That is because he uses it
to bore with in the earth. Just notice those hands of his."
At once everybody looked at Miner's hands. No one ever had seen
such hands before. The arms were short but looked very strong.
The hands also were rather short, but what they lacked in length
they made up in width and they were armed with long, stout claws.
But the queer thing about them was the way he held them. He held
them turned out. His hind feet were not much different from the
hind feet of the Mouse family.
Miner was plainly uncomfortable. He wriggled about uneasily and
it was very clear that he was there only because Old Mother Nature
had commanded him to be there, and that the one thing he wanted
most was to get back into his beloved ground. Old Mother Nature
saw this and took pity on him. She picked him up and placed him
on the ground where there was no opening near.
"Now, Miner," said she, "your friends and neighbors have had a
good look at you, and I know just how uncomfortable you feel.
There is but one thing more I'll ask of you. It is that you will
show us how you can dig. Johnny Chuck thinks he is a pretty good
digger. Just show him what you can do in that line."
Miner didn't wait to be told twice. The instant Old Mother Nature
stopped speaking he began to push and bore into the earth with
his sharp nose.
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