Book: The Adventures of Grandfather Frog
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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Grandfather Frog
Now it happened that one morning when Grandfather Frog had had a very
good breakfast of foolish green flies and really didn't need another
single thing to eat, who should come along but Little Joe Otter, who had
been down to the Big River fishing. He had eaten all he could hold, and
he was taking the rest of his catch to a secret hiding-place up the
Laughing Brook.
Now Grandfather Frog is very fond of fish for a change, and when he saw
those that Little Joe Otter had, his eyes glistened, and in spite of his
full stomach his mouth watered.
"Good morning, Grandfather Frog! Have you had your breakfast yet?"
called Little Joe Otter.
Grandfather Frog wanted to say no, but he always tells the truth.
"Ye-e-s," he replied. "I've had my breakfast, such as it was. Why do you
ask?"
"Oh, for no reason in particular. I just thought that if you hadn't, you
might like a fish. But as long as you have breakfasted, of course you
don't want one," said Little Joe, his bright eyes beginning to twinkle.
He held the fish out so that Grandfather Frog could see just how plump
and nice they were.
"Chugarum!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog. "Those certainly are very nice
fish, very nice fish indeed. It is very nice of you to think of a poor
old fellow like me, and I--er--well, I might find room for just a little
teeny, weeny one, if you can spare it."
Little Joe Otter knows all about Grandfather Frog's greediness. He
looked at Grandfather Frog's white and yellow waistcoat and saw how it
was already stuffed full to bursting. The twinkle in his eyes grew more
mischievous than ever as he said: "Of course I can. But I wouldn't think
of giving such an old friend a teeny, weeny one."
With that, Little Joe picked out the biggest fish he had and tossed it
over to Grandfather Frog. It landed close by his nose with a great
splash, and it was almost half as big as Grandfather Frog himself. It
was plump and looked so tempting that Grandfather Frog forgot all about
his full stomach. He even forgot to be polite and thank Little Joe
Otter. He just opened his great mouth and seized the fish. Yes, Sir,
that is just what he did. Almost before you could wink an eye, the fish
had started down Grandfather Frog's throat head first.
Now you know Grandfather Frog has no teeth, and so he cannot bite things
in two. He has to swallow them whole. That is just what he started to do
with the fish. It went all right until the head reached his stomach. But
you can't put anything more into a thing already full, and Grandfather
Frog's stomach was packed as full as it could be of foolish green flies.
There the fish stuck, and gulp and swallow as hard as he could,
Grandfather Frog couldn't make that fish go a bit farther. Then he tried
to get it out again, but it had gone so far down his throat that he
couldn't get it back. Grandfather Frog began to choke.
VIII
SPOTTY THE TURTLE PLAYS DOCTOR
Greed's a dreadful thing to see,
As everybody will agree.
At first Little Joe Otter, sitting on the bank of the Smiling Pool,
laughed himself almost sick as he watched Grandfather Frog trying to
swallow a fish almost as big as himself, when his white and yellow
waistcoat was already stuffed so full of foolish green flies that there
wasn't room for anything more. Such greed would have been disgusting, if
it hadn't been so very, very funny. At least, it was funny at first, for
the fish had stuck, with the tail hanging out of Grandfather Frog's big
mouth. Grandfather Frog hitched this way and hitched that way on his
big green lily-pad, trying his best to swallow. Twice he tumbled off
with a splash into the Smiling Pool. Each time he scrambled back again
and rolled his great goggly eyes in silent appeal to Little Joe Otter to
come to his aid.
[Illustration: As soon as they saw Grandfather Frog, they began to
laugh, too. _Page 37._]
But Little Joe was laughing so that he had to hold his sides, and he
didn't understand that Grandfather Frog really was in trouble. Billy
Mink and Jerry Muskrat came along, and as soon as they saw Grandfather
Frog, they began to laugh, too. They just laughed and laughed and
laughed until the tears came. They rolled over and over on the bank and
kicked their heels from sheer enjoyment. It was the funniest thing they
had seen for a long, long time.
"Did you ever see such greed?" gasped Billy Mink.
"Why don't you pull it out and start over again?" shouted Little Joe
Otter.
Now this is just what Grandfather Frog was trying to do. At least, he
was trying to pull the fish out. He hadn't the least desire in the world
to try swallowing it again. In fact, he felt just then as if he never,
never wanted to see another fish so long as he lived. But Grandfather
Frog's hands are not made for grasping slippery things, and the tail of
a fish is very slippery indeed. He tried first with one hand, then with
the other, and at last with both. It was of no use at all. He just
couldn't budge that fish. He couldn't cough it up, because it had gone
too far down for that. The more he clawed at that waving tail with his
hands, the funnier he looked, and the harder Little Joe Otter and Billy
Mink and Jerry Muskrat laughed. They made such a noise that Spotty the
Turtle, who had been taking a sun-bath on the end of an old log, slipped
into the water and started to see what it was all about.
