d ear little fr i en d s —when the ten polliwogs came to spend a day with me, some two years ago,...

MON! THE POND PEOPLE

C LARA D I LLIN! HAM PI ERSON

or of“Am ong theMeadow People,” Forest People, et c .

illustrated by F. C . ! ORDON

NEW YORK

P. DUTTON AND C OMPANY

3 1 WEST TWENTY-TH lRD STREET

COPYR I ! H T ,1 90 1

! Y

E . P. D UTTON C O .

‘

Ctbeknickerbocher press , mewmorh

D EAR L ITTLE F R I EN D S —When theten Poll iwogs came to spend a day with

me,some two years ago

,I promised to

tell you stories of how they and their

neighbors l ive in the pond. I wanted to

tell the stories at once,but th is is a busy

world and story-tel l i ng is only play,so

there were many th ings to be done before

I could s it down to my desk and hold my

pen wh ile the stories sl id out of i t onto

paper. I wonder where al l my ten Poll i

wogs are now

One cannot come to know pond people

qu ite so well as those who l ive i n the for

est or i n the meadow,yet down in the sh in

ing water they l ive and bu ild thei r homes

and learn much that they need to know .

And wherever people are l iving, and

working,and playing

,there are stories

vi Preface

to be found . The pond people cannot

be well o r happy long away from the

water,and you can only come to know

them by watch ing the‘

ponds and brooks .

I f you do that and are very qu iet , the

M innows will swim to where you are,the

Mud Turtles wil l waddle out on the logs

i n the sunshine,and you may even see a

Crayfish walking backward along the sand.

But i f you should see a very large,black

bug with fore legs wh ich open and shut l ike

jack-kn ives— then keep away from him,

for that is Belostoma. Some time you

may see h im under the electri c l ights i n

the c ity,for he l ikes to sprawl around

there,and you can look at h im on land

,

but let h im alone .

Remember that the Dragon-Fl ies and

many of thei r friends who seem to do

noth ing but play in the sunsh ine,have

l ived long in the dusky pond,and that

th is l i fe i n the air comes only after a long

t ime of gett ing ready. Remember that

Preface vi i

i f you p ick up a Turtle or catch M in

nows in a net,you must not leave the

Turtle on h is back or keep any water

breath ing people,l ike the Minnows

,in

the air. Watch them for a l i ttle while

and then let them go free .

And then remember,be sure to re

member,th is ! that you are not to get

acquainted with the pond people by tum

bl ing into the water or by going into i t

with your shoes and stockings on . I f

you do that,your mothers wil l say,

We wish that Mrs . Pierson had never

written about the pond people . And

if they should say that,j ust th ink how

I would feel

Your friend,

CLAR A D ILLIN ! H AM P IER SON .

STA NTON , M I C H I ! A N,

Decem ber 22,1 900

CONTENTS

BIGGEST FR O ! AWAKENS

T H E D AN C E OF T H E SAND-HILL CRANES

T H E YOUN ! MINNOW WH O WOULD NOT EAT

WH EN H E SHOULD

T H E STICKLE ! ACK FATHER

TH E CARELESS CADD IS WORM

T H E TADPOLE WH O WANTED T O ! E G R OWN

U P

T H E RUNAWAY WATER SP IDERS

T H E SLOW LITTLE MUD TURTLE

T H E DRAGON-FLY CHILDREN AN D T H E SNAP

PING TURTLE

T H E SNAPPY SNAPPING TURTLE

T H E CLE ! ER WATER-ADDER

T H E GOOD LITTLE CRANES WH O WERE ! AD

T H E OLDEST DRAGON-FLY NYMPH

! Contents

THE EELs’ MO ! IN ! -NI ! HT

THE CRAYF ISH MOT H ER

TWO LITTLE C RAYF ISHES ! UARREL

THE LUCKY MINK

T H E PLAYFUL MUSKRATS

I LLUSTRAT IONS

BADDY-BADDY F rontispz’

ece

THEN I WILL ! O TOO,SA ID HE

WHAT F INE ! I ! MOUTHFULS Y OU C AN

TAKE ! ”

THEN THEY SWAM AT EACH OTHER

THE BIGGEST FRO ! TOLD THEM STORIES

AS SOON AS HE ! OT TO FLOATING ON H I S

BACKGOOD MORNING

,SA ID SH E ! I BELIE ! E

YOU AR E MY C HILDREN ”

THERE WAS A GREAT SPLASHING AND DASH

I N !

