u wilt not
do this, every bone in thy body shall be broken."

Then the bear was forced to crawl out of his den very sulkily, and do
what the king bade him; and after that the young birds sat down
together, and ate, and drank, and made merry till midnight.

WHY JIMMY SKUNK WEARS STRIPES[K]

BY THORNTON W. BURGESS

Jimmy Skunk, as everybody knows, wears a striped suit, a suit of black
and white. There was a time, long, long ago, when all the Skunk family
wore black. Very handsome their coats were, too, a beautiful glossy
black. They were very, very proud of them, and took the greatest care of
them, brushing them carefully ever so many times a day.

There was a Jimmy Skunk then, just as there is now, and he was head of
all the Skunk family. Now, this Jimmy Skunk was very proud, and thought
himself very much of a gentleman. He was very independent, and cared for
no one. Like a great many other independent people, he did not always
consider the rights of others. Indeed, it was hinted in the wood and on
the Green Meadows that not all of Jimmy Skunk's doings would bear the
light of day. It was openly said that he was altogether too fond of
prowling about at night, but no one could prove that he was responsible
for mischief done in the night, for no one saw him. You see his coat was
so black that in the darkness of the night it was not visible at all.

Now, about this time of which I am telling you, Mrs. Ruffed Grouse made
a nest at the foot of the Great Pine, and in it she laid fifteen
beautiful buff eggs. Mrs. Grouse was very happy, very happy indeed, and
all the little meadow folks who knew of her happiness were happy, too,
for they all loved shy, demure, little Mrs. Grouse. Every morning when
Peter Rabbit trotted down the Lone Little Path through the wood past the
Great Pine he would stop for a few minutes to chat with Mrs. Grouse.
Happy Jack Squirrel would bring her the news every afternoon. The Merry
Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind would run up a dozen times a day
to see how she was getting along.

One morning Peter Rabbit, coming down the Lone Little Path for his usual
morning call, found a terrible state of affairs. Poor little Mrs. Grouse
was heartbroken. All about the foot of the Great Pine lay the empty
shells of their beautiful eggs. They had been broken and scattered this
way and that.

"How did it happen?" asked Peter Rabbit.

"I don't know," sobbed poor little Mrs. Grouse. "In the night w