Ol' Mistah Buzzard grinned and slowly winked one eye at Unc' Billy
Possum as he replied: "Thank yo', Brer Rabbit. That's quite the
nicest thing yo' could say."

"But it's true!" shouted all together, and then everybody gave three
cheers for Ol' Mistah Buzzard before starting off to attend to their
own private affairs.




XIII

WHY BUSTER BEAR APPEARS TO HAVE NO TAIL


Peter Rabbit had something new to bother his bump of curiosity. And it
did bother it a lot. He had just seen Buster Bear for the first time,
and what do you think had impressed him most? Well, it wasn't Buster's
great size, or wonderful strength, or big claws, or deep,
grumbly-rumbly voice. No, Sir, it wasn't one of these. It was the fact
that Buster Bear seemed to have no tail! Peter couldn't get over that.
He almost pitied Buster Bear. You see, Peter has a great admiration
for fine tails. He has always been rather ashamed of the funny little
one he has himself. Still, it is a real tail, and he has often
comforted himself with that thought.

So the first thing Peter did when he saw Buster Bear was to look to
see what kind of a tail he had. Just imagine how surprised he was when