FRIENDLY ENEMIES, THE ANIMALS 99 



"Well, Chubby, how about the apple trees? 

 Won't they die now that you have eaten all the bark 

 from around the base of the trees?" asked Stripes. 



"Oh! What do I care? They will plant more of 

 them. If they don't want me to kill their trees, let 

 them protect them, like they do down the road at 

 Farmer Brown's place. There they put wire netting 

 or tree protectors around them, so Peter Rabbit 

 and my relatives can't get to the trees. But so long 

 as Farmer Johnson does not learn how to do these 

 things, why he'll just have to lose his trees, that's 

 aU," explained Chubby. 



"You are rather hard on the farmer, aren't you. 

 Chubby? In fact, you are about the worst pest he 

 has to contend with. You eat his grains, grasses, 

 and fruit trees, and gnaw holes in his grain sacks, 

 but you don't help him very much by killing insects, 

 as some of the rest of us do," said Stripes. 



"Say! I wouldn't brag about being any great 

 help to anyone if I were you," returned Chubby. 



"You are the feUow who invented bad luck, did 

 you know it? Do you know how you got your 

 thirteen stripes down your back? You don't, do 

 you? WeU, I'll tell you," Chubby said. 



"WeU, a long, long time ago when the animals 

 were created in the garden by the Tigris and 



