The Adventures of Grandfather Frog Part 4

GRANDFATHER FROG KEEPS ON

Grandfather Frog is old and wise, But even age is foolish.

I'm sure you'll all agree with me His stubbornness was mulish.

That his very last day had come Grandfather Frog was sure. He didn't have the least doubt about it. Here he was at the mercy of Bowser the Hound out on the Green Meadows far from the dear, safe Smiling Pool.

Every time he moved, Bowser flipped him over on his back and danced around him, barking with joy. Every minute Grandfather Frog expected to feel Bowser's terrible teeth, and he grew cold at the thought. When he found that he couldn't get away, he just lay still. He was too tired and frightened to do much of anything else, anyway.

Now when he lay still, he spoiled Bowser's fun, for it was seeing him jump and kick his long legs that tickled Bowser so. Bowser tossed him up in the air two or three times, but Grandfather Frog simply lay where he fell without moving.

"Bow, wow, wow!" cried Bowser, in his great deep voice. Grandfather Frog didn't so much as blink his great goggly eyes. Bowser sniffed him all over.

"I guess I've frightened him to death," said Bowser, talking to himself.

"I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to have some fun with him."

With that, Bowser took one more sniff and then trotted off to try to find something more exciting. You see, he hadn't had the least intention in the world of really hurting Grandfather Frog.

Grandfather Frog kept perfectly still until he was sure that Bowser was nowhere near. Then he gave a great sigh of relief and crawled under a big mullein leaf to rest, and think things over.

"Chugarum, that was a terrible experience; it was, indeed!" said he to himself, s.h.i.+vering at the very thought of what he had been through.

"Nothing like that ever happened to me in the Smiling Pool. I've always said that the Smiling Pool is a better place in which to live than is the Great World, and now I know it. The question is, what had I best do now?"

Now right down in his heart Grandfather Frog knew the answer. Of course the best thing to do was to go straight back to the Smiling Pool as fast as he could. But Grandfather Frog is stubborn. Yes, Sir, he certainly is stubborn. And stubbornness is often just another name for foolishness.

He had told Jerry Muskrat that he was going out to see the Great World.

Now if he went back, Jerry would laugh at him.

"I won't!" said Grandfather Frog.

"What won't you do?" asked a voice so close to him that Grandfather Frog made a long jump before he thought. You see, at the Smiling Pool he always jumped at the least hint of danger, and because one jump always took him into the water, he was always safe. But there was no water here, and that jump took him right out where anybody pa.s.sing could see him. Then he turned around to see who had startled him so. It was Danny Meadow Mouse.

"I won't go back to the Smiling Pool until I have seen the Great World,"

replied Grandfather Frog gruffly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "You won't see much of the Great World if you jump like that every time you get a scare," said Danny. _Page 62._]

"You won't see much of the Great World if you jump like that every time you get a scare," said Danny, shaking his head. "No, Sir, you won't see much of the Great World, because one of these times you'll jump right into the claws of old Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, or his cousin Redtail, or Reddy Fox. You take my advice, Grandfather Frog, and go straight back to the Smiling Pool. You don't know enough about the Great World to take care of yourself."

But Grandfather Frog was set in his ways, and nothing that Danny Meadow Mouse could say changed his mind in the least. "I started out to see the Great World, and I'm going to keep right on," said he.

"All right," said Danny at last. "If you will, I suppose you will. I'll go a little way with you just to get you started right."

"Thank you," replied Grandfather Frog. "Let's start right away."

XIII

DANNY MEADOW MOUSE FEELS RESPONSIBLE

Responsible is a great big word. But it is just as big in its meaning as it is in its looks, and that is the way words should be, I think, don't you? Anyway, re-spon-sible is the way Danny Meadow Mouse felt when he found Grandfather Frog out on the Green Meadows so far from the Smiling Pool and so stubborn that he would keep on to see the Great World instead of going back to his big green lily-pad in the Smiling Pool, where he could take care of himself. You remember Peter Rabbit felt re-spon-sible when he brought little Miss Fuzzy tail down from the Old Pasture to the dear Old Briar-patch. He felt that it was his business to see to it that no harm came to her, and that is just the way Danny Meadow Mouse felt about Grandfather Frog.

You see, Danny knew that if Grandfather Frog was going to jump like that every time he was frightened, he wouldn't get very far in the Great World. It might be the right thing to do in the Smiling Pool, where the friendly water would hide him from his enemies, but it was just the wrong thing to do on the Green Meadows or in the Green Forest. Danny had learned, when a very tiny fellow, that there the only safe thing to do when danger was near was to sit perfectly still and hardly breathe.

Now Danny Meadow Mouse is fond of Grandfather Frog, and he couldn't bear to think that something dreadful might happen to him. So when he found that he couldn't get Grandfather Frog to go back to the Smiling Pool, he made up his mind that he just _had_ to go along with Grandfather Frog to try to keep him out of danger. Yes, Sir, he just _had_ to do it. He felt re-spon-sible for Grandfather Frog's safety. So here they were, Danny Meadow Mouse running ahead, anxious and worried and watching sharply for signs of danger, and Grandfather Frog puffing along behind, bound to see the Great World which his cousin, old Mr. Toad, said was a better place to live in than the Smiling Pool.

