XV. WHEN MR. HUMMINGBIRD GOT HIS LONG BILL
"I saw him here; I saw him there;
And now he is not anywhere!
He is not there; he is not here,
Yet no one saw him disappear."
|PETER RABBIT didn't intend that for any ears but his own, but it neveris safe to talk out loud if you want no one else to hear.
"Huh!" said a voice right back of Peter. Peter started ever so littleand hastily turned his head, but saw no one.
"Huh!" said the voice again. "Huh! Are you a poet, Peter Rabbit?"
This time Peter turned wholly around in a single jump. Staring up at himfrom under a mullein-leaf was Old Mr. Toad.
"What's a poet?" demanded Peter.
"A poet is some one who--who--Say, Peter Rabbit, have you eatensomething that went to your head?" Old Mr. Toad looked really anxious.
"No," replied Peter, "it went to my stomach. Everything I eat goes to mystomach."
"Then it can't be that you are a real poet," sighed Old Mr. Toad. "I wasa little afraid you might be when I overheard you just now. On the wholeI am rather glad, Peter. It would be so tiresome to have to listen toyou talking that way. By the way, who is it that is not there and is nothere, yet no one saw him disappear?"
"Hummer the Hummingbird," replied Peter eagerly. "You see him in oneplace and before you can get your mouth open to speak, he is somewhereelse. Then in a shake of your tail he isn't anywhere at all. I mean heisn't anywhere in sight."
"I haven't any tail," retorted Old Mr. Toad rather testily. "I got ridof the silly thing long ago, as you very well know, Peter Rabbit."
"Excuse me, Mr. Toad. I didn't mean anything personal. It was just a wayof speaking to show how quickly Hummer disappears. I was thinking of myown tail," said Peter.
"Huh!" grunted Old Mr. Toad just as before. "Then you weren't thinkingof much."
Peter laughed. "Not so very much," he replied. "Still I can shake it,even if there isn't much of it. See!" He stood up and twitched his funnylittle tail until solemn Old Mr. Toad had to laugh in spite of himself.
"Hummer is such a wonderful little fellow," continued Peter eagerly. "Heis so tiny it doesn't seem possible that he can be like other birds. Idon't feel really acquainted with him because he isn't still long enoughfor me to more than nod to him."
"That's true," replied Old Mr. Toad, nodding sagely. "He isn't stilldown near the ground, but if you happened to find his home, you wouldoften see him sitting near it as still as any other bird. By the way,Peter, did you ever hear how it happened that he comes by such a longbill?"
"A story!" cried Peter, jumping up and down and clapping his hands. "Oh,Mr. Toad, I never did hear, and I'm just dying to know. Please do tellme!" There was a twinkle in Old Mr. Toad's beautiful eyes,--for theyreally are beautiful, you know. He backed a little farther under the bigmullein-leaf where the sun couldn't reach him, opened and closed his bigmouth two or three times without making a sound, rolled his eyes back asif he were looking way, way into the past, and then, just as Peter hadbegun to think that there wasn't going to be any story after all, hebegan to talk in a funny little voice that seemed to come from way downwhere his throat and his stomach meet.
"It was long, long, long ago," said he.
"I know! It was way back when the world was young," interrupted Petereagerly.
"Oh! So you know the story after all, do you?" grunted Old Mr. Toadrather crossly.
"I beg your pardon. I do indeed. I'm sorry," Peter hastened to say.
"Very well. Very well," grumbled Old Mr. Toad, "but don't do it again.Now I'll have to begin all over again. It was a long, long, long timeago in the beginning of things when Old Mother Nature had made allthe big birds and the middle-sized birds and the little birds that shediscovered that she had just a teeny, weeny bit of the things birdsare made of left over. There wasn't enough to make even the head of anordinary bird. No bird had use for another head, anyway.
