good morning. Every morning is good,"
replied Grandfather Frog gruffly.

"Oh!" said Peter Rabbit, and then he couldn't think of another thing
to say.

The Merry Little Breezes giggled, and Grandfather Frog looked over at
them and very slowly winked. Then he rolled his big goggly eyes up and
stared into the sky. Peter Rabbit looked up to see what Grandfather
Frog was looking at so intently. There was Redtail the Hawk swinging
'round and 'round in great big circles, as if he were trying to bore
his way right into the clouds. Peter didn't stop to watch.

"When ol' Mr. Hawk is a-riding in the sky,
Keep a-moving, keep a-moving, keep a-moving mighty spry!"

chanted Peter, and taking his own advice, off he went,
lipperty-lipperty-lip.

Grandfather Frog watched the white patch of the seat of Peter's pants
bobbing through the rushes until finally Peter was out of sight.

"Did you ever hear how Peter Rabbit happens to always wear a white
patch on the seat of his pants?" asked Grandfather Frog.

"No; do tell us," exclaimed the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother
West Wind.

Grandfather Frog snapped up a foolish green fly, smacked his lips,
cleared his throat, and began:

"Once upon a time when the world was young, Old Mother Nature found
she had her hands full. Yes, Sir, she certainly did have her hands
full. Her family was so big that she couldn't keep an eye on each one
all the time. Dear me, dear me, such a lot of trouble as Old Mother
Nature did have in those days! And no one made her more trouble than
Peter Rabbit's grandfather a thousand times removed. Mr. Rabbit was
always in mischief. He just naturally couldn't keep out of it. He just
hopped out of one scrape right plumb into another.

"Seemed like Old Mother Nature was busy just straightening out
trouble Mr. Rabbit had made. Even she wasn't always quite sure who had
made it, and no one else suspected Mr. Rabbit at all. He wore a brown
coat, just like the brown leaves, and when he ran he looked just like
a little old bunch of leaves blowing along. So Mr. Rabbit used to
creep up and listen to what others were saying, for he was just as
curious as Peter Rabbit is now, and he used to play all kinds of
tricks and never get caught, because of that little old brown suit of
his.

"One day in the early spring, when gentle Sister South Wind had melted
all the snow, excepting a little patch right under the window of Mr.
Skunk's house, Mr. Rabbit came strolling