Now Danny has a great many private little paths under the gra.s.s all over the Green Meadows, and along these he can scamper ever so fast without once showing himself to those who may be looking for him. Of course he started to take Grandfather Frog along one of these little paths. But Grandfather Frog doesn't walk or run; he jumps. There wasn't room in Danny's little paths for jumping, as they soon found out. Grandfather Frog simply couldn't follow Danny along those little paths. Danny sat down to think, and puckered his brows anxiously. He was more worried than ever. It was very clear that Grandfather Frog would have to travel out in the open, where there was room for him to jump, and where also he would be right out in plain sight of all who happened along. Once more Danny urged him to go back to the Smiling Pool, but he might just as well have talked to a stick or a stone. Grandfather Frog had started out to see the Great World, and he was going to see it.

Danny sighed. "If you will, you will, I suppose," said he, "and I guess the only place you can travel in any comfort is the Lone Little Path.

It is dangerous, very dangerous, but I guess you will have to do it."

"Chugarum!" replied Grandfather Frog, "I'm not afraid. You show me the Lone Little Path and then go about your business, Danny Meadow Mouse."

So Danny led the way to the Lone Little Path, and Grandfather Frog sighed with relief, for here he could jump without getting all tangled up in long gra.s.s and without hurting his tender feet on sharp stubble where the gra.s.s had been cut. But Danny felt more worried than ever. He wouldn't leave Grandfather Frog because, you know, he felt re-spon-sible for him, and at the same time he was terribly afraid, for he felt sure that some of their enemies would see them. He wanted to go back, but he kept right on, and that shows just what a brave little fellow Danny Meadow Mouse was.

XIV

GRANDFATHER FROG HAS A STRANGE RIDE

A thousand things may happen to, Ten thousand things befall, The traveler who careless is, Or thinks he knows it all.

Grandfather Frog, jumping along behind Danny Meadow Mouse up the Lone Little Path, was beginning to think that Danny was the most timid and easiest frightened of all the little meadow people of his acquaintance.

Danny kept as much under the gra.s.s that overhung the Lone Little Path as he could. When there were perfectly bare places, Danny looked this way and looked that way anxiously and then scampered across as fast as he could make his little legs go. When he was safely across, he would wait for Grandfather Frog. If a shadow pa.s.sed over the gra.s.s, Danny would duck under the nearest leaf and hold his breath.

"Foolis.h.!.+" muttered Grandfather Frog. "Foolish, foolish to be so afraid!

Now, I'm not afraid until I see something to be afraid of. Time enough then. What's the good of looking for trouble all the time? Now, here I am out in the Great World, and I'm not afraid. And here's Danny Meadow Mouse, who has lived here all his life, acting as if he expected something dreadful to happen any minute. Pooh! How very, very foolis.h.!.+"

Now Grandfather Frog is old and in the Smiling Pool he is accounted very, very wise. But the wisest sometimes become foolish when they think that they know all there is to know. It was so with Grandfather Frog.

It was he who was foolish and not Danny Meadow Mouse. You see Danny knew all the dangers on the Green Meadows, and how many sharp eyes were all the time watching for him. He had long ago learned that the only way to feel safe was to feel afraid. You see, then he was watching for danger every minute, and so he wasn't likely to be surprised by his hungry enemies.

So while Grandfather Frog was looking down on Danny for being so timid, Danny was really doing the wisest thing. More than that, he was really very, very brave. He was showing Grandfather Frog the way up the Lone Little Path to see the Great World, when he himself would never, never have thought of traveling anywhere but along his own secret little paths, just because Grandfather Frog couldn't jump anywhere excepting where the way was fairly clear, as in the Lone Little Path, and Danny was afraid that unless Grandfather Frog had some one with him to watch out for him, he would surely come to a sad end.

The farther they went with nothing happening, the more foolish Danny's timid way of running and hiding seemed to Grandfather Frog, and he was just about to tell Danny just what he thought, when Danny dived into the long gra.s.s and warned Grandfather Frog to do the same. But Grandfather Frog didn't.

"Chugarum!" said he, "I don't see anything to be afraid of, and I'm not going to hide until I do."

So he sat still right where he was, in the middle of the Lone Little Path, looking this way and that way, and seeing nothing to be afraid of.

And just then around a turn in the Lone Little Path came--who do you think? Why Farmer Brown's boy! He saw Grandfather Frog and with a whoop of joy he sprang for him. Grandfather Frog gave a frightened croak and jumped, but he was too late. Before he could jump again Farmer Brown's boy had him by his long hind-legs.

"Ha, ha!" shouted Farmer Brown's boy, "I believe this is the very old chap I have tried so often to catch in the Smiling Pool. These legs of yours will be mighty fine eating, Mr. Frog. They will, indeed."

With that he tied Grandfather Frog's legs together and went on his way across the Green Meadows with poor old Grandfather Frog dangling from the end of a string. It was a strange ride and a most uncomfortable one, and with all his might Grandfather Frog wished he had never thought of going out into the Great World.