“This was just Old Mother Nature’s view of the matter.  She had done her very best to give everybody everything that they really needed, and not to give them things which they didn’t need.  She couldn’t see that Mr. Bear had the least need of a tail, and so she hadn’t given him one.  Mr. Bear was perfectly happy without one, and was so busy getting enough to eat that he didn’t have time for silly thoughts or vain wishes.

“Then he was made king over all the people of the Green Forest, and his word was law.  It was a very great honor, and for a while he felt it so and did his best to rule wisely.  He went about just as before, hunting for his living, and had no more time than before for foolish thoughts or vain wishes.  But after a little, the little people over whom he ruled began to bring him tribute, so that he no longer had to hunt for enough to eat.  Indeed, he had so much brought to him, that he couldn’t begin to eat all of it, and he grew very dainty and fussy about what he did eat.  Having nothing to do but eat and sleep, he grew very fat and lazy, as is the case with most people who have nothing to do.  He grew so fat that when he walked, he puffed and wheezed.  He grew so lazy that he wanted to be waited on all the time.

“It happened about this time that he overheard Mr. Fox talking to Mr. Wolf when they both thought him asleep.  ’A pretty kind of a king, he is!’ sneered Mr. Fox.  ‘The idea of a king without a tail!’

“‘That’s so,’ assented Mr. Wolf.  ’Why, even that little upstart, Mr. Rabbit, has got a make-believe tail.’”

Grandfather Frog’s eyes twinkled as he said this, and Peter looked very much embarrassed.  But he didn’t say anything, so Grandfather Frog went on.

“Old King Bear pretended to wake up just then, and right away Mr. Fox and Mr. Wolf were as polite and smiling as you please and began to flatter him.  They told him how proud they were of their king, and how handsome he was, and a lot of other nice things, all of which he had heard often before and had believed.  He pretended to believe them now, but after they were through paying their respects and had gone away, he kept turning over and over in his mind what he had overheard them say when they thought he was asleep.

“After that he couldn’t think of anything but the fact that he hadn’t any tail.  He took particular notice of all who came to pay him tribute, and he saw that every one of them had a tail.  Some had long tails; some had short tails; some had handsome tails and some had homely tails; but everybody had a tail of some kind.  The more he tried not to think of these tails, the more he did think of them.  The more he thought of them, the more discontented he grew because he had none.  He didn’t stop to think that probably all of them had use for their tails.  No, Sir, he didn’t think of that.  Everybody else had a tail, and he hadn’t.  He felt that it was a disgrace that he, the king, should have no tail.  He brooded over it so much that he lost his appetite and grew cross and peevish.