standing close by, listening to all
they said. If Johnny Chuck's mother ran over to have a few minutes'
chat with Jimmy Skunk's mother, the first thing they knew Mr. Rabbit
would be squatting down in the grass right behind them.

"The older he grew the worse Mr. Rabbit became. He would spend his
evenings going from house to house, tiptoeing softly up to the windows
to listen to what the folks inside were saying. And the more he heard
the more Mr. Rabbit's curiosity grew.

"Now, like most people who meddle in other folks' affairs, Mr. Rabbit
had no time to tend to his own business. His cabbage patch grew up to
weeds. His house leaked, his fences fell to pieces, and altogether his
was the worst looking place on the Green Meadows.

"Worse still, Mr. Rabbit was a trouble maker. He just couldn't keep
his tongue still. And like most gossips, he never could tell the exact
truth.

"Dear me! dear me!" said Grandfather Frog, shaking his head solemnly.
"Things had come to a dreadful pass on the Green Meadows. Reddy Fox
and Bobby Coon never met without fighting. Jimmy Skunk and Johnny
Chuck turned their backs on each other. Jerry Muskrat, Little Joe
Otter, and Billy Mink called each other bad names. All because Mr.
Rabbit had told so many stories that were not true.

"Now when old Mother Nature visited the Green Meadows she soon saw what
a dreadful state all the meadow people were in, and she began to
inquire how it all came about.

"'It's all because of Mr. Rabbit,' said Reddy Fox.

"'No one is to blame but Mr. Rabbit,' said Striped Chipmunk.

"Everywhere old Mother Nature inquired it was the same--Mr. Rabbit, Mr.
Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit.

"So then old Mother Nature sent for blustering great Mr. North Wind,
who is very strong. And she sent for Mr. Rabbit.

"Mr. Rabbit trembled in his shoes when he got old Mother Nature's
message. He would have liked to run away and hide. But he did not
dare do that, for he knew that there was nowhere he could hide that
Mother Nature would not find him sooner or later. And besides, his
curiosity would give him no peace. He just _had_ to know what old
Mother Nature wanted.

"So Peter Rabbit put on his best suit, which was very shabby, and set
out for the Lone Pine to see what old Mother Nature wanted. When he
got there, he found all the little people of the Green Meadows and all
the little folks of the Green Forest there before him. There were
Reddy Fox, Johnny Chuck, Str