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Then Old Dame Nature asked Peter Rabbit what he had found among the egg shells that morning.

Peter Rabbit hopped out and laid three long black hairs before Old Dame Nature. “These,” said Peter Rabbit “are what I found among the egg shells.”

Then Old Dame Nature called Johnny Chuck. “Tell us, Johnny Chuck,” said she, “what you saw when you called at Jimmy Skunk’s house this morning.”

“I saw Jimmy Skunk,” said Johnny Chuck, “and Jimmy seemed very, very sleepy. It seemed to me that his whiskers were yellow.”

“That will do,” said Old Dame Nature, and then she called Old Mother West Wind.

“What time did you come down on the Green Meadows this morning?”

“Just at the break of day,” said Old Mother West Wind, “as Mr. Sun was coming up from behind the Purple Hills.”

“And whom did you see so early in the morning?” asked Old Dame Nature.

“I saw Bobby Coon going home from old Farmer Brown’s cornfield,” said Old Mother West Wind. “I saw Hooty the Owl coming back from the lower end of the Green Meadows. I saw Peter Rabbit down in the berry patch. Last of all I saw something like a black shadow coming down the Lone Little Path toward the house of Jimmy Skunk.”

Every one was looking very hard at Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy began to look very unhappy and very uneasy.

“Who wears a black coat?” asked Dame Nature.

“Jimmy Skunk!” shouted all the little meadow folks.

“What MIGHT make whiskers yellow?” asked Old Dame Nature.

No one seemed to know at first. Then Peter Rabbit spoke up. “It MIGHT be the yolk of an egg,” said Peter Rabbit.

“Who are likely to be sleepy on a bright sunny morning?” asked Old Dame Nature.

“People who have been out all night,” said Johnny Chuck, who himself always goes to bed with the sun.

“Jimmy Skunk,” said Old Dame Nature, and her voice was very stern, very stern indeed, and her face was very grave. “Jimmy Skunk, I accuse you of having broken and eaten the eggs of Mrs. Grouse. What have you to say for yourself?”

Jimmy Skunk hung his head. He hadn’t a word to say. He just wanted to sneak away by himself.

“Jimmy Skunk,” said Old Dame Nature, “because your handsome black coat of which you are so proud has made it possible for you to move about in the night without being seen, and because we can no longer trust you upon your honor, henceforth you and your descendants shall wear a striped coat, which is the sign that you cannot be trusted. Your coat hereafter shall be black and white, that when you move about in the night you will always be visible.”

And this is why that to this day Jimmy Skunk wears a striped suit of black and white.

CHAPTER V THE WILFUL LITTLE BREEZE

Old Mother West Wind was tired–tired and just a wee bit cross–cross because she was tired. She had had a very busy day. Ever since early morning she had been puffing out the white sales of the ships on the big ocean so that they could go faster; she had kept all the big and little wind mills whirling and whirling to pump water for thirsty folks and grind corn for hungry folks; she had blown away all the smoke from tall chimneys and engines and steamboats. Yes, indeed, Old Mother West Wind had been very, very busy.

Now she was coming across the Green Meadows on her way to her home behind the Purple Hills, and as she came she opened the big bag she carried and called to her children, the Merry Little Breezes, who had been playing hard on the Green Meadows all the long day. One by one they crept into the big bag, for they were tired, too, and ready to go to their home behind the Purple Hills.

Pretty soon all were in the bag but one, a willful little Breeze, who was not quite ready to go home; he wanted to play just a little longer. He danced ahead of Old Mother West Wind. He kissed the sleepy daisies. He shook the nodding buttercups. He set all the little poplar leaves a dancing, too, and he wouldn’t come into the big bag. So Old Mother West Wind closed the big bag and slung it over her shoulder. Then she started on towards her home behind the Purple Hills.