Brownie Beaver left his place in the parade and hurried forward, because he knew more about handling logs than anybody else there. But before he could get his coat off, Jimmy Rabbit called him one side and whispered to him. And then Jimmy whispered to everybody else. And the parade disbanded. Then everybody crowded around Peter Mink.
"What is it you want?" Jimmy Rabbit asked Peter.
"Want?" Peter Mink screamed. "Are you blind? Can"t you see this great log on top of me? Can"t you get it off? What are you waiting for?"
"Ah!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "We are waiting for just one thing. And we haven"t heard it yet."
"Heard it?" Peter Mink snarled. "Aren"t your ears big enough to hear everything?"
"We"re going to teach you something," said Jimmy. "And until you"ve learned the lesson, we"re going to leave you right where you are."
You should have heard Peter Mink then--or rather, you"re lucky you _didn"t_ hear him. For the way he went on was something dreadful. But until Jimmy Rabbit heard what he was waiting for, he wouldn"t let anyone roll the log off Peter.
Finally it grew so late that some of the paraders said they would have to be going home pretty soon. And then Billy Woodchuck remarked that he didn"t believe Peter Mink had the least idea what they were waiting for.
"I think we ought to tell him," Billy said.
So Jimmy Rabbit told Peter what it was.
"I don"t know what it means," said Peter.
"Well--say it, anyhow!" Jimmy Rabbit ordered. "And after this, whenever you want anybody to do anything for you, don"t forget to say it! It wouldn"t do you a bit of harm to practice saying it every day, for a while, until you get used to it."
Peter Mink looked as if he would have liked to do something to Jimmy Rabbit. And for a long time he refused to obey. But when Brownie Beaver said that he simply _must_ go home, because it was so late, Peter Mink said what Jimmy had been waiting for.
It was "Please!"
And no doubt you guessed it long ago.
GOOD NEWS ABOUT PETER
"Yes! They say he has at last decided to go to work," Mrs. Rabbit was saying to Billy Woodchuck"s mother.
"It"s the best news I"ve heard in a long while," Mrs. Woodchuck remarked. "And I hope he"ll be so busy that he won"t have time to come around here and get our sons into any more mischief."
"Have you learned what his work is going to be?" Mrs. Rabbit inquired.
But Mrs. Woodchuck said she didn"t know that. She only knew that Peter Mink was going to turn over a new leaf and do some sort of honest work.
Now, Peter Mink had a plan. And he hadn"t told any one exactly what it was.
The Grouse boys and the Woodchuck brothers gave a concert that very night. You see, Mr. Fox had taught them to make music like a fife-and-drum corps--the Grouse boys drummed and the Woodchuck brothers whistled. And whenever they gave a concert, almost everybody went to it.
Well, when the forest-people reached the hollow where the concert was to be given, there was Peter Mink, all smiles. He stepped up to each newcomer and said:
"Check your hat and coat?"
Some of the forest-people didn"t know what he meant, until Peter explained to them that he would take care of hats, coats, umbrellas, walking-sticks, or anything else that anybody might like to leave with him during the concert.
"How are you going to find my hat, if I leave it with you?" Mr. Rabbit asked.
Peter Mink showed him a heap of oak leaves.
"I"ll tear one of these in two," he said, "give you half of it, and stick the other half inside your hatband. When the concert is over and you come away, all you have to do is to hand me your half of the oak leaf and I"ll see which piece matches it among those that I have kept.
And the hat in which the other half happens to be stuck must be your hat. Do you understand? It"s quite simple," Peter said.
Mr. Rabbit said that he understood, and that it was a good idea, too.
But he thought he"d keep his hat with him.
Then his wife said to him in a low voice that he ought to do whatever he could to help Peter Mink.
"Now that Peter has gone to work," she told her husband, "everyone ought to encourage him. And I want you to leave your hat with him. I"ll have him check my spectacles, as he calls it," Mrs. Rabbit added, "for I shall not need them. I can hear exactly as well without them."
Mr. Rabbit always tried to please his wife. So he let Peter Mink check his hat. But he felt uncomfortable during the whole concert. It was a new hat. And he didn"t like the thought of losing it.
That same thing happened in a good many families. Most of the gentlemen said that Peter"s idea was a good one, but they thought they would wait till another time. And their wives generally persuaded them to let Peter Mink check something, just to help him along.
But Uncle Jerry Chuck refused to leave a single thing with Peter. He said he had had his hat for a great many years.
The music was not so good as usual that night. And when the fife-and-drum corps played "Pop! Goes the Weasel!"--which was their favorite tune, and the first they had ever learned--they had to stop in the middle of it three times, and begin again, because there were so many interruptions. People kept standing up in their seats and looking around to see if Peter Mink was still there. And almost everybody except Uncle Jerry Chuck seemed worried.
But Uncle Jerry had a fine time. You see, whenever the fifers and drummers had to stop, and begin again, Uncle Jerry felt he was getting more music. And he enjoyed it especially because he had found his ticket in the woods and didn"t have to pay for it. And on account of what happened when the concert was over, Uncle Jerry was even happier the next day.
UNCLE JERRY HELPS
The concert given by the Grouse boys and the Woodchuck brothers came to an end early. Billy Woodchuck, who was one of the fifers--because he was such a good whistler--made a short speech.
"We shall have to stop now," he said, "because so many people keep bobbing up and looking around that they make us nervous. Maybe the piece we just played didn"t sound quite right. So I want to explain that each of us was playing a different tune, we were so upset. And, of course, we can"t keep on." Then he made a low bow.
All at once there was a great rush toward the place where Peter Mink was waiting, with the hats and sticks, umbrellas and spectacles, coats and rubbers, and other things that he had checked for the people who came to the concert.
When Peter Mink saw everybody hurrying up all at the same time the smile faded from his face.
"Don"t crowd!" he begged them. "There"s something here for everybody."
He took the half oak leaf that Mr. Rabbit handed to him and hunted around until he found another half that seemed to match it. And since that other half was stuck in an old umbrella, he gave the umbrella to Mr. Rabbit.
"But I didn"t leave an umbrella with you. I left a hat!" Mr. Rabbit cried.
Peter Mink shook his head.
"You must be mistaken," he replied. "You said yourself my idea was a good one, you remember."