Alas! "You'd better come with me," his mother said.
"Oh, I'd rather not," he protested. "I—I'm not feeling very well this morning."
"Then you must certainly come," she insisted, "for I'm going to see Aunt Polly Woodchuck and she'll give you a dose of herbs to cure you."
Billy Woodchuck began to squirm. He saw that he had got himself into trouble.
"I'll be all right if I keep still a while," he stammered. "And then I'm going out to gather a nice lot of greens for you."
"You'll do nothing of the sort!" said his mother. "You'll come with me. You'd be sure to get into mischief if I left you here."
So off they went. And Mrs. Woodchuck hurried so fast that she was quite out of breath when she reached Aunt Polly Woodchuck's house. She had to sit down and rest before she could tell Aunt Polly the news that was on the tip of her tongue.
While waiting for her guest to compose herself, Aunt Polly Woodchuck looked over her spectacles at Billy, who lingered near the door.
"Come here, young man!" she said. Though her tone was severe, Billy Woodchuck took heart. He thought he saw a twinkle in the old lady's eye. "I can see," Aunt Polly told him, "that you need an apple." And thereupon she handed him one. And Billy Woodchuck declared as soon as he began to eat it that he felt much better.
"I hope you're quite well," Aunt Polly said to Billy's mother, who was at last beginning to get her breath.