SH E SWAYED THIS WAY AND THAT

SH E WAS TALK ING WITH MOTHER MUD

TURTLEMOTHER EEL OPENED HER ! I ! MOUTHUSED TO FOLLOW HIM AROUND

THE B IGGEST FROG AWAKENS

TH E Biggest Frog stretched the four

toes of h is right forefoot . Then he

stretched the four toes of h is left forefoot .

Next he stretched the five toes Of h is right

h indfoot . And last Of all he stretched

the four toes of his left h indfoot. Then

he stretched all seventeen toes at once .

He should have had eighteen toes to

stretch,l ike his friends and neighbors

,

but someth ing had happened to the

e ighteenth one a great many years be

fore None Of the pond people knew

what had happened to it,but som eth ing

had,and when the Tadpoles teased h im

to tel l them What,he only stared at them

with h is great eyes and said,

“ My chil

dren , that story is too sad to tell .

2 Among the Pond People

After the B iggest Frog had stretched

all h is toes,he stretched his legs and

twitched h is l ips . He poked h is head out

of the mud a very,very l ittle way,

and

saw a M innow swimming past. “ Good

day l said he . I s it t ime to get up P

Time exclaimed the M innow,look

ing at h im with her mouth open .

“ I

should say i t was. Why,the watercress

is growing

NOW every one who l ives in a pond

knows that when the watercress begins to

grow,i t is t ime for al l the winter sleepers

to awaken . The B iggest Frog crawled

out Of the mud and poked th isway and

that al l around the spot where he had

spent the cold weather. “Wake up he

said . Wake up 1 Wake up The water

grew dark and cloudy because he kicked up

so much mud,but when it began to clear

again he saw the heads of h is fri ends

peeping up everywhere out Of that part

Of the pond bottom . Seven Of them had

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join


e ight front toes,as well-bred frogs do

,and

al l h is friends toed in W i th the ir e ight

front toes . He toed out with h is n ine

back toes,and all h is friends toed out with

thei r ten back toes . One young Yellow

Brown Frog said,How I wish I did not

have that bothersome fi fth toe on my left

h indfoot I t is SO i n the way Besides,

there is such a style about having one’s

h ind feet d ifferent . ” He spoke j ust loud

enough for the B iggest Frog to hear.

Any one would know from th is remark

that he was young and fool ish,for when

people are wise they know that the most

beauti ful feet and ears and bodies are just

the way that they were first made to be .

Now the B iggest Frog swallowed a

great deal Of ai r,

fi ll ed the sacs on each

S ide of h is neck with it,Opened his big

mouth,and sang croakily

,Frogs Frogs

Frogs Frogs Frogs Frogs Frogs

Frogs ! And all the others sang,

Frogs Frogs Frogs as long as he.

The Biggest Frog Awakens 5

The Gulls heard it,and the Muskrats

heard it,and all were happy because

spring had come.

A beaut ifu l young Green Brown Frog,

who had never felt grown-up unt i l now ,

tried to s ing with the others,but She had

not a strong voice,and was glad enough

to stop and vis it with the B iggest Frog’s

S ister. “ Don ’t you W i sh we could s ing

as l oudly as they can P” said She.

NO,answered the B iggest Frog’s

S ister. I would rather S i t on the bank

and th ink about my spring work . Work

first, you know,

and pleasure afterward“ Oh said the Green Brown Frog.

Then you don’t want to s ing unti l your

work is done ?“ Y ou may be very sure I don ’t want

to sing then,

” answered the Older Frog.

“ I am too t i red . Besides,after the eggs

are laid,there is no reason for want ing to

s ing.

"

Why not ? asked the Green Brown


Frog.

“ I don ’t see what d ifference that

makes .“ That

,said the Older Frog wisely

,

“ i s

because you are young and have never

laid eggs . The great t ime for s i nging is

before the eggs are laid There is some

s inging afterward,but that is only be

cause people expect it of us,and not

because we have the same wish to s ing.

After she had said all th is,which was a

great deal for a Frog to say at once , she

Shut her b ig mouth and sl id her eyel ids

over her eyes .

