The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat | Page 7

and then -- why, then
Grandfather Frog fell fast asleep.
By and by Grandfather Frog awoke with a start. He looked down at his
toes. They were not in the water at all! Indeed, the water was a good
long jump away.

"Chugarum! There is something wrong with the Smiling Pool!" cried
Grandfather Frog, as he made a long jump into the water and started to
swim out to the Big Rock.
CHAPTER IX
: The Laughing Brook Stops Laughing
There was something wrong. Grandfather Frog knew it the very minute
he got up that morning. At first he couldn't think what it was. He sat
with just his head out of water and blinked his great goggly eyes, as he
tried to think what it was that was wrong. Suddenly Grandfather Frog
realized how still it was. It was a different kind of stillness from
anything he could ever remember. He missed something, and he
couldn't think what it was. It wasn't the song of Mr. Redwing. There
were many times when he didn't hear that. It was -- Grand-father Frog
gave a startled jump out on to the shore. "Chugarum! It's the Laughing
Brook! The Laughing Brook has stopped laughing!" cried Grandfather
Frog.
Could it be? Who ever heard of such a thing, excepting when Jack
Frost bound the Laughing Brook with hard black ice? Why, in the
spring and in the summer and in the fall the Laughing Brook had
laughed -- such a merry, happy laugh -- ever since Grandfather Frog
could remember, and you know he can remember way back in the long
ago. for he is very old and very wise. Never once in all that time had
the Laughing Brook failed to laugh. It couldn't be true now!
Grandfather Frog put a hand behind one ear and listened and listened,
but not a sound could he hear.
"Chugarum! It must be me," said Grandfather Frog. "It must be that I
am growing old and deaf. I'll go over and ask Jerry Muskrat."
So Grandfather Frog dove into the water and swam out to the middle of
the Smiling Pool, on his way to Jerry Muskrat's house. It was then that
he first fully realized the truth of what Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe
Otter had told him the day before -- that there was something very, very
wrong with the Smiling Pool. He stopped swimming to look around,

and it seemed as if his great goggly eyes would pop right out of his
head. Yes, Sir, it seemed as if those great goggly eyes certainly would
pop right out of Grandfather Frog's head. The Smiling Pool had grown
so small that there wasn't enough of it left to smile!
"Where are you going, Grandfather Frog?" asked a voice over his head.
Grandfather Frog looked up. Looking down on him from over the edge
of the Big Rock was Jerry Muskrat. The edge of the Big Rock was
twice as high above the water as Grandfather Frog had ever seen it
before.
"I -- I -- was going to swim over to your house to see you," replied
Grandfather Frog.
"It's of no use," replied Jerry, "because I'm not there. Besides, you
couldn't swim there, anyway."
"Why not?" demanded Grandfather Frog in great surprise.
"Because it isn't in the water any longer; it's way up on dry land," said
Jerry Muskrat in the most mournful voice.
"What's that you say?" cried Grandfather Frog, as if he couldn't believe
his own ears.
"It's just as true as that I'm sitting here," replied Jerry sadly.
"Listen, Jerry Muskrat, and tell me truly; is the Laughing Brook
laughing?" cried Grandfather Frog sharply.
"No," replied Jerry, "the Laughing Brook has stopped laughing, and the
Smiling Pool has stopped smiling, and I think the world is upside
down."
CHAPTER X
: Why The World Seemed Upside Down To Jerry Muskrat

Jerry Muskrat sat on the Big Rock in the Smiling Pool, which smiled
no longer, and held his head in both hands, for his head ached. He had
thought and thought and thought, until it seemed to him that his head
would split; and with all his thinking, he didn't understand things any
more now than he had in the beginning. You see, Jerry Muskrat's little
world was topsy-turvy. Yes, Sir, Jerry's world was upside down!
Anyway, it seemed so to him, and he couldn't understand it at all.
The Smiling Pool, the Laughing Brook, and the Green Meadows are
Jerry Muskrat's little world. Now, as he sat on the Big Rock and looked
about him, the Green Meadows were as lovely as ever. He could see no
change in them. But the Laughing Brook had stopped laughing, and the
Smiling Pool had stopped smiling. The truth is there wasn't enough of