etter than at first. After that Mr. Otter was perfectly happy, for
summer and winter he had a slippery-slide. He taught his children, and
they taught their children how to make slippery-slides, and ever since
that long-ago day when the world was young, the making of
slippery-slides has been the family secret of the Otters."

"And it's the best secret in the world," said Little Joe Otter, swimming
up behind Grandfather Frog just then.

"I wish--I wish I had a slippery-slide," said Peter Rabbit wistfully.

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog. "Chug-a-rum! Be content with the
blessings you have got, Peter Rabbit. Be content with the blessings you
have got. No good comes of wishing for things which it never was meant
that you should have. It is a bad habit and it makes discontent."

XIII

HOW DRUMMER THE WOODPECKER CAME BY HIS RED CAP

XIII

HOW DRUMMER THE WOODPECKER CAME BY HIS RED CAP

Drummer the Woodpecker was beating his long roll on a hollow tree in the
Green Forest. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! Drummer
thought it the most beautiful sound in the world. After each long roll
he would stop and listen for a reply. You see, sometimes one of his
family in another part of the Green Forest, or over in the Old Orchard,
would hear him drumming and would hasten to find a hollow tree himself
and drum too. Then they would drum back and forth to each other for the
longest time, until all the other little people would scold because of
the racket and would wish they could stop their ears. But it was music,
real music to Drummer and all the members of his family, and Drummer
never was happier than when beating his long roll as he was doing now.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Suddenly Drummer heard a
scratching sound inside the hollow tree. Once more he beat the long roll
and the scratching sound grew louder. Then he heard a voice just a
little way above him.

"Do Ah hear some one knocking?" asked the voice.

Drummer looked up. There was Unc' Billy Possum's sharp little face
sticking out of his doorway, and Unc' Billy looked very sleepy and very
cross and at the same time as if he were trying very hard to be polite
and pleasant.

"Hello, Unc' Billy! Is this your house? I didn't know it when I began to
drum. I wasn't knocking; I was drumming. I just love to drum," replied
Drummer.

"Ah reckon