There was another quest ion wh ich the

Green Brown Frog wanted very much to

ask,but she had good manners and knew

that it was impol ite to speak to any Frog

whose eyes were not open . SO she

closed her own eyes and tried to th ink

what the answer would be . When she

Opened them again,the B iggest Frog’s

S ister had hopped away,and in her place

sat the Yellow Brown Frog,the same

The B iggest Frog Awakens 7

handsome young fellow who had found

one Of h is toes in the way. I t qu ite

startled her to find him s itt ing so close

to her and she could n’

t th ink Of

anyth ing to say, so she j ust looked at

h im with her great beaut i ful eyes and

toed in a l ittle more with her front feet .

That made h im look at them and see

hOW pretty they were,although Of course

this was not the reason why she had

moved them .

The Yellow Brown Frog hopped a l ittle

nearer and sang as loudly as he could,

Frogs Frogs Frogs Frogs Frogs

Frogs ! Frogs ! Frogs ! ” Then she knew

that he was S inging j ust for her,and she

was exceedingly happy. She swallowed ai r

very fast because she seemed to be out

of breath from th inking what she Should

answer. She had wanted to ask the B ig

gest Frog’s S ister what she should say i f

any one sang to her alone She knew

that i f she wanted to get away from him ,


al l she had to do was to give a great

j ump and splash into the water. She

did n ’t want to go away,yet she made

bel ieve that she did,for she hOpped a

l i ttle farther from h im .

He knew she was only pretending,

though,for She had n ’

t hopped more than

the length Of a grass-blade. SO he fol

lowed her and kept on s inging. Because

she knew that she must say someth ing,she j ust opened her mouth and sang the

first words that she could th ink Of and

what she sang was,

“ Eggs ! Eggs ! Eggs !

Eggs ! Eggs ! Eggs ! Eggs ! Eggs ! AS

i t happened,th is was exactly What she

Should have sung,so he knew that She

l iked h im . They stayed together for a

long,long t ime

,and he sang a great deal

and very loudly,and she sang a l i ttle and

very softly.

After a while she remembered that

she was now a fully grown Frog and had

spring work to do,and she said to h im ,

1 0 Among the Pond People

ners Of her mouth . Frogs have excel

lent mouths for smil ing, but i t takes a

very broad smile to go way across,SO

when they smile a l ittle i t is only at the

corners . How are your eggs growing ?”

she asked .

Oh,

” answered the Green Brown

Frog sadly,

“ I can ’t tel l wh ich ones they

are .“ That ’

s j ust l ike a young Frog,said

the B iggest Frog’

s S ister. I S there any

reason why you should know which ones

they are P I t is n ’

t as though you were a

bird and had to keep them warm,or as

though you were a M ink and had to feed

your children . The sun wil l hatch them

and they will feed themselves all they

need .

I th ink,said the Green Brown Frog

,

that my eggs were a l i ttle better than

the rest“ Yes

,croaked the B iggest Frog’s Sis

ter,every Frog th inks that. ”

The Biggest Frog Awakens I I

And I wanted to have my own Tad

poles to look after,s ighed the Green

Brown Frog.

Why ? ” asked the B iggest Frog’s S is

ter. Can ’t you take any comfort with a

Tadpole unless you laid the egg from

which he was hatched ? I never know

one of my own eggs a day after it is la id .

There are such a lot float ing around that

they are sure to get m ixed . But I j ust

make the best Of i t . ”

H OW ?” asked the Green Brown

Frog,looking a l ittle more cheerful .

Oh,I Swim around and look at al l the

eggs,and whenever I see any Tadpoles

moving in them I th ink,

‘Those may be

mine " As they are hatched I help any

one who needs i t . Poor sort Of Frog it

would be who could n ’

t l ike other people ’s

Tadpoles“ I bel ieve I ’l l do that way,

said the

Green Brown Frog.

“ And then she

added,

“ what a comfort i t will be i f any


Of them are cross or rude,to th ink

,I ’

m

glad I don ’t know that they are mine.“ Y es

,

” said the B iggest Frog’s S ister.

I Often tell my brother that I p ity peo

ple who have to bring up their own ch il

dren . I t i s much pleasanter to let them

grow up as they do and then adopt the

best ones. D O you know,I have almost

decided that you are my daughter ? My

brother said th is morn ing that he thought

you looked l ike me . ”

THE DANCE OF TH E SAND

H I LL CRANES

ONE fine day in spring

,a great flock Of

Sand-hil l Cranes came from the

south . They were flying h igh and qu ietly

because the weather was bright . I f i t had

been stormy,or i f they had been flying

by night,as they usual ly d id

,they would

have stayed nearer the ground,and their

leader would have trumpeted loudly to let

h is followers know which way he was go

i ng. They would also have trumpeted ,but more softly

,to tell h im that they were

coming after.

