"Yo' cert'nly have lost your manners, Brer Porky!" he snapped.

Prickly Porky wiped the tears from his eyes. "Come closer so that I
can whisper, Unc' Billy," said he.

A little bit suspiciously Unc' Billy came near enough for Prickly
Porky to whisper, and when he had finished, Unc' Billy was wiping
tears of laughter from his own eyes.




IX

JIMMY SKUNK AND UNC' BILLY POSSUM TELL DIFFERENT STORIES


The little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest didn't
know what to believe. First came Peter Rabbit with the strangest kind
of a story about being chased by a terrible creature without legs,
head, or tail. He said that it had come down the hill where Prickly
Porky the Porcupine lives in the Green Forest. Jimmy Skunk had been
sent to call on Prickly Porky and ask him if he had seen any strange
creature such as Peter Rabbit had told about. Prickly Porky had said
that he hadn't seen any stranger in that part of the Green Forest, and
Jimmy had straightway returned to the Green Meadows and told all his
friends there that Peter Rabbit must have had something the matter
with his eyes or else was crazy, for Prickly Porky hadn't been away
from home and yet had seen nothing unusual.