two days!'"

"B-but I've just had a good meal," Billy said. "And that wouldn't
be true."

"Oh--this is just a game," Jimmy Rabbit said. "It's all right. It's
often done. Everybody will understand."

"Well, then--where shall I sit?" Billy Woodchuck asked.

"I'd advise you to go down near Farmer Green's garden," said
Jimmy--"there are so many people passing that way. I'll wait here
for you. And when you get enough food given you, you can bring it
right back here and I'll help you carry it home."

Billy Woodchuck thought that was very kind. So down he went toward
Farmer Green's garden. And near the fence, beside the bridge across
the brook, where the field-people often passed, he sat up just as
Jimmy Rabbit had told him to.

Pretty soon he saw old Aunt Polly Woodchuck come along with a
basketful of goodies which she had gathered in the garden.

"Please, ma'am, I'm hungry," Billy said. "Nothing has passed my
lips for a whole week." He thought "a week" sounded far better than
"two days."

Now, Aunt Polly was a very old lady and almost blind. She could not
see how Billy's fat sides stuck out. And though she stopped and
looked at him closely, she did not know him--for all he was the son
of her own nephew.

"My, my!" she said. "How hungry you must be! Here--you just take
this basket and go right home and have a good meal. I live 'way
over there under the hill. And you can bring my basket home
to-night."

Billy Woodchuck thanked her. He felt somewhat ashamed to take the
peas and lettuce and apples and clover-heads. But he remembered it
was only a _game_. And Jimmy Rabbit had said it was all right.

Old Aunt Polly Woodchuck trudged back to the garden again. And
Billy hurried back to the place where Jimmy Rabbit was waiting.

"See what I've brought!" he said proudly. "Now you take hold of
the other side of the basket and we'll carry it home to my mother."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Jimmy Rabbit.

"Why not?" asked Billy.

"Well--I just wouldn't. I forgot to remember that it's bad luck not
to sit right down and eat whatever's given you like this. And you
don't want to have bad luck."

Billy Woodchuck was sure he didn't.

"All right, then!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "And they say it's bad luck
if you leave a single scrap uneaten. So I'll sit down too, and help
you."

[Illustration: She Took Hold of Billy's Ear]

IX

AT AUNT POLLY'S

After Jimmy Rabbit and Billy Woodchuck had eaten the ve