as he thought about it, little Mr. Squirrel had a bright
idea. He made up his mind that thereafter he would stop his
happy-go-lucky idleness, and the first time that ever he found plenty of
food, he would fill that hollow tree just as full as he could pack it,
and then if there should come a time when food was scarce, he would
have plenty. And that is just what he did do. The next fall when nuts
were plentiful, he worked from morning till night storing them away in
the hollow tree, and all that winter he was happy and fat, for he had
plenty to eat. He never had to beg of any one. He had learned to save.

"And ever since then the Squirrels have been among the wisest of all the
little forest people and always the busiest.

"The Squirrel family long since learned
That things are best when duly earned;
That play and fun are found in work
By him who does not try to shirk.

"And that's all," finished Grandfather Frog.

"Thank you! Thank you, Grandfather Frog!" cried Peter Rabbit.

VII

HOW LIGHTFOOT THE DEER LEARNED TO JUMP

VII

HOW LIGHTFOOT THE DEER LEARNED TO JUMP

It isn't often that Peter Rabbit is filled with envy. As a rule, Peter
is very free from anything like envy. Usually he is quite content with
the gifts bestowed upon him by Old Mother Nature, and if others have
more than he has, he is glad for them and wastes no time fretting
because he has not been so fortunate. But once in a great while Peter
becomes really and truly envious. It was that way the first time he saw
Lightfoot the Deer leap over a fallen tree, and ever after, when he saw
Lightfoot, a little of that same feeling stirred in his heart. You see,
Peter always had been very proud of his own powers of jumping. To be
sure Jumper the Hare could jump higher and farther than he could, but
Jumper is his own cousin, so it was all in the family, so to speak, and
Peter didn't mind. But to see Lightfoot the Deer go sailing over the
tops of the bushes and over the fallen trees as if he had springs in his
legs was quite another matter.

"I wish I could jump like that," said Peter right out loud one day, as
he stood with his hands on his hips watching Lightfoot leap over a pile
of brush.

"Why don't you learn to?" asked Jimmy Skunk with a mischievous twinkle
in the eye which Peter couldn't see. "Lightfoot couldn't always ju