They were a fine company to look upon,

orderly,strong

,and dign ified . Their long

necks were stretched out straight ahead,

thei r long legs straight behind,and they

1 3

I 4 Among the Pond People

beat the air with slow,regular strokes Of

the strong wings . As they came near the

pond,they flew lower and. lower

,until al l

swept down to the earth and al ighted,tal l

and stately,by the edge Of the water.

They had eaten noth ing for several

days,and were soon hunting for food

,

some on land,and some in the water

,for

they had stopped to feed and rest . Those

who hunted in the water,did SO very

qu ietly. A Crane would stand on one

l eg,with h is head against h is breast

,SO

qu ietly that one might th ink h im asleep !

but as soon as anyth ing eatable came near,

he would bend h is body,stretch out h is

neck,Open h is long

,slender bill

,and swal

low it at one gulp . Then he would seem

to fal l asleep again .

While most Of the Cranes were st il l

feeding,some Of them were stalking

through the woods and look ing th is wayand that

,flying up to stand on a tree , and

then flying down to stand on the ground .

The Dance O f the Sand-H ill Cranes 1 5

They were those who thought O f staying

there for the summer.

When the flock arose to fly on

again,eight Cranes stayed beh ind . They

watched thei r friends fly away,and stood

on the ground with their necks and bil ls

upl i fted and mouths Open,while they

trumpeted or called out,

Good-bye !

Stop for us in the fal l The flying

Cranes trumpeted back,We will

Don ’t forget us ! ”

That n ight they Slept near together,as

they had done when with the large flock,

and one Crane kept awake to watch for

danger while the others tu cked their heads

under their wings . They were fine look

ing,even when they slept

,and some peo

ple never look well unless they are

awake . They were brown ish-gray,with

no bright markings at all,and their long

legs gave them a very genteel look . The

tops Of thei r heads were covered with

warty red skin,from which grew short


black feathers that looked more l ike

hairs .

One morn ing,when the Cranes awak

ened,a fine young fellow began to strut

up and down before the rest,bowing low

,

and leap ing h igh into the air,and every

now and then whoop ing as loudly as he

could . The Gulls,who had spent the

winter by the pond,screamed to each

other,The Crane dance has begun !

Even the Frogs,who are afraid Of

Cranes,crept qu ietly near to look on .

I t was not long before another young

Crane began to Skip and hop and c ircle

around,droop ing h is wings and whoop

ing as he went . Every Crane danced,

brothers,and s isters

,and all

,and as they

did SO,they looked lovingly at each other

,

and admired the fine steps and enj oyed

the whoop ing. This went on unti l they

were so t i red they could hardly stand ,and had to stop to eat and rest.

When they were eat ing,the young fel


other leg for a wh ile,and thought how

sweet her vo ice sounded as She said it .

Then he thought that,i f she l iked the

place SO well,she might come there again

the next day . He wondered why he

could not come too,although everybody

knows that a Crane catches more if he

fishes alone .

The next morn ing,when the Cranes

danced , he bowed to her Oftener than to

any of the rest,and he thought she noticed

it . They danced until they were almost

too t ired to move,and indeed he had to

rest for a wh ile before he went to feed .

AS she stalked Off toward the pond,she

passed h im,and she said over her

shoulder,

“ I Should th ink you would be

hungry. I am almost starved .

” After

she had gone,he wondered why she had

said that . I f he had been an Older Crane ,and understood the ways Of the world a

l ittle better,he would have known that

she meant,

“ Are n ’

t you coming to that

WHAT FI NE. ! I ! MOUTHFULS you C AN TAKE !” Page r !

The Dance Of the Sand-H ill Cranes 1 9

fish ing-place ? I am go ing now. Sti ll

,

although he was such a young Crane and

had never danced unti l th is year,he be!

gan to th ink that she l iked h im and en

j oyed having h im near. SO he flew Off to

the fish ing-place where he had seen her

the day before,and he stalked along to

where she was,and stood close to her

while She fished . Once,when he caught

someth ing and swallowed i t at one gulp,

she looked admiringly at h im and said,

“ What fine,big mouthfuls you can

take !

