Green Meadow Stories - Thornton W. Burgess (best novels for students txt) 📗

her that he was an old friend of Peter Rabbit.

“If you are a friend of Peter, then you are a friend of mine.” said little Mrs. Peter very prettily. “Have you seen anybody in this tangle of vines since you arrived? I am sure some friends of mine are here, but I haven’t been able to find them.”

“No,” said the stranger, who was, of course, Mistah Mocker the Mockingbird. “I haven’t seen anyone here, and I don’t think there has been anyone here but myself.”

“Oh, yes, indeed there has!” cried little Mrs. Peter. “I heard their voices, and I couldn’t possibly be mistaken in those, especially the beautiful voice of Veery the Thrush, I⁠—I would like very much to find them.”

Mistah Mocker had the grace to look ashamed of himself when saw how disappointed little Mrs. Peter was. Very softly he began to sing the song of Veery the Thrush.

Little Mrs. Peter looked up quickly. “There it is!” she cried. “There”⁠—she stopped with her mouth gaping wide open. She suddenly realized that it was Mistah Mocker who was singing.

“I⁠—I’m very sorry,” he stammered. “I did it just for a joke and not to make you feel bad. Will you forgive me?”

“Yes,” replied little Mrs. Peter, “if you will come here often at shadow-time and sing to me.” And Mistah Mocker promised that he would.

XXVIII News from the Old Briar-Patch

To use your eyes is very wise
And much to be commended;
But never see what cannot be
For such as you intended.

Peter Rabbit

Jenny Wren is a busybody. Yes, sir, she certainly is a busybody. If there is anything going on in her neighborhood that she doesn’t know about, it isn’t because she doesn’t try to find out. She is so small and spry that it is hard work to keep track of her, and she pops out at the most unexpected times and places. Then, before you can say a word, she is gone.

And in all the Old Orchard or on the Green Meadows there is not to be found another tongue so busy as that of Jenny Wren. It is sharp sometimes, but when she wants it to be so there is none smoother. You see she is a great gossip, is Jenny Wren, a great gossip. But if you get on the right side of Jenny Wren and ask her to keep a secret, she’ll do it. No one knows how to keep a secret better than she does.

How it happened nobody knows, but it did happen that when Peter Rabbit came home to the clear Old Briar-patch, bringing Mrs. Peter with him, Jenny Wren didn’t hear about it. Probably it was because the new home which she had just completed was so carefully hidden that the messengers sent by Peter to invite all his friends to call didn’t find it, and afterward she was so busy with household affairs that she didn’t have time to gossip. Anyway, Peter had been back some time before Jenny Wren knew it. She was quite upset to think that she was the last to hear the news, but she consoled herself with the thought that she had been attending strictly to her duties, and now that her children were able to look out for themselves she could make up for lost time.

Just as soon as she could get away, she started for the Old Briar-patch. She wanted to hear all about Peter’s adventures in the Old Pasture and to meet Mrs. Peter. But like a great many other busybodies, she wanted to find out all she could about Peter’s affairs, and she thought that the surest way to do it was not to let Peter know that she was about until she had had a chance to use her sharp little eyes all she wanted to. So when she reached the Old Briar-patch, she didn’t make a sound. It didn’t take her long to find Peter. He was sitting under one of his favorite bramble-bushes smiling to himself. He smiled and smiled until Jenny Wren had to bite her tongue to keep from asking what was pleasing him so.

“He looks tickled almost to death over something, but very likely if I should ask him what it is he wouldn’t tell me,” thought Jenny Wren. “I guess I’ll look around a bit first. I wonder where Mrs. Peter is.”

So leaving Peter to smile to his heart’s content, she went peeking and peering through the Old Briar-patch. Of course it wasn’t a nice thing to do, not a bit nice. But Jenny Wren didn’t stop to think of that. By and by she saw something that made her flutter all over with excitement. She looked and looked until she could sit still no longer. Then she hurried back to where Peter was sitting. He was still smiling.

“Oh, Peter Rabbit, it’s perfectly lovely!” she cried.

Peter looked up quickly, and a worried look chased the smile away. “Hello, Jenny Wren! Where did you come from? I haven’t seen you since I got back,” said he.

“I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to call before,” replied Jenny. “I know what you’ve been smiling about, Peter, and it’s perfectly splendid. Has everybody heard the news?”

“No,” said Peter, “nobody knows it but you, and I don’t want anybody else to know it just yet. Will you keep it a secret, Jenny Wren?”

Now Jenny was just bursting with desire to spread the news, but Peter looked so anxious that finally she promised that she would keep it to herself, and she really meant to. But though Peter looked greatly relieved as he watched her start for home, he didn’t smile as he had before. “I wish her tongue didn’t wag so much,” said he.

XXIX Jimmy Skunk Visits Peter Rabbit

It’s hard to keep a secret which you fairly ache to tell;
So not to know such secrets is often quite as well.

Peter Rabbit

On her way home from the Old Briar-patch, Jenny Wren stopped to rest in a bush beside