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diff --git a/old/12630-h.zip b/old/12630-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eae1f0a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12630-h.zip diff --git a/old/12630-h/12630-h.htm b/old/12630-h/12630-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26ac17c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12630-h/12630-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2699 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad, + by Thornton W. Burgess. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times, sans-serif;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad, by Thornton W. Burgess + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Release Date: June 15, 2004 [EBook #12630] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + + +<center> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="600" width="400" +alt="Book Cover - The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad"> +</center> + +<h1>THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD</h1> +<center> +<b>BY THORNTON W. BURGESS </b> +<br> +<br> +<i>With Illustrations by HARRISON CADY</i> +<br> +<br> +1920 +</center> + +<hr> + +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<pre> + I. <a href="#RULE4_1">JIMMY SKUNK IS PUZZLED</a> + II. <a href="#RULE4_2">JIMMY SKUNK CONSULTS HIS FRIENDS</a> + III. <a href="#RULE4_3">THE HUNT FOR OLD MR. TOAD</a> + IV. <a href="#RULE4_4">PETER RABBIT FINDS OLD MR. TOAD</a> + V. <a href="#RULE4_5">OLD MR. TOAD'S MUSIC BAG</a> + VI. <a href="#RULE4_6">PETER DISCOVERS SOMETHING MORE</a> + VII. <a href="#RULE4_7">A SHADOW PASSES OVER THE SMILING POOL</a> + VIII. <a href="#RULE4_8">OLD MR. TOAD'S BABIES</a> + IX. <a href="#RULE4_9">THE SMILING POOL KINDERGARTEN</a> + X. <a href="#RULE4_10">THE LITTLE TOADS START OUT TO SEE THE WORLD</a> + XI. <a href="#RULE4_11">OLD MR. TOAD'S QUEER TONGUE</a> + XII. <a href="#RULE4_12">OLD MR. TOAD SHOWS HIS TONGUE</a> + XIII. <a href="#RULE4_13">PETER RABBIT IS IMPOLITE</a> + XIV. <a href="#RULE4_14">OLD MR. TOAD DISAPPEARS</a> + XV. <a href="#RULE4_15">OLD MR. TOAD GIVES PETER A SCARE</a> + XVI. <a href="#RULE4_16">JIMMY SKUNK IS SURPRISED</a> + XVII. <a href="#RULE4_17">OLD MR. TOAD'S MISTAKE</a> +XVIII. <a href="#RULE4_18">JIMMY SKUNK IS JUST IN TIME</a> + XIX. <a href="#RULE4_19">OLD MR. TOAD GETS HIS STOMACH FULL</a> + XX. <a href="#RULE4_20">OLD MR. TOAD IS PUFFED UP</a> + XXI. <a href="#RULE4_21">OLD MR. TOAD RECEIVES ANOTHER INVITATION</a> + XXII. <a href="#RULE4_22">OLD MR. TOAD LEARNS A LESSON</a> +XXIII. <a href="#RULE4_23">OLD MR. TOAD IS VERY HUMBLE</a> +</pre> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> + +1. <a href="#image-1">'Do You See anything Queer About Him?' He Asked.</a> +<br> +2. <a href="#image-2">'If He Don't Watch out, He'll Blow up and Bust!' Exclaimed Jimmy.</a> +<br> +3. <a href="#image-3">'Can You Tell Me Where All these Little Toads Came from?'</a> +<br> +4. <a href="#image-4">His Funny Little Tongue Darted out, and the Fly Was Gone.</a> +<br> +5. <a href="#image-5">'Can't Talk With Common Folks any More,' He Muttered.</a> +<br> +6. <a href="#image-6">'I Am a Little Warm,' Replied Mr. Toad in His Most Polite Manner.</a> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2> + THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD +</h2> +<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> +<h3> + I +</h3> +<center> +JIMMY SKUNK IS PUZZLED +</center> +<p> +Old Mother West Wind had just come down from the Purple Hills and turned +loose her children, the Merry Little Breezes, from the big bag in which she +had been carrying them. They were very lively and very merry as they danced +and raced across the Green Meadows in all directions, for it was good to be +back there once more. Old Mother West Wind almost sighed as she watched +them for a few minutes. She felt that she would like to join them. Always +the springtime made her feel this way,—young, mad, carefree, and happy. +But she had work to do. She had to turn the windmill to pump water for +Farmer Brown's cows, and this was only one of many mills standing idle as +they waited for her. So she puffed her cheeks out and started about her +business. +</p> +<p> +Jimmy Skunk sat at the top of the hill that overlooks the Green Meadows and +watched her out of sight. Then he started to amble down the Lone Little +Path to look for some beetles. He was ambling along in his lazy way, for +you know he never hurries, when he heard some one puffing and blowing +behind him. Of course he turned to see who it was, and he was greatly +surprised when he discovered Old Mr. Toad. Yes, Sir, it was Old Mr. Toad, +and he seemed in a great hurry. He was quite short of breath, but he was +hopping along in the most determined way as if he were in a great hurry to +get somewhere. +</p> +<p> +Now it is a very unusual thing for Mr. Toad to hurry, very unusual indeed. +As a rule he hops a few steps and then sits down to think it over. Jimmy +had never before seen him hop more than a few steps unless he was trying to +get away from danger, from Mr. Blacksnake for instance. Of course the first +thing Jimmy thought of was Mr. Blacksnake, and he looked for him. But there +was no sign of Mr. Blacksnake nor of any other danger. Then he looked very +hard at Old Mr. Toad, and he saw right away that Old Mr. Toad didn't seem +to be frightened at all, only very determined, and as if he had something +important on his mind. +</p> +<p> +"Well, well," exclaimed Jimmy Skunk, "whatever has got into those long hind +legs of yours to make them work so fast?" +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad didn't say a word, but simply tried to get past Jimmy and keep +on his way. Jimmy put out one hand and turned Old Mr. Toad right over on +his back, where he kicked and struggled in an effort to get on his feet +again, and looked very ridiculous. +</p> +<p> +"Don't you know that it isn't polite not to speak when you are spoken to?" +demanded Jimmy severely, though his eyes twinkled. +</p> +<p> +"I—I beg your pardon. I didn't have any breath to spare," panted Old Mr. +Toad. "You see I'm in a great hurry." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I see," replied Jimmy. "But don't you know that it isn't good for the +health to hurry so? Now, pray, what are you in such a hurry for? I don't +see anything to run away from." +</p> +<p> +"I'm not running away," retorted Old Mr. Toad indignantly. "I've business +to attend to at the Smiling Pool, and I'm late as it is." +</p> +<p> +"Business!" exclaimed Jimmy as if he could hardly believe his ears. "What +business have you at the Smiling Pool?" +</p> +<p> +"That is my own affair," retorted Old Mr. Toad, "but if you really want to +know, I'll tell you. I have a very important part in the spring chorus, and +I'm going down there to sing. I have a very beautiful voice." +</p> +<p> +That was too much for Jimmy Skunk. He just lay down and rolled over and +over with laughter. The idea of any one so homely, almost ugly-looking, as +Mr. Toad thinking that he had a beautiful voice! "Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!" +roared Jimmy. +</p> +<p> +When at last he stopped because he couldn't laugh any more, he discovered +that Old Mr. Toad was on his way again. Hop, hop, hipperty-hop, hop, hop, +hipperty-hop went Mr. Toad. Jimmy watched him, and he confessed that he was +puzzled. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a> +<h2> + II +</h2> + +<center> +JIMMY SKUNK CONSULTS HIS FRIENDS +</center> +<p> +Jimmy Skunk scratched his head thoughtfully as he watched Old Mr. Toad go +down the Lone Little Path, hop, hop, hipperty-hop, towards the Smiling +Pool. He certainly was puzzled, was Jimmy Skunk. If Old Mr. Toad had told +him that he could fly, Jimmy would not have been more surprised, or found +it harder to believe than that Old Mr. Toad had a beautiful voice. The +truth is, Jimmy didn't believe it. He thought that Old Mr. Toad was trying +to fool him. +</p> +<p> +Presently Peter Rabbit came along. He found Jimmy Skunk sitting in a brown +study. He had quite forgotten to look for fat beetles, and when he +forgets to do that you may make up your mind that Jimmy is doing some hard +thinking. +</p> +<p> +"Hello, old Striped-coat, what have you got on your mind this fine +morning?" cried Peter Rabbit. +</p> +<p> +"Him," said Jimmy simply, pointing down the Lone Little Path. +</p> +<p> +Peter looked. "Do you mean Old Mr. Toad!" he asked. +</p> +<p> +Jimmy nodded. "Do you see anything queer about him?" he asked in his turn. +</p> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<a href="images/1l.jpg"> +<img src="images/1.jpg" +alt="'Do You See anything Queer About Him?' He Asked."> +</a> +</center> + +<p> +Peter stared down the Lone Little Path. "No," he replied, "except that he +seems in a great hurry." +</p> +<p> +"That's just it," Jimmy returned promptly. "Did you ever see him hurry +unless he was frightened?" +</p> +<p> +Peter confessed that he never had. +</p> +<p> +"Well, he isn't frightened now, yet just look at him go," retorted Jimmy. +"Says he has got a beautiful voice, and that he has to take part in the +spring chorus at the Smiling Pool and that he is late." +</p> +<p> +Peter looked very hard at Jimmy to see if he was fooling or telling the +truth. Then he began to laugh. "Old Mr. Toad sing! The very idea!" he +cried. "He can sing about as much as I can, and that is not at all." +</p> +<p> +Jimmy grinned. "I think he's crazy, if you ask me," said he. "And yet he +was just as earnest about it as if it were really so. I think he must have +eaten something that has gone to his head. There's Unc' Billy Possum over +there. Let's ask him what he thinks." +</p> +<p> +So Jimmy and Peter joined Unc' Billy, and Jimmy told the story about Old +Mr. Toad all over again. Unc' Billy chuckled and laughed just as they had +at the idea of Old Mr. Toad's saying he had a beautiful voice. But Unc' +Billy has a shrewd little head on his shoulders. After a few minutes he +stopped laughing. +</p> +<p> +"Ah done learn a right smart long time ago that Ah don' know all there is +to know about mah neighbors," said he. "We-uns done think of Brer Toad as +ugly-lookin' fo' so long that we-uns may have overlooked something. Ah don' +reckon Brer Toad can sing, but Ah 'lows that perhaps he thinks he can. What +do you-alls say to we-uns going down to the Smiling Pool and finding out +what he really is up to?" +</p> +<p> +"The very thing!" cried Peter, kicking up his heels. You know Peter is +always ready to go anywhere or do anything that will satisfy his curiosity. +</p> +<p> +Jimmy Skunk thought it over for a few minutes, and then he decided that as +he hadn't anything in particular to do, and as he might find some fat +beetles on the way, he would go too. So off they started after Old Mr. +Toad, Peter Rabbit in the lead as usual, Unc' Billy Possum next, grinning +as only he can grin, and in the rear Jimmy Skunk, taking his time and +keeping a sharp eye out for fat beetles. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_3"><!-- RULE4 3 --></a> +<h2> + III +</h2> + +<center> +THE HUNT FOR OLD MR. TOAD +</center> +<p> +Now, though Old Mr. Toad was hurrying as fast as ever he could and was +quite out of breath, he wasn't getting along very fast compared with the +way Peter Rabbit or Jimmy Skunk or Unc' Billy Possum could cover the +ground. You see he cannot make long jumps like his cousin, Grandfather +Frog, but only little short hops. +</p> +<p> +So Peter and Jimmy and Unc' Billy took their time about following him. They +stopped to hunt for fat beetles for Jimmy Skunk, and at every little patch +of sweet clover for Peter Rabbit to help himself. Once they wasted a lot of +time while Unc' Billy Possum hunted for a nest of Carol the Meadow Lark, on +the chance that he would find some fresh eggs there. He didn't find the +nest for the very good reason that Carol hadn't built one yet. Peter was +secretly glad. You know he doesn't eat eggs, and he is always sorry for his +feathered friends when their eggs are stolen. +</p> +<p> +Half way across the Green Meadows they stopped to play with the Merry +Little Breezes, and because it was very pleasant there, they played longer +than they realized. When at last they started on again, Old Mr. Toad was +out of sight. You see all the time he had kept right on going, hop, hop, +hipperty-hop. +</p> +<p> +"Never mind," said Peter, "we can catch up with him easy enough, he's such +a slow-poke." +</p> +<p> +But even a slow-poke who keeps right on doing a thing without wasting any +time always gets somewhere sooner or later, very often sooner than those +who are naturally quicker, but who waste their time. So it was with Old Mr. +Toad. He kept right on, hop, hop, hipperty-hop, while the others were +playing, and so it happened that when at last Peter and Jimmy and Unc' +Billy reached the Smiling Pool, they hadn't caught another glimpse of Old +Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"Do you suppose he hid somewhere, and we passed him?" asked Peter. +</p> +<p> +Unc' Billy shook his head. "Ah don' reckon so," said he. "We-uns done been +foolin' away our time, an' Brer Toad done stole a march on us. Ah reckons +we-uns will find him sittin' on the bank here somewhere." +</p> +<p> +So right away the three separated to look for Old Mr. Toad. All along the +bank of the Smiling Pool they looked. They peeped under old leaves and +sticks. They looked in every place where Old Mr. Toad might have hidden, +but not a trace of him did they find. +</p> +<pre> + "Tra-la-la-lee! Oka-chee! Oka-chee! + Happy am I as I can be!" +</pre> +<p> +sang Mr. Redwing, as he swayed to and fro among the bulrushes. +</p> +<p> +"Say, Mr. Redwing, have you seen Old Mr. Toad?" called Peter Rabbit. +</p> +<p> +"No," replied Mr. Redwing. "Is that whom you fellows are looking for? I +wondered if you had lost something. What do you want with Old Mr. Toad?" +</p> +<p> +Peter explained how they had followed Old Mr. Toad just to see what he +really was up to. "Of course we know that he hasn't any more voice than I +have," declared Peter, "but we are curious to know if he really thinks he +has, and why he should be in such a hurry to reach the Smiling Pool. It +looks to us as if the spring has made Old Mr. Toad crazy." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, that's it, is it?" replied Mr. Redwing, his bright eyes twinkling. +"Some people don't know as much as they might. I've been wondering where +Old Mr. Toad was, and I'm ever so glad to learn that he hasn't forgotten +that he has a very important part in our beautiful spring chorus." Then +once more Mr. Redwing began to sing. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_4"><!-- RULE4 4 --></a> +<h2> + IV +</h2> + +<center> +PETER RABBIT FINDS OLD MR. TOAD +</center> +<p> +It isn't often that Peter Rabbit is truly envious, but sometimes in the +joyousness of spring he is. He envies the birds because they can pour out +in beautiful song the joy that is in them. The only way he can express his +feelings is by kicking his long heels, jumping about, and such foolish +things. While that gives Peter a great deal of satisfaction, it doesn't add +to the joy of other people as do the songs of the birds, and you know to +give joy to others is to add to your own joy. So there are times when Peter +wishes he could sing. +</p> +<p> +He was wishing this very thing now, as he sat on the bank of the Smiling +Pool, listening to the great spring chorus. +</p> +<pre> + "Tra-la-la-lee! Oka-chee! Oka-chee! + There's joy in the spring for you and for me." +</pre> +<p> +sang Redwing the Blackbird from the bulrushes. +</p> +<p> +From over in the Green Meadows rose the clear lilt of Carol the Meadow +Lark, and among the alders just where the Laughing Brook ran into the +Smiling Pool a flood of happiness was pouring from the throat of Little +Friend the Song Sparrow. Winsome Bluebird's sweet, almost plaintive, +whistle seemed to fairly float in the air, so that it was hard to say just +where it did come from, and in the top of the Big Hickory-tree, Welcome +Robin was singing as if his heart were bursting with joy. Even Sammy Jay +was adding a beautiful, bell-like note instead of his usual harsh scream. +As for the Smiling Pool, it seemed as if the very water itself sang, for a +mighty chorus of clear piping voices from unseen singers rose from all +around its banks. Peter knew who those singers were, although look as he +would he could see none of them. They were hylas, the tiny cousins of +Stickytoes the Tree Toad. +</p> +<p> +Listening to all these joyous voices, Peter forgot for a time what had +brought him to the Smiling Pool. But Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy Possum +didn't forget. They were still hunting for Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"Well, old Mr. Dreamer, have you found him yet?" asked Jimmy Skunk, +stealing up behind Peter and poking him in the back. +</p> +<p> +Peter came to himself with a start. "No," said he. "I was just listening +and wishing that I could sing, too. Don't you ever wish you could sing, +Jimmy?" +</p> +<p> +"No," replied Jimmy. "I never waste time wishing I could do things it was +never meant I should do. It's funny where Old Mr. Toad is. He said that he +was coming down here to sing, and Redwing the Blackbird seemed to be +expecting him. I've looked everywhere I can think of without finding him, +but I don't believe in giving up without another try. Stop your dreaming +and come help us hunt." +</p> +<p> +So Peter stopped his dreaming and joined in the search. Now there was one +place where neither Peter nor Jimmy nor Unc' Billy had thought of looking. +That was in the Smiling Pool itself. They just took it for granted that Old +Mr. Toad was somewhere on the bank. Presently Peter came to a place where +the bank was very low and the water was shallow for quite a little distance +out in the Smiling Pool. From out of that shallow water came the piping +voice of a hyla, and Peter stopped to stare, trying to see the tiny singer. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly he jumped right up in the air with surprise. There was a +familiar-looking head sticking out of the water. Peter had found Old Mr. +Toad! +</p> +<a name="RULE4_5"><!-- RULE4 5 --></a> +<h3> + V +</h3> +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD'S MUSIC BAG +</center> +<pre> + Never think that you have learned + All there is to know. + That's the surest way of all + Ignorance to show. +</pre> +<p> +"I've found Old Mr. Toad!" cried Peter Rabbit, hurrying after Jimmy Skunk. +</p> +<p> +"Where?" demanded Jimmy. +</p> +<p> +"In the water," declared Peter. "He's sitting right over there where the +water is shallow, and he didn't notice me at all. Let's get Unc' Billy, and +then creep over to the edge of the Smiling Pool and watch to see if Old Mr. +Toad really does try to sing." +</p> +<p> +So they hunted up Unc' Billy Possum, and the three stole very softly over +to the edge of the Smiling Pool, where the bank was low and the water +shallow. Sure enough, there sat Old Mr. Toad with just his head out of +water. And while they were watching him, something very strange happened. +</p> +<p> +"What—what's the matter with him?" whispered Peter, his big eyes looking +as if they might pop out of his head. +</p> +<p> +"If he don't watch out, he'll blow up and bust!" exclaimed Jimmy. +</p> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<a href="images/2l.jpg"> +<img src="images/2.jpg" +alt="'If He Don't Watch out, He'll Blow up and Bust!' Exclaimed Jimmy."> +</a> +</center> + +<p> +"Listen!" whispered Unc' Billy Possum. "Do mah ol' ears hear right? 'Pears +to me that that song is coming right from where Brer Toad is sitting." +</p> +<p> +It certainly did appear so, and of all the songs that glad spring day there +was none sweeter. Indeed there were few as sweet. The only trouble was the +song was so very short. It lasted only for two or three seconds. And when +it ended, Old Mr. Toad looked quite his natural self again; just as +commonplace, almost ugly, as ever. Peter looked at Jimmy Skunk, Jimmy +looked at Unc' Billy Possum, and Unc' Billy looked at Peter. And no one had +a word to say. Then all three looked back at Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +And even as they looked, his throat began to swell and swell and swell, +until it was no wonder that Jimmy Skunk had thought that he was in danger +of blowing up. And then, when it stopped swelling, there came again those +beautiful little notes, so sweet and tremulous that Peter actually held his +breath to listen. There was no doubt that Old Mr. Toad was singing just as +he had said he was going to, and it was just as true that his song was one +of the sweetest if not <i>the</i> sweetest of all the chorus from and +around the Smiling Pool. It was very hard to believe, but Peter and Jimmy +and Unc' Billy both saw and heard, and that was enough. Their respect for +Old Mr. Toad grew tremendously as they listened. +</p> +<p> +"How does he do it?" whispered Peter. +</p> +<p> +"With that bag under his chin, of course," replied Jimmy Skunk. "Don't you +see it's only when that is swelled out that he sings? It's a regular music +bag. And I didn't know he had any such bag there at all." +</p> +<p> +"I wish," said Peter Rabbit, feeling of his throat, "that I had a music bag +like that in my throat." +</p> +<p> +And then he joined in the laugh of Jimmy and Unc' Billy, but still with +something of a look of wistfulness in his eyes. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_6"><!