Even the rabbits wanted to be within a short distance of the river. “If we have a fire on this side some day,” remarked Pink Nose, “I want to be so close to the river I can cross it in the middle of the night.”
“Goodness me!” exclaimed Rolly Polly. “Don’t speak about another fire! I don’t think I could go through another one.”
“It frightened me so,” said Crooked Ears, “that I’m sure some of my hairs turned gray. Certainly I feel years older.”
“Yes,” added Brindley the Lame, “it was a terrible experience, but finding new homes for all our families is nearly as heart-rending. I declare, I’ve hunted nearly everywhere, and haven’t found a place yet to suit me. When I do find one that seems just right somebody is ahead of me and takes possession.”
“That reminds me,” laughed Bumper, “of the experience of Billy Porcupine and Washer the Raccoon. They thought they both discovered a home at the same time, and neither would give in.”
Then he related the story of how Groundy the Woodchuck had proven to them that neither one had any right to the burrow, for he had been ahead of them.
“Ha! Ha!” laughed Rolly Polly. “That was a good one, and served Billy and Washer right for being so selfish.”
“But they both thought they were right,” said Bumper, “yet one of them must have been wrong. Which would you say was in the right, Rolly Polly?”
“Neither,” was the prompt retort. “They were both wrong, and very selfish. If each had given in to the other there would have been no dispute.”
“Would you have given in?”