Part 6 (1/2)

”I know,” retorted Peter with a grin. ”He got it from his father, who got it from his father, and so on way back to the days when the world was young.” Then, seeing a look of disappointment on Danny's face, and eager for a story as usual, he added: ”But I would like to know how such a tail as that came in the family.”

Danny brightened up at once. ”It's funny how things come about in this world,” he began. ”The great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Limberheels, the first one, you know, was quite an ordinary Mouse when Old Mother Nature made him and started him out to make his way in the Great World. He was little, one of the smallest of the family, and his tail was short, no longer than mine. His hind legs were like those of all his relatives. He ran about just as his relatives did. He was so small and kept out of sight so much that he didn't even have a name.

There was nothing about him to suggest a name.

”For a long time he was contented and happy. Then one day he happened to see Mr. Hare jump. It seemed to him the most wonderful thing in the world that any one should be able to jump like that. So he began to spend most of his spare time where he could watch Mr. Hare. One day Old Mother Nature happened along unseen by him, as he was watching Mr. Hare jump, and she overheard him say very, very wistfully, 'How I wish I could jump like that! I wish I had long hind legs like Mr. Hare.'

”Old Mother Nature's kindly eyes twinkled. 'That's easily arranged,'

said she. 'If you think long hind legs will be of more use to you than the ones you have, you shall have them.'

”The next morning when little Mr. Mouse awoke, he discovered that in the night something had happened to his hind legs. They were very long and strong, regular jumping legs like those of Mr. Hare. Of course he was in such a great hurry to try them that he couldn't wait for his breakfast.

He began by making little short hops, and in no time at all he was getting about splendidly. At last he got up his courage to try a long jump. Up in the air he shot, and then something happened. Yes, Sir, something happened. He couldn't kept his balance. He turned two or three somersaults and landed on his back.

”'I guess,' said he to himself, 'I've got to _learn_ to make long jumps.' So he kept trying and trying, but always with the same result--he never knew when, where, or how he was going to land. As long as he made short jumps he had no trouble, but every time he tried a long jump he lost his balance, and try as he would he couldn't discover why.

So at last he gave up trying and contented himself with short jumps.

Finally Old Mother Nature came that way again.

”'How do you like your long hind legs?' she asked.

”'Very much, thank you,' replied little Mr. Mouse politely.

”'Let me see you jump,' said Old Mother Nature.

”Little Mr. Mouse made half a dozen little jumps. They were not much more than hops. 'You don't call that jumping, do you?' laughed Old Mother Nature. 'With such long, strong legs as I've given you, you ought to be one of the best jumpers anywhere about. Now let me see you make a long jump.'

”Little Mr. Mouse tried his best to think of some excuse, but he couldn't. So he made a long jump, and the usual thing happened--he turned two or three somersaults and landed on his back. Old Mother Nature looked astonished. Then she laughed until she had to hold her sides. 'Do it again,' she commanded.

”With the most shamefaced air that you can imagine, little Mr. Mouse jumped again. Old Mother Nature watched him closely. 'Come here to me,'

said she as he scrambled to his feet after his tumble. 'It's all my fault,' said she kindly, as he obeyed her. 'It was very stupid of me.

What you need is a long tail to balance you on a long jump. That short tail is all right for short jumps, but it won't do for long jumps. It won't do at all. I should have thought of that when I made your legs long.'

”She reached down and took hold of the tip of that little short tail and drew it out until it was long, almost twice as long as the body of little Mr. Mouse. 'Now jump,' she commanded, 'and jump with all your might.'

”A little fearfully but with the beginning of a little hope Mr. Mouse jumped with all his might. Away he sailed straight and true and landed lightly on his feet so far from where he had left the ground that he could hardly believe his own eyes as he looked back. Mother Nature was smiling.

”'There you are, Mr. Limberheels. I guess that that will make you quite the most wonderful jumper of all my children,' said she.

”And so it was that little Mr. Mouse, all at one time, became possessed of a long tail, a name, and the ability to out jump all his neighbors,”

concluded Danny Meadow Mouse. ”Do you know,” he added wistfully, ”sometimes I envy my cousin Limberheels.”

”I envy him myself,” declared Peter.

XI

WHERE OLD MR. GOBBLER GOT THE STRUTTING HABIT

Peter Rabbit never will forget the first time he saw Big Tom Gobbler. It was very early one spring morning, when Peter was not yet old enough to have made the acquaintance of all the people who live in the Green Forest, and when it seemed as if the chief thing in life with him was to satisfy his curiosity about the ways of the Great World. Several times when he had been hopping along, lipperty-lipperty-lip, through the Green Forest just after sun-up, he had heard a strange sound quite unlike any other of all the many sounds his long ears had learned to know. He knew that it was the voice of some one who lived in the Green Forest, but though he had looked and looked he had been unable to discover the owner of that voice.