ay out from shore, and with head held high and
very still, he looked and listened and listened and looked until he was
quite certain that no danger lurked near. Then he swam back to where
Peter was sitting on the bank.

"Peter," said he, "I never in all my born days have seen such a fellow
for questions as you are. If I lived about here, I think I should swim
away every time I saw you coming. But as I only stop here for a day or
two twice a year, I guess I can stand it. Besides, you really ought to
know something about some of the people who live in the Great Forest. It
is shameful, Peter, that you should be so ignorant. And so if you will
promise not to ask for another story while I am here, I will tell you
about Glutton the Wolverine."

Of course Peter promised. He wanted that story so much that he would
have promised anything. So Honker told the story, and here it is just as
Peter heard it.

"Once upon a time long, long, long ago, the first Wolverine was sent out
to find a place for himself in the Great World just as every one else
had been sent out. Old Mother Nature had told him that he was related to
Mr. Weasel and Mr. Mink and Mr. Fisher and Mr. Skunk, but no one would
have guessed it just to look at him. In fact, some of his new neighbors
were inclined to think that he was related to Old King Bear. Certainly
he looked more like King Bear than he did like little Mr. Weasel. But
for his bushy tail he would have looked still more like a member of the
Bear family. He was clumsy-looking. He was rather slow moving, but he
was strong, very strong for his size. And he had a mean disposition.
Yes, Sir, Mr. Wolverine had a mean disposition. He had such a mean
disposition that he would snarl at his own reflection in a pool of
water.

"Now you know as well as I do that no one with a mean disposition has
any friends. It was so with Mr. Wolverine. When his neighbors found out
what a mean disposition he had, they let him severely alone. They would
go out of their way to avoid meeting him. This made his disposition all
the meaner. He didn't really care because his neighbors would have
nothing to do with him. No, he didn't really care, for the simple reason
that he didn't want anything to do with them. But just the same it made
him angry to have them show that they didn't want to have anything to do
with him. Every time he would see one of them turn aside to avoid
meeting him, he would snarl under his breath, and his eyes wo