-- RULE4 6 --></a> +<h2> + VI +</h2> + +<center> +PETER DISCOVERS SOMETHING MORE +</center> +<pre> + There are stranger things in the world to-day + Than ever you dreamed could be. + There's beauty in some of the commonest things + If only you've eyes to see. +</pre> +<p> +Ever since Peter Rabbit was a little chap and had first ran away from home, +he had known Old Mr. Toad, and never once had Peter suspected that he could +sing. Also he had thought Old Mr. Toad almost ugly-looking, and he knew +that most of his neighbors thought the same way. They were fond of Old Mr. +Toad, for he was always good-natured and attended strictly to his own +affairs; but they liked to poke fun at him, and as for there being anything +beautiful about him, such a thing never entered their heads. +</p> +<p> +Now that they had discovered that he really has a very beautiful voice, +they began to look on him with a great deal more respect. This was +especially so with Peter. He got in the habit of going over to the Smiling +Pool every day, when the way was clear, just to sit on the bank and listen +to Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"Why didn't you ever tell us before that you could sing?" he asked one day, +as Old Mr. Toad looked up at him from the Smiling Pool. +</p> +<p> +"What was the use of wasting my breath?" demanded Old Mr. Toad. "You +wouldn't have believed me if I had. You didn't believe me when I did tell +you." +</p> +<p> +Peter knew that this was true, and he couldn't find any answer ready. At +last he ventured another question. "Why haven't I ever heard you sing +before?" +</p> +<p> +"You have," replied Old Mr. Toad tartly. "I sang right in this very place +last spring, and the spring before, and the spring before that. You've sat +on that very bank lots of times while I was singing. The trouble with you, +Peter, is that you don't use your eyes or your ears." +</p> +<p> +Peter looked more foolish than ever. But he ventured another question. It +wouldn't be Peter to let a chance for questions go by. "Have I ever heard +you singing up on the meadows or in the Old Orchard?" +</p> +<p> +"No," replied Old Mr. Toad, "I only sing in the springtime. That's the time +for singing. I just <i>have</i> to sing then. In the summer it is too hot, +and in the winter I sleep. I always return to my old home to sing. You know +I was born here. All my family gathers here in the spring to sing, so of +course I come too." +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad filled out his queer music bag under his chin and began to +sing again. Peter watched him. Now it just happened that Old Mr. Toad was +facing him, and so Peter looked down straight into his eyes. He never had +looked into Mr. Toad's eyes before, and now he just stared and stared, for +it came over him that those eyes were very beautiful, very beautiful +indeed. +</p> +<p> +"Oh!" he exclaimed, "what beautiful eyes you have, Mr. Toad!" +</p> +<p> +"So I've been told before," replied Old Mr. Toad. "My family always has had +beautiful eyes. There is an old saying that every Toad has jewels in his +head, but of course he hasn't, not real jewels. It is just the beautiful +eyes. Excuse me, Peter, but I'm needed in that chorus." Old Mr. Toad once +more swelled out his throat and began to sing. +</p> +<p> +Peter watched him a while longer, then hopped away to the dear Old +Briarpatch, and he was very thoughtful. +</p> +<p> +"Never again will I call anybody homely and ugly until I know all about +him," said Peter, which was a very wise decision. Don't you think so? +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_7"><!-- RULE4 7 --></a> +<h2> + VII +</h2> + +<center> +A SHADOW PASSES OVER THE SMILING POOL +</center> +<pre> + Here's what Mr. Toad says; + Heed it well, my dear: + "Time to watch for clouds is + When the sky is clear." +</pre> +<p> +He says that that is the reason that he lives to a good old age, does Old +Mr. Toad. I suppose he means that when the sky is cloudy, everybody is +looking for rain and is prepared for it, but when the sun is shining, most +people forget that there is such a thing as a storm, so when it comes +suddenly very few are prepared for it. It is the same way with danger and +trouble. So Old Mr. Toad very wisely watches out when there seems to be the +least need of it, and he finds it always pays. +</p> +<p> +It was a beautiful spring evening. Over back of the Purple Hills to which +Old Mother West Wind had taken her children, the Merry Little Breezes, and +behind which jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had gone to bed, there was still a +faint, clear light. But over the Green Meadows and the Smiling Pool the +shadows had drawn a curtain of soft dusk which in the Green Forest became +black. The little stars looked down from the sky and twinkled just to see +their reflections twinkle back at them from the Smiling Pool. And there and +all around it was perfect peace. Jerry Muskrat swam back and forth, making +little silver lines on the surface of the Smiling Pool and squeaking +contentedly, for it was the hour which he loves best. Little Friend the +Song Sparrow had tucked his head under his wing and gone to sleep among the +alders along the Laughing Brook and Redwing the Blackbird had done the same +thing among the bulrushes. All the feathered songsters who had made joyous +the bright day had gone to bed. +</p> +<p> +But this did not mean that the glad spring chorus was silent. Oh, my, no! +No indeed! The Green Meadows were silent, and the Green Forest was silent, +but as if to make up for this, the sweet singers of the Smiling Pool, the +hylas and the frogs and Old Mr. Toad, were pouring out their gladness as if +they had not been singing most of the departed day. You see it was the hour +they love best of all, the hour which seems to them just made for singing, +and they were doing their best to tell Old Mother Nature how they love her, +and how glad they were that she had brought back sweet Mistress Spring to +waken them from their long sleep. +</p> +<p> +It was so peaceful and beautiful there that it didn't seem possible that +danger of any kind could be lurking near. But Old Mr. Toad, swelling out +that queer music bag in his throat and singing with all his might, never +once forgot that wise saying of his, and so he was the first to see what +looked like nothing so much as a little detached bit of the blackness of +the Green Forest floating out towards the Smiling Pool. Instantly he +stopped singing. Now that was a signal. When he stopped singing, his +nearest neighbor stopped singing, then the next one and the next, and in a +minute there wasn't a sound from the Smiling Pool save the squeak of Jerry +Muskrat hidden among the bulrushes. That great chorus stopped as abruptly +as the electric lights go out when you press a button. +</p> +<p> +Back and forth over the Smiling Pool, this way and that way, floated the +shadow, but there was no sign of any living thing in the Smiling Pool. +After awhile the shadow floated away over the Green Meadows without a +sound. +</p> +<p> +"Hooty the Owl didn't get one of us that time," said Old Mr. Toad to his +nearest neighbor with a chuckle of satisfaction. Then he swelled out his +music bag and began to sing again. And at once, as abruptly as it had +stopped, the great chorus began again as joyous as before, for nothing had +happened to bring sadness as might have but for the watchfulness of Old Mr. +Toad. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_8"><!-- RULE4 8 --></a> +<h2> + VIII +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD'S BABIES +</center> +<pre> + The Smiling Pool's a nursery + Where all the sunny day + A thousand funny babies + Are taught while at their play. +</pre> +<p> +Really the Smiling Pool is a sort of kindergarten, one of the most +interesting kindergartens in the world. Little Joe Otter's children learn +to swim there. So do Jerry Muskrat's babies and those of Billy Mink, the +Trout and Minnow babies, and a lot more. And there you will find the +children and grandchildren of Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +Peter Rabbit had known for a long time about the Frog babies, but though he +knew that Old Mr. Toad was own cousin to Grandfather Frog, he hadn't known +anything about Toad babies, except that at a certain time in the year he +was forever running across tiny Toads, especially on rainy days, and each +little Toad was just like Old Mr. Toad, except for his size. Peter had +heard it said that Toads rain down from the sky, and sometimes it seems as +if this must be so. Of course he knew it couldn't be, but it puzzled him a +great deal. There wouldn't be a Toad in sight. Then it would begin to rain, +and right away there would be so many tiny Toads that it was hard work to +jump without stepping on some. +</p> +<p> +He remembered this as he went to pay his daily call on Old Mr. Toad in the +Smiling Pool and listen to his sweet song. He hadn't seen any little Toads +this year, but he remembered his experiences with them in other years, and +he meant to ask about them. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad was sitting in his usual place, but he wasn't singing. He was +staring at something in the water. When Peter said "Good morning," Old Mr. +Toad didn't seem to hear him. He was too much interested in what he was +watching. Peter stared down into the water to see what was interesting Old +Mr. Toad so much, but he saw nothing but a lot of wriggling tadpoles. +</p> +<p> +"What are you staring at so, Mr. Sobersides?" asked Peter, speaking a +little louder than before. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad turned and looked at Peter, and there was a look of great +pride in his face. "I'm just watching my babies. Aren't they lovely?" said +he. +</p> +<p> +Peter stared harder than ever, but he couldn't see anything that looked +like a baby Toad. +</p> +<p> +"Where are they?" asked he. "I don't see any babies but those of +Grandfather Frog, and if you ask me, I always did think tadpoles about the +homeliest things in th' world." +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad grew indignant. "Those are not Grandfather Frog's children; +they're mine!" he sputtered. "And I'll have you know that they are the most +beautiful babies in th' world!" +</p> +<p> +Peter drew a hand across his mouth to hide a smile. "I beg your pardon, Mr. +Toad," said he. "I—I thought all tadpoles were Frog babies. They all look +alike to me." +</p> +<p> +"Well, they're not," declared Old Mr. Toad. "How any one can mistake my +babies for their cousins I cannot understand. Now mine are beautiful, +while—" +</p> +<p> +"Chug-arum!" interrupted the great deep voice of Grandfather Frog. "What +are you talking about? Why, your babies are no more to be compared with my +babies for real beauty than nothing at all! I'll leave it to Peter if they +are." +</p> +<p> +But Peter wisely held his tongue. To tell the truth, he couldn't see beauty +in any of them. To him they were all just wriggling pollywogs. They were +more interesting now, because he had found out that some of them were Toads +and some were Frogs, and he hadn't known before that baby Toads begin life +as tadpoles, but he had no intention of being drawn into the dispute now +waxing furious between Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_9"><!-- RULE4 9 --></a> +<h2> + IX +</h2> + +<center> +THE SMILING POOL KINDERGARTEN +</center> +<pre> + Play a little, learn a little, grow a little too; + That's what every pollywoggy tries his best to do. +</pre> +<p> +Of course. That's what a kindergarten is for. And you may be sure that the +babies of Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad and Stickytoes the Tree Toad +did all of these things in the kindergarten of the Smiling Pool. They +looked considerably alike, did these little cousins, for they were all +pollywogs to begin with. Peter Rabbit came over every day to watch them. +Always he had thought pollywogs just homely, wriggling things, not the +least bit interesting, but since he had discovered how proud of them were +Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad, he had begun to wonder about them and +then to watch them. +</p> +<p> +"There's one thing about them, and that is they are not in danger the way +any babies are," said Peter, talking to himself as is his way when there is +no one else to talk to. Just then a funny little black pollywog wriggled +into sight, and while Peter was watching him, a stout-jawed water-beetle +suddenly rushed from among the water grass, seized the pollywog by his +tail, and dragged him down. Peter stared. Could it be that that +ugly-looking bug was as dangerous an enemy to the baby Toad as Reddy Fox is +to a baby Rabbit? He began to suspect so, and a little later he knew so, +for there was that same little pollywog trying hard to swim and making bad +work of it, because he had lost half of his long tail. +</p> +<p> +That set Peter to watching sharper than ever, and presently he discovered +that pollywogs have to keep their eyes open quite as much as do baby +Rabbits, if they would live to grow up. There were several kinds of queer, +ugly-looking bugs forever darting out at the wriggling pollywogs. +Hungry-looking fish lay in wait for them, and Longlegs the Blue Heron +seemed to have a special liking for them. But the pollywogs were spry, and +seemed to have learned to watch out. They seemed to Peter to spend all +their time swimming and eating and growing. They grew so fast that it +seemed to him that he could almost <i>see</i> them grow. And just imagine +how surprised Peter was to discover one day that that very pollywog which +he had seen lose his tail had grown a <i>new</i> one. That puzzled Peter +more than anything he had seen in a long time. +</p> +<p> +"Why, I couldn't do that!" he exclaimed right out loud. +</p> +<p> +"Do what?" demanded Jerry Muskrat, who happened along just then. +</p> +<p> +"Why, grow a new tail like that pollywog," replied Peter, and told Jerry +all that he had seen. Jerry laughed. +</p> +<p> +"You'll see queerer things than that if you watch those pollywogs long +enough," said he. "They are a queer lot of babies, and very interesting to +watch if you've got the time for it. I haven't. This Smiling Pool is a +great kindergarten, and there's something happening here every minute. +There's no place like it." +</p> +<p> +"Are those great big fat pollywogs Grandfather Frog's children, or Old Mr. +Toad's?" asked Peter. +</p> +<p> +"Grandfather Frog's last year's children," replied Jerry. "They'll grow +into real Frogs this summer, if nothing happens to them." +</p> +<p> +"Where are Old Mr. Toad's last year's children?" asked Peter. +</p> +<p> +"Don't ask me," replied Jerry. "They hopped away last summer. Never saw +anything like the way those Toad youngsters grow. Those Toad pollywogs you +see now will turn into real Toads, and be leaving the Smiling Pool in a few +weeks. People think Old Mr. Toad is slow, but there is nothing slow about +his children. Look at that little fellow over there; he's begun to grow +legs already." +</p> +<p> +Peter looked, and sure enough there was a pollywog with a pair of legs +sprouting out. They were his fore legs, and they certainly did make him +look funny. And only a few days before there hadn't been a sign of legs. +</p> +<p> +"My gracious!" exclaimed Peter. "What a funny sight! I thought my babies +grew fast, but these beat them." +</p> +<a name="RULE4_10"><!-- RULE4 10 --></a> +<h3> + X +</h3> +<center> +THE LITTLE TOADS START OUT TO SEE THE WORLD +</center> +<pre> + The world is a wonderful great big place + And in it the young must roam + To learn what their elders have long since learned— + There's never a place like home. +</pre> +<p> +It had been some time since Peter Rabbit had visited the Smiling Pool to +watch the pollywogs. But one cloudy morning he happened to think of them, +and decided that he would run over there and see how they were getting +along. So off he started, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He wondered if those +pollywog children of Old Mr. Toad would be much changed. The last time he +saw them some of them had just begun to grow legs, although they still had +long tails. +</p> +<p> +He had almost reached the Smiling Pool when great big drops of rain began +to splash down. And with those first raindrops something funny happened. +Anyway, it seemed funny to Peter. Right away he was surrounded by tiny +little Toads. Everywhere he looked he saw Toads, tiny little Toads just +like Old Mr. Toad, only so tiny that one could have sat comfortably on a +ten-cent piece and still had plenty of room. +</p> +<p> +Peter's big eyes grew round with surprise as he stared. Where had they all +come from so suddenly? A minute before he hadn't seen a single one, and now +he could hardly move without stepping on one. It seemed, it really seemed, +as if each raindrop turned into a tiny Toad the instant it struck the +ground. Of course Peter knew that that couldn't be, but it was very +puzzling. And all those little Toads were bravely hopping along as if they +were bound for some particular place. +</p> +<p> +Peter watched them for a few minutes, then he once more started for the +Smiling Pool. On the very bank whom should he meet but Old Mr. Toad. He +looked rather thin, and his back was to the Smiling Pool. Yes, Sir, he was +hopping away from the Smiling Pool where he had been all the spring, +singing in the great chorus. Peter was almost as surprised to see him as he +had been to see the little Toads, but just then he was most interested in +those little Toads. +</p> +<p> +"Good morning, Old Mr. Toad," said Peter in his most polite manner. "Can +you tell me where all these little Toads came from?" +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> +<center> +<a href="images/3l.jpg"> +<img src="images/3.jpg" +alt="'Can you tell me where all these little Toads came from?'"> +</a> +</center> + +<p> +"Certainly," replied Old Mr. Toad. "They came from the Smiling Pool, of +course. Where did you suppose they came from?" +</p> +<p> +"I—I didn't know. There wasn't one to be seen, and then it began to rain, +and right away they were everywhere. It—it almost seemed as if they had +rained down out of the sky." +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad chuckled. "They've got good sense, if I must say it about my +own children," said he. "They know that wet weather is the only weather for +Toads to travel in. They left the Smiling Pool in the night while it was +damp and comfortable, and then, when the sun came up, they hid, like +sensible children, under anything they could find, sticks, stones, pieces +of bark, grass. The minute this shower came up, they knew it was good +traveling weather and out they popped." +</p> +<p> +"But what did they leave the Smiling Pool for?" Peter asked. +</p> +<p> +"To see the Great World," replied Old Mr. Toad. "Foolish, very foolish of +them, but they would do it. I did the same thing myself when I was their +age. Couldn't stop me any more than I could stop them. They don't know when +they're well off, but young folks never do. Fine weather, isn't it?" +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_11"><!-- RULE4 11 --></a> +<h2> + XI +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD'S QUEER TONGUE +</center> +<pre> + Old Mother Nature doth provide + For all her children, large or small. + Her wisdom foresees all their needs + And makes provision for them all. +</pre> +<p> +If you don't believe it, just you go ask Old Mr. Toad, as Peter Rabbit did, +how such a slow-moving fellow as he is can catch enough bugs and insects to +keep him alive. Perhaps you'll learn something just as Peter did. Peter and +Old Mr. Toad sat in the rain watching the tiny Toads, who, you know, were +Mr. Toad's children, leaving their kindergarten in the Smiling Pool and +starting out to see the Great World. When the last little Toad had passed +them, Old Mr. Toad suddenly remembered that he was hungry, very hungry +indeed. +</p> +<p> +"Didn't have time to eat much while I was in the Smiling Pool," he +explained. "Couldn't eat and sing too, and while I was down there, I was +supposed to sing. Now that it is time to quit singing, I begin to realize +that I've got a stomach to look out for as well as a voice. See that bug +over there on that leaf? Watch him." +</p> +<p> +Peter looked, and sure enough there was a fat bug crawling along on an old +leaf. He was about two inches from Old Mr. Toad, and he was crawling very +fast. And right while Peter was looking at him he disappeared. Peter turned +to look at Old Mr. Toad. He hadn't budged. He was sitting exactly where he +had been sitting all the time, but he was smacking his lips, and there was +a twinkle of satisfaction in his eyes. Peter opened his eyes very wide. +</p> +<p> +"Wha—what—" he began. +</p> +<p> +"Nice bug," interrupted Old Mr. Toad. "Nicest bug I've eaten for a +longtime." +</p> +<p> +"But I didn't see you catch him!" protested Peter, looking at Old Mr. Toad +as if he suspected him of joking. +</p> +<p> +"Anything wrong with your eyes?" inquired Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"No," replied Peter just a wee bit crossly. "My eyes are just as good as +ever." +</p> +<p> +"Then watch me catch that fly over yonder," said Old Mr. Toad. He hopped +towards a fly which had lighted on a blade of grass just ahead. About two +inches from it he stopped, and so far as Peter could see, he sat perfectly +still. But the fly disappeared, and it wasn't because it flew away, either. +Peter was sure of that. As he told Mrs. Peter about it afterwards, "It was +there, and then it wasn't, and that was all there was to it." +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad chuckled. "Didn't you see that one go, Peter?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +Peter shook his head. "I wish you Would stop fooling me," said Peter. "The +joke is on me, but now you've had your laugh at my expense, I wish you +would tell me how you do it. Please, Mr. Toad." +</p> +<p> +Now when Peter said please that way, of course Old Mr. Toad couldn't resist +him. Nobody could. +</p> +<p> +"Here comes an ant this way. Now you watch my mouth instead of the ant and +see what happens," said Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +Peter looked and saw a big black ant coming. Then he kept his eyes on Old +Mr. Toad's mouth. Suddenly there was a little flash of red from it, so tiny +and so quick that Peter couldn't be absolutely sure that he saw it. But +when he looked for the ant, it was nowhere to be seen. Peter looked at Old +Mr. Toad very hard. +</p> +<p> +"Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Toad, that you've got a tongue long enough to +reach way over to where that ant was?