Arthur Scott Bailey

“ And one day he said to Jimmy:
"Why is it that you're always able to get out of a scrape?"
"Don't you know?" Jimmy Rabbit asked him. "I thought everybody knew that.... It's because I'm lucky."
"Oh, I know that!" said Peter Mink. "What I'd like to know is what makes you so lucky?"
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"I supposed everybody knew that, too," Jimmy Rabbit answered. "It's because I have the left hind-foot of a rabbit."
Peter Mink answered that he didn't see what that had to do with being lucky.
"You ask anybody about it," Jimmy told him. "There's Mr. Crow, over on the fence. Go and ask him why I'm lucky." ”

“ Everybody tittered at that, because everybody knew that Peter was very fond of ducks and spent much of his time at Farmer Green's duck pond.
It was old Mr. Crow who asked that question. He had come to the lecture, in spite of what he had said.
"My lecture," Peter Mink began, when all was quiet, "my lecture to-night is going to be about a poor boy who has no one to take care of him. He has no home. And very often he goes about in rags. Sometimes he begs for food and clothes. I think," Peter said, "we all ought to be very sorry for him." ”

“ But Peter Mink never stirred. "Where's your lucky left hind-foot?" he asked. "I should think that could help you out, if anything could."
"The trouble is," said Jimmy Rabbit,p. 104 "my left hind-foot is so deep in this mire that I can't pull it up where it can do me any good at all. It's the first time I've ever known it to fail me. And you can't really blame the foot, either, for it hasn't a chance. ”

“ So Peter Mink had offered to help him, if Jimmy would give him the sled in return for his kindness.
"How do you like my new sled?" Peter Mink asked Jimmy Rabbit, as he stopped to rest, after climbing a steep slope.
But before Jimmy Rabbit could answer,p. 60 an alarming sound rang through the clear air and startled them both. It was old dog Spot, baying as if he had found some very interesting tracks.
"Hurry!" Jimmy Rabbit cried. "We don't want Spot to catch us!"
"Get off my sled!" Peter Mink ordered. "How can I run fast, pulling a great, fat fellow like you?" ”

“ Mr. Rabbit always tried to please his wife. So he let Peter Mink check his hat. But he felt uncomfortable during the whole concert. It was a new hat. And he didn't like the thought of losing it.
That same thing happened in a good many families. Most of the gentlemen said that Peter's idea was a good one, but they thought they would wait till another time. And their wives generally persuaded them to let Peter Mink check something, just to help him along.
But Uncle Jerry Chuck refused to leave a single thing with Peter. He said he had had his hat for a great many years. ”

“ For a day or two everybody in the neighborhood of Blue Mountain was as busy as he could be, getting ready for the parade. Cuffy Bear had promised to be the elephant, because he was so big.p. 65 Frisky Squirrel was to be a wolf, on account of his being so gray. And Jimmy had invited Peter Mink to march as a giraffe, for the reason that he had such a long neck. And as for Jimmy Rabbit himself, he said that he expected to be a little pitcher, because he had heard that they had big ears.
"I've heard that, too," remarked Billy Woodchuck. "But I never knew that a pitcher was an animal." ”

“ Peter Mink was so angry that he went about telling everyone he met how he was going to punish Tommy Fox. "When I finish with him," he said, "he'll know enough to keep his advice to himself."
"What are you going to do to him?" Jimmy Rabbit inquired.
"Well, I'm going to bite his nose," Peter explained, "because it was his nose that he stuck in my affairs." And Peter went away muttering even worse thingsp. 49 to his cousin, who was with him. His cousin's name was Slim Mink. And he was spending the summer in Farmer Green's haystack near the duck pond. ”

“ Rabbit, "I shall expect you to do some work, to pay for this food."
"All right!" said Peter. But he wished that he had said he was ill. For he simply hated work. And he made it a rule never to do a stroke of work if he could avoid it. ”

