MOTHER WEST WIND "WHEN" STORIES

By Thornton W. Burgess

Author Of "Old Mother West Wind," "The Bed Time Story-Books," Etc.

Illustrations in Color by Harrison Cady

Boston: Little, Brown, And Company 1917

Original

Original

CONTENTS

MOTHER WEST WIND "WHEN" STORIES

I. WHEN MR. BLUEBIRD WON HIS BEAUTIFUL COAT

II. WHEN OLD MR. GOPHER FIRST GOT POCKETS

III. WHEN OLD MR. GROUSE GOT HIS SNOWSHOES

IV. WHEN OLD MR. PANTHER LOST HIS HONOR

V. WHEN OLD MR. RAT BECAME AN OUTCAST

VI. WHEN MR. MOOSE LOST HIS HORNS

VII. WHEN MR. KINGFISHER TOOK TO THE GROUND

VIII. WHEN OLD MR. BADGER LEARNED TO STAY AT HOME

IX. WHEN BOB WHITE WON HIS NAME

X. WHEN TEENY-WEENY BECAME GRATEFUL

XI. WHEN OLD MR. HARE BECAME A TURNCOAT

XII. WHEN GREAT-GRANDFATHER SWIFT FIRST USED A CHIMNEY

XIII. WHEN PETER RABBIT FIRST MET BLUFFER THE ADDER

XIV. WHEN MR. WOOD MOUSE LEARNED FROM THE BIRDS

XV. WHEN MR. HUMMINGBIRD GOT HIS LONG BILL

XVI. WHEN OLD MR. BAT GOT HIS WINGS

DEDICATION

To all little children and to all those crowned with the glory of many years who still retain that priceless possession, the heart of a child, this little volume is affectionately dedicated.

MOTHER WEST WIND "WHEN" STORIES

I. WHEN MR. BLUEBIRD WON HIS BEAUTIFUL COAT

Original

OF all the joyous sounds of all the year there is none more loved by Peter Rabbit, and the rest of us for that matter, than the soft whistle of Winsome Bluebird in the spring. The first time Peter hears it he always jumps up in the air, kicks his long heels together, and does a funny little dance of pure joy, for he knows that Winsome Bluebird is the herald of sweet Mistress Spring, and that she is not far behind him. It is the end of the shivery, sad time and the beginning of the happy, glad time, and Peter rejoices when he hears that sweet, soft voice which is sometimes so hard to locate, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere.

So Peter loves Winsome Bluebird and never tires of seeing him about. You know he wears a very, very beautiful coat of blue, the blue of the sky when it is softest, and you love to lie on your back and look up into it and dream and dream. It always has seemed to Peter that Winsome's coat is one of the loveliest he ever has seen, as indeed it is, and that it is quite right and proper and just as it should be that one having such a beautiful voice and bringing such a beautiful message should himself be beautiful. He said as much one day when he had run over to the Smiling Pool to pay his respects to Grandfather Frog.

"Chug-a-rum! Certainly. Of course," replied Grandfather Frog. "Winsome Bluebird has a beautiful nature and his beautiful coat is the reward which Old Mother Nature has given him. It has been in the family ever since his grandfather a thousand times removed was brave enough to become the herald of Mistress Spring."

"Oh, Grandfather Frog, that sounds like a story," cried Peter. "Please, please tell it to me, for I love Winsome Bluebird, and I know I shall love him more when I have learned more about him. His great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather must have done something very fine to have won such a lovely reward."

"He did," replied Grandfather Frog. "He became the herald of Mistress Spring when no one else would, and bravely carried his message of gladness and joy where it was sadly needed, in spite of cold and hardship which no one else was willing to face."

"Please, please tell me all about it," begged Peter.

Grandfather Frog appeared to consider for a few minutes, and Peter waited anxiously. Then Grandfather Frog cleared his voice. "I will," said he, "because you ought to know it. Everybody ought to know it, and Winsome Bluebird certainly never will tell it himself. He is too modest for that. It happened a great while ago when the world was