who proves himself a neighbor kind
will find content and peace of mind.
one, two, three, four—oh, dear, they run so fast i can't count them! aren't they darlings? i'm so glad you brought them over for us to see, mrs. bob. how many are there?” cried little mrs. peter, as she and peter watched the tiny little babies of bob white scamper to the shelter of their mother's wings under the friendly brambles of the dear old briar-patch.
“there are fifteen,” replied mrs. bob white proudly.
“my gracious, what a family!” exclaimed peter. “i don't see how you keep track of all of them. i should think you would be worried to death.”
“they are a great care,” confessed little mrs. bob white. “that is why i have brought them over to the old briar-patch. i hope you and mrs. peter will not mind if we live here for a while. until they can fly it is the safest place i know of.”
“we'll be tickled to death to have you here,” declared peter. “we don't own the dear old briar-patch, though we've lived here so long we almost feel as if it belongs to us. but of course any one who wants to is free to live here. i don't know of any one we would rather have here than you and your family. by the way, i don't see how you could travel far with such little babies. may i ask where you came from?”
little mrs. bob's eyes twinkled.
“certainly,” she replied. “we haven't traveled far. we came straight from our home here.”
“but where was your home?” peter asked the question eagerly, for you remember he had spent a great deal of time trying to find that home of the bob whites.
“just over yonder in that little patch of weeds across the crooked little path. you see it was very handy to the old briar-patch,” replied mrs. bob.
“what?” peter fairly shouted. “do you mean to say that you have been living so near as all that?”
mrs. bob nodded. “i surely have,” she replied. “i've been right where i could see you every day as i sat on my eggs.”
“but how did you dare build in such a dangerous place? why, reddy and granny fox passed within a few feet of you every day! i never heard of such a crazy thing!” peter looked as if he didn't believe it even yet.
“it was the safest place on the green meadows,” retorted mrs. bob. “i should think that by this time you would have learned, peter rabbit, that the safest place to hide is the place where no one will look. the proof of it is right here in these babies of mine. aren't they darlings? i sat there day after day and watched you and reddy and granny fox and jimmy skunk hunting for me and had many a good laugh all to myself. i knew that not one of you would dream that i would be so foolishly wise as to build my home where it could be so easily found, and therefore you wouldn't look for it there. and i was right.”
mrs. peter chuckled. “you were just right, mrs. bob,” she declared. “it is the smartest thing i ever heard of, my dear. if peter doesn't feel foolish, he ought to. i told him that it was none of his business where your home was, but he was so curious that he would keep hunting for it. and to think that all the time it was close by! don't you feel foolish, peter?”
“yes, my dear, i certainly do,” replied peter meekly. “but now that i know where it was i am satisfied. and i'm glad that mrs. bob has brought her family to live in the dear old briar-patch. i think it will be great fun watching those youngsters grow, and i can't help thinking that this is a great deal safer for them than the home they have just left.”
“that's why i've brought them here,” replied mrs. bob. “as long as they were only eggs that was the safest place, but now that they have hatched out and can run about, they wouldn't be safe a minute over there. as it is, i expect it won't be long before they will be wanting to get out in the great world and then my worries will really begin. bringing up a large family is a great responsibility.”
“it is so,” declared mrs. peter.
