“One step, two steps, three steps, so!
Four steps, five steps, six steps go!
Keep right on and do your best;
Mayhap you'll win while others rest.”
Spotty the Turtle said this over to himself every time he felt a little
down-hearted, as he plodded along the bed of the Laughing Brook. And
every time he said it, he felt better. “One step, two steps,” he kept
saying over and over, and each time he said it, he took a step and
then another. They were very short steps, very short steps indeed, for
Spotty's legs are very short. But each one carried him forward just
so much, and he knew that he was just so much nearer the thing he was
seeking. Anyway, he hoped he was.
You see, if the Laughing Brook would never laugh any more, and the
Smiling Pool would never smile any more, there was nothing to do but
to go down to the Big River to live, and no one wanted to do that,
especially Grandfather Frog and Spotty the Turtle.
Now, because Billy Mink could go faster than Little Joe Otter, and
Little Joe Otter could go faster than Jerry Muskrat, and Jerry could go
faster than Grandfather Frog, and Grandfather Frog could go faster than
Spotty the Turtle, and because each one wanted to be the first to find
the trouble, no one would wait for the one behind him. So Spotty the
Turtle, who has to carry his house with him, was a long, long way behind
the others. But he kept right on going.
“One step, two steps, three steps, so!”
and he didn't stop for anything. He crawled over sticks and around big
stones and sometimes, when he found a little pool of water, he swam. He
always felt better then, because he can swim faster than he can walk.
After a long, long time, Spotty the Turtle came to a little pool where
the sunshine lay warm and inviting. There, in the middle of it, on a
mossy stone, sat Grandfather Frog fast asleep. He had thought that he
was so far ahead of Spotty that he could safely rest his tired legs.
Spotty wanted to climb right up beside him and take a nap too, but he
didn't. He just grinned and kept right on going.
“One step, two steps, three steps, so!”
while Grandfather Frog slept on.
By and by, after a long, long time Spotty came to another little pool,
and who should he see but Jerry Muskrat busily opening and eating some
freshwater clams which he had found there. He was so busy enjoying
himself that he didn't see Spotty, and Spotty didn't say a word, but
kept right on going, although the sight of Jerry's feast had made him
dreadfully hungry.
By and by, after a long, long time, he came to a third little pool with
a high, smooth bank, and who should he see there but Little Joe Otter,
who had made a slippery slide down the smooth bank and was having a
glorious time sliding down into the little pool. Spotty would have liked
to take just one slide, but he didn't. He didn't even let Little Joe
Otter see him, but kept right on going.
“One step, two steps, three steps, so!”
By and by, after a long, long time, he came to a hollow log, and just
happening to peep in, he saw some one curled up fast asleep. Who was it?
Why, Billy Mink, to be sure! You see, Billy thought that he was so far
ahead that he might just as well take it easy, and that was what he was
doing. Spotty the Turtle didn't waken him. He just kept right on going
the same slow way he had come all day, and so, just as jolly, round,
red Mr. Sun was going to bed behind the Purple Hills, Spotty the Turtle
found the cause of the trouble in the Laughing Brook and the Smiling
Pool.