That pleased h im,Of course

,because

Cranes th ink that big mouthfuls are the

best kind,so he tipped h is head to one

side,and watched his neck as the mouth

ful sl id down to h is stomach . He could

See it from the outs ide,a b ig bunch slowly

moving downward . He Often did th is

while he was eat ing. He thought i t very

interesting. He pitied short-necked peo

ple . Then he said,

“ Pooh ! I can take


bigger mouthfuls than that . Y ou ought

to see what big mouthfuls I can take. ”

She changed,and stood on her other

leg. I saw you danc ing this morn ing,

”

she said . Now it was not at al l queer

that she Should have seen h im dancing,

for all the eight C ranes had danced to

gether,but he thought it very wonderful .

“ Did you notice to whom I bowed ?

he asked. He was so excited that h is

knees shook,and he had to stand on both

legs at once to keep from fall ing. When

a Crane is as much excited as that,i t i s

pretty serious .

TO my sister ? she asked carelessly,

as she drew one Of her long tai l-feathers

through her beak .

N0,said he . “ I bowed to her sis

ter. He thought that was a very cl ever

th ing to say . But she suddenly raised

her head,and said “ There ! I have for

gotten someth ing,and flew Off

,as s he

had done the day before . He wondered

The Dance of the Sand-H ill Cranes 2 1

what i t was . Long afterward he asked

her what she had forgotten and she said

she could n ’

t remember— that she nevercould remember what she had forgotten .

I t made h im feel very badly to have

her leave h im so. He wanted a chance

to tell her someth ing,yet

,whenever he

tried to , i t seemed to stick in h is b ill . He

began to fear that she did n ’t l ike h im !and the next t ime the Cranes danced he

did n ’

t bow to her so much,but he strutted

and leaped and whooped even more .

And she strutted and leaped and

whooped almost as loudly as he . When

they were al l t ired out and had stopped

dancing,she said to h im

,I am so tired !

Let us go Off i nto the woods and rest . ”

You may be very sure he was glad to

go,and as he stalked Off with her

,he led

the way to a charming nest ing-place. He

did n’

t know just how to tel l what he

wanted to,but he had seen another Crane

bowing to her,and was afraid she might


marry him if he was not qu ick . Now he

pointed with one wing to th is nest ing

place,and said

,H OW would you l ike to

bu i ld a nest there

She looked where he had pointed,I

she said . Why,i t i s a lovely place

,but

I could never have a nest alone .Let me help you

,

” he said .

“ I want

to marry and have a home. ”

“Why,

” said she,as she preened her

feathers,

“ that is a very good plan .

When did you th ink Of i t ?

SO they were married,and Mrs . Sand

H ill Crane O ften told her friends after

ward that Mr. Crane was SO much in love

with her that she j ust field to marry h im .

They were very,very happy

,and after a

wh ile—but that is another story.


body which Father M innows wear in the

summer-t ime . That is,most Of them do

,

but some wear purple . “What is the

matter ? ” he asked again,balanc ing h im

sel f with h is top fin and h is two h ind

ones

Then al l the l ittle M innows spoke at

once. “ He says that when he grows up

he is going to be a Bullhead,and frighten

al l the small fishes ! and she says that She

i s go ing to be a Sucker,and l ie around in

the mud ! and we say that Suckers are

lazy,and they ar e lazy

,are n ’

t they“ I am surprised at you ,

” began the

Father M innow severely,

“ to th ink that

you shou ld talk such nonsense. You

ought to know

But j ust then a Mother M innow swam

up to h im .

“ The Snapp ing Turtle is

looking for you,

she said . Father M in

now hurried away and she turned to the

l ittl e ones . “ I heard what you were

saying,

” she remarked,with a twinkle in

The Young M innow 25

her flat,round eyes . “Which of you is

going to be a Wild Duck Won ’t some

body be a Frog ? ” She had had more

experience in bri nging up ch ildren than

Father M innow,and she did n ’t scold so

much . She did make fun Of them

though,somet imes ! and you can do al

most anyth ing with a young Minnow if

you love h im a great deal and make fun

Of him a l ittle .“Why-ee l said the young Minnows .

We would n ’

t th ink Of being Wild

Ducks,and we could n

’

t be Frogs,you

know. Frogs have legs—four Of them .

A fish could n ’

t be a Frog if he wanted to

NO,

” said Mother M innow.

“ A fish

cannot be anyth ing but a fish,and a Min

now cannot be anyth ing but a M innow.

SO i f you wil l try to be just as good

Minnows as you can,we will let the l ittle

Bullheads and Suckers do their own

growing up .

