Remember this: ’Tis always well

The truth and nothing else to tell.

Peter Rabbit didn’t know what to say when Ol’ Mistah Buzzard asked him what he was looking for and if he could help find it. No, Sir, Peter didn’t know what to say. He was quite confused. In the first place he had forgotten that Ol’ Mistah Buzzard’s favorite roost was a tall dead tree close by, and he hadn’t seen Ol’ Mistah Buzzard until the latter spoke. This had startled him, but what had confused him still more was the fact that he didn’t quite see how he could answer Ol’ Mistah Buzzard’s questions.

However, Peter is truthful. He has found that not only is it wrong to tell an untruth, but that in the end it never pays. So now he blurted out the truth.

“I—I—I,” he stammered and stopped. Ol’ Mistah Buzzard’s eyes twinkled, but he said nothing, and in a minute Peter began again. “I was just sort o’ wondering if you and Mrs. Buzzard have a nest up in that tall pine-tree,” said he.

“Then Ah’ll just save yo’ the trouble of wondering any mo’,” replied Ol’ Mistah Buzzard, his eyes twinkling more than ever. “We-uns haven’t. What is mo’, we-uns wouldn’t dream of building a nest in a tree like that—a tree that is so much taller and bigger than the rest that all who come this way are just naturally bound to look at it. May Ah ask, Brer Rabbit, what fo’ yo’ seem so interested in mah nest?”

Peter hung his head. Of course, there was no reason except idle curiosity, and he was ashamed to admit that. But he did. Yes, Sir, he did. He is too truthful not to admit his own faults.

“I just thought I would like to see it, Mistah Buzzard,” he replied. “It just popped into my head the other day that probably you and Mrs. Buzzard have a nest, and I got to wondering what it is like. I’ve seen the nests of Blacky the Crow and Redtail the Hawk and Hooty the Owl and of a good many others, and I got to wondering if you build a nest anything like those I have seen. So being over this way, I thought I would just call around. Of course I don’t mean the least bit of harm by it.”

“Ah see,” replied Ol’ Mistah Buzzard. “May Ah ask yo’, Brer Rabbit, how it happened that yo’ thought that mah nest might be over here?”

“Why, I saw Ol’ Mrs. Buzzard disappear among the tree-tops right near here,” said Peter eagerly.

“Which Ah take it means that yo’ were watching her to see where she went,” returned Ol’ Mistah Buzzard drily.

“Y-e-s,” confessed Peter, and looked very much ashamed of himself. You see, he knew then that Ol’ Mistah Buzzard knew that he had been spying, and spying is something that nobody likes.

“But yo’ didn’t see just where she did go, did yo’?” continued Ol’ Mistah Buzzard.

“No,” replied Peter. “I thought that if I knew somewhere near the spot where your nest is I could find it. Such big folks as you and Mrs. Buzzard must have a big nest. You do, don’t you, Mr. Buzzard?”

“Hm-m-m, Ah don’ see it anywhere,” said Ol’ Mistah Buzzard, looking this way and that. All the time his eyes twinkled more than ever. “What makes yo’ so sure Ah have got a nest, Brer Rabbit?”