`` No , '' said Jimmy Skunk , `` he did n't eat it , but he lived on it just the same while he was asleep all winter . Do n't you see he has n't got a particle of fat on him now ? '' `` But how could he live on it , if he did n't eat it ? '' asked Peter , staring at Johnny Chuck as if he had never seen him before . Jimmy Skunk shrugged his shoulders . `` Do n't ask me . That is one of Old Mother Nature 's secrets ; you 'll have to ask her , '' he replied . `` And do n't ask me , '' said Johnny Chuck , `` for I 've been asleep all the time . My , but I 'm hungry ! '' `` So am I ! '' said another voice . There was Reddy Fox grinning at them . Johnny Chuck dove into the doorway of his house with Peter Rabbit at his heels , for there was nowhere else to go . Jimmy Skunk just stood still and chuckled . He knew that Reddy Fox did n't dare touch him . III THE SINGERS OF THE SMILING POOL Mistress Spring was making everybody happy on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest and around the Smiling Pool . With her gentle fingers she wakened one by one all the little sleepers who had spent the long winter dreaming of warm summer days and not knowing anything at all of rough , blustering Brother North Wind or Jack Frost . As they wakened , many began to sing for joy . But the clearest , loudest singers of all lived in the Smiling Pool . It was a long time before Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck knew where they lived .
Every night just before going to bed , Johnny XXXXX would sit on his door-step just to listen , and as he listened somehow he felt better and happier ; and he always had pleasant dreams after listening to the sweet singers of the Smiling Pool .
Brother Chuck Fox Frost III Mother Peter Rabbit Skunk days