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Adventures of Peter Cottontail (version 2)

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<h2> XVI. REDDY FOX TELLS A WRONG STORY </h2> REDDY FOX was a sight! There was no doubt about that. When he started down on to the Green Meadows that morning he limped like an old, old man. Yes indeed, Reddy was a sorry looking sight. His head was swelled so that one eye was closed, and he could hardly see out of the other. Reddy never would have ventured out but that he just had to have some fresh mud from the Smiling Pool. Reddy had waited until most of the little meadow people were out of the way. Then he had tried to hurry so as to get back again as quickly as possible. But Johnny Chuck's sharp eyes had spied Reddy, and Johnny had guessed right away what the trouble was. He hurried over to tell Peter Rabbit. Then the two little scalawags hunted up Jimmy Skunk and Bobby Coon to tell them, and the four hid near the Lone Little Path to wait for Reddy's return. Pretty soon Reddy came limping along. Even Johnny Chuck was surprised at the way Reddy's face had swelled. It was plastered all over with mud, and he was a sorry sight indeed. Bobby Coon appeared very much astonished to see Reddy in such condition, though of course Johnny Chuck had told him all about how Reddy had run head first into the home of old Mrs. Hornet and her family the day before. Bobby stepped out in the Lone Little Path. "Why, Reddy Fox, what has happened to you?" he exclaimed. Reddy didn't see the others hiding in the long grass. He didn't want Bobby Coon to know that he had been so careless as to run his head into a hornets' nest, so he told a wrong story. He put on a long face. That is, it was as long as he could make it, considering that it was so swelled. "I've had a most terrible accident, Bobby Coon," said Reddy, sighing pitifully. "It happened yesterday as I was returning from an errand over beyond the hill. Just as I was coming through the deepest part of the wood I heard some one crying. Of course I stopped to find out what the matter was." "Of course!" interrupted Bobby Coon. "Certainly! To be sure! Of course!" Reddy looked at him suspiciously, but went on with his tale. "Right down in the thickest, blackest place I found one of Unc' Billy Possum's children being worried to death by Digger the Badger. I couldn't see that little Possum hurt." "Of course not!" broke in Bobby Coon. "So I jumped in and tackled old man Badger, and I had him almost whipped, when I slipped over the edge of a big rock on the side of the hill. It took the skin off my face and bruised me something terrible. But I don't care, so long as I saved that little Possum child," concluded Reddy, as he started on. Johnny Chuck stole up behind him and thrust a sharp brier into the seat of Reddy's pants. At the same time Johnny made a noise like a whole family of hornets. Reddy Fox forgot his limp. He never even turned his head to look behind. Instead, he started off at his best speed, and it wasn't until he heard a roar of laughter behind him that he realized that he had been fooled again. <hr /> <h2> XVII. REDDY ALMOST GETS PETER RABBIT </h2> REDDY FOX really was almost ill from the effects of the stings which old Mrs. Hornet and her family had given him when he knocked in the side of their house. For several days he limped around, his head badly swollen. Yes, Sir, Reddy Fox was in a dreadful bad way. The worst of it was that none of the other little meadow and forest people seemed to be the least bit sorry for him. Some of them actually laughed at him. Peter Rabbit did. Reddy Fox had made life very uncomfortable for Peter for a long time, and now Peter was actually enjoying Reddy's discomfort. Now, while he was laid up this way, Reddy had plenty of time to think. He noticed that when he went out to walk, all those who kept at a safe distance when he was well now hardly got out of his way. They knew that he felt too sore and mean to try to catch them. Peter Rabbit hardly turned out of his path. A bright idea came to Reddy. He would continue to appear to feel badly, even after he was well. He would keep his head bound up and would limp down to the Smiling Pool for some mud every day. Then, when Peter Rabbit came near enough, Reddy would catch him. So day after day Reddy limped down to the Smiling Pool. He kept his head tied up as if it was as bad as ever, and