“‘For hunger?’ asked Mother Nature. And most of her beasts who had been listening to the Weasel answered, ‘For hunger,’ because they thought it was the thing to do.
“‘For the joy of killing!’ snarled the Weasel. ‘Like this—’ And he sprang at my great-grandfather.
“But my great-grandfather gave a mighty leap. He landed in a briar patch and began racing through it. And all the briars called, ‘He chooses us—a beast has chosen us. Catch him! Hold him!’ and they caught him by his tall ears and elegant fluffy tail so hard that they stopped him short.
“‘Let me go,’ he begged. ‘Please let me go. The Weasel will kill me.’
“Then the briars cried until the tears dripped from their twigs. ‘Nobody wants us,’ they sobbed. ‘Please choose us. If you lay back your ears and shorten your tail we’ll never stop you. We’ll shelter you from the summer sun and the winter wind. We’ll warn you of your enemies and bar your path behind you. We’ll serve you as long as you let us.’
“And just then my great-grandfather thought he could hear the Weasel very close, so he cried despairingly. ‘I’ll choose the Pickery Things.’ Down dropped his ears, up shrunk his tail, and away he ran. But we’ve never been sorry. The Pickery Things have kept their word.”
“Dear me, how interesting!” said the lady mouse when Nibble Rabbit had finished. “But could you have your long tail back if you wanted to?”
“It might be managed,” said Nibble. “Mother Nature said it wasn’t fair for the Weasel to begin living before the other things had all made up their minds. He really frightened my great-grandfather into making that choice. And it really wasn’t fair of the briars to hold him. But Mother Nature advised us to try it until we were sure we wanted our tails back again and then let her know. She didn’t actually promise to give them, as I remember,” he added honestly.
And then a commotion broke loose in the little cornstalk tent where Nibble’s party were hiding from the Terrible Storm. “Why don’t you grow one? What kind do you want? Try one like mine! Or mine!!” shouted all the voices until even Nibble’s long ears couldn’t hold all the noise.
“Your long leaps are almost like flying,” said the Partridge. “We couldn’t steer without our tails.”