stuck his nose out
to find Jack Frost waiting to pinch it. All the tender green things were
black and dead. Back to his bed scrambled Mr. Chuck and curled up to
sleep just as long as he could. He made up his mind that he wouldn't
worry until he had to. He had done his best, and that was all he could
do.

"When Old Mother Nature came to see how the little people were faring,
she missed Mr. Chuck. She asked his neighbors what had become of him,
but no one knew. At length she came to his house and looking inside
found him fast asleep. She saw right away what he had done and how fat
he had grown. She knew without being told what it all meant, and the
idea amused her. Instead of wakening him, as she had at first intended
to do, she touched Mr. Chuck and put him into a deeper sleep, saying:

"'You shall sleep, Mr. Chuck,
Through the time of frost and snow.
For your courage and your pluck
You shall no discomfort know.'

"And so Mr. Chuck slept on until the tender young green things began
once more to grow. The cold could not reach him, and the fat he had
stored under his skin took the place of food. When he awoke in the
spring, he knew nothing of the hard times his neighbors were talking
about. And ever since then the Chuck family has slept through the
winter, because it is the most comfortable and sensible thing to do. I
know, because I have done the same thing for years. Good-by, Peter
Rabbit! No more stories until spring."

Before Peter could say a word, there was a splash in the Smiling Pool,
and Grandfather Frog was nowhere to be seen.

"I--I don't see how they do it," said Peter, shaking his head in a
puzzled way as he slowly hopped towards the dear Old Briar-patch.

XII

HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE

XII

HOW OLD MR. OTTER LEARNED TO SLIDE

Little Joe Otter was having the jolliest kind of a time. Little Joe
Otter is a jolly little chap, anyway, and just now he was extra happy.
You see, he had a brand new slippery-slide. Yes, Sir, Little Joe had
just built a new slippery-slide down the steepest part of the bank into
the Smiling Pool. It was longer and smoother than his old
slippery-slide, and it seemed to Little Joe as if he could slide and
slide all day long. Of course he enjoyed it more because he had built it
himself. He would stretch out full length at the top o