“If you please, Mother Nature, may we come again to-morrow?” asked Peter.
“What for?” demanded Old Mother Nature. “Haven't you learned enough about your family?”
“Yes,” replied Peter, “but there are lots and lots of things I would like to know about other people. If you please, I would like to come to school to you every day. You see, the more I learn about my neighbors, the better able I will be to take care of myself.”
“All right, Mr. Curiosity,” replied Old Mother Nature good-naturedly, “come again to-morrow morning. I wouldn't for the world deny any one who is really seeking for knowledge.”
So Peter and Jumper politely bade her good-by and started for their homes.
Peter Rabbit, on his way to school to Old Mother Nature, was trying to make up his mind about which of his neighbors he would ask. He had learned so many surprising things about his own family that he shrewdly suspected many equally surprising things were to be learned about his neighbors. But there were so many neighbors he couldn't decide which one to ask about first.
But that matter was settled for him, and in a funny way. Hardly had he reached the edge of the Green Forest when he was hailed by a sharp voice. “Hello, Peter Rabbit!” said this sharp voice. “Where are you bound at this hour of the morning? You ought to be heading for home in the dear Old Briar-patch.”
Peter knew that voice the instant he heard it. It was the voice of Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel. Happy Jack was seated on the top of an old stump, eating a nut. “I'm going to school,” replied Peter with a great deal of dignity.
“Going to school! Ho, ho, ho! Going to school!” exclaimed Happy Jack. “Pray tell me to whom you are going to school, and what for?”
“I'm going to school to Old Mother Nature,” retorted Peter. “I've been going for several days, and so has my cousin, Jumper the Hare. We've learned a lot about our own family and now we are going to learn about the other little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows.”
“Pooh!” exclaimed Happy Jack. “Pooh! I know all about my own family, and I guess there isn't much worth knowing about my neighbors that I don't know.”
“Is that so, Mr. Know-it-all,” retorted Peter. “I don't believe you even know all your own cousins. I thought I knew all mine, but I found I didn't.”