“ Peter Mink answered, "because I'm afraid therep. 26 won't be room for all the people who intend to hear me. As for ducks—I'd no more think of giving a lecture about ducks than I would about crows."
Old Mr. Crow pretended not to hear what Peter said. He did not care even to be seen talking with such a worthless fellow.
But there were many other people living in Pleasant Valley and on Blue Mountain who decided to go to Peter Mink's lecture—when they learned that they might get in free. ”

“ Rabbit looked at the hole in the stump.
"I know I can't get through that hole," he said. "But what about you, young fellow?" he asked Peter.
"Oh, I can't squeeze through such a small hole as this," said Peter. "See!" He pushed his nose part way through the hole. And there his head seemed to stick. He could have squirmed through if he hadp. 37 really tried. But nobody else seemed to know it.
"But how is the poor boy ever going to get his money?" Mr. Rabbit inquired.
"Oh, he's very slim," Peter Mink said. "He can get inside the stump. Don't you worry about him!" ”

“ Rabbit saw that the stranger was very thin. She did not know that no matter how much he ate, he would never be what you might call fat. That slimness was something that ran in Peter Mink's family. The Minks were always slender people. ”

“ Peter Mink was always quarreling. And he seemed always ready to fight—to fight even people who were four times bigger than he was. And when he fought, Peter usually won. But there was one person Peter Mink was afraid of; and that was Fatty Coon. Fatty was almost too big for Peter Mink to whip. And his teeth were very sharp. And his claws were like thorns.
One day Peter and Fatty had a dispute. Fatty Coon had said that a hen made the finest meal in the world. But Peter Mink spoke up at once and said it wasn't so.
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"There's nothing quite like a duck," he said. ”

“ Woodchuck—as well as a good many other people—didp. 11 not care to have their sons in Peter Mink's company. They said that any one who went about looking as untidy as he did, and without a home, was not likely to set a good example to the young.
But Jimmy Rabbit and Frisky Squirrel and Billy Woodchuck loved to be with Peter Mink. To be sure, he was quarrelsome. And he was always ready to fight any one four times as big as he was. ”

“ Jimmy added. "I don't feel like walking." And that was quite true, because he had been so frightened, when he heard old Spot barking, that his legs were still shaking.
"Well," said Peter Mink, "I'm pretty particular who rides on my sled. But I'll pull you up the mountain, because I'm going that way myself, to slide."
And he started off, dragging Jimmy Rabbit behind him.
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Peter Mink was pulling Jimmy Rabbit up the mountainside. You remember that Jimmy had a new sled, and that Peter had nailed Jimmy's trousers to the sled, so he wouldn't fall off when he slid down Blue Mountain. ”

“ And he knew, as well, that if an eel should happen to swim over the spring, the rising water would bear him to the surface of the duck pond.
Peter Mink must have been a lucky fellow. For he had hardly reached the spring when he saw an eel right in front ofp. 94 him. He seized the eel and swam toward the bank. And there was such a commotion in the water that Johnnie Green couldn't help noticing it.
You see, the eel did not want to leave the duck pond. He had always lived there, and he liked it, too. So he twisted and squirmed, trying his hardest to break away from Peter Mink. ”

“ But before he could get his coat off, Jimmy Rabbit called him one side and whispered to him. And then Jimmy whispered to everybody else. And the parade disbanded. Then everybody crowded around Peter Mink.
"What is it you want?" Jimmy Rabbit asked Peter.
"Want?" Peter Mink screamed. "Are you blind? Can't you see this great log on top of me? Can't you get it off? What are you waiting for?"
"Ah!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "We arep. 73 waiting for just one thing. And we haven't heard it yet."
"Heard it?" Peter Mink snarled. "Aren't your ears big enough to hear everything?" ”

“ Jimmy Rabbit said.
Then Tommy Fox murmured something about having heard that little pitchers had big mouths, too, and that they always talked a good deal. But Jimmy Rabbit made believe he didn't hear him.
Everything would have been pleasant, on the day of the parade, if it hadn't been for Peter Mink. He insisted that he mustp. 66 lead the procession; and that made trouble at once, because Jimmy Rabbit had expected to do that.
Peter finally settled the dispute.
"A parade," he said, "has two ends. Of course, one person can't march at both ends at the same time. ”