"He was sitting staring at his treasures but thinking about those nuts when an idea popped into his head, an idea that made him smile until Ah reckons he most split his cheeks. 'Ah knows what Ah'll do,' said he. 'Ah'll just he'p mahself to some of those nuts and Ah'll leave something of mine in place of them. That's what Ah'll do.'
"And that's what he did do. He picked out a bright shell of which he was very fond and he left it in Brer Squirrel's storehouse to pay fo' the nuts that he took. After that he always helped himself to anything he wanted, but he always left something to pay fo' it. It wasn't long befo' his neighbors found out what he was doing, and then they called him Miser the Trade Rat. Whenever anybody found something he didn't want hisself, he took it to the little junk shop of Miser the Trade Rat and traded it fo' something else, or left it where Miser would find it, knowing that Miser would leave something in its place.
"And it's been just so with Miser's family ever since. There is one Rat who is a credit to his family instead of a disgrace," concluded Ol' Mistah Buzzard.
III
WHERE YAP-YAP THE PRAIRIE DOG USED HIS WITS
Peter Rabbit had just had a great fright. He is used to having great frights, but this time it was a different kind of a fright. It was not for himself that he had been afraid but for one of his old friends and neighbors. Now that it was over, Peter drew a little breath of sheer relief.