the Green Forest. He isn't much like
his cousin, Miser the Trade Rat."

"Mah goodness! Do yo' know Miser?" exclaimed Ol' Mistah Buzzard.

"Do I know Miser? I should say I do!" replied Old Man Coyote. "I've
tried to catch him enough times to know him. He kept a junk shop very
near where I used to live way out west. Do you know him, Mr. Buzzard?"

"Ah cert'nly does," chuckled Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "Ah cert'nly does. Ah
never did see such a busy fellow as he is. Ah done see his junk shop
many times, and always it done be growin' bigger. Ah wonders, Brer Coyote,
if yo' ever heard the story of his Great-great-ever-so-great-gran'-daddy,
the first of the family, and how and where he started the business that's
been kept in the family ever since."

"No," said Old Man Coyote, "I never did, and I've wondered about it a
great deal."

Peter Rabbit almost forgot that he was hiding. He was so eager to hear
that story that he was right on the point of speaking up and begging Ol'
Mistah Buzzard to tell it when he remembered Old Man Coyote. Just in the
nick of time he clapped a hand over his mouth. It seemed to Peter a
long, long time before Old Man Coyote said:

"I'd like to hear that story, Mr. Buzzard, if it isn't too much to ask
of you."

"Not at all, Brer Coyote; not at all. Ah'll be mor'n pleased to tell it
to yo'. Ah cert'nly will," said Ol' Mistah Buzzard, and Peter settled
himself comfortably to listen.

"Yo' see it was this way," began Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "Ah got it from mah
gran'daddy, and he got it from his gran'daddy, and his gran'daddy got it
from--"

"I know," interrupted Old Man Coyote. "It was handed down from your
greatest-great-grandfather, who lived in the days when the world was
young and what you are going to tell me about happened. Isn't that it?"

"Yes, Suh," replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "Yes, Suh, that's it. Ol' Mother
Nature treat 'em all alike in those days. She's a right smart busy
person, and she ain't got no time fo' to answer foolish questions. No,
Suh, she ain't. So, quick as she get a new kind of critter made, she
turn him loose and tell him if he want to live he got to be right smart
and find out for hisself how to do it. Ah reckons yo' know all about
that, Brer Coyote."

Old Man Coyote nodded, and Ol' Mistah Buzzard scratched his bald head
gently as if trying to stir up his memory. Peter Rabbit almost squealed
aloud in his impatience while he waited for Ol' Mistah Buzzard to go on.

"When