IX
WHY MINER THE MOLE LIVES UNDER GROUND
Striped Chipmunk sat staring at a little ridge where the grass wasraised up. He had often seen little ridges like that without thinkingmuch about them. He knew that they were made by Miner the Mole. He hadknown that ever since he was big enough to begin to ask questions. Butnow as he looked at this one, it suddenly struck him that he had notseen Miner the Mole more than once or twice in all his life.
"What a queer way of living!" thought Striped Chipmunk. "It's all verywell to have a snug house under the ground, where one can sleep thelong cold winter away and be perfectly safe, but what any one wants tolive under the ground all the time for, in the beautiful springtimeand summertime and autumntime, I can't understand. Just think of allthat Miner misses--the sunshine, the flowers, the songs of the birds,and the Merry Little Breezes to play with! I wonder--"
"What do you wonder?" The voice was so close to Striped Chipmunk thatit made him jump. He whirled about. There was Johnny Chuck, who hadtiptoed up as softly as he knew how, to give Striped Chipmunk a scare.Johnny grinned. "What do you wonder?" he repeated.
Striped Chipmunk made a face at Johnny. "I wonder something that I betyou don't know," he replied.
"That's easy," replied Johnny. "There are more things I don't knowthan I do know, but I'm always ready to learn. What is it this time?"
"Why does Miner the Mole live under ground all the time?" StripedChipmunk pointed to the ridge made by Miner.
Johnny Chuck scratched his head thoughtfully.
"I don't know," he confessed finally. "I never thought of it before.Of course there must be a reason. He never comes out to play with therest of us--just spends all his time by himself down in the dark,digging and digging. I wonder--"
"Well, what do _you_ wonder?"
"The same thing you wonder," laughed Johnny Chuck. "If you haven't gotanything else to do, let's go down to the Smiling Pool and askGrandfather Frog; he'll be sure to know."
Striped Chipmunk hadn't anything else to do, so off they started. Onthe way they met Jimmy Skunk and Danny Meadow Mouse. Neither of themknew why Miner the Mole lives under ground, and because they hadn'tanything better to do, they also started for the Smiling Pool.
Grandfather Frog was sitting on his big green lily-pad in the warmsunshine, and for once he didn't have to be teased for a story.
"Chug-a-rum!" said he in his deep voice. "It's very strange to me howlittle some folks know about their nearest neighbors." He looked upand winked at jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun.
Striped Chipmunk, Johnny Chuck, Jimmy Skunk, and Danny Meadow Mouselooked as though they felt very foolish, as indeed they did. You see,all their lives Miner the Mole had been one of their nearestneighbors, and yet they didn't know the first thing about him.
"It happened a long time ago," continued Grandfather Frog.
"When the world was young?" interrupted Danny Meadow Mouse.
"Of course," replied Grandfather Frog, pretending to be very much putout at such a foolish question. Danny hung his head and resolved thathe would bite his tongue before he asked another question.
"In those days Miner's great-great-grandfather a thousand timesremoved didn't live under ground," continued Grandfather Frog. "Nobodydid. He wasn't so very different from a lot of other animals. Food wasplenty, and everybody was on the best of terms with everybody else.Mr. Mole lived just as the rest did. He went and came as he pleased,and enjoyed the sunshine and took part in all the good times of hisneighbors. Everybody liked him, and whenever he made a call, he wassure of a welcome. But one thing Mr. Mole never did; he never meddledin other people's affairs. No, Sir, Mr. Mole never poked his nose inwhere he had no business.
"For a long time everything went smoothly with all the people of theGreen Forest and the Green Meadows. Then came hard times. They grewharder and harder. Food was scarce and kept growing more scarce.Everybody was hungry, and you know how it is with hungry people--theygrow ugly and quarrelsome. Matters grew worse and worse, and then itwas that fear was born. The big people, like Old King Bear and Mr.Wolf and Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynx, began to look with hungry eyes onthe little people, and the little people began to grow afraid and hidefrom the big people, and all the time they were continually quarrelingamong themselves and stealing from each other to get enough to eat.