”

She looked at them al l again with her


flat,round eyes

,which saw SO much and

were always Open,because there was

noth ing to make them shut . She saw

one t iny fel low h iding beh ind h is brother.“ Have you torn your fin again ? She

asked .

Yes ’m,j ust a l ittle

,said he . “ A

boy caught me when he was in wading,

and I tore it when I flopped away from

him .

“ Dreadful said she. How you do

look ! I f you are SO careless,you will

soon not have a whole fin to your back

Or your front e ither. Children,you

must remember to swim away from boys .

When the COWS wade in to drink,you

may stay among them,i f you wish .

They are friendly. We pond people are

afraid Of boys,although some Of them

are said not to be dangerous . ”

“ Pooh ! ” said one young Minnow.

All the pond people are not so afraid !

The Bloodsuckers say they l ike them .

”

The Young M innow 2 7

The Mother M innow looked very se

vere when he said th is,but she only re

pl ied,

“ Very well . When you are a

Bloodsucker you may stay near boys .

As long as you are a M innow,you must

stay away.

”

NOW,

” she added,

“ swim along,the

whole school Of you ! I am tired and

want a nap in the pondweed .

”

SO they

all swam away,and she wriggled her s il

very brown body into the soft green

weeds and had a good Sleep . She was

careful to h ide hersel f,for there were

some people i n the pond whom she did

not want to have find her ! and , being a

fish,she could not hear very dist inctly i f

they came near O f course her eyes

were open even when she was asleep,be

cause she had no eyel ids , but they were

not working although they were Open .

That is an uncomfortabl e th ing about be

i ng a fish—one cannot hear much . One

cannot taste much either,or feel much

,


yet when one has always been a fish and

is used to it,i t is not so hard .

She slept a long time,and then the

whole school Of young M innows came to

look for her. We are afraid,

” they

cried .

“We feel so very queerly. We

don ’t know how we feel,either

,and that

i s the worst part Of it . I t might be in our

stomachs,or i t m ight be i n our fins

,and

perhaps there is someth ing wrong with

our gil l-covers . Wake up and tel l us

what is the matter.

The Mother M innow awakened and

she felt queerly too,but

,being Older

,she

knew what was the matter. “ That,

” she

said,is the storm feel i ng.

But,

” said the young M innows,

“ there

is n ’

t any storm .

”

N0,

she answered wisely. Not

And there has n ’t been any,they

NO,

she answered again .

“ The

The Young M innow 29

storm you feel is the storm that is going

to be .

“ And shal l we always feel i t so ? they

asked .

“ Always before a storm,she said .

Why asked the young M innows .

Because,

” said she. There is no an

swer to that quest ion,but j ust because. ’

When the storm comes you cannot smell

your food and find it,so you must eat all

you can before then . Eat every/Ming you

can find and be qu ick .

” As she spoke

she took a great mouthful Of pondweed

and swallowed it .

All but one Of the young Minnows

swam qu ickly away to do as she had told

them to . This young M innow wanted to

know just how and why and all about it,so he stayed to ask quest ions . Y ou know

there are some quest ions which fishes

cannot answer,and some which Oxen can

not answer,and some which nobody can

answer ! and when the Mother M innow


told the young Minnows What she did .

she had noth ing more to tell . But there

are some young Minnows who never

will be sat isfied,and who tease

,and tease

,

and tease,and tease .

Hurry along and eat al l you can,

said the Mother M innow to h im again .

I want to know,

” said he,Open ing h is

mouth very wide indeed and breath ing in

a great deal Of water as he spoke,

“ I

want to know where I feel queerly.

”

“ I can ’t tel l,said the Mother M in

now,between mouthfuls . NO fish can

tell

Well what makes me feel queerly

there“ The storm

,said she.

How does it make me feel queerly ?

I don ’t know,

” said the Mother M in

now.

“Who does know ? asked the young

M innow.

“ Nobody,said she

,swallowing some


water the fishes lay together on the

bottom,and wondered how long it would

last,and hoped it would not be a great

,

great wh ile before they could smel l their

food again .

One l ittl e fellow was more impat ient

than the others. Did n’

t you eat

enough to last you they said .

“ I did n’

t eat anyth ing,he answered .

Not anyth ing they exclaimed .

Why not

Because ! said he. And that was

not right,for he did know the reason .

