long time before Peter could hop as he used to, but
after the first day he managed to get around. He found that
Farmer Brown's boy had spread those miserable wire snares in
every one of his private little paths. But Peter knew what they
were now. He showed Danny Meadow Mouse how he, because he was so
small, could safely run about among the snares and steal all the
cabbage leaves and apples which Farmer Brown's boy had put there
for bait.

Danny Meadow Mouse thought this great fun and a great joke on
Farmer Brown's boy. So every day he stole the bait, and he and
Peter Rabbit lived high while Peter's leg was getting well. And
all the time Farmer Brown's boy wondered why he couldn't catch
Peter Rabbit.

[Illustration]

XX

Timid Danny Meadow Mouse

Danny Meadow Mouse is timid. Everybody says so, and what
everybody says ought to be so. But just as anybody can make a
mistake sometimes, so can everybody. Still, in this case, it is
quite likely that everybody is right. Danny Meadow Mouse is
timid. Ask Peter Rabbit. Ask Sammy Jay. Ask Striped Chipmunk.
They will all tell you the same thing. Sammy Jay might even tell
you that Danny is afraid of his own shadow, or that he tries to
run away from his own tail. Of course this isn't true. Sammy Jay
likes to say mean things. It isn't fair to Danny Meadow Mouse to
believe what Sammy Jay says.

But the fact is Danny certainly is timid. More than this, he
isn't ashamed of it--not the least little bit.

"You see, it's this way," said Danny, as he sat on his doorstep
one sunny morning talking to his friend, old Mr. Toad. "If I
weren't afraid, I wouldn't be all the time watching out, and if
I weren't all the time watching out, I wouldn't have any more
chance than that foolish red ant running across in front of you."

Old Mr. Toad looked where Danny was pointing, and his tongue
darted out and back again so quickly that Danny wasn't sure that
he saw it at all, but when he looked for the ant it was nowhere
to be seen, and there was a satisfied twinkle in Mr. Toad's eyes.
There was an answering twinkle in Danny's own eyes as he
continued.

"No, Sir," said he, "I wouldn't stand a particle more chance than
that foolish ant did. Now if I were big and strong, like Old Man
Coyote, or had swift wings, like Skimmer the Swallow, or were so
homely and ugly looking that no one wanted me, like--like--"
Danny hesitated and then finished