XII. WHEN GREAT-GRANDFATHER SWIFT FIRST USED A CHIMNEY
|OF all his feathered friends and neighbors there was none whom PeterRabbit enjoyed watching more than he did Sooty the Chimney Swift. Therewere two very good reasons why Peter enjoyed watching Sooty. In thefirst place Sooty always appeared to be having the very best of goodtimes, and you know it is always a pleasure to watch any one having agood time. Ol' Mistah Buzzard, sailing and sailing high in the sky withonly an occasional movement of his great wings, always seemed to beenjoying himself, and so did Skimmer the Swallow, skimming just abovethe tall grass of the Green Meadows or wheeling gracefully high in theair. But neither these two nor any other bird ever seemed to Peter to begetting so much real fun out of flying as Sooty the Swift. Just to hearhim shout as he raced with swiftly beating wings and then glided in ashort half circle was enough to make you want to fly yourself, thoughtPeter.
The second reason why Peter enjoyed watching Sooty was that he was verymuch a bird of mystery, in spite of the fact that Peter saw him everyday through the long summer. You know, we all enjoy anything that ismysterious. To Peter there was no end of mystery about Sooty the Swift.He was not like other birds. In the first place he hardly looked likea bird at all. His tail was so short that it was hardly worth calling atail. His neck was so short that his head seemed a part of his body. Andthen in all the time he had known him, Peter never had seen Sooty stillfor a single instant. Ol' Mistah Buzzard would come down from high up inthe blue, blue sky and sit for hours on a dead tree in the Green Forestor walk about on the ground. Skimmer the Swallow would sit on thebranch of a tree, or on the very top of Farmer Brown's barn, and twittersociably. But Sooty the Swift was always in the air. At least, he alwayswas whenever Peter saw him.
Sometimes Peter used to wonder if Sooty slept in the air as Ducks sleepon the water. Of course, he didn't really think that he did, but neverseeing him anywhere but in the air, he was ready to believe almostanything. Then one evening just at dusk, Peter happened to be over inthe Old Orchard close by Farmer Brown's house, and he saw somethingthat puzzled him more than ever. He saw Sooty the Swift right abovethe chimney on Farmer Brown's house. It seemed to Peter as if somethinghappened to Sooty. He beat his wings in a queer way, but instead offlying on, he dropped right straight down, down, down, and disappeared.He had fallen down that chimney! Peter waited a long time, but Sootydidn't appear again, and finally Peter went home with the feeling thathe never again would see Sooty.
But he did see him again. He saw him the very next day, flying andshouting and seemingly having just as good a time as ever. It was thenthat Peter's curiosity would no longer be denied. He headed straight forthe Smiling Pool to consult Grandfather Frog.
"He'll know all about Sooty if anybody does," thought Peter and hurriedas fast as he could, lipperty-lipperty-lip. Grandfather Frog was inhis usual place on his big green lily-pad. One glance told Peter thatGrandfather Frog was in the best of humor, so he wasted no time.
"Grandfather Frog," cried Peter before he was fairly on the bank of theSmiling Pool, "I saw something queer last night, and you are the onlyone I know of who can tell me what it meant, because you are the onlyone I know who knows all about everything."
Grandfather Frog smiled. It was a great, big, broad smile. It pleasedhim to have Peter say that he knew everything. "Chug-a-rum! Noteverything, Peter! I don't know everything. Nobody does," said he. "Butif I happen to know what you want, to know, I'll be glad to tell you.Now what is it that is on your mind?"
Peter at once plunged into his story. He told Grandfather Frog how muchhe enjoyed watching Sooty fly and how little he knew about Sooty. Hewound up by telling how he had seen Sooty fall down that chimney and howsurprised he had been to see Sooty about the next day as well and happyas ever. He called Sooty a Swallow, for that is what Peter thought thatSooty was. He always had thought so.
When Peter had finished, Grandfather Frog chuckled. It was a long, deepchuckle that seemed to come clear from his toes. When he had enjoyed hischuckle to his heart's content, he looked up at Peter and blinked hisgreat goggly eyes.
