blamed for hoping that some of their neighbors might be caught
easily because of the great storm. They were very hungry indeed,
and they could not eat bark like Peter Rabbit, or buds like Mrs.
Grouse, or seeds like Whitefoot the Woodmouse. Their teeth and
stomachs are not made for such food.

It was hard going for Granny and Reddy Fox. The snow was soft and
deep in many places, and they had to keep pretty close to those
places where rough Brother North Wind had blown away enough of the
snow to make walking fairly easy. They soon found that their hope
that they would find some of their neighbors too weak to escape was
quite in vain. When jolly, round, red Mr. Sun dropped clown behind
the Purple Hills to go to bed, their stomachs were quite as empty as
when they had started out.

"We'll go down to the Old Briar-patch. I don't believe it will be of
much use, but you never can tell until you try. Peter Rabbit may take
it into his silly head to come outside," said Granny, leading the way.

When they reached the dear Old Briar-patch they found that Peter was
not outside. In fact, peering between the brambles and bushes, they
could see his little brown form bobbing about as he hunted for tender
bark. He had already made little paths along which he could hop
easily. Peter saw them almost as soon as they saw him.

"Hard times these," said Peter pleasantly. "I hope your stomachs
are not as empty as mine." He pulled a strip of bark from a young
tree and began to chew it. This was more than Reddy could stand.
To see Peter eating while his own stomach was just one great big
ache from emptiness was too much.