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad chuckled again. With every insect swallowed he felt better +natured. "You've guessed it, Peter," said he. "Handy tongue, isn't it?" +</p> +<p> +"I think it's a very queer tongue," retorted Peter, "and I don't understand +it at all. If it's so long as all that, where do you keep it when it isn't +in use? I should think you'd have to swallow it to get it out of the way, +or else leave it hanging out of your mouth." +</p> +<p> +"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" laughed Old Mr. Toad. "My tongue never is in the way, +and it's the handiest tongue in the world. I'll show it to you." +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_12"><!-- RULE4 12 --></a> +<h2> + XII +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD SHOWS HIS TONGUE +</center> +<pre> + To show one's tongue, as you well know, + Is not considered nice to do; + But if it were like Mr. Toad's + I'd want to show it—wouldn't you? +</pre> +<p> +I'm quite sure you would. You see, if it were like Old Mr. Toad's, it would +be such a wonderful tongue that I suspect you would want everybody to see +it. Old Mr. Toad thinks his tongue the most satisfactory tongue in the +world. In fact, he is quite sure that without it he couldn't get along at +all, and I don't know as he could. And yet very few of his neighbors know +anything about that tongue and how different it is from most other tongues. +Peter Rabbit didn't until Old Mr. Toad showed him after Peter had puzzled +and puzzled over the mysterious way in which bugs and flies disappeared +whenever they happened to come within two inches or less of Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +What Peter couldn't understand was what Old Mr. Toad did with a tongue that +would reach two inches beyond his mouth. He said as much. +</p> +<p> +"I'll show you my tongue, and then you'll wish you had one just like it," +said Old Mr. Toad, with a twinkle in his eyes. +</p> +<p> +He opened his big mouth and slowly ran his tongue out its full length. +"Why! Why-ee!" exclaimed Peter. "It's fastened at the wrong end!" +</p> +<p> +"No such thing!" replied Old Mr. Toad indignantly. "If it was fastened at +the other end, how could I run it out so far?" +</p> +<p> +"But mine and all other tongues that I ever have seen are fastened way down +in the throat," protested Peter. "Yours is fastened at the other end, way +in the very front of your mouth. I never heard of such a thing." +</p> +<p> +"There are a great many things you have never heard of, Peter Rabbit," +replied Old Mr. Toad drily. "Mine is the right way to have a tongue. +Because it is fastened way up in the front of my mouth that way, I can use +the whole of it. You see it goes out its full length. Then, when I draw it +in with a bug on the end of it, I just turn it over so that the end that +was out goes way back in my throat and takes the bug with it to just the +right place to swallow." +</p> +<p> +Peter thought this over for a few minutes before he ventured another +question. "I begin to understand," said he, "but how do you hold on to the +bug with your tongue?" +</p> +<p> +"My tongue is sticky, of course, Mr. Stupid," replied Old Mr. Toad, looking +very much disgusted. "Just let me touch a bug with it, and he's mine every +time." +</p> +<p> +Peter thought this over. Then he felt of his own tongue. "Mine isn't +sticky," said he very innocently. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad laughed right out. "Perhaps if it was, you couldn't ask so +many questions," said he. "Now watch me catch that fly." His funny little +tongue darted out, and the fly was gone. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> +<center> +<a href="images/4l.jpg"> +<img src="images/4.jpg" +alt="His Funny Little Tongue Darted out, and the Fly Was Gone."> +</a> +</center> + +<p> +"It certainly is very handy," said Peter politely. "I think we are going to +have more rain, and I'd better be getting back to the dear Old Briarpatch. +Very much obliged to you, Mr. Toad. I think you are very wonderful." +</p> +<p> +"Not at all," replied Old Mr. Toad. "I've simply got the things I need in +order to live, just as you have the things you need. I couldn't get along +with your kind of a tongue, but no more could you get along with mine. If +you live long enough, you will learn that Old Mother Nature makes no +mistakes. She gives each of us what we need, and each one has different +needs." +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_13"><!-- RULE4 13 --></a> +<h2> + XIII +</h2> + +<center> +PETER RABBIT IS IMPOLITE +</center> +<p> +Peter Rabbit couldn't get Old Mr. Toad off his mind. He had discovered so +many interesting things about Old Mr. Toad that he was almost on the point +of believing him to be the most interesting of all his neighbors. And his +respect for Old Mr. Toad had become very great indeed. Of course. Who +wouldn't respect any one with such beautiful eyes and such a sweet voice +and such a wonderful tongue? Yet at the same time Peter felt very foolish +whenever he remembered that all his life he had been acquainted with Old +Mr. Toad without really knowing him at all. There was one comforting +thought, and that was that most of his neighbors were just as ignorant +regarding Old Mr. Toad as Peter had been. +</p> +<p> +"Funny," mused Peter, "how we can live right beside people all our lives +and not really know them at all. I suppose that is why we should never +judge people hastily. I believe I will go hunt up Old Mr. Toad and see if I +can find out anything more." +</p> +<p> +Off started Peter, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He didn't know just where to go, +now that Old Mr. Toad had left the Smiling Pool, but he had an idea that he +would not be far from their meeting place of the day before, when Old Mr. +Toad had explained about his wonderful tongue. But when he got there, Peter +found no trace of Old Mr. Toad. You see, it had rained the day before, and +that is just the kind of weather that a Toad likes best for traveling. +Peter ought to have thought of that, but he didn't. He hunted for awhile +and finally gave it up and started up the Crooked Little Path with the idea +of running over for a call on Johnny Chuck in the Old Orchard. +</p> +<p> +Jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun was shining his brightest, and Peter soon +forgot all about Old Mr. Toad. He scampered along up the Crooked Little +Path, thinking of nothing in particular but how good it was to be alive, +and occasionally kicking up his heels for pure joy. He had just done this +when his ears caught the sound of a queer noise a little to one side of the +Crooked Little Path. Instantly Peter stopped and sat up to listen. There it +was again, and it seemed to come from under an old piece of board. It was +just a little, rustling sound, hardly to be heard. +</p> +<p> +"There's some one under that old board," thought Peter, and peeped under. +All he could see was that there was something moving. Instantly Peter was +all curiosity. Whoever was there was not very big. He was sure of that. Of +course that meant that he had nothing to fear. So what do you think Peter +did? Why, he just pulled that old board over. And when he did that, he saw, +whom do you think? Why, Old Mr. Toad, to be sure. +</p> +<p> +But such a sight as Old Mr. Toad was! Peter just stared. For a full minute +he couldn't find his voice. Old Mr. Toad was changing his clothes! Yes, +Sir, that is just what Old Mr. Toad was doing. He was taking off his old +suit, and under it was a brand new one. But such a time as he was having! +He was opening and shutting his big mouth, and drawing his hind legs under +him, and rubbing them against his body. Then Peter saw a strange thing. He +saw that Old Mr. Toad's old suit had split in several places, and he was +getting it off by sucking it into his mouth! +</p> +<p> +In a few minutes his hind legs were free of the old suit, and little by +little it began to be pulled free from his body. All the time Old Mr. Toad +was working very hard to suck it at the corners of his big mouth. He glared +angrily at Peter, but he couldn't say anything because his mouth was too +full. He looked so funny that Peter just threw himself on the ground and +rolled over and over with laughter. This made Old Mr. Toad glare more +angrily than ever, but he couldn't say anything, not a word. +</p> +<p> +When he had got his hands free by pulling the sleeves of his old coat off +inside out, he used his hands to pull the last of it over his head. Then he +gulped very hard two or three times to swallow his old suit, and when the +last of it had disappeared, he found his voice. +</p> +<p> +"Don't you know that it is the most impolite thing in the world to look at +people when they are changing their clothes?" he sputtered. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_14"><!-- RULE4 14 --></a> +<h2> + XIV +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD DISAPPEARS +</center> +<pre> + Admit your fault when you've done wrong, + And don't postpone it over long. +</pre> +<p> +Peter Rabbit didn't blame Old Mr. Toad a bit for being indignant because +Peter had watched him change his suit. It wasn't a nice thing to do. Old +Mr. Toad had looked very funny while he was struggling out of his old suit, +and Peter just couldn't help laughing at him. But he realized that he had +been very impolite, and he very meekly told Old Mr. Toad so. +</p> +<p> +"You see, it was this way," explained Peter. "I heard something under that +old board, and I just naturally turned it over to find out what was there." +</p> +<p> +"Hump!" grunted Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"I didn't have the least idea that you were there," continued Peter. "When +I found who it was, and what you were doing, I couldn't help watching +because it was so interesting, and I couldn't help laughing because you +really did look so funny. But I'm sorry, Mr. Toad. Truly I am. I didn't +mean to be so impolite. I promise never to do it again. I don't suppose, +Mr. Toad, that it seems at all wonderful to you that you can change your +suit that way, but it does to me. I had heard that you swallowed your old +suits, but I never half believed it. Now I know it is so and just how you +do it, and I feel as if I had learned something worth knowing. Do you know, +I think you are one of the most interesting and wonderful of all my +neighbors, and I'll never laugh at or tease you again, Mr. Toad." +</p> +<p> +"Hump!" grunted Old Mr. Toad again, but it was very clear that he was a +little flattered by Peter's interest in him and was rapidly recovering his +good nature. +</p> +<p> +"There is one thing I don't understand yet," said Peter, "and that is where +you go to to sleep all winter. Do you go down into the mud at the bottom of +the Smiling Pool the way Grandfather Frog does?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly not!" retorted Old Mr. Toad. "Use your common sense, Peter +Rabbit. If I had spent the winter in the Smiling Pool, do you suppose I +would have left it to come way up here and then have turned right around +and gone back there to sing? I'm not so fond of long journeys as all that." +</p> +<p> +"That's so." Peter looked foolish. "I didn't think of that when I spoke." +</p> +<p> +"The trouble with you, and with a lot of other people, is that you speak +first and do your thinking afterward, when you do any thinking at all," +grunted Old Mr. Toad. "Now if I wanted to, I could disappear right here." +</p> +<p> +"You mean that you would hide under that old board just as you did before," +said Peter, with a very wise look. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing of the sort!" snapped Old Mr. Toad. "I could disappear and not go +near that old board, not a step nearer than I am now." +</p> +<p> +Peter looked in all directions carefully, but not a thing could he see +under which Old Mr. Toad could possibly hide except the old board, and he +had said he wouldn't hide under that. "I don't like to doubt your word, +Mr. Toad," said he, "but you'll have to show me before I can believe that." +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad's eyes twinkled. Here was a chance to get even with Peter for +watching him change his suit. "If you'll turn your back to me and look +straight down the Crooked Little Path for five minutes, I'll disappear," +said he. "More than that, I give you my word of honor that I will not hop +three feet from where I am sitting." +</p> +<p> +"All right," replied Peter promptly, turning his back to Old Mr. Toad. +"I'll look down the Crooked Little Path for five minutes and promise not to +peek." +</p> +<p> +So Peter sat and gazed straight down the Crooked Little Path. It was a +great temptation to roll his eyes back and peep behind him, but he had +given his word that he wouldn't, and he didn't. When he thought the five +minutes were up, he turned around. Old Mr. Toad was nowhere to be seen. +Peter looked hastily this way and that way, but there was not a sign of Old +Mr. Toad. He had disappeared as completely as if he never had been there. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_15"><!-- RULE4 15 --></a> +<h2> + XV +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD GIVES PETER A SCARE +</center> +<pre> + If you play pranks on other folks + You may be sure that they + Will take the first chance that they get + A joke on you to play. +</pre> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad was getting even with Peter for laughing at him. While Peter's +back had been turned, Old Mr. Toad had disappeared. +</p> +<p> +It was too much for Peter. Look as he would, he couldn't see so much as a +chip under which Old Mr. Toad might have hidden, excepting the old board, +and Old Mr. Toad had given his word of honor that he wouldn't hide under +that. Nevertheless, Peter hopped over to it and turned it over again, +because he couldn't think of any other place to look. Of course, Old Mr. +Toad wasn't there. Of course not. He had given his word that he wouldn't +hide there, and he always lives up to his word. Peter should have known +better than to have looked there. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad had also said that he would not go three feet from the spot +where he was sitting at the time, so Peter should have known better than to +have raced up the Crooked Little Path as he did. But if Old Mr. Toad had +nothing to hide under, of course he must have hopped away, reasoned Peter. +He couldn't hop far in five minutes, that was sure, and so Peter ran this +way and that way a great deal farther than it would have been possible for +Old Mr. Toad to have gone. But it was a wholly useless search, and +presently Peter returned and sat down on the very spot where he had last +seen Old Mr. Toad. Peter never had felt more foolish in all his life. He +began to think that Old Mr. Toad must be bewitched and had some strange +power of making himself invisible. +</p> +<p> +For a long time Peter sat perfectly still, trying to puzzle out how Old Mr. +Toad had disappeared, but the more he puzzled over it, the more impossible +it seemed. And yet Old Mr. Toad had disappeared. Suddenly Peter gave a +frightened scream and jumped higher than he ever had jumped before in all +his life. A voice, the voice of Old Mr. Toad himself, had said, "Well, now +are you satisfied?" <i>And that voice had come from right under Peter!</i> +Do you wonder that he was frightened? When he turned to look, there sat Old +Mr. Toad right where he himself had been sitting a moment before. Peter +rubbed his eyes and stared very foolishly. +</p> +<p> +"Wh-wh-where did you come from?" he stammered at last. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad grinned. "I'll show you," said he. And right while Peter was +looking at him, he began to sink down into the ground until only the top of +his head could be seen. Then that disappeared. Old Mr. Toad had gone down, +and the sand had fallen right back over him. Peter just had to rub his eyes +again. He had to! Then, to make sure, he began to dig away the sand where +Old Mr. Toad had been sitting. In a minute he felt Old Mr. Toad, who at +once came out again. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad's beautiful eyes twinkled more than ever. "I guess we are even +now, Peter," said he. +</p> +<p> +Peter nodded. "More than that, Mr. Toad. I think you have a little the best +of it," he replied. "Now won't you tell me how you did it?" +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad held up one of his stout hind feet, and on it was a kind of +spur. "There's another just like that on the other foot," said he, "and I +use them to dig with. You go into a hole headfirst, but I go in the other +way. I make my hole in soft earth and back into it at the same time, this +way." He began to work his stout hind feet, and as he kicked the earth out, +he backed in at the same time. When he was deep enough, the earth just fell +back over him, for you see it was very loose and not packed down at all. +When he once more reappeared, Peter thanked him. Then he asked one more +question. +</p> +<p> +"Is that the way you go into winter quarters?" +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad nodded. "And it's the way I escape from my enemies." +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_16"><!-- RULE4 16 --></a> +<h2> + XVI +</h2> + +<center> +JIMMY SKUNK IS SURPRISED +</center> +<p> +Jimmy Skunk ambled along the Crooked Little Path down the hill. He didn't +hurry because Jimmy doesn't believe in hurrying. The only time he ever +hurries is when he sees a fat beetle trying to get out of sight. Then Jimmy +<i>does</i> hurry. But just now he didn't see any fat beetles, although he +was looking for them. So he just ambled along as if he had all the time in +the world, as indeed he had. He was feeling very good-natured, was Jimmy +Skunk. And why shouldn't he? There was everything to make him feel +good-natured. Summer had arrived to stay. On every side he heard glad +voices. Bumble the Bee was humming a song. Best of all, Jimmy had found +three beetles that very morning, and he knew that there were more if he +could find them. So why shouldn't he feel good? +</p> +<p> +Jimmy had laughed at Peter Rabbit for being so anxious for Summer to +arrive, but he was just as glad as Peter that she had come, although he +wouldn't have said so for the world. His sharp little eyes twinkled as he +ambled along, and there wasn't much that they missed. As he walked he +talked, quite to himself of course, because there was nobody near to hear, +and this is what he was saying: +</p> +<pre> + "Beetle, beetle, smooth and smug, + You are nothing but a bug. + Bugs were made for Skunks to eat, + So come out from your retreat. +</pre> +<p> +"Hello! There's a nice big piece of bark over there that looks as if it +ought to have a dozen fat beetles under it. It's great fun to pull over +pieces of bark and see fat beetles run all ways at once. I'll just have to +see what is under that piece." +</p> +<p> +Jimmy tiptoed softly over to the big piece of bark, and then as he made +ready to turn it over, he began again that foolish little verse. +</p> +<pre> + "Beetle, beetle, smooth and smug, + You are nothing but a bug." +</pre> +<p> +As he said the last word, he suddenly pulled the piece of bark over. +</p> +<p> +"Who's a bug?" asked a funny voice, and it sounded rather cross. Jimmy +Skunk nearly tumbled over backward in surprise, and for a minute he +couldn't find his tongue. There, instead of the fat beetles he had been so +sure of, sat Old Mr. Toad, and he didn't look at all pleased. +</p> +<p> +"Who's a bug?" he repeated. +</p> +<p> +Instead of answering, Jimmy Skunk began to laugh. "Who's a bug?" demanded +Old Mr. Toad, more crossly than before. +</p> +<p> +"There isn't any bug, Mr. Toad, and I beg your pardon," replied Jimmy, +remembering his politeness. "I just thought there was. You see, I didn't +know you were under that piece of bark. I hope you will excuse me, Mr. +Toad. Have you seen any fat beetles this morning?" +</p> +<p> +"No," said Old Mr. Toad grumpily, and yawned and rubbed his eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Why," exclaimed Jimmy Skunk, "I believe you have just waked up!" +</p> +<p> +"What if I have?" demanded Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, nothing, nothing at all, Mr. Toad," replied Jimmy Skunk, "only you are +the second one I've met this morning who had just waked up." +</p> +<p> +"Who was the other?" asked Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Blacksnake," replied Jimmy. "He inquired for you." +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad turned quite pale. "I—I think I'll be moving along," said he. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_17"><!-- RULE4 17 --></a> +<h2> + XVII +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD'S MISTAKE +</center> +<p> +If is a very little word to look at, but the biggest word you have ever +seen doesn't begin to have so much meaning as little "if." <i>If</i> Jimmy +Skunk hadn't ambled down the Crooked Little Path just when he did; +<i>if</i> he hadn't been looking for fat beetles; <i>if</i> he hadn't seen +that big piece of bark at one side and decided to pull it over; <i>if</i> +it hadn't been for all these "ifs," why Old Mr. Toad wouldn't have made the +mistake he did, and you wouldn't have had this story. But Jimmy Skunk +<i>did</i> amble down the Crooked Little Path, he <i>did</i> look for +beetles, and he <i>did</i> pull over that big piece of bark. And when he +had pulled it over, he found Old Mr. Toad there. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad had crept under that piece of bark because he wanted to take a +nap. But when Jimmy Skunk told him that he had seen Mr. Blacksnake that +very morning, and that Mr. Blacksnake had asked after Old Mr. Toad, the +very last bit of sleepiness left Old Mr. Toad. Yes, Sir, he was wide awake +right away. You see, he knew right away why Mr. Blacksnake had asked after +him. He knew that Mr. Blacksnake has a fondness for Toads. He turned quite +pale when he heard that Mr. Blacksnake had asked after him, and right then +he made his mistake. He was in such a hurry to get away from that +neighborhood that he forgot to ask Jimmy Skunk just where he had seen Mr. +Blacksnake. He hardly waited long enough to say good-by to Jimmy Skunk, but +started off as fast as he could go. +</p> +<p> +Now it just happened that Old Mr. Toad started up the Crooked Little Path, +and it just happened that Mr. Blacksnake was coming down the Crooked Little +Path. Now when people are very much afraid, they almost always seem to +think that danger is behind instead of in front of them. It was so with Old +Mr. Toad. Instead of watching out in front as he hopped along, he kept +watching over his shoulder, and that was his second mistake. He was so sure +that Mr. Blacksnake was somewhere behind him that he didn't look to see +where he was going, and you know that people who don't look to see where +they are going are almost sure to go headfirst right into trouble. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad went hopping up the Crooked Little Path as fast as he could, +which wasn't very fast, because he never can hop very fast. And all the +time he kept looking behind for Mr. Blacksnake. Presently he came to a turn +in the Crooked Little Path, and as he hurried around it, he almost ran into +Mr. Blacksnake himself. It was a question which was more surprised. For +just a wee second they stared at each other. Then Mr. Blacksnake's eyes +began to sparkle. +</p> +<p> +"Good morning, Mr. Toad. Isn't this a beautiful morning? I was just +thinking about you," said he. +</p> +<p> +But poor Old Mr. Toad didn't say good morning. He didn't say anything. He +couldn't, because he was too scared. He just gave a frightened little +squeal, turned around, and started down the Crooked Little Path twice as +fast as he had come up. Mr. Blacksnake grinned and started after him, not +very fast because he knew that he wouldn't have to run very fast to catch +Old Mr. Toad, and he thought the exercise would do him good. +</p> +<p> +And this is how it happened that summer morning that jolly, bright Mr. Sun, +looking down from the blue, blue sky and smiling to see how happy everybody +seemed, suddenly discovered that there was one of the little meadow people +who wasn't happy, but instead was terribly, terribly unhappy. It was Old +Mr. Toad hopping down the Crooked Little Path for his life, while after +him, and getting nearer and nearer, glided Mr. Blacksnake. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_18"><!-- RULE4 18 --></a> +<h2> + XVIII +</h2> + +<center> +JIMMY SKUNK IS JUST IN TIME +</center> +<p> +Jimmy Skunk ambled slowly along, chuckling as he thought of what a hurry +Mr. Toad had been in, when he had heard that Mr. Blacksnake had asked after +him. It had been funny, very funny indeed, to see Mr. Toad try to hurry. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Jimmy stopped chuckling. Then he stopped ambling along the Crooked +Little Path. He turned around and looked back, and as he did so he +scratched his head thoughtfully. He had just happened to think that Old Mr. +Toad had gone up the Crooked Little Path, and it was <i>up</i> the Crooked +Little Path that Mr. Blacksnake had shown himself that morning. +</p> +<p> +"If he's still up there," thought Jimmy, "Old Mr. Toad is hopping right +straight into the very worst kind of trouble. How stupid of him not to have +asked me where Mr. Blacksnake was! Well, it's none of my business. I guess +I'll go on." +</p> +<p> +But he had gone on down the Crooked Little Path only a few steps when he +stopped again. You see, Jimmy is really a very kind-hearted little fellow, +and somehow he didn't like to think of what might happen to Old Mr. Toad. +</p> +<p> +"I hate to go way back there," he grumbled, for you know he is naturally +rather lazy. "Still, the Green Meadows wouldn't be quite the same without +Old Mr. Toad. I should miss him if anything happened to him. I suppose it +would be partly my fault, too, for if I hadn't pulled over that piece of +bark, he probably would have stayed there the rest of the day and been +safe." +</p> +<p> +"Maybe he won't meet Mr. Blacksnake," said a little voice inside of Jimmy. +</p> +<p> +"And maybe he will," said Jimmy right out loud. And with that, he started +back up the Crooked Little Path, and strange to say Jimmy hurried. +</p> +<p> +He had just reached a turn in the Crooked Little Path when who should run +right plump into him but poor Old Mr. Toad. He gave a frightened squeal and +fell right over on his back, and kicked foolishly as he tried to get on his +feet again. But he was all out of breath, and so frightened and tired that +all he could do was to kick and kick. He hadn't seen Jimmy at all, for he +had been looking behind him, and he didn't even know who it was he had run +into. +</p> +<p> +Right behind him came Mr. Blacksnake. Of course he saw Jimmy, and he +stopped short and hissed angrily. +</p> +<p> +"What were you going to do to Mr. Toad?" demanded Jimmy. +</p> +<p> +"None of your business!" hissed Mr. Blacksnake. "Get out of my way, or +you'll be sorry." +</p> +<p> +Jimmy Skunk just laughed and stepped in front of poor Old Mr. Toad. Mr. +Blacksnake coiled himself up in the path and darted his tongue out at Jimmy +in the most impudent way. Then he tried to make himself look very fierce. +Then he jumped straight at Jimmy Skunk with his mouth wide open, but he +took great care not to jump quite far enough to reach Jimmy. You see, he +was just trying to scare Jimmy. But Jimmy didn't scare. He knows all +about Mr. Blacksnake and that really he is a coward. So he suddenly gritted +his teeth in a way not at all pleasant to hear and started for Mr. +Blacksnake. Mr. Blacksnake didn't wait. No, Sir, he didn't wait. He +suddenly turned and glided back up the Crooked Little Path, hissing +angrily. Jimmy followed him a little way, and then he went back to Old Mr. +Toad. +</p> +<p> +"Oh," panted Mr. Toad, "you came just in time! I couldn't have hopped +another hop." +</p> +<p> +"I guess I did," replied Jimmy. "Now you get your breath and come along +with me." And Old Mr. Toad did. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_19"><!-- RULE4 19 --></a> +<h2> + XIX +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD GETS HIS STOMACH FULL +</center> +<pre> + Pray do not tip your nose in scorn + At things which others eat, + For things to you not good at all + To others are most sweet. +</pre> +<p> +There are ants, for instance. You wouldn't want to eat them even if you +were dreadfully hungry. But Old Mr. Toad and Buster Bear think there is +nothing much nicer. Now Buster Bear had found Old Mr. Toad catching ants, +one at a time, as he kept watch beside their home, and it had pleased +Buster to find some one else who liked ants. Right away he invited Old Mr. +Toad to dine with him. But poor Old Mr. Toad was frightened almost to death +when he heard the deep, grumbly-rumbly voice of Buster Bear, for he had +been so busy watching the ants that he hadn't seen Buster coming. +</p> +<p> +He fell right over on his back, which wasn't at all dignified, and made +Buster Bear laugh. That frightened Mr. Toad more than ever. You see he +didn't have the least doubt in the world that Buster Bear meant to eat him, +and when Buster invited him to dinner, he was sure that that was just a +joke on Buster's part. +</p> +<p> +But there was no way to escape, and after a little Old Mr. Toad thought it +best to be polite, because, you know, it always pays to be polite. So he +said in a very faint voice that he would be pleased to dine with Buster. +Then he waved his feet feebly, trying to get on his feet again. Buster +Bear laughed harder than ever. It was a low, deep, grumbly-rumbly laugh, +and sent cold shivers all over poor Old Mr. Toad. But when Buster reached +out a great paw with great cruel-looking claws Mr. Toad quite gave up. He +didn't have strength enough left to even kick. He just closed his eyes and +waited for the end. +</p> +<p> +What do you think happened? Why, he was rolled over on to his feet so +gently that he just gasped with surprise. It didn't seem possible that such +a great paw could be so gentle. +</p> +<p> +"Now," said Buster Bear in a voice which he tried to make sound pleasant, +but which was grumbly-rumbly just the same, "I know where there is a fine +dinner waiting for us just a little way from here. You follow me, and we'll +have it in no time." +</p> +<p> +So Buster Bear led the way, and Old Mr. Toad followed as fast as he could, +because he didn't dare not to. Presently Buster stopped beside a big +decayed old log. "If you are ready, Mr. Toad, we will dine now," said he. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad didn't see anything to eat. His heart sank again, and he shook +all over. "I—I'm not hungry," said he in a very faint voice. +</p> +<p> +Buster Bear didn't seem to hear. He hooked his great claws into the old log +and gave a mighty pull. Over rolled the log, and there were ants and ants +and ants, hurrying this way and scurrying that way, more ants than Mr. Toad +had seen in all his life before! +</p> +<p> +"Help yourself," said Buster Bear politely. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad didn't wait to be told twice. He forgot all about his fright. +He forgot all about Buster Bear. He forgot that he wasn't hungry. He +forgot his manners. He jumped right in among those ants, and for a little +while he was the busiest Toad ever seen. Buster Bear was busy too. He swept +his long tongue this way, and he swept it that way, and each time he drew +it back into his mouth, it was covered with ants. At last Old Mr. Toad +couldn't hold another ant. Then he remembered Buster Bear and looked up a +little fearfully. Buster was smacking his lips, and there was a twinkle in +each eye. +</p> +<p> +"Good, aren't they?" said he. +</p> +<p> +"The best I ever ate," declared Old Mr. Toad with a sigh of satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +"Come dine with me again," said Buster Bear, and somehow this time Old Mr. +Toad didn't mind because his voice sounded grumbly-rumbly. +</p> +<p> +"Thank you, I will," replied Old Mr. Toad. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_20"><!-- RULE4 20 --></a> +<h2> + XX +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD IS PUFFED UP +</center> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad hopped slowly down the Lone Little Path. He usually does hop +slowly, but this time he hopped slower than ever. You see, he was so puffed +up that he couldn't have hopped fast if he had wanted to, and he didn't +want to. In the first place his stomach was so full of ants that there +wasn't room for another one. No, Sir, Old Mr. Toad couldn't have swallowed +another ant if he had tried. Of course they made his stomach stick out, but +it wasn't the ants that puffed him out all over. Oh, my, no! It was pride. +That's what it was—pride. You know nothing can puff any one up quite like +foolish pride. +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad was old enough to have known better. It is bad enough to see +young and foolish creatures puffed up with pride, but it is worse to see +any one as old as Old Mr. Toad that way. He held his head so high that he +couldn't see his own feet, and more than once he stubbed his toes. +Presently he met his old friend, Danny Meadow Mouse. He tipped his head a +little higher, puffed himself out a little more, and pretended not to see +Danny. +</p> +<p> +"Hello, Mr. Toad," said Danny. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Toad pretended not to hear. Danny looked puzzled. Then he spoke again, +and this time he shouted: "Hello, Mr. Toad! I haven't seen you for some +time." +</p> +<p> +It wouldn't do to pretend not to hear this time. "Oh, how do you do, +Danny?" said Old Mr. Toad with a very grand air, and pretending to be much +surprised. "Sorry I can't stop, but I've been dining with, my friend, +Buster Bear, and now I must get home." When he mentioned the name of Buster +Bear, he puffed himself out a little more. +</p> +<p> +Danny grinned as he watched him hop on down the Lone Little Path. "Can't +talk with common folks any more," he muttered. "I've heard that pride is +very apt to turn people's heads, but I never expected to see Old Mr. Toad +proud." +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> +<center> +<a href="images/5l.jpg"> +<img src="images/5.jpg" +alt="'Can't Talk With Common Folks any More,' He Muttered."> +</a> +</center> + +<p> +Mr. Toad kept on his way, and presently he met Peter Rabbit. Peter stopped +to gossip, as is his way. But Old Mr. Toad took no notice of him at all. He +kept right on with his head high, and all puffed out. Peter might have been +a stick or a stone for all the notice Old Mr. Toad took of him. Peter +looked puzzled. Then he hurried down to tell Danny Meadow Mouse about it. +</p> +<p> +"Oh," said Danny, "he's been to dine with Buster Bear, and now he has no +use for his old friends." +</p> +<p> +Pretty soon along came Johnny Chuck, and he was very much put out because +he had been treated by Old Mr. Toad just as Peter Rabbit had. Striped +Chipmunk told the same story. So did Unc' Billy Possum. It was the same +with all of Old Mr. Toad's old friends and neighbors, excepting Bobby Coon, +who, you know, is Buster Bear's little cousin. To him Old Mr. Toad was very +polite and talked a great deal about Buster Bear, and thought that Bobby +must be very proud to be related to Buster. +</p> +<p> +At first everybody thought it a great joke to see Old Mr. Toad so puffed up +with, pride, but after a little they grew tired of being snubbed by their +old friend and neighbor, and began to say unpleasant things about him. Then +they decided that what Old Mr. Toad needed was a lesson, so they put their +heads together and planned how they would teach Old Mr. Toad how foolish it +is for any one to be puffed up with pride. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_21"><!-- RULE4 21 --></a> +<h2> + XXI +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD RECEIVES ANOTHER INVITATION +</center> +<p> +The friends and neighbors of Old Mr. Toad decided that he needed to be +taught a lesson. At first, you know, every one had laughed at him, because +he had grown too proud to speak to them, but after a little they grew tired +of being treated so, and some of them put their heads together to think of +some plan to teach Old Mr. Toad a lesson and what a very, very foolish +thing false pride is. The very next day Jimmy Skunk went into the Green +Forest to look for Buster Bear. You know Jimmy isn't afraid of Buster. He +didn't have to look long, and when he had found him, the very first thing +he did was to ask Buster if he had seen any fat beetles that morning. You +know Jimmy is very fond of fat beetles, and the first thing he asks any one +he may happen to meet is if they have seen any. +</p> +<p> +Buster Bear grinned and said he thought he knew where there might be a few, +and he would be pleased to have Jimmy go with him to see. Sure enough, +under an old log he found five fat beetles, and these Jimmy gobbled up +without even asking Buster if he would have one. Jimmy is usually very +polite, but this time he quite forgot politeness. I am afraid he is rather +apt to when fat beetles are concerned. But Buster didn't seem to mind. When +the last beetle had disappeared Jimmy smacked his lips, and then he told +Buster Bear what he had come for. Of course, at first Buster had thought it +was for the fat beetles. But it wasn't. No, Sir, it wasn't for the fat +beetles at all. It was to get Buster Bear's help in a plan to teach Old Mr. +Toad a lesson. +</p> +<p> +First Jimmy told Buster all about how puffed up Old Mr. Toad was because he +had dined with Buster, and how ever since then he had refused even to speak +to his old friends and neighbors. It tickled Buster Bear so to think that +little homely Old Mr. Toad could be proud of anything that he laughed and +laughed, and his laugh was deep and grumbly-rumbly. Then Jimmy told him the +plan to teach Old Mr. Toad a lesson and asked Buster if he would help. +Buster's eyes twinkled as he promised to do what Jimmy asked. +</p> +<p> +Then Jimmy went straight to where Old Mr. Toad was sitting all puffed up, +taking a sun-bath. +</p> +<p> +"Buster Bear has just sent word by me to ask if you will honor him by +dining with him to-morrow at the rotted chestnut stump near the edge of the +Green Forest," said Jimmy in his politest manner. +</p> +<p> +Now if Old Mr. Toad was puffed up before, just think how he swelled out +when he heard that. Jimmy Skunk was actually afraid that he would burst. +</p> +<p> +"You may tell my friend, Buster Bear, that I shall be very happy to honor +him by dining with him," replied Old Mr. Toad with a very grand air. +</p> +<p> +Jimmy went off to deliver his reply, and Old Mr. Toad sat and puffed +himself out until he could hardly breathe. "Honor him by dining with him," +said he over and over to himself. "I never was so flattered in my life." +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_22"><!-- RULE4 22 --></a> +<h2> + XXII +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD LEARNS A LESSON +</center> +<pre> + Pride is like a great big bubble; + You'll find there's nothing in it. + Prick it and for all your trouble + It has vanished in a minute. +</pre> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad was so puffed out with pride as he started for the Green +Forest to dine with Buster Bear that those who saw him wondered if he +wouldn't burst before he got there. Everybody knew where he was going, and +this made Old Mr. Toad feel more important and proud than ever. He might +not have felt quite so puffed up if he had known just how it had come about +that he received this second invitation to dine with Buster Bear. When +Jimmy Skunk brought it to him, Jimmy didn't tell him that Buster had been +asked to send the invitation, and that it was all part of a plan on the +part of some of Old Mr. Toad's old friends and neighbors to teach him a +lesson. No, indeed, Jimmy didn't say anything at all about that! +</p> +<p> +So Old Mr. Toad went hopping along and stumbling over his own feet, because +his head was held so high and he was so puffed out that he couldn't see +where he was going. He could think of nothing but how important Buster Bear +must consider him to invite him to dinner a second time, and of the +delicious ants he was sure he would have to eat. +</p> +<p> +"What very good taste Buster Bear has," thought he, "and how very fortunate +it is that he found out that I also am fond of ants." +</p> +<p> +He was so busy with these pleasant thoughts and of the good dinner that he +expected to have that he took no notice of what was going on about him. He +didn't see his old friends and neighbors peeping out at him and laughing +because he looked so foolish and silly. He was dressed in his very best, +which was nothing at all to be proud of, for you know Old Mr. Toad has no +fine clothes. And being puffed up so, he was homelier than ever, which is +saying a great deal, for at best Mr. Toad is anything but handsome. +</p> +<p> +He was beginning to get pretty tired by the time he reached the Green +Forest and came in sight of the rotted old chestnut stump where he was to +meet Buster Bear. +</p> +<p> +Buster was waiting for him. "How do you do this fine day? You look a little +tired and rather warm, Mr. Toad," said he. +</p> +<p> +"I am a little warm," replied Mr. Toad in his most polite manner, although +he couldn't help panting for breath as he said it. "I hope you are feeling +as well as you are looking, Mr. Bear." +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a> +<center> +<a href="images/6l.jpg"> +<img src="images/6.jpg" +alt="'I Am a Little Warm,' Replied Mr. Toad in His Most Polite Manner."> +</a> +</center> + +<p> +Buster Bear laughed a great, grumbly-rumbly laugh. "I always feel fine when +there is a dinner of fat ants ready for me," said he. "It is fine of you to +honor me by coming to dine." +</p> +<p> +Here Mr. Toad put one hand on his stomach and tried to make a very grand +bow. Peter Rabbit, hiding behind a near-by tree, almost giggled aloud, he +looked so funny. +</p> +<p> +"I have ventured to invite another to enjoy the dinner with us," continued +Buster Bear. Mr. Toad's face fell. You see he was selfish. He wanted to be +the only one to have the honor of dining with Buster Bear. "He's a little +late," went on Buster, "but I think he will be here soon, and I hope you +will be glad to meet him. Ah, there he comes now!" +</p> +<p> +Old Mr. Toad looked in the direction in which Buster Bear was looking. He +gave a little gasp and turned quite pale. All his puffiness disappeared. He +didn't look like the same Toad at all. The newcomer was Mr. Blacksnake. +"Oh!" cried Old Mr. Toad, and then, without even asking to be excused, he +turned his back on Buster Bear and started back the way he had come, with +long, frightened hops. +</p> +<p> +"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Peter Rabbit, jumping out from behind a tree. +</p> +<p> +"Ho, ho, ho!" shouted Jimmy Skunk from behind another. +</p> +<p> +"Hee, hee, hee!" shouted Johnny Chuck from behind a third. +</p> +<p> +Then Old Mr. Toad knew that his old friends and neighbors had planned this +to teach him a lesson. +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="RULE4_23"><!