as he walked, he groaned as if in great pain. Even some of those who hated him most began to feel a little bit sorry for Reddy Fox. Peter has a very soft heart, and although he knew that Reddy Fox would like nothing better than to gobble him up, he began to feel sorry for Reddy. One morning Peter sat just outside the Old Briar-patch, when Reddy came limping along. He looked more miserable than usual. Just as it had been for several days, one of Reddy's eyes was closed. "It must be hard work to see with only one eye," said Peter Rabbit. "It is," replied Reddy, with a great sigh. "It is very hard work, indeed." "I don't see how you manage to get enough to eat," continued Peter, in his most sympathetic voice. Reddy sighed again. "I don't, Peter Rabbit. I don't get enough to eat, and I'm nearly starved this very minute." When he said this such a note of longing crept into his voice that Peter instantly grew suspicious. While he was sorry for Reddy, he had no desire to make Reddy feel better by furnishing himself for a meal. Peter hopped around to the blind side of Reddy and turned his back to him, as he inquired for the health of old Granny Fox. Now, you know that Peter's eyes are so placed in his head that he can see behind him without turning his head. Reddy Fox did not know this, or if he did he had forgotten it. Very slowly and craftily the closed eye opened a wee bit, and in that line of yellow was a hungry look. Peter Rabbit saw it and with a great jump landed behind a friendly bramble bush in the Old Briar-patch. "Ha! ha!" shouted Peter, "I'd rather talk with you, Reddy Fox, when you haven't got a closed eye with such a hungry look in it. Ta, ta!" Reddy Fox just shook his fist at Peter Rabbit, and started off home, pulling the bandage from his head as he went. <hr /> <h2> XVIII. JOHNNY CHUCK PREPARES FOR WINTER </h2> THERE was something in the air that Peter Rabbit couldn't understand. It made him feel frisky and happy and ready to run a race or have a frolic with any one who might happen along. He couldn't understand why it didn't make all his friends and neighbors on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest feel the same way. But it didn't. No, Sir, it didn't. Some of those with whom he best liked to play wouldn't play at all, not even for a few minutes; said they hadn't time. Peter was puzzling over it as he scampered down the Lone Little Path, kicking his heels and trying to jump over his own shadow. Just ahead of him, sitting on his own door-step, sat Johnny Chuck. "My goodness, how fat Johnny Chuck is getting!" thought Peter Rabbit. Then he shouted: "Come on and play hide and seek, Johnny Chuck!" But Johnny Chuck shook his head. "Can't!" said he. "I've got to get ready for winter." Peter Rabbit sat down and looked at Johnny Chuck curiously. He couldn't understand why anybody should take the trouble to get ready for winter. He didn't, excepting that he put on a warmer coat. So he couldn't imagine why Johnny Chuck should have to get ready for winter. "How do you do it?" he asked. "Do what?" Johnny Chuck looked up in surprise. "Why, get ready for winter, of course," Peter replied, just a wee bit impatiently. Johnny Chuck looked at Peter as if he thought Peter very stupid indeed. "Why, I eat, of course," said he shortly, and began to stuff himself as if he hadn't had anything to eat for a week, when all the time he was so fat and roly-poly that he could hardly waddle. Peter's eyes twinkled. "I should think you did!" he exclaimed. "I wouldn't mind getting ready for winter that way myself." You know Peter thinks a very great deal of his stomach. Then he added: "I should think you were trying to eat enough to last you all winter." Johnny Chuck yawned sleepily and then once more began to eat. "I am," he said briefly, talking with his mouth full. "What's that?" cried Peter Rabbit, his big eyes popping out. "I said I'm trying to eat enough to last me all winter! That's the way I get ready for winter," replied Johnny Chuck, just a wee bit crossly. "I think I've got enough now," he added. "How cool it is getting! I think I'll go down and go to sleep. I'll see you in the spring, Peter Rabbit." "Wha—what's that?" exclaimed Peter Rabbit, looking as if he thought he hadn't heard aright. But Johnny Chuck had disappeared inside his house. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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