"Now Old Mother Nature never could bear to waste anything, and shedidn't intend to begin. So she made a teeny, weeny bird and she made himjust as perfect as any other bird. She gave him feathers just like anyother bird, only of course his feathers were teeny, weeny. She gave hima tail just like any other bird, only it was a teeny, weeny tail. Shegave him feet with toes and claws just like any other bird, only theywere teeny, weeny feet. And she gave him a bill, only it was a teeny,weeny bill and it was short. And because he was so teeny, weeny and yeta perfect bird, Old Mother Nature was very proud of him, so she gavehim a beautiful green coat. The beautiful ruby throat was not givenhim until later, when he proved so brave of heart and so loyal to KingEagle, you remember."
"I remember," said Peter. "He got his ruby throat when old King Eaglewon his crown of white."
"When Old Mother Nature sent little Mr. Hummingbird out into the GreatWorld to join the other birds, she told him that tiny as he was shecould treat him no differently from the others, and that he would haveto take care of himself and prove that he was worthy to live and have aplace in the work of the Great World, for that was a law which she couldnot break for any one, great or small.
"So little Mr. Hummingbird darted away to join the other birds and finda place for himself in the Great World. When the other birds first sawhim, they laughed at him because he was so tiny, and made fun of him.though truth to tell some of them were envious because of his beautifulcoat, and others were envious because of the way in which he coulddart about, for not one among them could fly so swiftly as little Mr.Hummingbird.
"Tiny though he was, he was stout of heart and fairly bursting withspunk. He would dash into the very faces of those who tried to tease himand would be away again before they could so much as strike at him. Soit wasn't long before they let him alone, though among themselves theystill looked on him as a joke and were sure he would not live long.Being such a teeny, weeny fellow, of course Mr. Hummingbird had a teeny,weeny stomach, and he soon discovered that he couldn't eat the thingsthat other birds did but must hunt for teeny, weeny things. It didn'ttake him long to find out that there were many teeny, weeny insects justsuited to him, especially about the flowers. So Mr. Hummingbird spentmost of his time darting about among the flowers catching teeny, weenyinsects to fill his teeny, weeny stomach.
"One day he paused in front of a deep-throated flower and discoveredthat many teeny, weeny insects had hidden in the heart of it. Try as hewould he could not reach them. Now his own swift little wings werenot quicker than Mr. Hummingbird's temper, and he promptly pulled thatflower to pieces. Then he caught all the insects, and in doing this hediscovered that in the heart of the flower were sweet juices, betterthan anything he ever had tasted before. After that he wasted no timehunting for teeny, weeny insects in the air, but darted from onedeep-throated flower to another, pulling them to pieces and filling histeeny, weeny stomach with the insects hiding there and the sweet juices.
"One day along came Old Mother Nature to see how things were going. Onevery side were beautiful flowers torn to rags. She threw up her handsin dismay. 'Dear me!' she cried. 'I wonder who can have been doing suchdreadful mischief!'
"Just then she caught sight of little Mr. Hummingbird tearing anotherflower to pieces. Sternly she called him before her, and he camefearlessly. 'Why are you tearing my beautiful flowers to pieces?' shedemanded.
"'Because it is the only way I can get the food in the hearts of them,and it is the food best suited to me,' replied little Mr. Hummingbirdpromptly but respectfully.
"Old Mother Nature tried to look severe, but a twinkle crept into hereyes. Secretly she was pleased with the fearlessness of the teeny, weenybird.
"'That may be, but I cannot have my beautiful flowers destroyed thisway. It will never do at all!' said she.
"She scratched her head thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then she reachedout and took hold of Mr. Hummingbird's teeny, weeny bill. 'Pull,' saidshe. Little Mr. Hummingbird pulled with all his might, and his bill waspulled o
ut until it was long and slender, and his tongue was pulled outlong with it.
"'Now,' said Old Mother Nature, 'I guess you won't have to pull myflowers to pieces.'
"Little Mr. Hummingbird darted away to the nearest deep-throated flowerand found that he could reach the teeny, weeny insects and the sweetjuices without the least trouble, and from that time on he took thegreatest care not to hurt the beautiful flowers. That is how Hummer,whom you know, happens to have a long bill," concluded Old Mr. Toad.
"And I suppose that is why he seems to love the flowers so," said Peteras he looked down at Old Mr. Toad thoughtfully.
"It is," replied Old Mr. Toad, and yawned sleepily.
