some wood, to pay me for the food. You'll find the
wood-pile behind the house. And you may saw all of it," she added.

Peter Mink took the saw and started for the wood-pile. And Jimmy Rabbit
followed him. Peter sawed just one stick of wood; and then he said to
Jimmy:

"Go in and ask your mother if she can't find an old pair of shoes for
me."

So Jimmy ran into the house to find his mother. And kind-hearted Mrs.
Rabbit began at once to hunt for a pair of shoes to give the stranger.
She had noticed that his toes were sticking out.

Pretty soon she found some shoes which she thought would fit the
stranger. And when she stepped to her door again, there he was, waiting
for her.

"What! Is the wood all sawed so soon?" asked Mrs. Rabbit. "If it is,
you're a spry worker, young man!"

"The saw--" said Peter Mink--"the saw is no good at all. It broke before
I finished sawing half the wood-pile." And that was true, too, in a way;
because he had only sawed one stick.

"Well, if you've finished half of it you haven't done badly," Mrs.
Rabbit told him. And she gave Peter Mink the shoes.

"They're not very new," he grumbled. "But they're better than none."

They certainly were much better than the shoes he had been wearing.

Then Peter Mink went slouching off. He did not even thank Mrs. Rabbit
for her kindness. He did not even take away his old shoes, but left them
on the doorstep for Mrs. Rabbit to pick up.

"I must say that young man has had no bringing up at all," she told
Jimmy. "I hope this is the last we'll see of him.... Come!" she said.
"Help me bring in some of the wood he sawed."

Well, Mrs. Rabbit was surprised when she found that the stranger had
sawed only one stick.

When Mr. Rabbit came home he took just one look at his broken saw. And
_he_ was more than surprised. _He_ was angry.

"Why," he said, "I do believe that good-for-nothing rascal broke my saw
on purpose, so he wouldn't have to work."

MAKING PETER WORK

Peter Mink waited several days before he knocked at Mrs. Rabbit's door
again. And when he did at last come back, he first made sure that her
husband was not at home. You see, Peter had heard that Mr. Rabbit had
told some of the forest-people that Peter had broken his saw, so he
wouldn't have to saw wood to pay for the food that Mrs. Rabbit gave him.

When Mrs. Rabbit saw who it was that knocked, she came very near
shutting the door in Peter's face. But she couldn't help noticing ag