ANY VOICES

Of course Old Man Coyote has only one voice, but that one is such a
wonderful voice that he can make it sound like a great many voices,
all yelping and howling and shouting and laughing at the same time. So
those who hear him always say that he has many voices, and that
certainly is the way it seems. The first time Peter Rabbit heard Old
Man Coyote, he was sure, absolutely sure, that there was a whole crowd
of strangers on the Green Meadows, and you may be sure that he kept
very close to his dear Old Briar-patch. If you had been there and
tried to tell Peter that all that noise was made by just one voice,
he wouldn't have believed you. No, Sir, he wouldn't have believed you.
And you couldn't have blamed him.

It was the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind who first told
Peter who the stranger was and warned him to watch out, because Old
Man Coyote is just as fond of Rabbit as Granny or Reddy Fox, and is
even more crafty and sly than they. Peter thanked the Merry Little
Breezes for the warning, and then he asked them how many of his family
Old Man Coyote had brought with him. Of course the Merry Little
Breezes told Peter that Old Man Coyote was all alone, and they became
very indignant when Peter laughed at them. He just couldn't help it.

"Why," said he, "every night I hear a whole crowd yelping and howling
together."

"But you don't!" insisted the Merry Little Breezes. "It is Old Man
Coyote alone who makes all that noise."

"Don't you suppose I know what I hear?" demanded Peter.

"No!" retorted the Merry Little Breezes. "You may have big ears and be
able to hear a great deal, sometimes a great deal more than you have
any business to hear, but you are old enough by this time to have
learned that you cannot believe all you hear." And with that the Merry
Little Breezes indignantly raced away to spread the news all over the
Green Meadows.

Now Peter was quite as indignant because they thought he couldn't or
shouldn't believe his own ears, as they were because he wouldn't
believe what they told him, and all the rest of that day he couldn't
put the matter out of his mind. He was still thinking of it as the
Black Shadows came creeping down from the Purple Hills across the
Green Meadows. Suddenly Peter saw a dark form skulking among the Black
Shadows. At first he thought it was Reddy Fox, only somehow it looked
bigger. Peter, safe in the dear Old Briar-patch, watched. Presently
the dark form cam