Now Spotty the Turtle is very, very slow on land, but he is a good
swimmer. He hurried now because he didn't want to miss the fun. At first
he didn't see Grandfather Frog.
"What's the joke?" he asked.
Little Joe Otter simply pointed to Grandfather Frog. Little Joe had
laughed so much that he couldn't even speak. Spotty looked over to the
big green lily-pad and started to laugh too. Then he saw great tears
rolling down from Grandfather Frog's eyes and heard little choky sounds.
He stopped laughing and started for Grandfather Frog as fast as he could
swim. He climbed right up on the big green lily-pad, and reaching out,
grabbed the end of the fish tail in his beak-like mouth. Then Spotty
the Turtle settled back and pulled, and Grandfather Frog settled back
and pulled. Splash! Grandfather Frog had fallen backward into the
Smiling Pool on one side of the big green lily-pad. Splash! Spotty the
Turtle had fallen backward into the Smiling Pool on the opposite side of
the big green lily-pad. And the fish which had caused all the trouble
lay floating on the water.
"Thank you! Thank you!" gasped Grandfather Frog, as he feebly crawled
back on the lily-pad. "A minute more, and I would have choked to death."
"Don't mention it," replied Spotty the Turtle.
"I never, never will," promised Grandfather Frog.
IX
OLD MR. TOAD VISITS GRANDFATHER FROG
Grandfather Frog and old Mr. Toad are cousins. Of course you know that
without being told. Everybody does. But not everybody knows that they
were born in the same place. They were. Yes, Sir, they were. They were
born in the Smiling Pool. Both had long tails and for a while no legs,
and they played and swam together without ever going on shore. In fact,
when they were babies, they couldn't live out of the water. And people
who saw them didn't know the difference between them and called them by
the same names--tadpoles or pollywogs. But when they grew old enough to
have legs and get along without tails, they parted company.
You see, it was this way: Grandfather Frog (of course he wasn't
grandfather then) loved the Smiling Pool so well that he couldn't think
of leaving it. He heard all about the Great World and what a wonderful
place it was, but he couldn't and wouldn't believe that there could be
any nicer place than the Smiling Pool, and so he made up his mind that
he would live there always.
But Mr. Toad could hardly wait to get rid of his tail before turning his
back on the Smiling Pool and starting out to see the Great World.
Nothing that Grandfather Frog could say would stop him, and away Mr.
Toad went, when he was so small that he could hide under a clover leaf.
Grandfather Frog didn't expect ever to see him again. But he did,
though it wasn't for a long, long time. And when he did come back, he
had grown so that Grandfather Frog hardly knew him at first. And right
then and there began a dispute which they have kept up ever since:
whether it was best to go out into the Great World or remain in the home
of childhood. Each was sure that what he had done was best, and each is
sure of it to this day.
So whenever old Mr. Toad visits Grandfather Frog, as he does every once
in a while, they are sure to argue and argue on this same old subject.
It was so on the day that Grandfather Frog had so nearly choked to
death. Old Mr. Toad had heard about it from one of the Merry Little
Breezes of Old Mother West Wind and right away had started for the
Smiling Pool to pay his respects to Grandfather Frog, and to tell him
how glad he was that Spotty the Turtle had come along just in time to
pull the fish out of Grandfather Frog's throat.
Now all day long Grandfather Frog had had to listen to unpleasant
remarks about his greediness. It was such a splendid chance to tease him
that everybody around the Smiling Pool took advantage of it. Grandfather
Frog took it good-naturedly at first, but after a while it made him
cross, and by the time his cousin, old Mr. Toad, arrived, he was sulky
and just grunted when Mr. Toad told him how glad he was to find
Grandfather Frog quite recovered.
Old Mr. Toad pretended not to notice how out of sorts Grandfather Frog
was but kept right on talking.
"If you had been out in the Great World as much as I have been, you
would have known that Little Joe Otter wasn't giving you that fish for
nothing," said he.
Grandfather Frog swelled right out with anger. "Chugarum!" he exclaimed
in his deepest, gruffest voice. "Chugarum! Go back to your Great World
and learn to mind your own affairs, Mr. Toad."
