"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog. "It means simply that Old Man
Coyote comes of a very smart family, and that he knows how to make the
most of the gift of Old Mother Nature to his grandfather a thousand
times removed."
This sounded so much like a story that Peter straightway teased
Grandfather Frog to tell him all about it. At last, to get rid of him
and enjoy a little quiet and peace, Grandfather Frog did so.
"Chug-a-rum!" he began, as he always does. "The
great-great-ever-so-great grandfather of Old Man Coyote, who lived
long, long ago when the world was young, was very much as Old Man
Coyote is to-day. He was just as smart and just as clever. Indeed, he
was smart enough and clever enough not to let his neighbors know that
he was smart and clever at all. Those were very peaceful times at
first, and everybody was on the best of terms with everybody else, as
you know. There was plenty to eat without the trouble to steal, and
everybody was honest simply because it was easier to be honest than it
was to be dishonest. So Old King Bear ruled in the Green Forest, and
everybody was happy and contented.
"But there came a time when food was scarce, and it was no longer
easy to get plenty to eat. It was then that the stronger began to
steal from the weaker, and by and by even to prey upon those smaller
than themselves. The times grew harder and harder, and because hunger
is a hard and cruel master, it made the larger and stronger people
hard and cruel, too.
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