Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories

ondered about it, and tried to understand it, and even had asked Unc' Billy about it. Unc' Billy had just grinned and said that they would have to ask his mammy. Of course they couldn't do t

d it, he chuckled until they chuckled too, jus

Johnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk. The more they talked about it, the more they wanted to know. Why was it that Unc' Billy Possum played dead instead of tr

eter gravely, as he pulled thou

asserted Johnny Chuck, chewin

added Striped Chipmunk, combing out

andfather Frog kno

we think of him before?

the Smiling Pool

he knew that he could not keep up with the others. Besides he was so fat that to run made him puff and blow. Grandfather Frog sat just

to know now?" he demanded, before

know why it is that Unc' Billy Possum plays d

led. "Just to fool peo

t we want to know is how he ever found out that he could foo

" said Grandfather Frog, with another

s mammy?" persiste

ucked away inside his white and yellow waistcoat, he turned once more to

the sooner I tell it to you, the sooner you will leave me in pea

days when the world was

I have any more interruptions, there wi

ongue right between his teeth until Grandfather Frog was t

er than to stuff himself so full that he couldn't run. He was always very sly, and he played a great many tricks on his neighbors, and som

ay. And when you see Mischief trotting along the Lone Little Path, if you look sharp enough, you'll see Trouble follow

it. But Peter pretended not to notice, and after slowly winking one

to help Old King Bear hunt for his lost breakfast. Then, whenever Old King Bear came near the place where it was hidden, old Mr. Possum would hide it somewhere else. Old King Bear was hungry, and he worked himself up into a terrible rage, for he was in a hurry for his breakfast. Old Mr. Possum was very sympathetic and seemed t

et Mr. Panther. He was very polite to Mr. Panther. He told him that he had just come from a call on Old King Bear, and hinte

t that morning. So he thanked old Mr. Possum and hurried away to find O

he had told Mr. Panther, and Mr. Lynx went bounding off in a terrible hurry, for fear that he would not be in time to share in that good breakfast. It was such a good joke that old Mr. Possum tried it on Mr. Wolf and

s, and all very polite to Old King Bear. At first he didn't know what to make of it, but pretty soon Mr. Fox delicately hinted that they had come in response to the invitation sent by Mr. Possum, and that as they were all v

y, they would like to know w

. He was too frightened to run, so he scrambled up a tree. He quite forgot that Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynx could climb just as fast as he. Up the tree after him they scrambled, and he crept as far out as he could get on one of the branches

. When he got his breath again, he still kept his eyes closed, for he couldn't bear the thought of looking at the cruel teeth and claws o

Mr. Panther,' said he. 'You just knocked the lif

ime Mr. Possum lay just as if he were dead, because he was too frightened to move. 'I didn't

warning to others,'

the way he had made everybody think that he was dead. And then a bright idea struck him: he would try the same trick whenever he was caught. So the next time he got in trouble, instead of running away, he tried playing dead. It was such a success that he taught his children ho

hnny Chuck and Striped Chipmunk, and s