MOTHER WEST WIND "WHERE" STORIES

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. WHERE GRANDFATHER FROG GOT
HIS BIG MOUTH 1

II. WHERE MISER THE TRADE RAT
FIRST SET UP SHOP 17

III. WHERE YAP-YAP THE PRAIRIE DOG
USED HIS WITS 31

IV. WHERE YELLOW-WING GOT HIS
LIKING FOR THE GROUND 47

V. WHERE LITTLE CHIEF LEARNED TO MAKE HAY 61

VI. WHERE GLUTTON THE WOLVERINE GOT HIS NAME 77

VII. WHERE OLD MRS. 'GATOR MADE
THE FIRST INCUBATOR 91

VIII. WHERE MR. QUACK GOT HIS
WEBBED FEET 107

IX. WHERE THUNDERFOOT THE BISON
GOT HIS HUMP 123

X. WHERE LIMBERHEELS GOT HIS
LONG TAIL 139

XI. WHERE OLD MR. GOBBLER GOT THE
STRUTTING HABIT 155

XII. WHERE SEEK-SEEK GOT HIS
PRETTY COAT 169

XIII. WHERE OLD MR. OSPREY LEARNED
TO FISH 185

XIV. WHERE OLD MR. BOB-CAT LEFT HIS
HONOR 199

XV. WHERE DIPPY THE LOON GOT THE
NAME OF BEING CRAZY 213

XVI. WHERE BIG-HORN GOT HIS CURVED
HORNS 229




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

"THEN THERE WAS A CRASH, AND EVERYBODY'S
EYES FLEW OPEN" _FRONTISPIECE_

"LITTLE CHIEF'S FATHER TAUGHT HIM HOW
TO MAKE HAY" 74

PETER NOTICED THOSE FEET THE FIRST TIME
HE MET MR. AND MRS. QUACK 122

"DON'T CALL ME STRIPED CHIPMUNK, AND
DON'T CALL ME GOPHER!" SAID HE 170




MOTHER WEST WIND "WHERE" STORIES




I

WHERE GRANDFATHER FROG GOT HIS BIG MOUTH


Everybody knows that Grandfather Frog has a big mouth. Of course! It
wouldn't be possible to look him straight in the face and not know that
he has a big mouth. In fact, about all you see when you look Grandfather
Frog full in the face are his great big mouth and two great big goggly
eyes. He seems then to be all mouth and eyes.

Anyway, that is what Peter Rabbit says. Peter never will forget the
first time he saw Grandfather Frog. Peter was very young then. He had
run away from home to see the Great World, and in the course of his
wanderings he came to the Smiling Pool. Never before had he seen so much
water. The most water he had ever seen before was a little puddle in the
Lone Little Path. So when Peter, who was only half grown then, hopped
out on the bank of the Smiling Pool and saw it dimpling and smiling in
the sunshine, he thought it the most wonderful thing he ever had seen.
The truth is that in those days Peter was in the habit of thinking
everything he saw for the first time the most wonderful thing yet, and
as he was continually seeing new things, and as his eyes always nearly
popped out of his head whenever he saw something new, it is a wonder
that he didn't become pop-eyed.

Peter stared and stared at the Smiling Pool, and little by little he
began to see other things. First he noticed the bulrushes growing with
their feet in the water. They looked to him like giant grass, and he
began to be a little fearful lest this should prove to be a sort of
magic place--a place of giants. Then he noticed the lily-pads, and he
stared very hard at these. They looked like growing things, and yet they
seemed to be floating right on top of the water. It wasn't until a Merry
Little Breeze came along and turned the edge of one up so that Peter saw
the long stem running down in the water out of sight, that he was able
to understand how those lily-pads could be growing there. He was still
staring at those lily-pads when a great deep voice said:

"Chug-a-rum! Chug-a-rum! Don't you know it isn't polite to stare at
people?"

That voice was so unexpected and so deep that Peter was startled. He
jumped, started to run, then stopped. He wanted to run, but curiosity
wouldn't let him.