"Now, as I said before, Mr. Mole never had meddled with other people'sbusiness, and he didn't now. He went off by himself to think thingsover. 'It isn't safe to run around any more,' said he. 'I met Mr. Wolfthis morning, and he looked at me with such a hungry look in his eyesthat it gave me the cold shivers. I believe he would have eaten me, ifI hadn't crawled into an old hollow stump. Now I can't run fast,because my legs are too short. I can't climb trees like Mr. Squirrel,and I can't swim like Mr. Muskrat. The only thing I can do is to dig.'
"You see, Mr. Mole always had been very fond of digging, and he haddone so much of it that his front legs and claws had grown very stout.
"'Now if I dig a hole and keep out of sight, I won't have to worryabout Mr. Wolf or anybody else,' continued Mr. Mole to himself. So hewent to work at once and dug a hole on the Green Meadows, and, becausehe wanted to be comfortable, he made a big hole. When it was finished,he was tired, so he curled up at the bottom for a nap. He was awakenedby hearing voices outside. He knew those voices right away. They werethe voices of Mr. Fox and Mr. Badger.
"'These are terrible times,' said Mr. Fox. 'I'm so hungry that I'mwasting away to a shadow. I wonder who has dug this hole.'
"'Mr. Mole,' replied Mr. Badger. 'I saw him at work here thismorning.
Have you noticed how very plump he looks?'
"'Yes,' replied Mr. Fox. 'He made my mouth water the very last time Isaw him. Seems to me I can smell him now. If he had made this holejust a little bit bigger I would go down and pull him out, but I amtoo tired to do any digging now.'
"'I tell you what,' replied Mr. Badger. 'We'll hunt together a littlelonger, and then if we can't find anything to eat, we'll come back,and I'll help you dig, I hate to hurt Mr. Mole, because he alwaysminds his own business, but these are hard times, and each one mustlook out for himself.'
"With that they went away, leaving Mr. Mole shaking with fright at thebottom of his hole. 'It's of no use,' thought Mr. Mole. 'If I gooutside, they will soon find me, and if I stay here, they will dig meout. Oh, dear, oh, dear! What ever can I do?'
"He lay there feeling very helpless and miserable, when all of asudden a thought came to him. If he had made his hole small, just bigenough for him to crawl into, Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox would have had todo a great deal of digging to make it big enough for either of them toget in! He would make a little tunnel off one side and hide in that.So he went to work and made a little tunnel off one side just bigenough for him to squeeze into. He worked very hard and very fast, andby the time Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox returned, Mr. Mole was at the endof a long tunnel, so far from the hole he had first dug that he knewit would take them a long time to dig him out, even if they noticedhis tunnel.
"But they didn't. They dug down to the bottom of his hole and then,because they didn't find him there, they straightway fell toquarreling, each blaming the other for suggesting such a lot of hardwork for nothing. Finally they went away, still calling each othernames, and from that day to this, Foxes and Badgers have never beenfriends.
"Mr. Mole was very thankful for his narrow escape, and it set him tothinking. If he had a lot of these underground tunnels, no one wouldbe able to catch him. It was a splendid idea! He went to work on it atonce. And then he made a discovery--such a splendid discovery! Therewas plenty of food to eat right down under ground--worms andgrubs--all he needed. After that, Mr. Mole spent all his time in histunnels and seldom put his nose outside. He was safe, and he wascomfortable, and he could always find something to eat by digging forit.
"Little by little his old neighbors forgot all about him. Because hehad little use for them, his eyes grew smaller and smaller, and whenhe did come up into the light, the
y hurt him so that he was glad to goback into the dark again. He was perfectly happy and satisfied there,and what is there in life better than to be happy and satisfied?"
"Nothing," replied Striped Chipmunk, at whom Grandfather Frog happenedto be looking when he asked the question.
"Right!" replied Grandfather Frog. "And now you know why Miner theMole lives under ground--because he is perfectly happy and satisfiedthere."
Just then up came Peter Rabbit, all out of breath.
"Has Grandfather Frog been telling a story?" he panted.
"Yes," replied Striped Chipmunk, winking at Grandfather Frog, "and nowwe are going back home perfectly happy and satisfied."
And to this day Peter Rabbit wonders what the story was that hemissed.
Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories Page 9