the
family, Peter."

Once more Peter nodded his head. Jerry Muskrat, who was sitting on the
Big Rock, listening, winked at Peter, and Peter winked back. Then he
made himself comfortable and prepared not to miss a word of Grandfather
Frog's story.

"You must know, Peter, that a long time ago when the world was young,
there was a time when there was no winter," began Grandfather Frog.
"That was before the hard times of which I have told you before.
Everybody had plenty to eat, and everybody was on the best of terms with
all his neighbors. Then came the hard times, and the beginning of the
hard times was the coming of rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost.
Their coming made the first winter. It wasn't a very long or a very hard
winter, but it was long enough and hard enough to make a great deal of
discomfort, particularly for those little people who lived altogether on
tender young green plants. Yes, Sir, it certainly was hard on them. Some
of them nearly starved to death that first winter, short as it was. Old
Mr. Chuck, who, of course, wasn't old then, was one of them. By the time
the tender, young, green things began to grow again, he was just a
shadow of what he used to be. He was so thin that sometimes he used to
listen to see if he couldn't hear his bones rattle inside his skin.

"Of course he couldn't, but he was quite sure that when the wind blew,
it went right through him. At last warm weather returned, just as it
does now every summer, and once more there was plenty to eat. Some of
the little people seemed to forget all about the hard times of the cold
weather, but not Mr. Chuck. He had been too cold and too hungry to ever
forget. Of course, with plenty to eat, he soon grew fat and comfortable
again, but all the time he kept thinking about the terrible visit of
rough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost and wondering if they would come
again. He talked about it with his neighbors but most of them laughed
and told him that he was borrowing trouble, and that they didn't
believe that Brother North Wind and Jack Frost ever would come again.

"So after a while Mr. Chuck kept his thoughts to himself and went about
his business as usual. But all the time he was turning over and over in
his mind the possibility of another period of cold and starvation and
trying to think of some way to prepare for it. He didn't once think of
going to Old Mother Nature and begging her to take care of him, for he
was very independent,