H is mother looked at h im,and he looked

at her,and she had a twinkle in her round ,

flat eyes . “ Poor ch ild she thought .

He must be hungry .

” But she said

noth ing.

TH E STICKLEBACK FATHER

NOBODY can truthful ly say that the

Sticklebacks are not good fathers .

There are no other fish fathers who work

so hard for their ch i ldren as the St ickle

backs do . As to the St ickleback Moth

ers—well,that is d ifferent .

This part icular St ickleback Father had

l ived,ever S ince he had left the nest

,with

a l ittle company Of h is friends in a qu iet

place near the edge Of the pond . Some

times,when they tired Of staying qu ietly

at home,they had made Short j ourneys

up a brook that emptied into the pond .

I t was a brook that flowed gently over

an even bed,else they would never have

gone there,for Sticklebacks l ike qu iet

waters . When they swam in th is l ittle3

33


stream,they met the Brook Trout

,who

were much larger than they,and who

were the most important people there .

NOW th is Stickleback was a year Old and

knew much more than he d id the summer

before When the alder tassels and pussy

willows hung over the edge Of the pond

i n the spring-t ime,he began to th ink seri

ously Of l ife . He was no longer really

young,and the days were past in wh ich

he was contented to j ust swim and eat

and sleep . I t was t ime he Should bu ild a

home and raise a family i f he wanted to

ever be a grandfather. He had a few

relat ives who were great-grandfathers,and

one who was a great-great-grandfather.

That does not Often happen,because to

be a Stickleback Great-great-grandfather,

one must be four years Old,and few

Sticklebacks l ive to that age.

As he began to th ink about these th ings,

he left the company Of h is friends and went

to l ive by h imsel f. He chose a place near

The Stickleback Father 35

the edge Of the pond to be h is home and

he brushed the pond-bottom there with

h is tai l until he had swept away all the

loose sticks and broken shells . He told

some Pond Snails,who were there

,that

they must move away because he wanted

the place . At first they did n’

t want to

go,but when they saw how fierce he

looked,they thought about it again and

decided that perhaps there were other

places which would su it them qu ite as

wel l indeed,they might find one that

they l iked even better. Besides,as one

Of them said to h is brother,they had to

remember that i n ponds it i s always right

for the weak people to give up to the

strong people .“ I t wil l take us qu ite a wh ile to move

,

they said to h im,

“ for you know we can

not hurry,but we will begin at once .

”

All the rest Of that day each Snail was

lengthening and shorten ing h is one foot,

wh ich ~was h is only way Of walking. You


can see how slow that must be,for a Snai l

cannot l i ft h is foot from one place and put

i t down in another,or he would have

noth ing to stand on while he was l i ft ing it .

This was a very hard day for them,yet

they were cheerful and made the best of it .

Well,

” said one,as he stopped to rest

h is foot,I ’m glad we don ’t have to

bu ild a home when we do find the right

place . H ow I p ity people who have to

do that !“ Yes

,said h is brother. There are

not many so sure Of their homes as we.

And what people want Of SO much room,

I can ’t understand A Muskrat told me

he wanted room to turn around in h is

house. I don ’t see what use there is in

turn ing round,do you

NO,

” answered the other Snail,begin

n ing to walk again .

“ I t is j ust one Of

h is s i l ly ideas . My shell i s b ig enough to

let me draw in my whole body, and that

is house room enough for any person

The Stickleback Father 3 7

The Stickleback had not meant to look

fierce at the Pond Snails . He had done

so because he could n ’

t help it . All h is fins

were bristl i ng with sharp po ints Of bone,

and he had extra bone-points st icking out

of h is back,besides wearing a great many

Of h is flat bones on the outside . All h is

family had these extra bones,and that

was why they were cal led St icklebacks .

They were a brave family and not afraid

Of many th ings,although they were SO

small . There came a t ime when the

St ickleback Father wanted to look fierce,

but that was later. Now he went to

work to bu ild h is nest .

First he made a l ittl e hollow in the

pond-bottom,and l ined it with watergrass

and tiny pieces Of roots . Next,he made

the s ide-walls Of the same th ings,and last

Of all,the roof. When it was done

,he

swam carefully into i t and looked around .

U nder and beside and over h im were soft

grasses and roots. At each end was an


Open doorway.

“ I t is a good nest,he

said,

“ a very good nest for my first one.