-- RULE4 23 --></a> +<h2> + XXIII +</h2> + +<center> +OLD MR. TOAD IS VERY HUMBLE +</center> +<p> +When Old Mr. Toad saw Mr. Blacksnake and turned his back on Buster Bear and +the fine dinner to which Buster had invited him, he had but just one idea +in his head, and that was to get out of sight of Mr. Blacksnake as soon as +possible. He forgot to ask Buster Bear to excuse him. He forgot that he was +tired and hot. He forgot all the pride with which he had been so puffed up. +He forgot everything but the need of getting out of sight of Mr. Blacksnake +as soon as ever he could. So away went Old Mr. Toad, hop, hop, +hipperty-hop, hop, hop, hipperty-hop! He heard Peter Rabbit and Jimmy Skunk +and Johnny Chuck and others of his old friends and neighbors shouting with +laughter. Yes, and he heard the deep, grumbly-rumbly laugh of Buster Bear. +But he didn't mind it. Not then, anyway. He hadn't room for any feeling +except fear of Mr. Blacksnake. +</p> +<p> +But Old Mr. Toad had to stop after a while. You see, his legs were so tired +they just wouldn't go any longer. And he was so out of breath that he +wheezed. He crawled under a big piece of bark, and there he lay flat on the +ground and panted and panted for breath. He would stay there until jolly, +round, bright Mr. Sun went to bed behind the Purple Hills. Then Mr. +Blacksnake would go to bed too, and it would be safe for him to go home. +Now, lying there in the dark, for it was dark under that big piece of bark, +Old Mr. Toad had time to think. Little by little he began to understand +that his invitation to dine with Buster Bear had been part of a plan by his +old friends and neighbors whom he had so snubbed and looked down on when he +had been puffed up with pride, to teach him a lesson. At first he was +angry, very angry indeed. Then he began to see how foolish and silly he had +been, and shame took the place of anger. As he remembered the deep, +grumbly-rumbly laughter of Buster Bear, the feeling of shame grew. +</p> +<p> +"I deserve it," thought Old Mr. Toad. "Yes, Sir, I deserve every bit of it. +The only thing that I have to be proud of is that I'm honest and work for +my living. Yes, Sir, that's all." +</p> +<p> +When darkness came at last, and he crawled out to go home, he was feeling +very humble. Peter Rabbit happened along just then. Old Mr. Toad opened his +mouth to speak, but Peter suddenly threw his head up very high and strutted +past as if he didn't see Old Mr. Toad at all. Mr. Toad gulped and went on. +Pretty soon he met Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy went right on about his business and +actually stepped right over Old Mr. Toad as if he had been a stick or a +stone. Old Mr. Toad gulped again and went on. The next day he went down to +see Danny Meadow Mouse. He meant to tell Danny how ashamed he was for the +way he had treated Danny and his other friends. But Danny brushed right +past without even a glance at him. Old Mr. Toad gulped and started up to +see Johnny Chuck. The same thing happened again. So it did when he met +Striped Chipmunk. +</p> +<p> +At last Old Mr. Toad gave up and went home, where he sat under a big +mullein leaf the rest of the day, feeling very miserable and lonely. He +didn't have appetite enough to snap at a single fly. Late that afternoon he +heard a little noise and looked up to find all his old friends and +neighbors forming a circle around him. Suddenly they began to dance and +shout: +</p> +<pre> + "Old Mr. Toad is a jolly good fellow! + His temper is sweet, disposition is mellow! + And now that his bubble of pride is quite busted + We know that he knows that his friends can be trusted." +</pre> +<p> +Then Old Mr. Toad knew that all was well once more, and presently he began +to dance too, the funniest dance that ever was seen. +</p> +<p> +This is all for now about homely Old Mr. Toad, because I have just got to +tell you about another homely fellow,—Prickly Porky the +Porcupine,—who carries a thousand little spears. The next book will +tell you all about <i>his</i> adventures. +</p> +<center> +THE END +</center> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad +by Thornton W. Burgess + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. 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Burgess + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Release Date: June 15, 2004 [EBook #12630] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD + +BY THORNTON W. BURGESS + +With Illustrations by HARRISON CADY + +1920 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. JIMMY SKUNK IS PUZZLED + II. JIMMY SKUNK CONSULTS HIS FRIENDS + III. THE HUNT FOR OLD MR. TOAD + IV. PETER RABBIT FINDS OLD MR. TOAD + V. OLD MR. TOAD'S MUSIC BAG + VI. PETER DISCOVERS SOMETHING MORE + VII. A SHADOW PASSES OVER THE SMILING POOL + VIII. OLD MR. TOAD'S BABIES + IX. THE SMILING POOL KINDERGARTEN + X. THE LITTLE TOADS START OUT TO SEE THE WORLD + XI. OLD MR. TOAD'S QUEER TONGUE + XII. OLD MR. TOAD SHOWS HIS TONGUE + XIII. PETER RABBIT IS IMPOLITE + XIV. OLD MR. TOAD DISAPPEARS + XV. OLD MR. TOAD GIVES PETER A SCARE + XVI. JIMMY SKUNK IS SURPRISED + XVII. OLD MR. TOAD'S MISTAKE +XVIII. JIMMY SKUNK IS JUST IN TIME + XIX. OLD MR. TOAD GETS HIS STOMACH FULL + XX. OLD MR. TOAD IS PUFFED UP + XXI. OLD MR. TOAD RECEIVES ANOTHER INVITATION + XXII. OLD MR. TOAD LEARNS A LESSON +XXIII. OLD MR. TOAD IS VERY HUMBLE + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +"CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE ALL THESE LITTLE TOADS CAME FROM?" +"DO YOU SEE ANYTHING QUEER ABOUT HIM?" HE ASKED +"IF HE DON'T WATCH OUT, HE'LL BLOW UP AND BUST!" EXCLAIMED JIMMY +HIS FUNNY LITTLE TONGUE DARTED OUT, AND THE FLY WAS GONE +"CAN'T TALK WITH COMMON FOLKS ANY MORE," HE MUTTERED +"I AM A LITTLE WARM," REPLIED MR. TOAD IN HIS MOST POLITE MANNER + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD + + + + +I + + +JIMMY SKUNK IS PUZZLED + +Old Mother West Wind had just come down from the Purple Hills and turned +loose her children, the Merry Little Breezes, from the big bag in which she +had been carrying them. They were very lively and very merry as they danced +and raced across the Green Meadows in all directions, for it was good to be +back there once more. Old Mother West Wind almost sighed as she watched +them for a few minutes. She felt that she would like to join them. Always +the springtime made her feel this way,--young, mad, carefree, and happy. +But she had work to do. She had to turn the windmill to pump water for +Farmer Brown's cows, and this was only one of many mills standing idle as +they waited for her. So she puffed her cheeks out and started about her +business. + +Jimmy Skunk sat at the top of the hill that overlooks the Green Meadows and +watched her out of sight. Then he started to amble down the Lone Little +Path to look for some beetles. He was ambling along in his lazy way, for +you know he never hurries, when he heard some one puffing and blowing +behind him. Of course he turned to see who it was, and he was greatly +surprised when he discovered Old Mr. Toad. Yes, Sir, it was Old Mr. Toad, +and he seemed in a great hurry. He was quite short of breath, but he was +hopping along in the most determined way as if he were in a great hurry to +get somewhere. + +Now it is a very unusual thing for Mr. Toad to hurry, very unusual indeed. +As a rule he hops a few steps and then sits down to think it over. Jimmy +had never before seen him hop more than a few steps unless he was trying to +get away from danger, from Mr. Blacksnake for instance. Of course the first +thing Jimmy thought of was Mr. Blacksnake, and he looked for him. But there +was no sign of Mr. Blacksnake nor of any other danger. Then he looked very +hard at Old Mr. Toad, and he saw right away that Old Mr. Toad didn't seem +to be frightened at all, only very determined, and as if he had something +important on his mind. + +"Well, well," exclaimed Jimmy Skunk, "whatever has got into those long hind +legs of yours to make them work so fast?" + +Old Mr. Toad didn't say a word, but simply tried to get past Jimmy and keep +on his way. Jimmy put out one hand and turned Old Mr. Toad right over on +his back, where he kicked and struggled in an effort to get on his feet +again, and looked very ridiculous. + +"Don't you know that it isn't polite not to speak when you are spoken to?" +demanded Jimmy severely, though his eyes twinkled. + +"I--I beg your pardon. I didn't have any breath to spare," panted Old Mr. +Toad. "You see I'm in a great hurry." + +"Yes, I see," replied Jimmy. "But don't you know that it isn't good for the +health to hurry so? Now, pray, what are you in such a hurry for? I don't +see anything to run away from." + +"I'm not running away," retorted Old Mr. Toad indignantly. "I've business +to attend to at the Smiling Pool, and I'm late as it is." + +"Business!" exclaimed Jimmy as if he could hardly believe his ears. "What +business have you at the Smiling Pool?" + +"That is my own affair," retorted Old Mr. Toad, "but if you really want to +know, I'll tell you. I have a very important part in the spring chorus, and +I'm going down there to sing. I have a very beautiful voice." + +That was too much for Jimmy Skunk. He just lay down and rolled over and +over with laughter. The idea of any one so homely, almost ugly-looking, as +Mr. Toad thinking that he had a beautiful voice! "Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!" +roared Jimmy. + +When at last he stopped because he couldn't laugh any more, he discovered +that Old Mr. Toad was on his way again. Hop, hop, hipperty-hop, hop, hop, +hipperty-hop went Mr. Toad. Jimmy watched him, and he confessed that he was +puzzled. + + + + +II + + +JIMMY SKUNK CONSULTS HIS FRIENDS + +Jimmy Skunk scratched his head thoughtfully as he watched Old Mr. Toad go +down the Lone Little Path, hop, hop, hipperty-hop, towards the Smiling +Pool. He certainly was puzzled, was Jimmy Skunk. If Old Mr. Toad had told +him that he could fly, Jimmy would not have been more surprised, or found +it harder to believe than that Old Mr. Toad had a beautiful voice. The +truth is, Jimmy didn't believe it. He thought that Old Mr. Toad was trying +to fool him. + +Presently Peter Rabbit came along. He found Jimmy Skunk sitting in a brown +study. He had quite forgotten to look for fat beetles, and when he +forgets to do that you may make up your mind that Jimmy is doing some hard +thinking. + +"Hello, old Striped-coat, what have you got on your mind this fine +morning?" cried Peter Rabbit. + +"Him," said Jimmy simply, pointing down the Lone Little Path. + +Peter looked. "Do you mean Old Mr. Toad!" he asked. + +Jimmy nodded. "Do you see anything queer about him?" he asked in his turn. + +[Illustration: "Do you see anything queer about him?" he asked.] + +Peter stared down the Lone Little Path. "No," he replied, "except that he +seems in a great hurry." + +"That's just it," Jimmy returned promptly. "Did you ever see him hurry +unless he was frightened?" + +Peter confessed that he never had. + +"Well, he isn't frightened now, yet just look at him go," retorted Jimmy. +"Says he has got a beautiful voice, and that he has to take part in the +spring chorus at the Smiling Pool and that he is late." + +Peter looked very hard at Jimmy to see if he was fooling or telling the +truth. Then he began to laugh. "Old Mr. Toad sing! The very idea!" he +cried. "He can sing about as much as I can, and that is not at all." + +Jimmy grinned. "I think he's crazy, if you ask me," said he. "And yet he +was just as earnest about it as if it were really so. I think he must have +eaten something that has gone to his head. There's Unc' Billy Possum over +there. Let's ask him what he thinks." + +So Jimmy and Peter joined Unc' Billy, and Jimmy told the story about Old +Mr. Toad all over again. Unc' Billy chuckled and laughed just as they had +at the idea of Old Mr. Toad's saying he had a beautiful voice. But Unc' +Billy has a shrewd little head on his shoulders. After a few minutes he +stopped laughing. + +"Ah done learn a right smart long time ago that Ah don' know all there is +to know about mah neighbors," said he. "We-uns done think of Brer Toad as +ugly-lookin' fo' so long that we-uns may have overlooked something. Ah don' +reckon Brer Toad can sing, but Ah 'lows that perhaps he thinks he can. What +do you-alls say to we-uns going down to the Smiling Pool and finding out +what he really is up to?" + +"The very thing!" cried Peter, kicking up his heels. You know Peter is +always ready to go anywhere or do anything that will satisfy his curiosity. + +Jimmy Skunk thought it over for a few minutes, and then he decided that as +he hadn't anything in particular to do, and as he might find some fat +beetles on the way, he would go too. So off they started after Old Mr. +Toad, Peter Rabbit in the lead as usual, Unc' Billy Possum next, grinning +as only he can grin, and in the rear Jimmy Skunk, taking his time and +keeping a sharp eye out for fat beetles. + + + + +III + + +THE HUNT FOR OLD MR. TOAD + +Now, though Old Mr. Toad was hurrying as fast as ever he could and was +quite out of breath, he wasn't getting along very fast compared with the +way Peter Rabbit or Jimmy Skunk or Unc' Billy Possum could cover the +ground. You see he cannot make long jumps like his cousin, Grandfather +Frog, but only little short hops. + +So Peter and Jimmy and Unc' Billy took their time about following him. They +stopped to hunt for fat beetles for Jimmy Skunk, and at every little patch +of sweet clover for Peter Rabbit to help himself. Once they wasted a lot of +time while Unc' Billy Possum hunted for a nest of Carol the Meadow Lark, on +the chance that he would find some fresh eggs there. He didn't find the +nest for the very good reason that Carol hadn't built one yet. Peter was +secretly glad. You know he doesn't eat eggs, and he is always sorry for his +feathered friends when their eggs are stolen. + +Half way across the Green Meadows they stopped to play with the Merry +Little Breezes, and because it was very pleasant there, they played longer +than they realized. When at last they started on again, Old Mr. Toad was +out of sight. You see all the time he had kept right on going, hop, hop, +hipperty-hop. + +"Never mind," said Peter, "we can catch up with him easy enough, he's such +a slow-poke." + +But even a slow-poke who keeps right on doing a thing without wasting any +time always gets somewhere sooner or later, very often sooner than those +who are naturally quicker, but who waste their time. So it was with Old Mr. +Toad. He kept right on, hop, hop, hipperty-hop, while the others were +playing, and so it happened that when at last Peter and Jimmy and Unc' +Billy reached the Smiling Pool, they hadn't caught another glimpse of Old +Mr. Toad. + +"Do you suppose he hid somewhere, and we passed him?" asked Peter. + +Unc' Billy shook his head. "Ah don' reckon so," said he. "We-uns done been +foolin' away our time, an' Brer Toad done stole a march on us. Ah reckons +we-uns will find him sittin' on the bank here somewhere." + +So right away the three separated to look for Old Mr. Toad. All along the +bank of the Smiling Pool they looked. They peeped under old leaves and +sticks. They looked in every place where Old Mr. Toad might have hidden, +but not a trace of him did they find. + + "Tra-la-la-lee! Oka-chee! Oka-chee! + Happy am I as I can be!" + +sang Mr. Redwing, as he swayed to and fro among the bulrushes. + +"Say, Mr. Redwing, have you seen Old Mr. Toad?" called Peter Rabbit. + +"No," replied Mr. Redwing. "Is that whom you fellows are looking for? I +wondered if you had lost something. What do you want with Old Mr. Toad?" + +Peter explained how they had followed Old Mr. Toad just to see what he +really was up to. "Of course we know that he hasn't any more voice than I +have," declared Peter, "but we are curious to know if he really thinks he +has, and why he should be in such a hurry to reach the Smiling Pool. It +looks to us as if the spring has made Old Mr. Toad crazy." + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" replied Mr. Redwing, his bright eyes twinkling. +"Some people don't know as much as they might. I've been wondering where +Old Mr. Toad was, and I'm ever so glad to learn that he hasn't forgotten +that he has a very important part in our beautiful spring chorus." Then +once more Mr. Redwing began to sing. + + + + +IV + + +PETER RABBIT FINDS OLD MR. TOAD + +It isn't often that Peter Rabbit is truly envious, but sometimes in the +joyousness of spring he is. He envies the birds because they can pour out +in beautiful song the joy that is in them. The only way he can express his +feelings is by kicking his long heels, jumping about, and such foolish +things. While that gives Peter a great deal of satisfaction, it doesn't add +to the joy of other people as do the songs of the birds, and you know to +give joy to others is to add to your own joy. So there are times when Peter +wishes he could sing. + +He was wishing this very thing now, as he sat on the bank of the Smiling +Pool, listening to the great spring chorus. + + "Tra-la-la-lee! Oka-chee! Oka-chee! + There's joy in the spring for you and for me." + +sang Redwing the Blackbird from the bulrushes. + +From over in the Green Meadows rose the clear lilt of Carol the Meadow +Lark, and among the alders just where the Laughing Brook ran into the +Smiling Pool a flood of happiness was pouring from the throat of Little +Friend the Song Sparrow. Winsome Bluebird's sweet, almost plaintive, +whistle seemed to fairly float in the air, so that it was hard to say just +where it did come from, and in the top of the Big Hickory-tree, Welcome +Robin was singing as if his heart were bursting with joy. Even Sammy Jay +was adding a beautiful, bell-like note instead of his usual harsh scream. +As for the Smiling Pool, it seemed as if the very water itself sang, for a +mighty chorus of clear piping voices from unseen singers rose from all +around its banks. Peter knew who those singers were, although look as he +would he could see none of them. They were hylas, the tiny cousins of +Stickytoes the Tree Toad. + +Listening to all these joyous voices, Peter forgot for a time what had +brought him to the Smiling Pool. But Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy Possum +didn't forget. They were still hunting for Old Mr. Toad. + +"Well, old Mr. Dreamer, have you found him yet?" asked Jimmy Skunk, +stealing up behind Peter and poking him in the back. + +Peter came to himself with a start. "No," said he. "I was just listening +and wishing that I could sing, too. Don't you ever wish you could sing, +Jimmy?" + +"No," replied Jimmy. "I never waste time wishing I could do things it was +never meant I should do. It's funny where Old Mr. Toad is. He said that he +was coming down here to sing, and Redwing the Blackbird seemed to be +expecting him. I've looked everywhere I can think of without finding him, +but I don't believe in giving up without another try. Stop your dreaming +and come help us hunt." + +So Peter stopped his dreaming and joined in the search. Now there was one +place where neither Peter nor Jimmy nor Unc' Billy had thought of looking. +That was in the Smiling Pool itself. They just took it for granted that Old +Mr. Toad was somewhere on the bank. Presently Peter came to a place where +the bank was very low and the water was shallow for quite a little distance +out in the Smiling Pool. From out of that shallow water came the piping +voice of a hyla, and Peter stopped to stare, trying to see the tiny singer. + +Suddenly he jumped right up in the air with surprise. There was a +familiar-looking head sticking out of the water. Peter had found Old Mr. +Toad! + + + + +V + + +OLD MR. TOAD'S MUSIC BAG + + Never think that you have learned + All there is to know. + That's the surest way of all + Ignorance to show. + +"I've found Old Mr. Toad!" cried Peter Rabbit, hurrying after Jimmy Skunk. + +"Where?" demanded Jimmy. + +"In the water," declared Peter. "He's sitting right over there where the +water is shallow, and he didn't notice me at all. Let's get Unc' Billy, and +then creep over to the edge of the Smiling Pool and watch to see if Old Mr. +Toad really does try to sing." + +So they hunted up Unc' Billy Possum, and the three stole very softly over +to the edge of the Smiling Pool, where the bank was low and the water +shallow. Sure enough, there sat Old Mr. Toad with just his head out of +water. And while they were watching him, something very strange happened. + +"What--what's the matter with him?" whispered Peter, his big eyes looking +as if they might pop out of his head. + +"If he don't watch out, he'll blow up and bust!" exclaimed Jimmy. + +[Illustration: "If he don't watch out, he'll blow up and bust!" exclaimed +Jimmy.] + +"Listen!" whispered Unc' Billy Possum. "Do mah ol' ears hear right? 