And when at last Johnnie Green passed that way again, late one
afternoon, to drive the cows home to be milked, he thought that
Mrs. Woodchuck looked quite well.

She looked happy, too, just before Johnnie came along. But now she
had a worried air. And it was no wonder, either. For she had five
new children, only a few weeks old, and she was afraid that Johnnie
would take them away from her.

Poor, frightened Mrs. Woodchuck ran round and round her five
youngsters, to keep them all together. And all the time she urged
them nearer and nearer the door of her house.

Johnnie was already late about getting the cows. But he waited to
see what happened. And soon he saw all five of the little chucks
scramble through the doorway. And as soon as the last one was
safely inside the old lady jumped in after her children.

That last one was the biggest of all the young chucks. Perhaps it
was because he always ate twice as much as any of his brothers and
sisters. His mother found him harder to manage, too; and she had to
push him along through the doorway, because he wanted to stop and
snatch a bite from a juicy plantain.

That was Billy Woodchuck--that fat, strong youngster. Even then
Johnnie Green knew that he was going to be a big fellow when he
grew up.

II

CALLING NAMES

Billy Woodchuck grew so fast that he soon looked very much like his
father. Of course, he was still much smaller than Mr. Woodchuck.
But like him, Billy was quite gray; and he had whiskers,
too--though, to be sure, those were black. His eyes also were black
and large and bright. When Billy sat up on his hind legs--as he
often did--he appeared for all the world like a huge squirrel.

In fact, some of Billy's friends remarked how like a squirrel he
looked. And one day when Billy was playing near the edge of the
woods a disagreeable young hedgehog told him that. To tell the
truth, Billy Woodchuck had grown to be the least bit vain. He loved
to gaze upon his bushy tail; and he spent a good deal of time
stroking his whiskers. He hoped that the neighbors had noticed
them.

Now, other people are always quick to see when anyone is silly in
that way. And the young hedgehog thought that Billy Woodchuck
needed taking down a peg. So he said to him:

"Why don't you join the circus?"

"Circus? What's that?" Billy asked.

"A circus is a place where they have all kinds of freaks," the
hedgehog answered with a sly smile--"giants and dwarfs, and thin