Nature had intended to take away the fine coat of
which Mr. Jay was so proud, but when he discovered that he had lost
his fine voice, he was so ashamed that he hurried away to hide himself
from the eyes of his neighbors, so that Old Mother Nature didn't have
time to change his coat just then.

'I'll wait a bit,' said she to herself, 'and see how he behaves.
Perhaps he is truly sorry for what he has done, and I will not have to
punish him more.'

"But if Mr. Jay was truly sorry, he gave no signs of it. You see, he
had cheated his neighbors, and had stolen from them for so long, that
he found this the easiest way to get a living. His bad habits had
become fixed, as bad habits have a way of doing. Besides, right down
in his heart, he wasn't sorry for what he had done, only angry at
having been found out. Now that he had been found out, of course every
one was on the watch for him, and it wasn't so easy to steal as it had
been before. So now, instead of going about openly, with his head held
high, he grew very crafty, and sneaked quietly about through the Green
Forest, trying to keep out of sight, that he might the easier steal
from his neighbors and make trouble for them.

"When Old Mother Nature saw this, she changed her mind about taking
away his handsome suit. 'If I do that,' thought she, 'it will make it
all the easier for him to keep out of sight, and all the harder for
his neighbors to know when he is about.'

"So instead of giving him the plain, homely suit that she had thought
of giving him, she made his coat of blue brighter than before and
trimmed it with the whitest of white trimmings, so that Mr. Jay had
one of the very handsomest coats in all the Green Forest. At first he
was very proud of it, but it wasn't long before he found that it was
very hard work to keep out of sight when he wanted to. That bright
blue coat was forever giving him away when he was out on mischief.
Everybody was all the time on the watch for it, and so where in the
past Mr. Jay had been able, without any trouble, to steal all he
wanted to eat, now he sometimes actually had to work for his food, and
get it honestly or else go hungry.

"You would suppose that he would have mended him ways, wouldn't you?"

Peter nodded.

"But he didn't. He grew more sly and crafty than ever. But in spite of
this, he didn't begin to make as much trouble as before. He couldn't,
you know, because of his bright coat. When Old Mother Nature found
that M