'Pears +to me that that song is coming right from where Brer Toad is sitting." + +It certainly did appear so, and of all the songs that glad spring day there +was none sweeter. Indeed there were few as sweet. The only trouble was the +song was so very short. It lasted only for two or three seconds. And when +it ended, Old Mr. Toad looked quite his natural self again; just as +commonplace, almost ugly, as ever. Peter looked at Jimmy Skunk, Jimmy +looked at Unc' Billy Possum, and Unc' Billy looked at Peter. And no one had +a word to say. Then all three looked back at Old Mr. Toad. + +And even as they looked, his throat began to swell and swell and swell, +until it was no wonder that Jimmy Skunk had thought that he was in danger +of blowing up. And then, when it stopped swelling, there came again those +beautiful little notes, so sweet and tremulous that Peter actually held his +breath to listen. There was no doubt that Old Mr. Toad was singing just as +he had said he was going to, and it was just as true that his song was one +of the sweetest if not _the_ sweetest of all the chorus from and around the +Smiling Pool. It was very hard to believe, but Peter and Jimmy and Unc' +Billy both saw and heard, and that was enough. Their respect for Old Mr. +Toad grew tremendously as they listened. + +"How does he do it?" whispered Peter. + +"With that bag under his chin, of course," replied Jimmy Skunk. "Don't you +see it's only when that is swelled out that he sings? It's a regular music +bag. And I didn't know he had any such bag there at all." + +"I wish," said Peter Rabbit, feeling of his throat, "that I had a music bag +like that in my throat." + +And then he joined in the laugh of Jimmy and Unc' Billy, but still with +something of a look of wistfulness in his eyes. + + + + +VI + + +PETER DISCOVERS SOMETHING MORE + + There are stranger things in the world to-day + Than ever you dreamed could be. + There's beauty in some of the commonest things + If only you've eyes to see. + +Ever since Peter Rabbit was a little chap and had first ran away from home, +he had known Old Mr. Toad, and never once had Peter suspected that he could +sing. Also he had thought Old Mr. Toad almost ugly-looking, and he knew +that most of his neighbors thought the same way. They were fond of Old Mr. +Toad, for he was always good-natured and attended strictly to his own +affairs; but they liked to poke fun at him, and as for there being anything +beautiful about him, such a thing never entered their heads. + +Now that they had discovered that he really has a very beautiful voice, +they began to look on him with a great deal more respect. This was +especially so with Peter. He got in the habit of going over to the Smiling +Pool every day, when the way was clear, just to sit on the bank and listen +to Old Mr. Toad. + +"Why didn't you ever tell us before that you could sing?" he asked one day, +as Old Mr. Toad looked up at him from the Smiling Pool. + +"What was the use of wasting my breath?" demanded Old Mr. Toad. "You +wouldn't have believed me if I had. You didn't believe me when I did tell +you." + +Peter knew that this was true, and he couldn't find any answer ready. At +last he ventured another question. "Why haven't I ever heard you sing +before?" + +"You have," replied Old Mr. Toad tartly. "I sang right in this very place +last spring, and the spring before, and the spring before that. You've sat +on that very bank lots of times while I was singing. The trouble with you, +Peter, is that you don't use your eyes or your ears." + +Peter looked more foolish than ever. But he ventured another question. It +wouldn't be Peter to let a chance for questions go by. "Have I ever heard +you singing up on the meadows or in the Old Orchard?" + +"No," replied Old Mr. Toad, "I only sing in the springtime. That's the time +for singing. I just _have_ to sing then. In the summer it is too hot, and +in the winter I sleep. I always return to my old home to sing. You know I +was born here. All my family gathers here in the spring to sing, so of +course I come too." + +Old Mr. Toad filled out his queer music bag under his chin and began to +sing again. Peter watched him. Now it just happened that Old Mr. Toad was +facing him, and so Peter looked down straight into his eyes. He never had +looked into Mr. Toad's eyes before, and now he just stared and stared, for +it came over him that those eyes were very beautiful, very beautiful +indeed. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, "what beautiful eyes you have, Mr. Toad!" + +"So I've been told before," replied Old Mr. Toad. "My family always has had +beautiful eyes. There is an old saying that every Toad has jewels in his +head, but of course he hasn't, not real jewels. It is just the beautiful +eyes. Excuse me, Peter, but I'm needed in that chorus." Old Mr. Toad once +more swelled out his throat and began to sing. + +Peter watched him a while longer, then hopped away to the dear Old +Briarpatch, and he was very thoughtful. + +"Never again will I call anybody homely and ugly until I know all about +him," said Peter, which was a very wise decision. Don't you think so? + + + + +VII + + +A SHADOW PASSES OVER THE SMILING POOL + + Here's what Mr. Toad says; + Heed it well, my dear: + "Time to watch for clouds is + When the sky is clear." + +He says that that is the reason that he lives to a good old age, does Old +Mr. Toad. I suppose he means that when the sky is cloudy, everybody is +looking for rain and is prepared for it, but when the sun is shining, most +people forget that there is such a thing as a storm, so when it comes +suddenly very few are prepared for it. It is the same way with danger and +trouble. So Old Mr. Toad very wisely watches out when there seems to be the +least need of it, and he finds it always pays. + +It was a beautiful spring evening. Over back of the Purple Hills to which +Old Mother West Wind had taken her children, the Merry Little Breezes, and +behind which jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had gone to bed, there was still a +faint, clear light. But over the Green Meadows and the Smiling Pool the +shadows had drawn a curtain of soft dusk which in the Green Forest became +black. The little stars looked down from the sky and twinkled just to see +their reflections twinkle back at them from the Smiling Pool. And there and +all around it was perfect peace. Jerry Muskrat swam back and forth, making +little silver lines on the surface of the Smiling Pool and squeaking +contentedly, for it was the hour which he loves best. Little Friend the +Song Sparrow had tucked his head under his wing and gone to sleep among the +alders along the Laughing Brook and Redwing the Blackbird had done the same +thing among the bulrushes. All the feathered songsters who had made joyous +the bright day had gone to bed. + +But this did not mean that the glad spring chorus was silent. Oh, my, no! +No indeed! The Green Meadows were silent, and the Green Forest was silent, +but as if to make up for this, the sweet singers of the Smiling Pool, the +hylas and the frogs and Old Mr. Toad, were pouring out their gladness as if +they had not been singing most of the departed day. You see it was the hour +they love best of all, the hour which seems to them just made for singing, +and they were doing their best to tell Old Mother Nature how they love her, +and how glad they were that she had brought back sweet Mistress Spring to +waken them from their long sleep. + +It was so peaceful and beautiful there that it didn't seem possible that +danger of any kind could be lurking near. But Old Mr. Toad, swelling out +that queer music bag in his throat and singing with all his might, never +once forgot that wise saying of his, and so he was the first to see what +looked like nothing so much as a little detached bit of the blackness of +the Green Forest floating out towards the Smiling Pool. Instantly he +stopped singing. Now that was a signal. When he stopped singing, his +nearest neighbor stopped singing, then the next one and the next, and in a +minute there wasn't a sound from the Smiling Pool save the squeak of Jerry +Muskrat hidden among the bulrushes. That great chorus stopped as abruptly +as the electric lights go out when you press a button. + +Back and forth over the Smiling Pool, this way and that way, floated the +shadow, but there was no sign of any living thing in the Smiling Pool. +After awhile the shadow floated away over the Green Meadows without a +sound. + +"Hooty the Owl didn't get one of us that time," said Old Mr. Toad to his +nearest neighbor with a chuckle of satisfaction. Then he swelled out his +music bag and began to sing again. And at once, as abruptly as it had +stopped, the great chorus began again as joyous as before, for nothing had +happened to bring sadness as might have but for the watchfulness of Old Mr. +Toad. + + + + +VIII + + +OLD MR. TOAD'S BABIES + + The Smiling Pool's a nursery + Where all the sunny day + A thousand funny babies + Are taught while at their play. + +Really the Smiling Pool is a sort of kindergarten, one of the most +interesting kindergartens in the world. Little Joe Otter's children learn +to swim there. So do Jerry Muskrat's babies and those of Billy Mink, the +Trout and Minnow babies, and a lot more. And there you will find the +children and grandchildren of Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad. + +Peter Rabbit had known for a long time about the Frog babies, but though he +knew that Old Mr. Toad was own cousin to Grandfather Frog, he hadn't known +anything about Toad babies, except that at a certain time in the year he +was forever running across tiny Toads, especially on rainy days, and each +little Toad was just like Old Mr. Toad, except for his size. Peter had +heard it said that Toads rain down from the sky, and sometimes it seems as +if this must be so. Of course he knew it couldn't be, but it puzzled him a +great deal. There wouldn't be a Toad in sight. Then it would begin to rain, +and right away there would be so many tiny Toads that it was hard work to +jump without stepping on some. + +He remembered this as he went to pay his daily call on Old Mr. Toad in the +Smiling Pool and listen to his sweet song. He hadn't seen any little Toads +this year, but he remembered his experiences with them in other years, and +he meant to ask about them. + +Old Mr. Toad was sitting in his usual place, but he wasn't singing. He was +staring at something in the water. When Peter said "Good morning," Old Mr. +Toad didn't seem to hear him. He was too much interested in what he was +watching. Peter stared down into the water to see what was interesting Old +Mr. Toad so much, but he saw nothing but a lot of wriggling tadpoles. + +"What are you staring at so, Mr. Sobersides?" asked Peter, speaking a +little louder than before. + +Old Mr. Toad turned and looked at Peter, and there was a look of great +pride in his face. "I'm just watching my babies. Aren't they lovely?" said +he. + +Peter stared harder than ever, but he couldn't see anything that looked +like a baby Toad. + +"Where are they?" asked he. "I don't see any babies but those of +Grandfather Frog, and if you ask me, I always did think tadpoles about the +homeliest things in th' world." + +Old Mr. Toad grew indignant. "Those are not Grandfather Frog's children; +they're mine!" he sputtered. "And I'll have you know that they are the most +beautiful babies in th' world!" + +Peter drew a hand across his mouth to hide a smile. "I beg your pardon, Mr. +Toad," said he. "I--I thought all tadpoles were Frog babies. They all look +alike to me." + +"Well, they're not," declared Old Mr. Toad. "How any one can mistake my +babies for their cousins I cannot understand. Now mine are beautiful, +while--" + +"Chug-arum!" interrupted the great deep voice of Grandfather Frog. "What +are you talking about? Why, your babies are no more to be compared with my +babies for real beauty than nothing at all! I'll leave it to Peter if they +are." + +But Peter wisely held his tongue. To tell the truth, he couldn't see beauty +in any of them. To him they were all just wriggling pollywogs. They were +more interesting now, because he had found out that some of them were Toads +and some were Frogs, and he hadn't known before that baby Toads begin life +as tadpoles, but he had no intention of being drawn into the dispute now +waxing furious between Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad. + + + + +IX + + +THE SMILING POOL KINDERGARTEN + + Play a little, learn a little, grow a little too; + That's what every pollywoggy tries his best to do. + +Of course. That's what a kindergarten is for. And you may be sure that the +babies of Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad and Stickytoes the Tree Toad +did all of these things in the kindergarten of the Smiling Pool. They +looked considerably alike, did these little cousins, for they were all +pollywogs to begin with. Peter Rabbit came over every day to watch them. +Always he had thought pollywogs just homely, wriggling things, not the +least bit interesting, but since he had discovered how proud of them were +Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad, he had begun to wonder about them and +then to watch them. + +"There's one thing about them, and that is they are not in danger the way +any babies are," said Peter, talking to himself as is his way when there is +no one else to talk to. Just then a funny little black pollywog wriggled +into sight, and while Peter was watching him, a stout-jawed water-beetle +suddenly rushed from among the water grass, seized the pollywog by his +tail, and dragged him down. Peter stared. Could it be that that +ugly-looking bug was as dangerous an enemy to the baby Toad as Reddy Fox is +to a baby Rabbit? He began to suspect so, and a little later he knew so, +for there was that same little pollywog trying hard to swim and making bad +work of it, because he had lost half of his long tail. + +That set Peter to watching sharper than ever, and presently he discovered +that pollywogs have to keep their eyes open quite as much as do baby +Rabbits, if they would live to grow up. There were several kinds of queer, +ugly-looking bugs forever darting out at the wriggling pollywogs. +Hungry-looking fish lay in wait for them, and Longlegs the Blue Heron +seemed to have a special liking for them. But the pollywogs were spry, and +seemed to have learned to watch out. They seemed to Peter to spend all +their time swimming and eating and growing. They grew so fast that it +seemed to him that he could almost _see_ them grow. And just imagine how +surprised Peter was to discover one day that that very pollywog which he +had seen lose his tail had grown a _new_ one. That puzzled Peter more than +anything he had seen in a long time. + +"Why, I couldn't do that!" he exclaimed right out loud. + +"Do what?" demanded Jerry Muskrat, who happened along just then. + +"Why, grow a new tail like that pollywog," replied Peter, and told Jerry +all that he had seen. Jerry laughed. + +"You'll see queerer things than that if you watch those pollywogs long +enough," said he. "They are a queer lot of babies, and very interesting to +watch if you've got the time for it. I haven't. This Smiling Pool is a +great kindergarten, and there's something happening here every minute. +There's no place like it." + +"Are those great big fat pollywogs Grandfather Frog's children, or Old Mr. +Toad's?" asked Peter. + +"Grandfather Frog's last year's children," replied Jerry. "They'll grow +into real Frogs this summer, if nothing happens to them." + +"Where are Old Mr. Toad's last year's children?" asked Peter. + +"Don't ask me," replied Jerry. "They hopped away last summer. Never saw +anything like the way those Toad youngsters grow. Those Toad pollywogs you +see now will turn into real Toads, and be leaving the Smiling Pool in a few +weeks. People think Old Mr. Toad is slow, but there is nothing slow about +his children. Look at that little fellow over there; he's begun to grow +legs already." + +Peter looked, and sure enough there was a pollywog with a pair of legs +sprouting out. They were his fore legs, and they certainly did make him +look funny. And only a few days before there hadn't been a sign of legs. + +"My gracious!" exclaimed Peter. "What a funny sight! I thought my babies +grew fast, but these beat them." + + + + +X + + +THE LITTLE TOADS START OUT TO SEE THE WORLD + + The world is a wonderful great big place + And in it the young must roam + To learn what their elders have long since learned-- + There's never a place like home. + +It had been some time since Peter Rabbit had visited the Smiling Pool to +watch the pollywogs. But one cloudy morning he happened to think of them, +and decided that he would run over there and see how they were getting +along. So off he started, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He wondered if those +pollywog children of Old Mr. Toad would be much changed. The last time he +saw them some of them had just begun to grow legs, although they still had +long tails. + +He had almost reached the Smiling Pool when great big drops of rain began +to splash down. And with those first raindrops something funny happened. +Anyway, it seemed funny to Peter. Right away he was surrounded by tiny +little Toads. Everywhere he looked he saw Toads, tiny little Toads just +like Old Mr. Toad, only so tiny that one could have sat comfortably on a +ten-cent piece and still had plenty of room. + +Peter's big eyes grew round with surprise as he stared. Where had they all +come from so suddenly? A minute before he hadn't seen a single one, and now +he could hardly move without stepping on one. It seemed, it really seemed, +as if each raindrop turned into a tiny Toad the instant it struck the +ground. Of course Peter knew that that couldn't be, but it was very +puzzling. And all those little Toads were bravely hopping along as if they +were bound for some particular place. + +Peter watched them for a few minutes, then he once more started for the +Smiling Pool. On the very bank whom should he meet but Old Mr. Toad. He +looked rather thin, and his back was to the Smiling Pool. Yes, Sir, he was +hopping away from the Smiling Pool where he had been all the spring, +singing in the great chorus. Peter was almost as surprised to see him as he +had been to see the little Toads, but just then he was most interested in +those little Toads. + +"Good morning, Old Mr. Toad," said Peter in his most polite manner. "Can +you tell me where all these little Toads came from?" + +[Illustration: "Can you tell me where all these little Toads came from?"] + +"Certainly," replied Old Mr. Toad. "They came from the Smiling Pool, of +course. Where did you suppose they came from?" + +"I--I didn't know. There wasn't one to be seen, and then it began to rain, +and right away they were everywhere. It--it almost seemed as if they had +rained down out of the sky." + +Old Mr. Toad chuckled. "They've got good sense, if I must say it about my +own children," said he. "They know that wet weather is the only weather for +Toads to travel in. They left the Smiling Pool in the night while it was +damp and comfortable, and then, when the sun came up, they hid, like +sensible children, under anything they could find, sticks, stones, pieces +of bark, grass. The minute this shower came up, they knew it was good +traveling weather and out they popped." + +"But what did they leave the Smiling Pool for?" Peter asked. + +"To see the Great World," replied Old Mr. Toad. "Foolish, very foolish of +them, but they would do it. I did the same thing myself when I was their +age. Couldn't stop me any more than I could stop them. They don't know when +they're well off, but young folks never do. Fine weather, isn't it?" + + + + +XI + + +OLD MR. TOAD'S QUEER TONGUE + + Old Mother Nature doth provide + For all her children, large or small. + Her wisdom foresees all their needs + And makes provision for them all. + +If you don't believe it, just you go ask Old Mr. Toad, as Peter Rabbit did, +how such a slow-moving fellow as he is can catch enough bugs and insects to +keep him alive. Perhaps you'll learn something just as Peter did. Peter and +Old Mr. Toad sat in the rain watching the tiny Toads, who, you know, were +Mr. Toad's children, leaving their kindergarten in the Smiling Pool and +starting out to see the Great World. When the last little Toad had passed +them, Old Mr. Toad suddenly remembered that he was hungry, very hungry +indeed. + +"Didn't have time to eat much while I was in the Smiling Pool," he +explained. "Couldn't eat and sing too, and while I was down there, I was +supposed to sing. Now that it is time to quit singing, I begin to realize +that I've got a stomach to look out for as well as a voice. See that bug +over there on that leaf? Watch him." + +Peter looked, and sure enough there was a fat bug crawling along on an old +leaf. He was about two inches from Old Mr. Toad, and he was crawling very +fast. And right while Peter was looking at him he disappeared. Peter turned +to look at Old Mr. Toad. He hadn't budged. He was sitting exactly where he +had been sitting all the time, but he was smacking his lips, and there was +a twinkle of satisfaction in his eyes. Peter opened his eyes very wide. + +"Wha--what--" he began. + +"Nice bug," interrupted Old Mr. Toad. "Nicest bug I've eaten for a +longtime." + +"But I didn't see you catch him!" protested Peter, looking at Old Mr. Toad +as if he suspected him of joking. + +"Anything wrong with your eyes?" inquired Old Mr. Toad. + +"No," replied Peter just a wee bit crossly. "My eyes are just as good as +ever." + +"Then watch me catch that fly over yonder," said Old Mr. Toad. He hopped +towards a fly which had lighted on a blade of grass just ahead. About two +inches from it he stopped, and so far as Peter could see, he sat perfectly +still. But the fly disappeared, and it wasn't because it flew away, either. +Peter was sure of that. As he told Mrs. Peter about it afterwards, "It was +there, and then it wasn't, and that was all there was to it." + +Old Mr. Toad chuckled. "Didn't you see that one go, Peter?" he asked. + +Peter shook his head. "I wish you Would stop fooling me," said Peter. "The +joke is on me, but now you've had your laugh at my expense, I wish you +would tell me how you do it. Please, Mr. Toad." + +Now when Peter said please that way, of course Old Mr. Toad couldn't resist +him. Nobody could. + +"Here comes an ant this way. Now you watch my mouth instead of the ant and +see what happens," said Old Mr. Toad. + +Peter looked and saw a big black ant coming. Then he kept his eyes on Old +Mr. Toad's mouth. Suddenly there was a little flash of red from it, so tiny +and so quick that Peter couldn't be absolutely sure that he saw it. But +when he looked for the ant, it was nowhere to be seen. Peter looked at Old +Mr. Toad very hard. + +"Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Toad, that you've