Green Meadow Stories, Thornton W. Burgess [read people like a book .txt] 📗

for I didn’t think he ever came up to the Old Pasture. But now I know he does, Mr. Hooty’ll have to be smarter than he’s ever been before to catch me napping again. My, how I do smart and ache! I know now just how Danny Meadow Mouse felt that time Hooty caught him and dropped him into the Old Briar-patch. Ouch! Well, as my mother used to say:

‘Yesterday has gone away;
Make the most of just today.’

Here I am up in the Old Pasture, and the question is, what shall I do next?”

Peter felt a queer little thrill as he peeped out from under the friendly bramble-bush. Very strange and wonderful it seemed. Of course he couldn’t see very far, because the Old Pasture was all overgrown with bushes and briars, and they made the very blackest of black shadows in the moonlight. Peter wondered what dangers might be awaiting him there, but somehow he didn’t feel much afraid. No, sir, he didn’t feel much afraid. You see those briars looked good to him, for briars are always friendly to Peter and unfriendly to those who would do harm to Peter. So when he saw them, he felt almost at home.

Peter drew a long breath. Then he cried “Ouch!” You see, he had forgotten for a minute how sore he was. He was eager to explore this new wonderland, for Sammy Jay had told him wonderful tales about it, and he knew that here old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had found safety when Farmer Brown’s boy had hunted for them so hard on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest. He felt sure that there must be the most splendid hiding-places, and it seemed as if he certainly must start right out to see them, for you know Peter is very, very curious. But the first move he made brought another “Ouch” from him, and he made up a wry face.

“I guess the best thing for me to do is to stay right where I am,” said he, “for here I am safe under this friendly old bramble.”

So with a sigh Peter settled down to make himself as comfortable as he could, and once, as far, far away on the Green Meadows he heard the voice of Old Man Coyote, Peter even smiled.

“I haven’t anything to fear from him, anyway, for he’ll never think of coming way up here,” said he.

VI Peter Rabbit Is Still Lonesome

A sympathetic word or two
A wond’rous help is, when you’re blue.
So pity him who sits alone
His aches and troubles to bemoan.

Peter Rabbit

All the rest of that night Peter sat under a friendly old bramble-bush on the edge of the Old Pasture and nursed the sore places made by the claws of Hooty the Owl. At last jolly, round, red Mr. Sun began to climb up in the blue, blue sky, just as he does every day. Peter looked up at him, and he felt sure that Mr. Sun winked at him. Somehow it made him feel better. The fact is, Peter was beginning to feel just a wee, wee bit homesick. It is bad enough to be in a strange place alone, but to be sore and to smart and ache as Peter did makes that lonesome feeling a whole lot harder to bear. It is dreadful not to have anyone to speak to, but to look around and not see a single thing you have ever seen before⁠—my, my, my, it certainly does give you a strange, sinking feeling way down inside!

Before that long night was over Peter felt as if his heart had gone way down to his very toes. Yes, sir, that’s the way he felt. Every time he moved at all he cried “Ouch!” He just knew that he was growing more stiff and sore every minute. Then he began to wonder what he should do for something to eat, for he was in a strange place, you remember. And that made him think of all his private little paths through the dear Old Briar-patch, the little paths he had made all himself, and which no one used but himself, excepting Danny Meadow Mouse when he came for a visit.

“Perhaps I shall never, never see them again,” moaned Peter, and two big tears filled his eyes and were just ready to drop.

At that moment he looked up and saw jolly, round, red Mr. Sun wink. Peter tried to wink back, and that made the two tears fall. But there were no more tears to follow. You see that wink had made all the difference in the world. Peter’s heart had jumped right back where it belonged. Mr. Sun was one of his oldest friends and you know

When trouble comes, a friendly face
Makes bright the very darkest place.

And so, just as he made bright all the Old Pasture, Mr. Sun also made bright the dark little corners in Peter’s heart just because he was an old friend. To be sure Peter was still lonesome, but it was a different kind of lonesomeness. He hadn’t anybody to talk to, which is always a dreadful thing to Peter, but he had only to look up to catch a friendly wink, and somehow that not only made him feel better inside but it seemed to make his aches and smarts better too.

VII Peter Finds Tracks

Every day is different from every other day,
And always there is something new to see along the way.

Peter Rabbit

Peter Rabbit had sat still just as long as he could. He was stiff and lame and sore from the wounds made by Hooty the Owl, but his curiosity wouldn’t let him sit still a minute longer. He just had to explore the Old Pasture. So with many a wry face and many an “Ouch” he limped out from the shelter of the friendly old bramble-bush and started out to see what the Old Pasture was like.

Now Hooty the Owl had