“That poor First !” exclaimed Rabbit. “Mother Nature was mean to give him everything he asked for just the opposite to the way he wanted it. I’d have gone right off and been just as bad as ever I knew how to be.”  
“Eh, Stripes Skunk?” asked Doctor , “is that how you feel about it?”
 
“N-n-no,” Stripes answered slowly. “Being good is something even Mother Nature couldn’t give the First Skunk; he’d have to get it for himself. For the other things, I like being just the way we are. When I had to climb the tree to help Bob White I’d have liked the handy-paws the First Skunk wanted. But that’s just because I’ve never practised climbing, like my little cousin Spotty. And handy-paws are no earthly good to dig with—you just ought to see these paddy-paws of mine make the dirt fly. But paddy-paws behind, where he wanted them, wouldn’t be half as nice as these good firm footy soles I stand on.
 
“I wouldn’t even give up my hairy tail. It’s heavy, but no one can bite it, and it’s wonderful to sleep in.” He whisked it into a billowy rug about his toes; then he finished , “I don’t mind Mother Nature making us so we can’t chase other folks, seeing that she gave us our so we’re not always being chased. She was fair.”
 
“Fair!” You ought to have seen Nibble turn his sniffy nose up at this. “She played you a kind of a joke.”
 
“Not at all!” answered Stripes—and he was really quite indignant. “We don’t have to be unpleasant. Anyway, it’s better than fighting, and I notice even you bunnies don’t like to be eaten. Only nobody but Doctor Muskrat seems to understand.”
 
“Furry-foot,” that wise old beast, “Mother Nature played that joke on a lot of other fellows besides the sku............