XVI. WHEN OLD MR. BAT GOT HIS WINGS
|IT happens that the Merry Little Breezes, who, as you know, are thechildren of Old Mother West Wind, are quite as fond of stories as isPeter Rabbit. In fact, whenever they suspect that Peter is going to asksome one for a story, they manage to be about so that they may hear ittoo. Now the Merry Little Breezes are very fond of Grandfather Frogand many, many times they have helped him get a good dinner by blowingfoolish green flies within his reach. It was after one of these timesthat Grandfather Frog promised them a story.
Now the Merry Little Breezes did not intend to let Grandfather Frogforget that promise, so one afternoon when they had grown tired ofromping on the Green Meadows, they danced over to the Smiling Pool andsettled around the big, green lily-pad on which Grandfather Frog wasdozing. All together they shouted:
"We know you're old;
We know you're wise;
And what you say
We dearly prize.
So tell a tale
Of olden days,
And then, mayhap,
We'll go our ways."
"Chug-a-rum! What shall it be about?" demanded Grandfather Frog, wakingup quite good-natured.
"Tell us why Flitter the Bat can fly when none of the other animalscan," cried one of the Merry Little Breezes.
Grandfather Frog cleared his throat several times, and then he began,and this is the story he told:
"Once upon a time when the world was young, old Mr. Bat, the many timesgreat-grandfather of Flitter, whom you all know, lived in a cave on theedge of the Green Forest. Old Mr. Bat was little, quite as little asFlitter is now. He didn't have any wings then. No, Sir, old Mr. Bat hadno wings.
"Now old Mr. Bat's teeth were small and not made for cracking hard seedsand things of that sort, so he lived mostly on insects. He used to huntfor them under sticks and stones. Sometimes he had hard work to findenough for a meal, because, you know, so many other Green Forest peoplewere hunting for them too.
"Now old Mr. Bat's eyes were very small, very, very small indeed, andthe bright sun hurt them. So old Mr. Bat used to stay in his cave allday and hunt for his meals only after jolly Mr. Sun had gone to bedbehind the Purple Hills. When he did come out most of the crawling bugshad been caught by others, and it was hard work finding them. So oftenMr. Bat went hungry.
"One evening old Mr. Bat noticed that at twilight a great many bugs flyabout. He sat on a big stone at the mouth of his cave and watched. Itseemed to him that the air was full of bugs. By and by a big fatfellow came so near that old Mr. Bat forgot where he was and jumped forhim--jumped right off: the top of the big stone. Of course he got a hardtumble, but he didn't mind it a bit, not a bit, for he had caught thebug. After that, old Mr. Bat used to spend most of the time he was awakejumping for flying bugs.
"One night he made a very long jump from a _very_ high stone and gotsuch a fall that all the breath was knocked out of his funny littlebody. When he had gotten his breath back he discovered that some one waslooking down and smiling at him. It was Old Mother Nature.
"'Pretty hard work to get a dinner that way, isn't it, Mr. Bat?' askedOld Mother Nature.
"Mr. Bat allowed that it was.
"'How would you like to fly!' asked Old Mother Nature.
"Mr. Bat thought that that would be very fine indeed, but that was quiteout of the question because, as you know, he hadn't any wings.
"Old Mother Nature said no more, but something seemed to be pleasing hergreatly as she left Mr. Bat.
"The next evening when old Mr. Bat awoke, he really didn't know whetherhe was himself or not. No, Sir, he didn't. His legs were much longerthan they used to be and really of no use at all for walking. Betweenthem was a queer thin skin. He couldn't run. He couldn't even crawl verywell.
"At last, after much work, he managed to get to the top of a big rock.He was very hungry, and when a big, fat bug came along, he forgot allabout his troubles and tried to jump. But instead of jumping as healways had, he just tumbled off the big rock. As he fell he spread outhis legs. What do you think happened? Why, old Mr. Bat found that hecould fly!
"And ever since that long-ago time the Bats have lived in dark caves andhave been able to fly," concluded Grandfather Frog.
"Splendid!" cried the Merry Little Breezes. "And we thank you ever andever so much!" Then they had a race to see who could be the first toblow a foolish green fly over to Grandfather Frog.
THE END
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