“’From this time on, no one will believe anything you say, and you shall have no friends.  You will never wink again, for you and your children and your children’s children forever will have no eyelids, that all the world may know that those who make a wrong use of the things given them shall have them taken away.’

“And now you know why little Mr. Greensnake cannot wink at you; he hasn’t any eyelids to wink with” finished Grandfather Frog.

Peter Rabbit drew a long breath.  “Thank you, oh, thank you ever so much, Grandfather Frog,” he said.  “Will you tell us next time why Bobby Coon wears rings on his tail?”

“Perhaps,” replied Grandfather Frog.

XI

WHY BOBBY COON HAS RINGS ON HIS TAIL

Peter Rabbit would give Grandfather Frog no peace.  Every day Peter visited the Smiling Pool to tease Grandfather Frog for a story—­for one particular story.  He wanted to know why it is that Bobby Coon wears rings on his tail.  You see, Peter had admired Bobby Coon’s tail for a long time.  Peter has such a funny little tail himself, just a little white bunch of cotton, that such a handsome tail as Bobby Coon’s sometimes stirs just a wee bit of envy in Peter’s heart.

But it wasn’t envy so much as curiosity that prompted Peter to tease for that story.  Bobby Coon’s tail is very handsome, you know.  It has beautiful rings of black and gray, and Peter didn’t know of any other tail at all like it.  Somehow, he felt right down deep in his heart that there must be a reason for those rings, just as there is a reason for his own long ears and long legs.  The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he simply must know, and the only way he could find out was from Grandfather Frog, who is very old and very wise.  So he teased and he teased until finally Grandfather Frog promised him that on the next afternoon he would tell Peter why Bobby Coon has rings on his tail.  Peter hurried away to tell all the little meadow and forest people, and the next afternoon they were all on hand on the bank of the Smiling Pool to hear the story about Bobby Coon’s tail.

“Chug-a-rum!” began Grandfather Frog, smoothing down his white and yellow waistcoat.  “Chug-a-rum!  Some folks seem to think that what they do doesn’t matter to anybody but themselves.  That was the way with old Mr. Rabbit, who lived a long time ago when the world was young.  He thought he could make all the trouble he pleased by his dreadful curiosity, and if he was found out, no one would suffer but himself.  But it wasn’t so.  Here is Peter Rabbit, his grandchild a thousand times removed, with long legs and long ears, and the bad habit of curiosity, all because old Mr. Rabbit had a bad habit and didn’t try to overcome it.