"I guess you think the same as does Grandfather Stork about some of Mr.
Crow's verses. He says that nobody but foolish geese would listen to
them, and yet there isn't anybody around here who doesn't like them.
Grandfather Stork don't know everything there is to be learned in this
world, else Mr. Bunny Rabbit couldn't have fooled him the way he did."
"I have never heard that Mr. Bunny Rabbit fooled Grandfather Stork," your
Aunt Amy said, and Mrs. Goose almost laughed when she replied:
"Then you haven't seen the old fellow lately, for he spends all his time
running around the neighborhood telling of it. He thinks he was very
smart, and I'm not saying but that it was more than one would have
expected of him, for Mr. Bunny Rabbit isn't the wisest animal living
near the pond, by a good deal. Poor old Grandfather Stork was the most
harmless bird that ever lived. He had carried babies from one place to
another till he was all worn out, and hadn't more than six feathers left
on his head.
"He hadn't a tooth to his bill, and seemed to have forgotten how to hunt
for his dinner, so one day when he met Bunny Rabbit, he said to him as
polite as could be:
"'Good morning, Mr. Rabbit. Can you tell me where I'll find two or three
fat fish near about here?'
[Illustration: Grandfather Stork waiting for his dinner.]
"Bunny scratched his nose as if he was doing a terrible lot of thinking,
and then said, solemn as ever was Squire Owl:
"'Why, of course, Mr. Stork, and I always like to help a neighbor along.
But times have changed since you were a young fellow. Then you had to
catch your own fish, or go without; but now the law is that after a bird
has stood on one foot half an hour, two fish jump down his throat, and
three more go the same way at the end of an hour. Mr. Robin Red-Breast
forgot all about the new law the other day, and, because his left foot
was sore, he stood on the right one till two big pickerel made a leap
for his mouth. Either of them was seven times as big as he is, and it's
a wonder he wasn't killed.'
"'Dear me, is that so, Mr. Rabbit? Now I really can't catch fish as I
used to; but it comes quite natural for me to stand on one foot. I'll
try to do you a favor some day, Mr. Rabbit.'
"Then Grandfather Stork stood up in the sun waiting for the fish to jump
down his throat, and Bunny Rabbit ran off into the bushes, laughing till
there was danger of splitting his sides; but he didn't keep it up very
long, for just then down swooped Mr. Hawk, and Bunny Rabbit came very
near taking an excursion in the air.
"As it was, Mr. Hawk dug a great hole in his back, and nipped off a
piece of his tail, before Bunny could get under a wild-rose bush where
he was safe. It was Mr. Crow who told Grandfather Stork that he had been
fooled, and the poor old fellow looked so sorrowful when he hobbled away
without having had any dinner, that I made up my mind I never would try
to play such kind of jokes."
"And you are right, Mrs. Goose," your Aunt Amy said decidedly. "It is a
very foolish practice, and often causes much trouble. Now Bunny Rabbit
really told Mr. Stork a lie, even if it was in sport, and we all know
how wrong that is."
At this moment Mr. Grander came up, and when Mrs. Goose asked how he
felt, he said:
"I'm better, thank you. That frog was tough, and, to make matters worse,
I accidentally swallowed his hat."
"You were in too much of a hurry, Mr. Gander," Mrs. Goose said sharply.
"Perhaps you was afraid you might be asked to share him with some other
goose."
"Well, there! I never stopped to think that you might like a piece," Mr.
Gander said, as if he felt terribly sorry because of having been so
selfish. "I'll spend all day to-morrow hunting for Mr. Frog's brother,
and if I catch the fellow, you shall have the whole of him."
"I'll hunt for my own frogs, thank you," Mrs. Goose replied as she
straightened herself up angrily. "I never yet have asked others to find
food for me, and I hope I don't live simply for the sake of eating, as
does Mrs. Wild Goose, who visited us not long ago."
Mr. Gander gazed at Mrs. Gray Goose sadly; but she refused even to look
at him, and after a time he waddled slowly away, stopping now and then
to snap at a grasshopper that jumped over his head.
[Illustration: Mrs. Gray Goose is Angry.]