Mother Nature had given him and
an idea came to him. He would dig a hole in the ground. So he dug a hole
on a long slant very much like the hole of Johnny Chuck; but when it was
finished a little doubt crept into his head and grew and grew. What was
to prevent some one who was very hungry from digging him out? So he
moved on a little way and started another hole, and this time he made it
almost straight down. Every day he made that hole deeper until it was
many feet deep. Then he made a turn in it and dug a long tunnel, at the
end of which he hollowed out a comfortable bedroom and lined it with
grass. When it was finished he was quite satisfied.

"'I don't believe,' said he, 'that any one will have the patience to dig
to the bottom of this.'

"So at night he slept in his bed at the end of his long hall far below
the surface, but all day he spent above ground, for he dearly loved the
sunshine. All went well until there came a time of heavy rains. Then
Yap-Yap discovered that the water ran down his hole, and if he didn't do
something, he was likely to be drowned out. Right away he set his sharp
wits to work. He noticed that when the water on the surface reached the
little piles of sand he had made, it ran around them. So he made a great
mound of sand around his hole with the entrance in the middle and
pressed it firm on the inside so that the rain would not wash it down
in. Then, although the water stood all around, it no longer ran down in
his house. In fair weather that mound was a splendid place on which to
sit and watch for danger. So once more Yap-Yap was happy and care-free,
all because he had used his wits.

"And from that day to this the Prairie Dogs have made their houses in
just that way, and no one that I know cares to try to dig one out,"
concluded Old Man Coyote.

IV

WHERE YELLOW-WING GOT HIS LIKING FOR THE GROUND

Peter Rabbit was hopping along on the edge of the Green Meadows, looking
for a new patch of sweet clover. It was very beautiful that morning, and
Peter was in the best of spirits. It was good just to be alive. Every
once in a while Peter would jump up and kick his long heels together
just from pure happiness. He was so happy that he didn't pay particular
attention to where he was going or what was about him. The result was
that Peter got a fright. Right from under his very nose something sprang
out of the grass so suddenly and so wholly unexpectedly that Peter very
nearly tumbled o