“Mr. Skunk had to try his new defence only once or twice before his enemies took the greatest care to let him alone.  He found that he no longer had to run for a safe hiding-place when he met Mr. Wolf or Mr. Lynx or Mr. Panther.  They just snarled at him and passed without offering to touch him.  So Mr. Skunk grew very independent and went where he pleased when he pleased.  And, because he no longer had to run from his enemies, he got out of the habit of running.  Then he made a discovery.  He watched those of his neighbors who were forever hurrying about looking for food, hurrying because all the time there was great fear upon them that an enemy might be near, hurrying because each was fearful that his neighbor would get more than he.  It wasn’t long before Mr. Skunk saw that in their hurry they overlooked a great deal.  In fact, by just following after them slowly, he found all he wanted to eat.

“So Mr. Skunk began to grow fat.  His neighbors, who were having hard work to make a living, grew envious, and said unkind things about him, and hinted that he must be stealing, or he never could have so much to eat.  But Mr. Skunk didn’t mind.  He went right on about his business.  He never worried, because, you know, he feared nobody.  And he never hurried, because he found that it paid best to go slowly.  In that way he never missed any of the good things that his hurrying, worrying neighbors did.  So he grew fatter and fatter, while others grew thinner.  After a while he almost forgot how to run.  Being fat and never hurrying or worrying made him good-natured.  He kept right on minding his own affairs and never meddling in the affairs of others, so that by and by his neighbors began to respect him.

“Of course he taught his children to do as he did, and they taught their children.  And so, ever since that long-ago day, when the world was young, that little bag of perfume has been handed down in the Skunk family, and none of them has ever been afraid.  Now you know why Jimmy Skunk, whom you all know, is so independent and never hurries.”

“Thank you!  Thank you, Grandfather Frog!” cried the Merry Little Breezes.  “When you want some more foolish green flies, just let us know, and we’ll get them for you.”

“Chug-a-rum!  What are you looking so wistful for, Peter Rabbit?” demanded Grandfather Frog.

“I—­I was just wishing that I had a—­” began Peter.  Then suddenly he made a face.  “No, I don’t either!” he declared.  “I guess I’d better be getting home to the dear Old Briar-patch now.  Mrs. Peter probably thinks something has happened to me.”  And away he went, lipperty-lipperty-lip.

VI

WHY SAMMY JAY HAS A FINE COAT

Sammy Jay has a very fine coat, a very beautiful coat.  Everybody knows that.  In fact, Sammy’s coat has long been the envy of a great many of his neighbors in the Green Forest.  Some of them, you know, have very modest coats.  They are not beautiful at all.  And yet the owners of some of these plain coats are among the most honest and hard-working of all the little people who live in the Green Forest.  They find it hard, very hard indeed, to understand why such a scamp and mischiefmaker as Sammy Jay should be given such a wonderful blue coat with white trimmings.