps Unc" Billy could help. He hoped that Unc" Billy was at home, and he wasted no time in finding out. Unc" Billy was at home, and when he heard that his old friend p.r.i.c.kly Porky was in trouble, he hurried up the hill as fast as ever he could. He saw right away what was the trouble.
"Yo" keep still just a minute, Brer Porky!" he commanded, for he did not dare go very near while p.r.i.c.kly Porky was rolling and kicking around so, for fear that he would get against some of the thousand little spears p.r.i.c.kly Porky carries hidden in his coat. p.r.i.c.kly Porky did as he was told. Indeed, he was so weak from his long struggle that he was glad to. Unc" Billy caught hold of the piece of bark hanging from p.r.i.c.kly Porky"s mouth. Then he braced himself and pulled with all his might. For a minute the piece of bark held. Then it gave way so suddenly that Unc" Billy fell over flat on his back. Unc" Billy scrambled to his feet and looked reprovingly at p.r.i.c.kly Porky, who lay panting for breath, and with big tears rolling down his face.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Then he braced himself and pulled with all his might.
_Page 30._]
"Ah cert"nly am surprised, Brer Porky; Ah cert"nly am surprised that yo" should be so greedy that yo" choke yo"self," said Unc" Billy, shaking his head.
p.r.i.c.kly Porky grinned weakly and rather foolishly. "It wasn"t greed, Unc" Billy. It wasn"t greed at all," he replied.
"Then what was it, may Ah ask?" demanded Unc" Billy severely.
"I thought of something funny right in the middle of my meal, and I laughed just as I started to swallow, and the piece of bark went down the wrong way," explained p.r.i.c.kly Porky. And then, as if the mere thought of the thing that had made him laugh before was too much for him, he began to laugh again. He laughed and laughed and laughed, until finally Unc" Billy quite lost patience.
"Yo" cert"nly have lost your manners, Brer Porky!" he snapped.
p.r.i.c.kly Porky wiped the tears from his eyes. "Come closer so that I can whisper, Unc" Billy," said he.
A little bit suspiciously Unc" Billy came near enough for p.r.i.c.kly Porky to whisper, and when he had finished, Unc" Billy was wiping tears of laughter from his own eyes.
IX
JIMMY SKUNK AND UNC" BILLY POSSUM TELL DIFFERENT STORIES
The little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest didn"t know what to believe. First came Peter Rabbit with the strangest kind of a story about being chased by a terrible creature without legs, head, or tail. He said that it had come down the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky the Porcupine lives in the Green Forest. Jimmy Skunk had been sent to call on p.r.i.c.kly Porky and ask him if he had seen any strange creature such as Peter Rabbit had told about. p.r.i.c.kly Porky had said that he hadn"t seen any stranger in that part of the Green Forest, and Jimmy had straightway returned to the Green Meadows and told all his friends there that Peter Rabbit must have had something the matter with his eyes or else was crazy, for p.r.i.c.kly Porky hadn"t been away from home and yet had seen nothing unusual.
At the same time Unc" Billy Possum was going about in the Green Forest telling everybody whom he met that he had called on p.r.i.c.kly Porky, and that p.r.i.c.kly Porky had told him that Peter Rabbit undoubtedly had seen something strange. Of course Jimmy Skunk"s story soon spread through the Green Forest, and Unc" Billy Possum"s story soon spread over the Green Meadows, and so n.o.body knew what to believe or think. If Jimmy Skunk was right, why Peter Rabbit"s queer story wasn"t to be believed at all. If Unc" Billy was right, why Peter"s story wasn"t as crazy as it sounded.
Of course all this aroused a great deal of talk and curiosity, and those who had the most courage began to make visits to the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives to see if they could see for themselves anything out of the ordinary. But they always found that part of the Green Forest just as usual and always, if they saw p.r.i.c.kly Porky at all, he seemed to be fast asleep, and no one liked to wake him to ask questions. Little by little they began to think that Jimmy Skunk was right, and that Peter Rabbit"s terrible creature existed only in Peter"s imagination.
About this time Unc" Billy told of having just such an experience as Peter had. It happened exactly as it did with Peter, very early in the morning, when he was pa.s.sing the foot of the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives.
"Ah was just pa.s.sing along, minding mah own business, when Ah heard a noise up on the hill behind me," said Unc" Billy, "and when Ah looked up, there was something coming straight down at me, and Ah couldn"t see any legs or head or tail."
"What did you do, Unc" Billy?" asked Bobby c.o.o.n.