Right away old Mr. Toad began to swell with anger too. For a whole
minute he glared at Grandfather Frog, so indignant he couldn't find his
tongue. When he did find it, he said some very unpleasant things, and
right away they began to dispute.
"What good are you to anybody but yourself, never seeing anything of the
Great World and not knowing anything about what is going on or what
other people are doing?" asked old Mr. Toad.
"I'm minding my own affairs and not meddling with things that don't
concern me, as seems to be the way out in the Great World you are so
fond of talking about," retorted Grandfather Frog. "Wise people know
enough to be content with what they have. You've been out in the Great
World ever since you could hop, and what good has it done you? Tell me
that! You haven't even a decent suit of clothes to your back."
Grandfather Frog patted his white and yellow waistcoat as he spoke and
looked admiringly at the reflection of his handsome green coat in the
Smiling Pool.
Old Mr. Toad's eyes snapped, for you know his suit is very plain and
rough.
"People who do honest work for their living have no time to sit about in
fine clothes admiring themselves," he replied sharply. "I've learned
this much out in the Great World, that lazy people come to no good end,
and I know enough not to choke myself to death."
Grandfather Frog almost choked again, he was so angry. You see old Mr.
Toad's remarks were very personal, and nobody likes personal remarks
when they are unpleasant, especially if they happen to be true.
Grandfather Frog was trying his best to think of something sharp to say
in reply, when Mr. Redwing, sitting in the top of the big hickory-tree,
shouted: "Here comes Farmer Brown's boy!"
Grandfather Frog forgot his anger and began to look anxious. He moved
about uneasily on his big green lily-pad and got ready to dive into the
Smiling Pool, for he was afraid that Farmer Brown's boy had a pocketful
of stones as he usually did have when he came over to the Smiling Pool.
Old Mr. Toad didn't look troubled the least bit. He didn't even look
around for a hiding-place. He just sat still and grinned.
"You'd better watch out, or you'll never visit the Smiling Pool again,"
called Grandfather Frog.
"Oh," replied old Mr. Toad, "I'm not afraid. Farmer Brown's boy is a
friend of mine. I help him in his garden. How to make friends is one of
the things the Great World has taught me."
"Chugarum!" said Grandfather Frog. "I'd have you to know that--"
But what it was that he was to know old Mr. Toad never found out, for
just then Grandfather Frog caught sight of Farmer Brown's boy and
without waiting even to say good-by he dived into the Smiling Pool.
X
GRANDFATHER FROG STARTS OUT TO SEE THE GREAT WORLD
Grandfather Frog looked very solemn as he sat on his big green lily-pad
in the Smiling Pool. He looked very much as if he had something on his
mind. A foolish green fly actually brushed Grandfather Frog's nose and
he didn't even notice it. The fact is he did have something on his mind.
It had been there ever since his cousin, old Mr. Toad, had called the
day before and they had quarreled as usual over the question whether it
was best never to leave home or to go out into the Great World.
Right in the midst of their quarrel along had come Farmer Brown's boy.
Now Grandfather Frog is afraid of Farmer Brown's boy, so when he
appeared, Grandfather Frog stopped arguing with old Mr. Toad and with a
great splash dived into the Smiling Pool and hid under a lily-pad. There
he stayed and watched his cousin, old Mr. Toad, grinning in the most
provoking way, for he wasn't afraid of Farmer Brown's boy. In fact, he
had boasted that they were friends. Grandfather Frog had thought that
this was just an idle boast, but when he saw Farmer Brown's boy tickle
old Mr. Toad under his chin with a straw, while Mr. Toad sat perfectly
still and seemed to enjoy it, he knew that it was true.
Grandfather Frog had not come out of his hiding-place until after old
Mr. Toad had gone back across the Green Meadows and Farmer Brown's boy
had gone home for his supper. Then Grandfather Frog had climbed back on
his big green lily-pad and had sat there half the night without once
leading the chorus of the Smiling Pool with his great deep bass voice as
he usually did. He was thinking, thinking very hard. And now, this
bright, sunshiny morning, he was still thinking.
The fact is Grandfather Frog was beginning to wonder if perhaps, after
all, Mr. Toad was right. If the Great World had taught him how to make
friends with Farmer Brown's boy, there really must be some things worth
learning there. Not for the world would Grandfather Frog have admitted
to old Mr. Toad or to any one else that there was anything for him to
learn, for you know he is very old and by his friends is accounted very
wise. But right down in his heart he was beginning to think that perhaps
there were some things which he couldn't learn in the Smiling Pool. So
he sat and thought and thought. Suddenly he made up his mind.
