Mother West Wind Where" Stories"

hidden deep in the Green Forest because Mr. Quack had a broken wing and so he and Mrs. Quack simply couldn't keep on to their home in the Far North for which they had started. During that long summe

him, for they are

. Quack and many other birds spend each winter, she mentioned Old Ally the 'Gator. Peop

mouth flew open and he swallowed them whole. At that Peter's eyes threatened to pop right out of his head and every time he visited that little pond he pestered Mrs. Quack with questions about Old Ally the 'Gator and Mrs.

ell me that anything as big as Old Ally, big enough to swallow you whole,

uack, quack, qua

must take

Mrs.

ke it back?" d

ose, and that is a bad habit, Peter. It certain

foolish. "I forgot all about

rtle? Didn't he come from an

re, if that were possible. "Y-e-s,"

"I've seen Mrs. 'Gator build her nest more than once, and I've seen her eggs, and I've seen the

ery humble. "I do indeed. Please forgive me.

ou see, one spring I got hurt so that I couldn't take my usual long journey to the Far North and had to spend the summer way down in the Southland where I always lived in the winter, and that is ho

ng!" he cried. "How did she learn to do such a smart thing as that? Of course I don't for a minute believe that she herself discover

er," said she. "It all happened way, way b

out it, Mrs. Quack, and the first chance I g

e was in place, for she is very particular about how she looks. When

f things there was very little dry land, as you may have heard, so old Mr. and Mrs. 'Gator, who of course were not old then, were made to live in the water with the fish. Old Mother Nature was experimenting then. She was planning to make a great deal more land, and she wanted living

Mrs. 'Gator crawled out on land and right away discovered what those legs were for. She could go on dry land while fishes could not. It didn't take her long to find

pered Old Mother Nature, 'some eggs of your very own, and if you watch over them and keep them warm, out of each one a baby 'Ga

she never would grow tired of looking at them and admiring them and of dreaming of the day when her babies should come out of them. It was very pleasant to lie there in the sun and dream of the babies to come fro

ver can I keep them warm when Mr. Sun goes to bed at night? Oh, dear! Oh, dea

d dug a place to sprawl out in comfortably. The sand he had thrown in a pile at one side. When Mrs. 'Gator went to consult Mr. 'Gator about those precious eggs and her worries when the cool of evening had com

hich she lay grew very cool. When at last day came and Mr. Sun once more began to shine, she opened that pile of sand and great was her joy to find that inside it was still warm. When Mr. 'Gator came crawling out of the water to spend the day in that comfortable bed he had dug, she chased him away and was so cross that he went off grumbling and dug anothe

very warm and where Mr. Sun will hatch their eggs for them. And today it is done just as I've told you, for I've seen with my own

had seen it with your own eyes, Mrs. Quack, I