XVIII

A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

The friendship which is truest, best,
Is that which meets the trouble test.

No one really knows who his best friends are until he gets in trouble.
When everything is lovely and there is no sign of trouble anywhere,
one may have ever and ever so many friends. At least, it may seem so.
But let trouble come, and all too often these seeming friends
disappear as if by magic, until only a few, sometimes a very few, are
left. These are the real friends, the true friends, and they are worth
more than all the others put together. Remember that if you are a true
friend to any one, you will stand by him and help him, no matter what
happens. Sometimes it is almost worth while getting into trouble just
to find out who your real friends are.

Peter Rabbit found out who some of his truest friends are when,
because of his own carelessness, old Granny Fox caught him. Peter has
been in many tight places and had many terrible frights in his life,
but never did he feel quite so helpless and hopeless as when he felt
the black paws of old Granny Fox pinning him down and Granny's sharp
teeth in the loose skin on the back of his neck. All he could do was
to kick with all his might, and kicking was quite useless, for Granny
took great care to keep out of the way of those stout hind legs of
his.

Many, many times Granny Fox had tried to catch Peter, and always
before Peter had been too smart for her, and had just made fun of her
and laughed at her. Now it was her turn to laugh, all because he had
been careless and foolish. You see, Peter had been so sure that Granny
had had such a fright when she ran away from the strange creature that
rolled down Prickly Porky's hill at her that she wouldn't think of
coming back, and so he had just given himself up to enjoying Granny's
fright. At Peter's scream of fright, Unc' Billy Possum scampered for
the nearest tree, and Jimmy Skunk dodged behind a big stump. You see,
it was so sudden that they really didn't know what had happened. But
Prickly Porky, whom some people call stupid, made no move to run away.
He happened to be looking at Peter when Granny caught him, and so he
knew just what it meant. A spark of anger flashed in his usually dull
eyes and for once in his life Prickly Porky moved quickly. The
thousand little spears hidden in his coat suddenly stood on end and
Prickly Porky made a fierce little rush forward.

[Illustration: "Drop him!