got a tongue long enough to +reach way over to where that ant was?" he asked. + +Old Mr. Toad chuckled again. With every insect swallowed he felt better +natured. "You've guessed it, Peter," said he. "Handy tongue, isn't it?" + +"I think it's a very queer tongue," retorted Peter, "and I don't understand +it at all. If it's so long as all that, where do you keep it when it isn't +in use? I should think you'd have to swallow it to get it out of the way, +or else leave it hanging out of your mouth." + +"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" laughed Old Mr. Toad. "My tongue never is in the way, +and it's the handiest tongue in the world. I'll show it to you." + + + + +XII + + +OLD MR. TOAD SHOWS HIS TONGUE + + To show one's tongue, as you well know, + Is not considered nice to do; + But if it were like Mr. Toad's + I'd want to show it--wouldn't you? + +I'm quite sure you would. You see, if it were like Old Mr. Toad's, it would +be such a wonderful tongue that I suspect you would want everybody to see +it. Old Mr. Toad thinks his tongue the most satisfactory tongue in the +world. In fact, he is quite sure that without it he couldn't get along at +all, and I don't know as he could. And yet very few of his neighbors know +anything about that tongue and how different it is from most other tongues. +Peter Rabbit didn't until Old Mr. Toad showed him after Peter had puzzled +and puzzled over the mysterious way in which bugs and flies disappeared +whenever they happened to come within two inches or less of Old Mr. Toad. + +What Peter couldn't understand was what Old Mr. Toad did with a tongue that +would reach two inches beyond his mouth. He said as much. + +"I'll show you my tongue, and then you'll wish you had one just like it," +said Old Mr. Toad, with a twinkle in his eyes. + +He opened his big mouth and slowly ran his tongue out its full length. +"Why! Why-ee!" exclaimed Peter. "It's fastened at the wrong end!" + +"No such thing!" replied Old Mr. Toad indignantly. "If it was fastened at +the other end, how could I run it out so far?" + +"But mine and all other tongues that I ever have seen are fastened way down +in the throat," protested Peter. "Yours is fastened at the other end, way +in the very front of your mouth. I never heard of such a thing." + +"There are a great many things you have never heard of, Peter Rabbit," +replied Old Mr. Toad drily. "Mine is the right way to have a tongue. +Because it is fastened way up in the front of my mouth that way, I can use +the whole of it. You see it goes out its full length. Then, when I draw it +in with a bug on the end of it, I just turn it over so that the end that +was out goes way back in my throat and takes the bug with it to just the +right place to swallow." + +Peter thought this over for a few minutes before he ventured another +question. "I begin to understand," said he, "but how do you hold on to the +bug with your tongue?" + +"My tongue is sticky, of course, Mr. Stupid," replied Old Mr. Toad, looking +very much disgusted. "Just let me touch a bug with it, and he's mine every +time." + +Peter thought this over. Then he felt of his own tongue. "Mine isn't +sticky," said he very innocently. + +Old Mr. Toad laughed right out. "Perhaps if it was, you couldn't ask so +many questions," said he. "Now watch me catch that fly." His funny little +tongue darted out, and the fly was gone. + +[Illustration: His funny little tongue darted out, and the fly was gone.] + +"It certainly is very handy," said Peter politely. "I think we are going to +have more rain, and I'd better be getting back to the dear Old Briarpatch. +Very much obliged to you, Mr. Toad. I think you are very wonderful." + +"Not at all," replied Old Mr. Toad. "I've simply got the things I need in +order to live, just as you have the things you need. I couldn't get along +with your kind of a tongue, but no more could you get along with mine. If +you live long enough, you will learn that Old Mother Nature makes no +mistakes. She gives each of us what we need, and each one has different +needs." + + + + +XIII + + +PETER RABBIT IS IMPOLITE + +Peter Rabbit couldn't get Old Mr. Toad off his mind. He had discovered so +many interesting things about Old Mr. Toad that he was almost on the point +of believing him to be the most interesting of all his neighbors. And his +respect for Old Mr. Toad had become very great indeed. Of course. Who +wouldn't respect any one with such beautiful eyes and such a sweet voice +and such a wonderful tongue? Yet at the same time Peter felt very foolish +whenever he remembered that all his life he had been acquainted with Old +Mr. Toad without really knowing him at all. There was one comforting +thought, and that was that most of his neighbors were just as ignorant +regarding Old Mr. Toad as Peter had been. + +"Funny," mused Peter, "how we can live right beside people all our lives +and not really know them at all. I suppose that is why we should never +judge people hastily. I believe I will go hunt up Old Mr. Toad and see if I +can find out anything more." + +Off started Peter, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He didn't know just where to go, +now that Old Mr. Toad had left the Smiling Pool, but he had an idea that he +would not be far from their meeting place of the day before, when Old Mr. +Toad had explained about his wonderful tongue. But when he got there, Peter +found no trace of Old Mr. Toad. You see, it had rained the day before, and +that is just the kind of weather that a Toad likes best for traveling. +Peter ought to have thought of that, but he didn't. He hunted for awhile +and finally gave it up and started up the Crooked Little Path with the idea +of running over for a call on Johnny Chuck in the Old Orchard. + +Jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun was shining his brightest, and Peter soon +forgot all about Old Mr. Toad. He scampered along up the Crooked Little +Path, thinking of nothing in particular but how good it was to be alive, +and occasionally kicking up his heels for pure joy. He had just done this +when his ears caught the sound of a queer noise a little to one side of the +Crooked Little Path. Instantly Peter stopped and sat up to listen. There it +was again, and it seemed to come from under an old piece of board. It was +just a little, rustling sound, hardly to be heard. + +"There's some one under that old board," thought Peter, and peeped under. +All he could see was that there was something moving. Instantly Peter was +all curiosity. Whoever was there was not very big. He was sure of that. Of +course that meant that he had nothing to fear. So what do you think Peter +did? Why, he just pulled that old board over. And when he did that, he saw, +whom do you think? Why, Old Mr. Toad, to be sure. + +But such a sight as Old Mr. Toad was! Peter just stared. For a full minute +he couldn't find his voice. Old Mr. Toad was changing his clothes! Yes, +Sir, that is just what Old Mr. Toad was doing. He was taking off his old +suit, and under it was a brand new one. But such a time as he was having! +He was opening and shutting his big mouth, and drawing his hind legs under +him, and rubbing them against his body. Then Peter saw a strange thing. He +saw that Old Mr. Toad's old suit had split in several places, and he was +getting it off by sucking it into his mouth! + +In a few minutes his hind legs were free of the old suit, and little by +little it began to be pulled free from his body. All the time Old Mr. Toad +was working very hard to suck it at the corners of his big mouth. He glared +angrily at Peter, but he couldn't say anything because his mouth was too +full. He looked so funny that Peter just threw himself on the ground and +rolled over and over with laughter. This made Old Mr. Toad glare more +angrily than ever, but he couldn't say anything, not a word. + +When he had got his hands free by pulling the sleeves of his old coat off +inside out, he used his hands to pull the last of it over his head. Then he +gulped very hard two or three times to swallow his old suit, and when the +last of it had disappeared, he found his voice. + +"Don't you know that it is the most impolite thing in the world to look at +people when they are changing their clothes?" he sputtered. + + + + +XIV + + +OLD MR. TOAD DISAPPEARS + + Admit your fault when you've done wrong, + And don't postpone it over long. + +Peter Rabbit didn't blame Old Mr. Toad a bit for being indignant because +Peter had watched him change his suit. It wasn't a nice thing to do. Old +Mr. Toad had looked very funny while he was struggling out of his old suit, +and Peter just couldn't help laughing at him. But he realized that he had +been very impolite, and he very meekly told Old Mr. Toad so. + +"You see, it was this way," explained Peter. "I heard something under that +old board, and I just naturally turned it over to find out what was there." + +"Hump!" grunted Old Mr. Toad. + +"I didn't have the least idea that you were there," continued Peter. "When +I found who it was, and what you were doing, I couldn't help watching +because it was so interesting, and I couldn't help laughing because you +really did look so funny. But I'm sorry, Mr. Toad. Truly I am. I didn't +mean to be so impolite. I promise never to do it again. I don't suppose, +Mr. Toad, that it seems at all wonderful to you that you can change your +suit that way, but it does to me. I had heard that you swallowed your old +suits, but I never half believed it. Now I know it is so and just how you +do it, and I feel as if I had learned something worth knowing. Do you know, +I think you are one of the most interesting and wonderful of all my +neighbors, and I'll never laugh at or tease you again, Mr. Toad." + +"Hump!" grunted Old Mr. Toad again, but it was very clear that he was a +little flattered by Peter's interest in him and was rapidly recovering his +good nature. + +"There is one thing I don't understand yet," said Peter, "and that is where +you go to to sleep all winter. Do you go down into the mud at the bottom of +the Smiling Pool the way Grandfather Frog does?" + +"Certainly not!" retorted Old Mr. Toad. "Use your common sense, Peter +Rabbit. If I had spent the winter in the Smiling Pool, do you suppose I +would have left it to come way up here and then have turned right around +and gone back there to sing? I'm not so fond of long journeys as all that." + +"That's so." Peter looked foolish. "I didn't think of that when I spoke." + +"The trouble with you, and with a lot of other people, is that you speak +first and do your thinking afterward, when you do any thinking at all," +grunted Old Mr. Toad. "Now if I wanted to, I could disappear right here." + +"You mean that you would hide under that old board just as you did before," +said Peter, with a very wise look. + +"Nothing of the sort!" snapped Old Mr. Toad. "I could disappear and not go +near that old board, not a step nearer than I am now." + +Peter looked in all directions carefully, but not a thing could he see +under which Old Mr. Toad could possibly hide except the old board, and he +had said he wouldn't hide under that. "I don't like to doubt your word, +Mr. Toad," said he, "but you'll have to show me before I can believe that." + +Old Mr. Toad's eyes twinkled. Here was a chance to get even with Peter for +watching him change his suit. "If you'll turn your back to me and look +straight down the Crooked Little Path for five minutes, I'll disappear," +said he. "More than that, I give you my word of honor that I will not hop +three feet from where I am sitting." + +"All right," replied Peter promptly, turning his back to Old Mr. Toad. +"I'll look down the Crooked Little Path for five minutes and promise not to +peek." + +So Peter sat and gazed straight down the Crooked Little Path. It was a +great temptation to roll his eyes back and peep behind him, but he had +given his word that he wouldn't, and he didn't. When he thought the five +minutes were up, he turned around. Old Mr. Toad was nowhere to be seen. +Peter looked hastily this way and that way, but there was not a sign of Old +Mr. Toad. He had disappeared as completely as if he never had been there. + + + + +XV + + +OLD MR. TOAD GIVES PETER A SCARE + + If you play pranks on other folks + You may be sure that they + Will take the first chance that they get + A joke on you to play. + +Old Mr. Toad was getting even with Peter for laughing at him. While Peter's +back had been turned, Old Mr. Toad had disappeared. + +It was too much for Peter. Look as he would, he couldn't see so much as a +chip under which Old Mr. Toad might have hidden, excepting the old board, +and Old Mr. Toad had given his word of honor that he wouldn't hide under +that. Nevertheless, Peter hopped over to it and turned it over again, +because he couldn't think of any other place to look. Of course, Old Mr. +Toad wasn't there. Of course not. He had given his word that he wouldn't +hide there, and he always lives up to his word. Peter should have known +better than to have looked there. + +Old Mr. Toad had also said that he would not go three feet from the spot +where he was sitting at the time, so Peter should have known better than to +have raced up the Crooked Little Path as he did. But if Old Mr. Toad had +nothing to hide under, of course he must have hopped away, reasoned Peter. +He couldn't hop far in five minutes, that was sure, and so Peter ran this +way and that way a great deal farther than it would have been possible for +Old Mr. Toad to have gone. But it was a wholly useless search, and +presently Peter returned and sat down on the very spot where he had last +seen Old Mr. Toad. Peter never had felt more foolish in all his life. He +began to think that Old Mr. Toad must be bewitched and had some strange +power of making himself invisible. + +For a long time Peter sat perfectly still, trying to puzzle out how Old Mr. +Toad had disappeared, but the more he puzzled over it, the more impossible +it seemed. And yet Old Mr. Toad had disappeared. Suddenly Peter gave a +frightened scream and jumped higher than he ever had jumped before in all +his life. A voice, the voice of Old Mr. Toad himself, had said, "Well, now +are you satisfied?" _And that voice had come from right under Peter!_ Do +you wonder that he was frightened? When he turned to look, there sat Old +Mr. Toad right where he himself had been sitting a moment before. Peter +rubbed his eyes and stared very foolishly. + +"Wh-wh-where did you come from?" he stammered at last. + +Old Mr. Toad grinned. "I'll show you," said he. And right while Peter was +looking at him, he began to sink down into the ground until only the top of +his head could be seen. Then that disappeared. Old Mr. Toad had gone down, +and the sand had fallen right back over him. Peter just had to rub his eyes +again. He had to! Then, to make sure, he began to dig away the sand where +Old Mr. Toad had been sitting. In a minute he felt Old Mr. Toad, who at +once came out again. + +Old Mr. Toad's beautiful eyes twinkled more than ever. "I guess we are even +now, Peter," said he. + +Peter nodded. "More than that, Mr. Toad. I think you have a little the best +of it," he replied. "Now won't you tell me how you did it?" + +Old Mr. Toad held up one of his stout hind feet, and on it was a kind of +spur. "There's another just like that on the other foot," said he, "and I +use them to dig with. You go into a hole headfirst, but I go in the other +way. I make my hole in soft earth and back into it at the same time, this +way." He began to work his stout hind feet, and as he kicked the earth out, +he backed in at the same time. When he was deep enough, the earth just fell +back over him, for you see it was very loose and not packed down at all. +When he once more reappeared, Peter thanked him. Then he asked one more +question. + +"Is that the way you go into winter quarters?" + +Old Mr. Toad nodded. "And it's the way I escape from my enemies." + + + + +XVI + + +JIMMY SKUNK IS SURPRISED + +Jimmy Skunk ambled along the Crooked Little Path down the hill. He didn't +hurry because Jimmy doesn't believe in hurrying. The only time he ever +hurries is when he sees a fat beetle trying to get out of sight. Then Jimmy +_does_ hurry. But just now he didn't see any fat beetles, although he was +looking for them. So he just ambled along as if he had all the time in the +world, as indeed he had. He was feeling very good-natured, was Jimmy Skunk. +And why shouldn't he? There was everything to make him feel good-natured. +Summer had arrived to stay. On every side he heard glad voices. Bumble the +Bee was humming a song. Best of all, Jimmy had found three beetles that +very morning, and he knew that there were more if he could find them. So +why shouldn't he feel good? + +Jimmy had laughed at Peter Rabbit for being so anxious for Summer to +arrive, but he was just as glad as Peter that she had come, although he +wouldn't have said so for the world. His sharp little eyes twinkled as he +ambled along, and there wasn't much that they missed. As he walked he +talked, quite to himself of course, because there was nobody near to hear, +and this is what he was saying: + + "Beetle, beetle, smooth and smug, + You are nothing but a bug. + Bugs were made for Skunks to eat, + So come out from your retreat. + +"Hello! There's a nice big piece of bark over there that looks as if it +ought to have a dozen fat beetles under it. It's great fun to pull over +pieces of bark and see fat beetles run all ways at once. I'll just have to +see what is under that piece." + +Jimmy tiptoed softly over to the big piece of bark, and then as he made +ready to turn it over, he began again that foolish little verse. + + "Beetle, beetle, smooth and smug, + You are nothing but a bug." + +As he said the last word, he suddenly pulled the piece of bark over. + +"Who's a bug?" asked a funny voice, and it sounded rather cross. Jimmy +Skunk nearly tumbled over backward in surprise, and for a minute he +couldn't find his tongue. There, instead of the fat beetles he had been so +sure of, sat Old Mr. Toad, and he didn't look at all pleased. + +"Who's a bug?" he repeated. + +Instead of answering, Jimmy Skunk began to laugh. "Who's a bug?" demanded +Old Mr. Toad, more crossly than before. + +"There isn't any bug, Mr. Toad, and I beg your pardon," replied Jimmy, +remembering his politeness. "I just thought there was. You see, I didn't +know you were under that piece of bark. I hope you will excuse me, Mr. +Toad. Have you seen any fat beetles this morning?" + +"No," said Old Mr. Toad grumpily, and yawned and rubbed his eyes. + +"Why," exclaimed Jimmy Skunk, "I believe you have just waked up!" + +"What if I have?" demanded Old Mr. Toad. + +"Oh, nothing, nothing at all, Mr. Toad," replied Jimmy Skunk, "only you are +the second one I've met this morning who had just waked up." + +"Who was the other?" asked Old Mr. Toad. + +"Mr. Blacksnake," replied Jimmy. "He inquired for you." + +Old Mr. Toad turned quite pale. "I--I think I'll be moving along," said he. + + + + +XVII + + +OLD MR. TOAD'S MISTAKE + +If is a very little word to look at, but the biggest word you have ever +seen doesn't begin to have so much meaning as little "if." _If_ Jimmy Skunk +hadn't ambled down the Crooked Little Path just when he did; _if_ he hadn't +been looking for fat beetles; _if_ he hadn't seen that big piece of bark at +one side and decided to pull it over; _if_ it hadn't been for all these +"ifs," why Old Mr. Toad wouldn't have made the mistake he did, and you +wouldn't have had this story. But Jimmy Skunk _did_ amble down the Crooked +Little Path, he _did_ look for beetles, and he _did_ pull over that big +piece of bark. And when he had pulled it over, he found Old Mr. Toad there. + +Old Mr. Toad had crept under that piece of bark because he wanted to take a +nap. But when Jimmy Skunk told him that he had seen Mr. Blacksnake that +very morning, and that Mr. Blacksnake had asked after Old Mr. Toad, the +very last bit of sleepiness left Old Mr. Toad. Yes, Sir, he was wide awake +right away. You see, he knew right away why Mr. Blacksnake had asked after +him. He knew that Mr. Blacksnake has a fondness for Toads. He turned quite +pale when he heard that Mr. Blacksnake had asked after him, and right then +he made his mistake. He was in such a hurry to get away from that +neighborhood that he forgot to ask Jimmy Skunk just where he had seen Mr. +Blacksnake. He hardly waited long enough to say good-by to Jimmy Skunk, but +started off as fast as he could go. + +Now it just happened that Old Mr. Toad started up the Crooked Little Path, +and it just happened that Mr. Blacksnake was coming down the Crooked Little +Path. Now when people are very much afraid, they almost always seem to +think that danger is behind instead of in front of them. It was so with Old +Mr. Toad. Instead of watching out in front as he hopped along, he kept +watching over his shoulder, and that was his second mistake. He was so sure +that Mr. Blacksnake was somewhere behind him that he didn't look to see +where he was going, and you know that people who don't look to see where +they are going are almost sure to go headfirst right into trouble. + +Old Mr. Toad went hopping up the Crooked Little Path as fast as he could, +which wasn't very fast, because he never can hop very fast. And all the +time he kept looking behind for Mr. Blacksnake. Presently he came to a turn +in the Crooked Little Path, and as he hurried around it, he almost ran into +Mr. Blacksnake himself. It was a question which was more surprised. For +just a wee second they stared at each other. Then Mr. Blacksnake's eyes +began to sparkle. + +"Good morning, Mr. Toad. Isn't this a beautiful morning? I was just +thinking about you," said he. + +But poor Old Mr. Toad didn't say good morning. He didn't say anything. He +couldn't, because he was too scared. He just gave a frightened little +squeal, turned around, and started down the Crooked Little Path twice as +fast as he had come up. Mr. Blacksnake