"What would you say, Peter, if I should tell you that Sooty isn't amember of the Swallow family at all?" he asked.
"I'd believe you," replied Peter promptly, "but I never again would dareguess what family anybody belonged to from his looks."
"Well, Sooty isn't a Swallow at all," said Grandfather Frog slowly. "Heis a Swift, which is another family altogether. Furthermore, he didn'tfall down that chimney. No, Sir, he didn't fall down that chimney. Heflew down, and he did it because he lives there. Now listen, and I'lltell you a story." Peter needed no second invitation. A story fromGrandfather Frog is always one of Peter's greatest treats, as you know.
"Chug-a-rum!" began Grandfather Frog, as he always does. "When OldMother Nature first peopled the Great World, she made each bird a littledifferent from every other bird, and each animal a little different fromevery other animal. Then she turned them loose to make their way thebest they could, and let them alone to test them and see howeach would make the best of his advantages. Mr. Swift, thegreat-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Sooty, felt at first as if OldMother Nature had forgotten to give him any advantages at all. He washomely. There wasn't so much as a single bright feather in his wholecoat. He had a tail which might as well have been no tail at all, so faras he could see. He had tiny feet on which he couldn't walk at all, andwith which it was all he could do to hang on to a twig when he wanted torest. But when it came to wings, he wasn't long in discovering that inthese he was blessed beyond most of his neighbors. Those wings certainlywere made for speed. They were long and narrow, and they drove himthrough the air faster than his neighbors with broader wings could flyand with a great deal less effort. He could fly all day without gettingtired, and he never was so happy as when darting about high in the air.
"Of course, it didn't take him long to find out that he could catch allkinds of flying insects, and so he had no trouble in filling his stomachwhile flying, for his mouth was very wide. 'It must be,' thought he,'that Old Mother Nature expects me to live in the air. I wish I couldsleep while I am flying, but I can't. I never feel comfortable sittingon a twig.'
"One day he discovered that he could do something that no other birdcould do. By using his wings in a certain way he could drop rightstraight down without really falling. He practised this a great dealjust for fun. Then one day as he was flying over a rocky place, he sawright under him a great hole that went straight down into the ground.It interested him. He wondered what it was like inside. The more hewondered, the more he wanted to find out. So one day, after many trials,he dropped straight down into the hole by means of that new way offlying he had discovered.
"He didn't go very far down, because it was so dark in there, and he wasbeginning to get a wee bit frightened. On his way up he brushed againstthe side of the rocky wall and without knowing why, he put out both feetand clung to it, folding his wings for a minute's rest. Then he foundthat by pressing his funny little tail, which ended in sharp spines,against the wall, he rested more comfortably than ever he had before inall his short life. He could cling to a rough wall very much easier thanhe could sit on a perch. After that he spent his nights in that hole andwas happy.
"A long time later he was far from home when night was coming on, and heknew that he wouldn't be able to get there before dark. Looking down ashe flew, he saw the hollow trunk of a great tree which had been brokenoff by the wind. Why not sleep in that? He circled over it two or threetimes and then dropped straight down inside. He liked it. He liked itbetter than he did the hole in the rocks. After that he made his home ina hollow tree.
"In course of time old King Eagle led the birds to a new part of theGreat World which Old Mother Nature had been preparing for them to spendthe summer in. Mr. Swift went with the others. But when he got there,he could find no hole in the ground and no hollow tree. But he foundsomething else. He found the queer homes of men and on top of each astraight, tall thing quite like a hol
low tree, only all black inside andmade of what seemed like stone. Having no other place to go, he triedone of them. The next day he searched for a hollow tree but could findnone, and so returned to that chimney, for that is what it was. So itwas every day. After a little he began to like the chimney. It was easyto get in and out of. No one ever bothered him there. It was easy tocling to the wall of it. At last he decided to build a nest there. Andfrom that day to this, the Swifts have lived in the chimneys on thehouses of men. When you thought you saw Sooty fall, he was simply goinghome to spend the night," concluded Grandfather Frog.
"Thank you," replied Peter with a long sigh. "It's a funny world, isn'tit, Grandfather Frog? The idea of living in a chimney! The very idea!"