you may never forget it,' she concluded, 'I herewith make
Mr. Woodpecker the policeman of the trees, and this is his reward to be
worn by him and his children forever and ever.' With that she called
Mr. Woodpecker down before her and put on his head a beautiful red cap,
for she knew how in his heart he had longed to wear something bright.
Mr. Woodpecker thanked Old Mother Nature as best he could and then
slipped away where he could be alone with his happiness. All the rest of
the day the other little people heard him drumming off by himself in the
Green Forest and smiled, for they knew that that was the way he was
expressing his joy, having no voice to sing.

"And that," concluded Grandfather Frog, "is how Drummer whom you know
came by his red cap."

"Isn't it splendid!" cried Peter Rabbit, and then he and Grandfather
Frog both smiled as they heard a long rat-a-tat-tat-tat roll out from
the Green Forest.

XIV

HOW OLD MR. TREE TOAD FOUND OUT HOW TO CLIMB

XIV

HOW OLD MR. TREE TOAD FOUND OUT HOW TO CLIMB

Of all the puzzling things over which Peter Rabbit had sat and thought
and wondered until the brains in that funny little head of his were
topsy-turvy, none was more puzzling than the fact that Sticky-toes the
Tree Toad could climb. Often Peter had watched him climb up the trunk of
a tree or jump from one branch to another and then thought of Old Mr.
Toad, own cousin to Sticky-toes, and of Grandfather Frog, another own
cousin, who couldn't climb at all, and wondered how it had all come
about that one cousin could climb and be just as much at home in the
trees as the birds, while the others couldn't climb at all.

He had it on his mind one morning when he met Old Mr. Toad solemnly
hopping down the Lone Little Path. Right then and there Peter resolved
to ask Old Mr. Toad. "Good morning, Mr. Toad," said Peter politely.
"Have you a few minutes to spare?"

Old Mr. Toad hopped into the shade of a big mullein leaf. "I guess so,
if it is anything important," said he. "Phew! Hot, isn't it? I simply
can't stand the sun. Now what is that you've got on your mind, Peter?"

Peter hesitated a minute, for he wasn't at all sure that Old Mr. Toad
would think the matter sufficiently important for him to spend his time
in story telling. Then he blurted out the whole matter and how he had
puzzled and puzzled why Sticky-