watch your step! be sure you know

exactly what lies just before,

because if you should careless be

'tis certain you would step no more.

it wasn't that way with peter rabbit. he wasn't afraid that if he didn't watch out he would step no more, not in the old briar-patch anyway, but he was afraid, dreadfully afraid, that one of bob white's babies might step no more. it seemed to peter that they were always just under foot. it made him nervous. every time he moved little mrs. bob or mrs. peter was sure to cry, “watch your step, peter!” or “don't step on one of those darlings!”

so every time he moved peter looked sharply to see that there wasn't a tiny brown bird hiding under a brown leaf. you know he wouldn't have stepped on one of them for the world. really there wasn't half as much danger as their fond mother seemed to think, for little as they were those bob white babies were very spry, and very smart too. but you know how it is with mothers; they seem to be always expecting something dreadful will happen to their babies.

so twenty times a day peter would hear that warning, “watch your step!”

still, in spite of this, he was glad that the bob white family had moved over to the dear old briar-patch. it gave him a chance to learn more about the ways of bob white and his children than he could possibly have learned in any other way. you know, peter is always anxious to learn, especially about other people. it seemed to him that never had he seen babies grow as did the little bob whites. they were everywhere. there were fifteen of them, and peter often wondered how under the sun their mother kept track of all of them. but she did. one thing he noticed, and this was that they obeyed promptly whenever she called to them. if redtail the hawk came sailing lazily over the old briar-patch, watching with sharp eyes to see if anything was going on down there that he didn't know about, little mrs. bob would give a warning, and every one of those youngsters would squat down right where he happened to be and not move until she told him he might. so old red-tail never once suspected that the bob white family was there. when mrs. bob called them to her, they came running on the instant. such obedience was beautiful to see.

then, when they were all nestled under her wings, she would tell them about the great world and all the dangers that they would have to watch out for when they were big enough to go out into it, and how each one was to be met. as they ran this way and that way in the old briar-patch, they picked up tiny seeds. peter had not supposed that there were so many seeds as those little bob whites found. you know peter does not eat tiny seeds, and so he never had noticed them before. mrs. bob led them about, showing them what seeds were best and what to leave alone. they didn't have to be shown but once. often they varied their fare by picking tiny insects from the low-hanging leaves, and once in a while there would be a struggle between two or more for possession of a worm. peter always liked to watch this. it was very funny.

in a few days there were no bugs or worms to be found in the old briar-patch, at least not on or near the ground. the bob white family had eaten every one.

“i wish they would live here all the time,” declared mrs. peter. “i don't like bugs and worms. they give me a crawly feeling every time i see them.”

but a growing family must have plenty to eat, and at the end of a week mrs. bob led her youngsters forth to hunt bugs and worms and seeds on the green meadows, but never very far from the old briar-patch, so that in case of need they could run back to its friendly shelter. and every night she brought them back there to sleep under the friendly brambles. so after all, it was only for a little while that peter had to watch his steps, and he was really sorry when he no longer heard that warning every time he moved. you see, he had grown very fond of the little bob whites.