"Chugarum!" said he. "I'll do it!"
"Do what?" asked Jerry Muskrat, who happened to be swimming past.
"I'll go out and see for myself what this Great World my cousin, old Mr.
Toad, is so fond of talking about is like," replied Grandfather Frog.
"Don't you do it," advised Jerry Muskrat. "Don't you do anything so
foolish as that. You're too old, much too old, Grandfather Frog, to go
out into the Great World."
Now few old people like to be told that they are too old to do what they
please, and Grandfather Frog is no different from others. "You just mind
your own affairs, Jerry Muskrat," he retorted sharply. "I guess I know
what is best for me without being told. If my cousin, old Mr. Toad, can
take care of himself out in the Great World, I can. He isn't half so
spry as I am. I'm going, and that is all there is about it!"
With that Grandfather Frog dived into the Smiling Pool, swam across to a
place where the bank was low, and without once looking back started
across the Green Meadows to see the Great World.
XI
GRANDFATHER FROG IS STUBBORN
"Fee, fi, fe, fum!
Chug, chug, chugarum!"
Grandfather actually had started out to see the Great World. Yes, Sir,
he had turned his back on the Smiling Pool, and nothing that Jerry
Muskrat could say made the least bit of difference. Grandfather Frog had
made up his mind, and when he does that, it is just a waste of time and
breath for any one to try to make him change it. You see Grandfather
Frog is stubborn. Yes, that is just the word--stubborn. He would see for
himself what this Great World was that his cousin, old Mr. Toad, talked
so much about and said was so much better than the Smiling Pool where
Grandfather Frog had spent his whole life.
"If old Mr. Toad can take care of himself, I can take care of myself out
in the Great World," said Grandfather Frog, to himself as, with great
jumps, he started out on to the Green Meadows. "I guess he isn't any
smarter than I am! He isn't half so spry as I am, and I can jump three
times as far as he can. I'll see for myself what this Great World is
like, and then I'll go back to the Smiling Pool and stay there the rest
of my life. Chugarum, how warm it is!"
It was warm. Jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun was smiling his broadest and
pouring his warmest rays down on the Green Meadows. The Merry Little
Breezes of Old Mother West Wind were taking a nap. You see, they had
played so hard early in the morning that they were tired. So there was
nobody and nothing to cool Grandfather Frog, and he just grew warmer and
warmer with every jump. He began to grow thirsty, and how he did long
for a plunge in the dear, cool Smiling Pool! But he was stubborn. He
wouldn't turn back, no matter how uncomfortable he felt. He _would_ see
the Great World if it killed him. So he kept right on, jump, jump, jump,
jump.
Grandfather Frog had been up the Laughing Brook and down the Laughing
Brook, where he could swim when he grew tired of traveling on the bank,
and where he could cool off whenever he became too warm, but never
before had he been very far away from water, and he found this a very
different matter. At first he had made great jumps, for that is what his
long legs were given him for; but the long grass bothered him, and after
a little the jumps grew shorter and shorter and shorter, and with every
jump he puffed and puffed and presently began to grunt. You see he never
before had made more than a few jumps at a time without resting, and his
legs grew tired in a very little while.
Now if Grandfather Frog had known as much about the Green Meadows as the
little people who live there all the time do, he would have taken the
Lone Little Path, where the going was easy. But he didn't. He just
started right out without knowing where he was going, and of course the
way was hard, very hard indeed. The grass was so tall that he couldn't
see over it, and the ground was so rough that it hurt his tender feet,
which were used to the soft, mossy bank of the Smiling Pool. He had gone
only a little way before he wished with all his might that he had never
thought of seeing the Great World. But he had said that he was going to
and he would, so he kept right on--jump, jump, rest, jump, jump, jump,
rest, jump, and then a long rest.
It was during one of these rests that he heard footsteps, and then a
dreadful sound that made cold chills run all over him. Sniff, sniff,
sniff! It was coming nearer. Grandfather Frog flattened himself down as
close to the ground as he could get. But it was of no use, no use at
all. The sniffing came nearer and nearer, and then right over him stood
Bowser the Hound! Bowser looked just as surprised as he felt. He put out
one paw and turned Grandfather Frog over on his back. Grandfather Frog
struggled to his feet and made two frightened jumps.
"Bow, wow!" cried Bowser and rolled him over again. Bowser thought it
great fun, but Grandfather Frog thought that his last day had come.
XII
GRANDFATHER FROG KEEPS ON
Grandfather Frog is old and wise,
But even age is foolish.
I'm sure you'll all agree with me
His stubbornness was mulish.
