Old Mother West Wind. Thornton W. Burgess

      “WHAT MIGHT MAKE WHISKERS YELLOW?” ASKED OLD DAME NATURE.

      Then Old Dame Nature called Johnny Chuck. “Tell us, Johnny Chuck,” said she, “what you saw when you called at Jimmy Skunk’s house this morning.”

      “I saw Jimmy Skunk,” said Johnny Chuck, “and Jimmy seemed very, very sleepy. It seemed to me that his whiskers were yellow.”

      “That will do,” said Old Dame Nature, and then she called Old Mother West Wind.

      “What time did you come down on the Green Meadows this morning?”

      “Just at the break of day,” said Old Mother West Wind, “as Mr. Sun was coming up from behind the Purple Hills.”

      “And whom did you see so early in the morning?” asked Old Dame Nature.

      “I saw Bobby Coon going home from old Farmer Brown’s cornfield,” said Old Mother West Wind. “I saw Hooty the Owl coming back from the lower end of the Green Meadows. I saw Peter Rabbit down in the berry patch. Last of all I saw something like a black shadow coming down the Lone Little Path toward the house of Jimmy Skunk.”

      Every one was looking very hard at Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy began to look very unhappy and very uneasy.

      “Who wears a black coat?” asked Dame Nature.

      “Jimmy Skunk!” shouted all the little meadow folks.

      “What might make whiskers yellow?” asked Old Dame Nature.

      No one seemed to know at first. Then Peter Rabbit spoke up. “It might be the yolk of an egg,” said Peter Rabbit.

      “Who are likely to be sleepy on a bright sunny morning?” asked Old Dame Nature.

      “People who have been out all night,” said Johnny Chuck, who himself always goes to bed with the sun.

      “Jimmy Skunk,” said Old Dame Nature, and her voice was very stern, very stern indeed, and her face was very grave. “Jimmy Skunk, I accuse you of having broken and eaten the eggs of Mrs. Grouse. What have you to say for yourself?”

      Jimmy Skunk hung his head. He hadn’t a word to say. He just wanted to sneak away by himself.

      “Jimmy Skunk,” said Old Dame Nature, “because your handsome black coat of which you are so proud has made it possible for you to move about in the night without being seen, and because we can no longer trust you upon your honor, henceforth you and your descendants shall wear a striped coat, which is the sign that you cannot be trusted. Your coat hereafter shall be black and white, that when you move about in the night you will always be visible.”

      And this is why that to this day Jimmy Skunk wears a striped suit of black and white.