So Johnny Chuck wished and wished that he had a handsome suit, but as he didn’t, and no amount of wishing would bring him one, he just made the one he did have look as good as he could, and then went in search of Polly Chuck.

Sometimes she would not notice him at all.  Sometimes he would find her shyly peeping at him from behind a clump of grass.  Then Johnny Chuck would try to make himself look very important, and would strut about as if he really did own the Green Meadows.

Sometimes she would hide from him, and when he found her she would run away.  Other times she would be just as nice to him as she could be, and they would have a jolly time hunting for sweet clover and other nice things to eat.  Then Johnny Chuck’s heart would swell until it seemed to him that it would fairly burst with happiness.

Instead of wanting to drive Polly Chuck away from the Green Meadows, as he had the old gray Chuck, Johnny began to worry for fear that Polly Chuck might not stay on the Green Meadows.  Whenever he thought of that, his heart would sink way, way down, and he would hurry to look for her and make sure that she was still there.

When he was beside her, he felt very big and strong and brave and longed for a chance to show her how brave he was.  She was such a timid little thing herself that the least little thing frightened her, and Johnny Chuck was glad that this was so, for it gave him a chance to protect her.

When he wasn’t with her, he spent his time looking for new patches of sweet clover to take her to.  At first she wouldn’t go without a great deal of coaxing, but after a while he didn’t have to coax at all.  She seemed to delight to be with him as much as he did to be with her.

So Johnny Chuck grew happier and happier.  He was happier than he had ever been in all his life before.  You see Johnny Chuck had found the greatest thing in the world.  Do you know what it is?  It is called love.

XII

JOHNNY CHUCK PROVES HIS LOVE

These spring days were beautiful days on the Green Meadows.  It seemed to Johnny Chuck that the Green Meadows never had been so lovely or the songs of the birds so sweet.  He had forgotten all about his old friends, Jimmy Skunk and Peter Rabbit and the other little meadow people.

You see, he couldn’t think of anybody but Polly Chuck, and he didn’t want to be with anybody but Polly Chuck.  He had even forgotten that he had started out to see the world.  He didn’t care anything more about the world.  All he wanted was to be where Polly Chuck was.  Then he was perfectly happy.  That was because Johnny Chuck had found the greatest thing in the world, which is love.  But Johnny still had one great wish, the wish that he might show Polly Chuck just how brave and strong he was and how well he could take care of her.

One morning they were feasting in a patch of sweet clover over near an old stone wall.  It was the same stone wall in which Johnny Chuck had escaped from old Whitetail the Marshhawk, when Johnny was a very little fellow.