MR. RABBIT THANKED HIM FROM ACROSS THE RIVER
No, he woke up again pretty soon, for he had finished his nap, and of course the next time when he looked around he found his fire out and the candle burned down and the clock stopped, so he got up and went outside, and saw it was spring and that he had slept a good deal longer than usual. But when he went to eat his spring breakfast he couldn't understand why he wasn't very hungry, and thought it must be because he'd eaten two such big suppers.
"But why didn't the Hollow Tree People tell him it was spring and not let him go to bed again?"
Well, I s'pose they thought it wouldn't be very polite to tell Mr. Bear how he'd been fooled, and, besides, he needed a nice nap again after the earthquake—anyhow, he thought it was an earthquake, and was a good deal upset.
And it was a long time before he found out what had really happened, and he never would have known, if Mr. Rabbit hadn't seen him fishing one day and thanked him from across the river for the nice breakfast he had sent him by the Hollow Tree People.
That set Mr. Bear to thinking, and he asked Mr. Rabbit a few questions about things in general and earthquakes in particular, and the more he found out and thought about it the more he began to guess just how it was, and by-and-by when he did find out all about it, he didn't care any more, and really thought it quite a good joke on himself for falling asleep in his chair and sleeping there all winter long.