After a while he crept along the ditch. He wanted to get home to his mother. And at last he reached the pasture, pulled himself through the long tunnel, and fell in the middle of the chamber floor and wept.
“Oh, dear!” he cried. “I can’t run any more. I’m afraid I can never run again.”
Mrs. Woodchuck took one look at him.
“What have you been eating?” she asked.
“Some little green balls,” Billy answered.
“Where have you been eating them?” she inquired. To tell the truth, she was the least bit worried.
“It was down in Farmer Green’s garden,” he told her.
“Ah, ha!” said Mrs. Woodchuck. “Green peas!” she said. “Your father told me this very morning that they were ripe. You ate too many of them.”
“Will I get better?” Billy asked her.
“Yes, indeed!” she replied. “But it’s lucky no man came and found you like that. I don’t believe you could ever have got away.”