The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat | Page 6

the bank. He stared and stared, but he
didn't see anything unusual. It looked just as it always did. He told
Jerry Muskrat so.
"Then it must be my eyes," sighed Jerry. "It certainly must be my eyes.
It looks to me as if the water does not come as high up on the bank as it
did yesterday."
Little Joe Otter looked again and his eyes opened wide. "You are right,
Jerry Muskrat!" he cried. "There's nothing the matter with your eyes.
The water is as low as it ever gets, even in the very middle of summer.
What can it mean?"
"I don't know," replied Jerry Muskrat. "It is queer! It certainly is very
queer! Let's go ask Grandfather Frog. You know he is very old and
very wise, so perhaps he can tell us what it means."
Splash! Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe Otter dived into the Smiling Pool
and started a race to see who could reach Grandfather Frog first. He
was sitting among the bulrushes on the edge of the Smiling Pool, for
the lily-pads were not yet big enough for him to sit on comfortably.
"Oh, Grandfather Frog, what's the matter with the Smiling Pool?" they

shouted, as they came up quite out of breath.
"Chugarum! There's nothing the matter with the Smiling Pool; it's the
best place in all the world," replied Grandfather Frog gruffly.
"But there is something the matter," insisted Jerry Muskrat, and then he
told what he had discovered.
"I don't believe it," said Grandfather Frog. "I never heard of such a
thing in the springtime."
CHAPTER VIII
: Grandfather Frog Watches His Toes
Grandfather Frog sat among the bulrushes on the edge of the Smiling
Pool. Over his head Mr. Redwing was singing as if his heart would
burst with the very joy of springtime.
"Tra-la-la-lee, see me! See me! Happy am I as I can be! Happy am I the
whole day long And so I sing my gladsome song."
Of course Mr. Redwing was happy. Why shouldn't he be? Here it was
the beautiful springtime, the gladdest time of all the year, the time
when happiness creeps into everybody's heart. Grandfather Frog
listened. He nodded his head. "Chugarum! I'm happy, too," said
Grandfather Frog. But even as he said it, a little worried look crept into
his big goggly eyes and then down to the corners of his big mouth,
which had been stretched in a smile. Little by little the smile grew
smaller and smaller, until there wasn't any smile. No, Sir, there wasn't
any smile. Instead of looking happy, as he said he felt, Grandfather
Frog actually looked unhappy.
The fact is he couldn't forget what Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe Otter
had told him -- that there was something the matter with the Smiling
Pool. He didn't believe it, not a word of it. At least he tried to make
himself think that he didn't believe it. They had said that the water in
the Smiling Pool was growing lower and lower, just as it did in the

middle of summer, in the very hottest weather. Now Grandfather Frog
is very old and very wise, and he had never heard of such a thing
happening in the springtime. So he wouldn't believe it now. And yet --
and yet Grandfather Frog had an uncomfortable feeling that something
was wrong. Ha! he knew now what it was! He had been sitting up to his
middle in water, and now he was sitting with only his toes in the water,
and he couldn't remember having changed his position!
"Of course, I moved without thinking what I was doing," muttered
Grandfather Frog, but still the worried look didn't leave his face. You
see he just couldn't make himself believe what he wanted to believe, try
as he would.
"Chugarum! I know what I'll do; I'll watch my toes!" exclaimed
Grandfather Frog.
So Grandfather Frog waded out into the water until it covered his feet,
and then he sat down and began to watch his toes. Mr, Redwing looked
down and saw him, and Grandfather Frog looked so funny gazing at his
own toes that Mr. Redwing stopped singing long enough to ask: "What
are you doing, Grandfather Frog?"
"Watching my toes," replied Grandfather Frog gruffly.
"Watching your toes! Ho, ho, ho! Watching your toes! Who ever heard
of such a thing? Are you afraid that they will run away, Grandfather
Frog?" shouted Mr. Redwing.
Grandfather Frog didn't answer. He kept right on watching his toes. Mr.
Redwing flew away to tell everybody he met how Grandfather Frog
had become foolish and was watching his toes. The sun shone down
warm and bright, and pretty soon Grandfather Frog's big goggly eyes
began to blink. Then his head began to nod,