“Tut, tut, tut!” chided Old Mother Nature. “Tut, tut, tut, Jimmy Skunk! It is high time you came to school. Digger the Badger is just as much a cousin of yours as is Shadow the Weasel. You are members of the same order and it is a rather large order. It is called the Car-niv-o-ra, which means 'flesh-eating.' You are a member of the Marten or Weasel family, and that family is called the 'Mus-tel-i-dae.' Digger the Badger is also a member of that family. That means that you two are cousins. You and Digger and Glutton the Wolverine belong to the stout-bodied branch of the family. Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter, Shadow the Weasel, Pekan the Fisher and Spite the Marten belong to its slim-bodied branch. But all are members of the same family despite the difference in looks, and thus, of course, are cousins. Seeing that you are here, Jimmy, I think we will find out just how much these little folks know about you.
“Peter Rabbit, tell us what you know about Jimmy Skunk.”
“I know one thing about him,” declared Peter, “and that's that he is the most independent fellow in the world. He isn't afraid of anybody. I saw Buster Bear actually step out of his way the other day.”
Jimmy Skunk grinned. “Buster always treats me very politely,” said Jimmy.
“I have noticed that everybody does, even Farmer Brown's boy,” spoke up Happy Jack Squirrel.
“It is easy enough to be independent when everybody is afraid of you,” sputtered Chatterer the Red Squirrel.
“Just why is everybody afraid of Jimmy Skunk,” asked Old Mother Nature.
“They are afraid of that little scent gun he carries,” spoke up Peter Rabbit. “I wish I had one just like it.”
Old Mother Nature shook her head. “It wouldn't do, Peter, to trust you with a gun like Jimmy Skunk's,” said she. “You are altogether too heedless and careless. If you had a scent gun like Jimmy's, I am afraid there would be trouble in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadow all the time. I suspect that you would drive everybody else away. Jimmy is never heedless or careless. He never uses that little scent gun unless he is in real danger or thinks he is. Usually he is pretty sure that he is before he uses it. I'll venture to say that not one of you has seen Jimmy use that little scent gun.”
Peter looked at Jumper the Hare. Jumper looked at Chatterer. Chatterer looked at Happy Jack. Happy Jack looked at Danny Meadow Mouse. Danny looked at Striped Chipmunk. Striped looked at Johnny Chuck. Johnny looked at Whitefoot the Wood Mouse. Then all looked at Old Mother Nature and shook their heads. “I thought as much,” said she. “Jimmy is wonderfully well armed, but for defense only. He never makes the mistake of misusing that little scent gun. But everybody knows he has it, so nobody interferes with him. Now, Peter, what more do you know about Jimmy?”