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."