So he was not at all frightened when he happened to catch sight of Johnnie Green crossing the pasture with a long stick over his shoulder. He was so far away that Billy Woodchuck sat up on a little hummock and watched him.
Pretty soon the boy saw Billy. And the moment he spied him he stopped and pointed the long stick at the plump young chuck.
That made Billy Woodchuck smile. He was not the least bit afraid. For if Johnnie Green should come nearer he intended to pop inside his mother’s door.
The next moment Billy Woodchuck heard a sound just above his head—a sound like the sighing of the wind in the top of a pine tree. He thought that was very queer, for there was no wind at all that morning. And there was not a tree near him.
Then it thundered. And yet the sun was shining brightly and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
But as he looked once more at Johnnie Green he was astonished to see a small cloud float from the end of that long stick and lose itself in the air.
All at once Billy Woodchuck was frightened. He was afraid of Johnnie Green, for he saw that it was Johnnie who made the wind blow, and turned loose the thunder and the clouds. He noticed that Johnnie was doing something to that strange stick; and he expected that in another minute it would begin to rain. But he didn’t wait to see. He felt that he would be far safer indoors. So he scampered straight home.
“What are you shaking for?” Mrs. Woodchuck asked, as Billy burst in upon her.
“I’m frightened,” her son told her. “I’ve just seen Johnnie Green making thunder and wind and clouds.”
“Be careful!” his mother said. “You know you are not allowed to tell tales.”