"It's my back," he answered. "I am afraid I hurt it again. And I don't suppose I shall be able to do another stroke of work all the rest of the summer."

Somehow, that did not seem to worry Mrs. Woodchuck at all. To tell the truth, she knew very well that her husband was lazy.

"I shall punish this boy to-morrow--if my back is strong enough,"

Mr. Woodchuck said.

But the next day Mr. Woodchuck was so busy sunning himself that he never found time to punish Billy after all.

VII

GREEN PEAS

In Farmer Green's garden there were many things that Billy Woodchuck liked to eat. It seemed to him that every time he stole down there he found some new vegetable that was nicer than any he had tasted before. And one day he came upon something that was far sweeter and juicier than anything he had ever eaten.

Farmer Green's peas were just ready to be picked. Billy Woodchuck did not know what they were called. But that made no difference to him. He sat up on his hind legs and pulled off the fat pods and ate the tender green peas greedily.

I should hate to say how long he stayed there. But it was a very long time. When he reached the garden-patch it had been so early in the morning that none of Farmer Green's family was astir. The sun rose while Billy was breakfasting. And after a while a door slammed now and then. But Billy Woodchuck never heard a sound, though the farmhouse was not far away. He was having such a good meal that he forgot everything else.

At last he could eat no more. He hated to stop. But he could not hold another mouthful. And now, as he looked around, he was startled to see Farmer Green's hired man walking toward him. The hired man had a hoe on his shoulder; and he was coming to work in the garden.

But Billy did not know that. He was sure that the man was after _him_. So he dropped down on all fours and started to run. He really did _try_ to run. But to his surprise he could only drag himself along the ground.

The first thing that came into his head was the thought that he had been poisoned. He had heard of such things happening. What else could be the matter? His hind legs seemed too weak to hold up his body. Yes! As he pulled himself slowly along, his fat stomach actually dragged on the ground.

Of course, he could not go fast at all. But he managed to reach a shallow ditch, where he hid and rested for a time, though he expected any moment that the hired man would pounce on him.

But nothing of the sort happened; though he did hear the hired man say:

"Well, look at that! What _will_ Mr. Green say when he knows this?"

And that made Billy shiver all over. For he knew exactly what the hired man meant.

After a while he crept along the ditch. He wanted to get home to his mother. And at last he reached the pasture, pulled himself through the long tunnel, and fell in the middle of the chamber floor and wept.

"Oh, dear!" he cried. "I can't run any more. I'm afraid I can never run again."

Mrs. Woodchuck took one look at him.

"What have you been eating?" she asked.

"Some little green b.a.l.l.s," Billy answered.

"Where have you been eating them?" she inquired. To tell the truth, she was the least bit worried.

"It was down in Farmer Green's garden," he told her.

"Ah, ha!" said Mrs. Woodchuck. "Green peas!" she said. "Your father told me this very morning that they were ripe. You ate too many of them."

"Will I get better?" Billy asked her.

"Yes, indeed!" she replied. "But it's lucky no man came and found you like that. I don't believe you could ever have got away."

Billy Woodchuck said nothing more just then. But in a little while he asked his mother another question:

"Is it because they are in Farmer Green's garden that you call them _green_ peas, Mother?"

VIII

A NEW GAME

Billy Woodchuck and Jimmy Rabbit often played together. Though they did not look the least bit alike, they agreed almost perfectly in one thing: they liked the same good things to eat. There was no place they would rather go than Farmer Green's garden.

But after he had had a bad fright one day, when dog Spot chased him away from the lettuce-bed, Jimmy Rabbit did not go near the garden for a long time. But he could not forget the taste of that crisp lettuce. So one day he said to Billy Woodchuck:

"How would you like to play a new game?"

"What is it?" Billy asked. "If it's fun, of course I'd like it."

"Well--did you ever play beggar?" Jimmy Rabbit asked him.

"No! What's it like?"

"It's like this," Jimmy told him. "You sit up on your hind legs, hold your hands in front of you, and let your head hang over on one side. And whenever anybody comes along you say: 'Please give me something to eat! Nothing has pa.s.sed these lips for two days!'"

"B-but I've just had a good meal," Billy said. "And that wouldn't be true."

"Oh--this is just a game," Jimmy Rabbit said. "It's all right. It's often done. Everybody will understand."

"Well, then--where shall I sit?" Billy Woodchuck asked.

"I'd advise you to go down near Farmer Green's garden," said Jimmy--"there are so many people pa.s.sing that way. I'll wait here for you. And when you get enough food given you, you can bring it right back here and I'll help you carry it home."

Billy Woodchuck thought that was very kind. So down he went toward Farmer Green's garden. And near the fence, beside the bridge across the brook, where the field-people often pa.s.sed, he sat up just as Jimmy Rabbit had told him to.

Pretty soon he saw old Aunt Polly Woodchuck come along with a basketful of goodies which she had gathered in the garden.

"Please, ma'am, I'm hungry," Billy said. "Nothing has pa.s.sed my lips for a whole week." He thought "a week" sounded far better than "two days."

Now, Aunt Polly was a very old lady and almost blind. She could not see how Billy's fat sides stuck out. And though she stopped and looked at him closely, she did not know him--for all he was the son of her own nephew.