grinned and started after him, not +very fast because he knew that he wouldn't have to run very fast to catch +Old Mr. Toad, and he thought the exercise would do him good. + +And this is how it happened that summer morning that jolly, bright Mr. Sun, +looking down from the blue, blue sky and smiling to see how happy everybody +seemed, suddenly discovered that there was one of the little meadow people +who wasn't happy, but instead was terribly, terribly unhappy. It was Old +Mr. Toad hopping down the Crooked Little Path for his life, while after +him, and getting nearer and nearer, glided Mr. Blacksnake. + + + + +XVIII + + +JIMMY SKUNK IS JUST IN TIME + +Jimmy Skunk ambled slowly along, chuckling as he thought of what a hurry +Mr. Toad had been in, when he had heard that Mr. Blacksnake had asked after +him. It had been funny, very funny indeed, to see Mr. Toad try to hurry. + +Suddenly Jimmy stopped chuckling. Then he stopped ambling along the Crooked +Little Path. He turned around and looked back, and as he did so he +scratched his head thoughtfully. He had just happened to think that Old Mr. +Toad had gone up the Crooked Little Path, and it was _up_ the Crooked +Little Path that Mr. Blacksnake had shown himself that morning. + +"If he's still up there," thought Jimmy, "Old Mr. Toad is hopping right +straight into the very worst kind of trouble. How stupid of him not to have +asked me where Mr. Blacksnake was! Well, it's none of my business. I guess +I'll go on." + +But he had gone on down the Crooked Little Path only a few steps when he +stopped again. You see, Jimmy is really a very kind-hearted little fellow, +and somehow he didn't like to think of what might happen to Old Mr. Toad. + +"I hate to go way back there," he grumbled, for you know he is naturally +rather lazy. "Still, the Green Meadows wouldn't be quite the same without +Old Mr. Toad. I should miss him if anything happened to him. I suppose it +would be partly my fault, too, for if I hadn't pulled over that piece of +bark, he probably would have stayed there the rest of the day and been +safe." + +"Maybe he won't meet Mr. Blacksnake," said a little voice inside of Jimmy. + +"And maybe he will," said Jimmy right out loud. And with that, he started +back up the Crooked Little Path, and strange to say Jimmy hurried. + +He had just reached a turn in the Crooked Little Path when who should run +right plump into him but poor Old Mr. Toad. He gave a frightened squeal and +fell right over on his back, and kicked foolishly as he tried to get on his +feet again. But he was all out of breath, and so frightened and tired that +all he could do was to kick and kick. He hadn't seen Jimmy at all, for he +had been looking behind him, and he didn't even know who it was he had run +into. + +Right behind him came Mr. Blacksnake. Of course he saw Jimmy, and he +stopped short and hissed angrily. + +"What were you going to do to Mr. Toad?" demanded Jimmy. + +"None of your business!" hissed Mr. Blacksnake. "Get out of my way, or +you'll be sorry." + +Jimmy Skunk just laughed and stepped in front of poor Old Mr. Toad. Mr. +Blacksnake coiled himself up in the path and darted his tongue out at Jimmy +in the most impudent way. Then he tried to make himself look very fierce. +Then he jumped straight at Jimmy Skunk with his mouth wide open, but he +took great care not to jump quite far enough to reach Jimmy. You see, he +was just trying to scare Jimmy. But Jimmy didn't scare. He knows all +about Mr. Blacksnake and that really he is a coward. So he suddenly gritted +his teeth in a way not at all pleasant to hear and started for Mr. +Blacksnake. Mr. Blacksnake didn't wait. No, Sir, he didn't wait. He +suddenly turned and glided back up the Crooked Little Path, hissing +angrily. Jimmy followed him a little way, and then he went back to Old Mr. +Toad. + +"Oh," panted Mr. Toad, "you came just in time! I couldn't have hopped +another hop." + +"I guess I did," replied Jimmy. "Now you get your breath and come along +with me." And Old Mr. Toad did. + + + + +XIX + + +OLD MR. TOAD GETS HIS STOMACH FULL + + Pray do not tip your nose in scorn + At things which others eat, + For things to you not good at all + To others are most sweet. + +There are ants, for instance. You wouldn't want to eat them even if you +were dreadfully hungry. But Old Mr. Toad and Buster Bear think there is +nothing much nicer. Now Buster Bear had found Old Mr. Toad catching ants, +one at a time, as he kept watch beside their home, and it had pleased +Buster to find some one else who liked ants. Right away he invited Old Mr. +Toad to dine with him. But poor Old Mr. Toad was frightened almost to death +when he heard the deep, grumbly-rumbly voice of Buster Bear, for he had +been so busy watching the ants that he hadn't seen Buster coming. + +He fell right over on his back, which wasn't at all dignified, and made +Buster Bear laugh. That frightened Mr. Toad more than ever. You see he +didn't have the least doubt in the world that Buster Bear meant to eat him, +and when Buster invited him to dinner, he was sure that that was just a +joke on Buster's part. + +But there was no way to escape, and after a little Old Mr. Toad thought it +best to be polite, because, you know, it always pays to be polite. So he +said in a very faint voice that he would be pleased to dine with Buster. +Then he waved his feet feebly, trying to get on his feet again. Buster +Bear laughed harder than ever. It was a low, deep, grumbly-rumbly laugh, +and sent cold shivers all over poor Old Mr. Toad. But when Buster reached +out a great paw with great cruel-looking claws Mr. Toad quite gave up. He +didn't have strength enough left to even kick. He just closed his eyes and +waited for the end. + +What do you think happened? Why, he was rolled over on to his feet so +gently that he just gasped with surprise. It didn't seem possible that such +a great paw could be so gentle. + +"Now," said Buster Bear in a voice which he tried to make sound pleasant, +but which was grumbly-rumbly just the same, "I know where there is a fine +dinner waiting for us just a little way from here. You follow me, and we'll +have it in no time." + +So Buster Bear led the way, and Old Mr. Toad followed as fast as he could, +because he didn't dare not to. Presently Buster stopped beside a big +decayed old log. "If you are ready, Mr. Toad, we will dine now," said he. + +Old Mr. Toad didn't see anything to eat. His heart sank again, and he shook +all over. "I--I'm not hungry," said he in a very faint voice. + +Buster Bear didn't seem to hear. He hooked his great claws into the old log +and gave a mighty pull. Over rolled the log, and there were ants and ants +and ants, hurrying this way and scurrying that way, more ants than Mr. Toad +had seen in all his life before! + +"Help yourself," said Buster Bear politely. + +Old Mr. Toad didn't wait to be told twice. He forgot all about his fright. +He forgot all about Buster Bear. He forgot that he wasn't hungry. He +forgot his manners. He jumped right in among those ants, and for a little +while he was the busiest Toad ever seen. Buster Bear was busy too. He swept +his long tongue this way, and he swept it that way, and each time he drew +it back into his mouth, it was covered with ants. At last Old Mr. Toad +couldn't hold another ant. Then he remembered Buster Bear and looked up a +little fearfully. Buster was smacking his lips, and there was a twinkle in +each eye. + +"Good, aren't they?" said he. + +"The best I ever ate," declared Old Mr. Toad with a sigh of satisfaction. + +"Come dine with me again," said Buster Bear, and somehow this time Old Mr. +Toad didn't mind because his voice sounded grumbly-rumbly. + +"Thank you, I will," replied Old Mr. Toad. + + + + +XX + + +OLD MR. TOAD IS PUFFED UP + +Old Mr. Toad hopped slowly down the Lone Little Path. He usually does hop +slowly, but this time he hopped slower than ever. You see, he was so puffed +up that he couldn't have hopped fast if he had wanted to, and he didn't +want to. In the first place his stomach was so full of ants that there +wasn't room for another one. No, Sir, Old Mr. Toad couldn't have swallowed +another ant if he had tried. Of course they made his stomach stick out, but +it wasn't the ants that puffed him out all over. Oh, my, no! It was pride. +That's what it was--pride. You know nothing can puff any one up quite like +foolish pride. + +Old Mr. Toad was old enough to have known better. It is bad enough to see +young and foolish creatures puffed up with pride, but it is worse to see +any one as old as Old Mr. Toad that way. He held his head so high that he +couldn't see his own feet, and more than once he stubbed his toes. +Presently he met his old friend, Danny Meadow Mouse. He tipped his head a +little higher, puffed himself out a little more, and pretended not to see +Danny. + +"Hello, Mr. Toad," said Danny. + +Mr. Toad pretended not to hear. Danny looked puzzled. Then he spoke again, +and this time he shouted: "Hello, Mr. Toad! I haven't seen you for some +time." + +It wouldn't do to pretend not to hear this time. "Oh, how do you do, +Danny?" said Old Mr. Toad with a very grand air, and pretending to be much +surprised. "Sorry I can't stop, but I've been dining with, my friend, +Buster Bear, and now I must get home." When he mentioned the name of Buster +Bear, he puffed himself out a little more. + +Danny grinned as he watched him hop on down the Lone Little Path. "Can't +talk with common folks any more," he muttered. "I've heard that pride is +very apt to turn people's heads, but I never expected to see Old Mr. Toad +proud." + +[Illustration: "Can't talk with common folks any more," he muttered.] + +Mr. Toad kept on his way, and presently he met Peter Rabbit. Peter stopped +to gossip, as is his way. But Old Mr. Toad took no notice of him at all. He +kept right on with his head high, and all puffed out. Peter might have been +a stick or a stone for all the notice Old Mr. Toad took of him. Peter +looked puzzled. Then he hurried down to tell Danny Meadow Mouse about it. + +"Oh," said Danny, "he's been to dine with Buster Bear, and now he has no +use for his old friends." + +Pretty soon along came Johnny Chuck, and he was very much put out because +he had been treated by Old Mr. Toad just as Peter Rabbit had. Striped +Chipmunk told the same story. So did Unc' Billy Possum. It was the same +with all of Old Mr. Toad's old friends and neighbors, excepting Bobby Coon, +who, you know, is Buster Bear's little cousin. To him Old Mr. Toad was very +polite and talked a great deal about Buster Bear, and thought that Bobby +must be very proud to be related to Buster. + +At first everybody thought it a great joke to see Old Mr. Toad so puffed up +with, pride, but after a little they grew tired of being snubbed by their +old friend and neighbor, and began to say unpleasant things about him. Then +they decided that what Old Mr. Toad needed was a lesson, so they put their +heads together and planned how they would teach Old Mr. Toad how foolish it +is for any one to be puffed up with pride. + + + + +XXI + + +OLD MR. TOAD RECEIVES ANOTHER INVITATION + +The friends and neighbors of Old Mr. Toad decided that he needed to be +taught a lesson. At first, you know, every one had laughed at him, because +he had grown too proud to speak to them, but after a little they grew tired +of being treated so, and some of them put their heads together to think of +some plan to teach Old Mr. Toad a lesson and what a very, very foolish +thing false pride is. The very next day Jimmy Skunk went into the Green +Forest to look for Buster Bear. You know Jimmy isn't afraid of Buster. He +didn't have to look long, and when he had found him, the very first thing +he did was to ask Buster if he had seen any fat beetles that morning. You +know Jimmy is very fond of fat beetles, and the first thing he asks any one +he may happen to meet is if they have seen any. + +Buster Bear grinned and said he thought he knew where there might be a few, +and he would be pleased to have Jimmy go with him to see. Sure enough, +under an old log he found five fat beetles, and these Jimmy gobbled up +without even asking Buster if he would have one. Jimmy is usually very +polite, but this time he quite forgot politeness. I am afraid he is rather +apt to when fat beetles are concerned. But Buster didn't seem to mind. When +the last beetle had disappeared Jimmy smacked his lips, and then he told +Buster Bear what he had come for. Of course, at first Buster had thought it +was for the fat beetles. But it wasn't. No, Sir, it wasn't for the fat +beetles at all. It was to get Buster Bear's help in a plan to teach Old Mr. +Toad a lesson. + +First Jimmy told Buster all about how puffed up Old Mr. Toad was because he +had dined with Buster, and how ever since then he had refused even to speak +to his old friends and neighbors. It tickled Buster Bear so to think that +little homely Old Mr. Toad could be proud of anything that he laughed and +laughed, and his laugh was deep and grumbly-rumbly. Then Jimmy told him the +plan to teach Old Mr. Toad a lesson and asked Buster if he would help. +Buster's eyes twinkled as he promised to do what Jimmy asked. + +Then Jimmy went straight to where Old Mr. Toad was sitting all puffed up, +taking a sun-bath. + +"Buster Bear has just sent word by me to ask if you will honor him by +dining with him to-morrow at the rotted chestnut stump near the edge of the +Green Forest," said Jimmy in his politest manner. + +Now if Old Mr. Toad was puffed up before, just think how he swelled out +when he heard that. Jimmy Skunk was actually afraid that he would burst. + +"You may tell my friend, Buster Bear, that I shall be very happy to honor +him by dining with him," replied Old Mr. Toad with a very grand air. + +Jimmy went off to deliver his reply, and Old Mr. Toad sat and puffed +himself out until he could hardly breathe. "Honor him by dining with him," +said he over and over to himself. "I never was so flattered in my life." + + + + +XXII + + +OLD MR. TOAD LEARNS A LESSON + + Pride is like a great big bubble; + You'll find there's nothing in it. + Prick it and for all your trouble + It has vanished in a minute. + +Old Mr. Toad was so puffed out with pride as he started for the Green +Forest to dine with Buster Bear that those who saw him wondered if he +wouldn't burst before he got there. Everybody knew where he was going, and +this made Old Mr. Toad feel more important and proud than ever. He might +not have felt quite so puffed up if he had known just how it had come about +that he received this second invitation to dine with Buster Bear. When +Jimmy Skunk brought it to him, Jimmy didn't tell him that Buster had been +asked to send the invitation, and that it was all part of a plan on the +part of some of Old Mr. Toad's old friends and neighbors to teach him a +lesson. No, indeed, Jimmy didn't say anything at all about that! + +So Old Mr. Toad went hopping along and stumbling over his own feet, because +his head was held so high and he was so puffed out that he couldn't see +where he was going. He could think of nothing but how important Buster Bear +must consider him to invite him to dinner a second time, and of the +delicious ants he was sure he would have to eat. + +"What very good taste Buster Bear has," thought he, "and how very fortunate +it is that he found out that I also am fond of ants." + +He was so busy with these pleasant thoughts and of the good dinner that he +expected to have that he took no notice of what was going on about him. He +didn't see his old friends and neighbors peeping out at him and laughing +because he looked so foolish and silly. He was dressed in his very best, +which was nothing at all to be proud of, for you know Old Mr. Toad has no +fine clothes. And being puffed up so, he was homelier than ever, which is +saying a great deal, for at best Mr. Toad is anything but handsome. + +He was beginning to get pretty tired by the time he reached the Green +Forest and came in sight of the rotted old chestnut stump where he was to +meet Buster Bear. + +Buster was waiting for him. "How do you do this fine day? You look a little +tired and rather warm, Mr. Toad," said he. + +"I am a little warm," replied Mr. Toad in his most polite manner, although +he couldn't help panting for breath as he said it. "I hope you are feeling +as well as you are looking, Mr. Bear." + +[Illustration: "I am a little warm," replied Mr. Toad in his most polite +manner.] + +Buster Bear laughed a great, grumbly-rumbly laugh. "I always feel fine when +there is a dinner of fat ants ready for me," said he. "It is fine of you to +honor me by coming to dine." + +Here Mr. Toad put one hand on his stomach and tried to make a very grand +bow. Peter Rabbit, hiding behind a near-by tree, almost giggled aloud, he +looked so funny. + +"I have ventured to invite another to enjoy the dinner with us," continued +Buster Bear. Mr. Toad's face fell. You see he was selfish. He wanted to be +the only one to have the honor of dining with Buster Bear. "He's a little +late," went on Buster, "but I think he will be here soon, and I hope you +will be glad to meet him. Ah, there he comes now!" + +Old Mr. Toad looked in the direction in which Buster Bear was looking. He +gave a little gasp and turned quite pale. All his puffiness disappeared. He +didn't look like the same Toad at all. The newcomer was Mr. Blacksnake. +"Oh!" cried Old Mr. Toad, and then, without even asking to be excused, he +turned his back on Buster Bear and started back the way he had come, with +long, frightened hops. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Peter Rabbit, jumping out from behind a tree. + +"Ho, ho, ho!" shouted Jimmy Skunk from behind another. + +"Hee, hee, hee!" shouted Johnny Chuck from behind a third. + +Then Old Mr. Toad knew that his old friends and neighbors had planned this +to teach him a lesson. + + + + +XXIII + + +OLD MR. TOAD IS VERY HUMBLE + +When Old Mr. Toad saw Mr. Blacksnake and turned his back on Buster Bear and +the fine dinner to which Buster had invited him, he had but just one idea +in his head, and that was to get out of sight of Mr. Blacksnake as soon as +possible. He forgot to ask Buster Bear to excuse him. He forgot that he was +tired and hot. He forgot all the pride with which he had been so puffed up. +He forgot everything but the need of getting out of sight of Mr. Blacksnake +as soon as ever he could. So away went Old Mr. Toad, hop, hop, +hipperty-hop, hop, hop, hipperty-hop! He heard Peter Rabbit and Jimmy Skunk +and Johnny Chuck and others of his old friends and neighbors shouting with +laughter. Yes, and he heard the deep, grumbly-rumbly laugh of Buster Bear. +But he didn't mind it. Not then, anyway. He hadn't room for any feeling +except fear of Mr. Blacksnake. + +But Old Mr. Toad had to stop after a while. You see, his legs were so tired +they just wouldn't go any longer. And he was so out of breath that he +wheezed. He crawled under a big piece of bark, and there he lay flat on the +ground and panted and panted for breath. He would stay there until jolly, +round, bright Mr. Sun went to bed behind the Purple Hills. Then Mr. +Blacksnake would go to bed too, and it would be safe for him to go home. +Now, lying there in the dark, for it was dark under that big piece of bark, +Old Mr. Toad had time to think. Little by little he began to understand +that his invitation to dine with Buster Bear had been part of a plan by his +old friends and neighbors whom he had so snubbed and looked down on when he +had been puffed up with pride, to teach him a lesson. At first he was +angry, very angry indeed. Then he began to see how foolish and silly he had +been, and shame took the place of anger. As he remembered the deep, +grumbly-rumbly laughter of Buster Bear, the feeling of shame grew. + +"I deserve it," thought Old Mr. Toad. "Yes, Sir, I deserve every bit of it. +The only thing that I have to be proud of is that I'm honest and work for +my living. Yes, Sir, that's all." + +When darkness came at last, and he crawled out to go home, he was feeling +very humble. Peter Rabbit happened along just then. Old Mr. Toad opened his +mouth to speak, but Peter suddenly threw his head up very high and strutted +past as if he didn't see Old Mr. Toad at all. Mr. Toad gulped and went on. +Pretty soon he met Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy went right on about his business and +actually stepped right over Old Mr. Toad as if he had been a stick or a +stone. Old Mr. Toad gulped again and went on. The next day he went down to +see Danny Meadow Mouse. He meant to tell Danny how ashamed he was for the +way he had treated Danny and his other friends. But Danny brushed right +past without even a glance at him. Old Mr. Toad gulped and started up to +see Johnny Chuck. The same thing happened again. So it did when he met +Striped Chipmunk. + +At last Old Mr. Toad gave up and went home, where he sat under a big +mullein leaf the rest of the day, feeling very miserable and lonely. He +didn't have appetite enough to snap at a single fly. Late that afternoon he +heard a little noise and looked up to find all his old friends and +neighbors forming a circle around him. Suddenly they began to dance and +shout: + + "Old Mr. Toad is a jolly good fellow! + His temper is sweet, disposition is mellow! + And now that his bubble of pride is quite busted + We know that he knows that his friends can be trusted." + +Then Old Mr. Toad knew that all was well once more, and presently he began +to dance too, the funniest dance that ever was seen. + +This is all for now about homely Old Mr. Toad, because I have just got to +tell you about another homely fellow,--Prickly Porky the Porcupine,--who +carries a thousand little spears. The next book will tell you all about +_his_ adventures. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad +by Thornton W. Burgess + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. 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