That his very last day had come Grandfather Frog was sure. He didn't
have the least doubt about it. Here he was at the mercy of Bowser the
Hound out on the Green Meadows far from the dear, safe Smiling Pool.
Every time he moved, Bowser flipped him over on his back and danced
around him, barking with joy. Every minute Grandfather Frog expected to
feel Bowser's terrible teeth, and he grew cold at the thought. When he
found that he couldn't get away, he just lay still. He was too tired
and frightened to do much of anything else, anyway.
Now when he lay still, he spoiled Bowser's fun, for it was seeing him
jump and kick his long legs that tickled Bowser so. Bowser tossed him up
in the air two or three times, but Grandfather Frog simply lay where he
fell without moving.
"Bow, wow, wow!" cried Bowser, in his great deep voice. Grandfather Frog
didn't so much as blink his great goggly eyes. Bowser sniffed him all
over.
"I guess I've frightened him to death," said Bowser, talking to himself.
"I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to have some fun with him."
With that, Bowser took one more sniff and then trotted off to try to
find something more exciting. You see, he hadn't had the least intention
in the world of really hurting Grandfather Frog.
Grandfather Frog kept perfectly still until he was sure that Bowser was
nowhere near. Then he gave a great sigh of relief and crawled under a
big mullein leaf to rest, and think things over.
"Chugarum, that was a terrible experience; it was, indeed!" said he to
himself, shivering at the very thought of what he had been through.
"Nothing like that ever happened to me in the Smiling Pool. I've always
said that the Smiling Pool is a better place in which to live than is
the Great World, and now I know it. The question is, what had I best do
now?"
Now right down in his heart Grandfather Frog knew the answer. Of course
the best thing to do was to go straight back to the Smiling Pool as fast
as he could. But Grandfather Frog is stubborn. Yes, Sir, he certainly is
stubborn. And stubbornness is often just another name for foolishness.
He had told Jerry Muskrat that he was going out to see the Great World.
Now if he went back, Jerry would laugh at him.
"I won't!" said Grandfather Frog.
"What won't you do?" asked a voice so close to him that Grandfather Frog
made a long jump before he thought. You see, at the Smiling Pool he
always jumped at the least hint of danger, and because one jump always
took him into the water, he was always safe. But there was no water
here, and that jump took him right out where anybody passing could see
him. Then he turned around to see who had startled him so. It was Danny
Meadow Mouse.
"I won't go back to the Smiling Pool until I have seen the Great World,"
replied Grandfather Frog gruffly.
[Illustration: "You won't see much of the Great World if you jump like
that every time you get a scare," said Danny. _Page 62._]
"You won't see much of the Great World if you jump like that every time
you get a scare," said Danny, shaking his head. "No, Sir, you won't see
much of the Great World, because one of these times you'll jump right
into the claws of old Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, or his cousin Redtail,
or Reddy Fox. You take my advice, Grandfather Frog, and go straight back
to the Smiling Pool. You don't know enough about the Great World to take
care of yourself."
But Grandfather Frog was set in his ways, and nothing that Danny Meadow
Mouse could say changed his mind in the least. "I started out to see the
Great World, and I'm going to keep right on," said he.
"All right," said Danny at last. "If you will, I suppose you will. I'll
go a little way with you just to get you started right."
"Thank you," replied Grandfather Frog. "Let's start right away."
XIII
DANNY MEADOW MOUSE FEELS RESPONSIBLE
Responsible is a great big word. But it is just as big in its meaning as
it is in its looks, and that is the way words should be, I think, don't
you? Anyway, re-spon-sible is the way Danny Meadow Mouse felt when he
found Grandfather Frog out on the Green Meadows so far from the Smiling
Pool and so stubborn that he would keep on to see the Great World
instead of going back to his big green lily-pad in the Smiling Pool,
where he could take care of himself. You remember Peter Rabbit felt
re-spon-sible when he brought little Miss Fuzzy tail down from the Old
Pasture to the dear Old Briar-patch. He felt that it was his business
to see to it that no harm came to her, and that is just the way Danny
Meadow Mouse felt about Grandfather Frog.
You see, Danny knew that if Grandfather Frog was going to jump like that
every time he was frightened, he wouldn't get very far in the Great
World. It might be the right thing to do in the Smiling Pool, where the
friendly water would hide him from his enemies, but it was just the
wrong thing to do on the Green Meadows or in the Green Forest. Danny had
learned, when a very tiny fellow, that there the only safe thing to do
when danger was near was to sit perfectly still and hardly breathe.