“‘I don’t believe,’ said he, ’that any one will have the patience to dig to the bottom of this.’

“So at night he slept in his bed at the end of his long hall far below the surface, but all day he spent above ground, for he dearly loved the sunshine.  All went well until there came a time of heavy rains.  Then Yap-Yap discovered that the water ran down his hole, and if he didn’t do something, he was likely to be drowned out.  Right away he set his sharp wits to work.  He noticed that when the water on the surface reached the little piles of sand he had made, it ran around them.  So he made a great mound of sand around his hole with the entrance in the middle and pressed it firm on the inside so that the rain would not wash it down in.  Then, although the water stood all around, it no longer ran down in his house.  In fair weather that mound was a splendid place on which to sit and watch for danger.  So once more Yap-Yap was happy and care-free, all because he had used his wits.

“And from that day to this the Prairie Dogs have made their houses in just that way, and no one that I know cares to try to dig one out,” concluded Old Man Coyote.

IV

WHERE YELLOW-WING GOT HIS LIKING FOR THE GROUND

Peter Rabbit was hopping along on the edge of the Green Meadows, looking for a new patch of sweet clover.  It was very beautiful that morning, and Peter was in the best of spirits.  It was good just to be alive.  Every once in a while Peter would jump up and kick his long heels together just from pure happiness.  He was so happy that he didn’t pay particular attention to where he was going or what was about him.  The result was that Peter got a fright.  Right from under his very nose something sprang out of the grass so suddenly and so wholly unexpectedly that Peter very nearly tumbled over backward.  He made two long jumps off to one side and then turned to see what had startled him so.  But all he saw was an old feathered acquaintance headed towards the Old Orchard.  He seemed to bound along through the air much as Peter bounds along over the ground when he is in a hurry.  It was Yellow-Wing the Flicker.

Peter grinned and looked a little foolish.  He felt a little foolish.  You know it always makes you feel foolish to be frightened when there is nothing to be afraid of.  Peter watched Yellow-Wing until he disappeared among the trees of the Old Orchard, from which presently his voice sounded clear and loud, and in it there was a mocking note as if Yellow-Wing were laughing at him.  Peter suspected that he was.  But Peter was feeling too happy to mind being laughed at.  In fact, he chuckled himself.  It was something of a joke to be frightened by one who was so wholly harmless.  Peter recalled how many times he had frightened other people and thought it the best of jokes.