Now I must ask some Of my friends to

lay eggs in it for me. ”

Before do ing th is,he went to look at

the homes bu ilt by h is neighbors . After

he left the company i n the qu iet pool,

many others did the same,unti l the only

St icklebacks left there were the dull-col

ored ones,the egg-layers . The nest

bu ilders had been dull-colored,too

,but in

the spring-t ime there came beaut iful red

and blue markings on thei r bodies,unti l

now they were very handsome fel lows .

I t is sad to tel l,st il l i t is true

,that they

also became very cross at th is t ime. Per

haps i t was the work and worry Of nest

bu ilding that made them SO,yet

,whatever

i t was,every bright-colored St ickleback

wanted to fight every other bright-colored

St ickleback. That was how it happened

that,when th is one went to look at the

nest Of an Old friend,with whom he had

THEN THEY SWAM AT EAC H OTHER .Pag e 39


played ever s ince he was hatched,th is

same friend called out,

“ Don ’t you come

near my nest

The vis it ing Stickleback repl ied,

“ I

shall i f I want to Then they swam at

each other and flopped and splashed and

pushed and jabbed unti l both were very

t ired and sore,and each was glad to stay by

his own home . This was the t ime when

they wanted to look fierce .

Soon the dull-colored Sticklebacks came

swimming past,waving the ir tails grace

fully,and talking to each other. NOW

this fine fellow,who had sent the Snails

away and bu il t h is nest,who had fought

h is Old friend and come home again,swam

up to a dull-colored Stickleback,and said

,

“Won ’t you lay a few eggs in my nest ?

I ’

m sure you will find it comfortable .

”

She answered,

“ Why,yes ! I would

n’

t mind laying a few there . And she

tried to look as though she had not ex

pec ted the invitat ion . While she was


careful ly laying the eggs in the nest,he

stood ready to fight anybody who dis

turbed her. She came out after a while

and swam away. Before she went,she

said,

“ Are n ’

t you ashamed to fight so ?

We dull-colored ones never fight . ” She

held her fins very st i ff as she spoke,be

cause she thought it her duty to scold

him . The dull-colored Sticklebacks Often

did th is . They thought that they were a

l ittl e better than the others so they swam

around together and talked about th ings,

and somet imes forgot how hard it was to

be the nest-bu ilder and stay at home and

work Then they cal led upon the bright

colored St icklebacks,for they really l iked

them very much,and told them what

they should do . That was why th is one

said,

“We dull-colored ones never fight . ”

Have you ever been red and blue

asked the nest-bu ilder.

N—no,

” said she.

“ But I don ’t see

what di fference that makes. ”

The Stickleback Father 4 1

Well,i t does make a di fference

,said

he . “When a fellow is red and blue,he

can ’t help fight ing. I ’l l be as good-na

tured as any of you after I stop being red

and blue .

”

O f course she could not say anyth ing

more after that,SO she swam Off to her

s isters . The bright-colored St ickleback

looked at the eggs She had laid . They

were st icky,l ike the eggs Of all fishes

,so

that they stuck to the bottom Of the nest .

He covered them careful ly,and after that

he was real ly a Stickleback Father. I t is

true that he did not have any Stickleback

ch ildren to swim around him and Open

their dear l ittle mouths at h im,but he

knew that the eggs would hatch soon,and

that after he had buil t a nest and covered

the eggs in it,the t iny Sticklebacks were

beginn ing to grow.

However,he wanted more eggs in h is

nest,5 0 he watched for another dull

colored Stickleback and called her i n to


help h im . He did th is unti l he had

almost an hundred eggs there,and all

th is t ime he had fought every bright

colored Stickleback who came near h im .

He became very t ired indeed but he had

to fight, you know,

because he was red

and blue. And he had covered all the

eggs and guarded them,else they would

never have hatched .

The dull-colored St icklebacks were also

t i red . They had been swimming from

nest to nest,laying a few eggs in each .

NOW they went Off together to a qu iet

pool and ate everyth ing they could find to

eat,and vis ited with each other

,and said

it was a shame that the bright-colored

Sticklebacks had fought so,and told how

they thought l ittle Sticklebacks should be

brought up .

And now the red and blue markings on

the Stickleback Father grew paler and

paler,unti l he did not have to fight at

all,and could call upon h is friends and


see how their ch i ldren were hatch ing.

One fine day,his fi rst ch ild broke the

shell,and then another and another

,unti l

he had an hundred beaut i ful St ickleback

babies to feed . He worked hard for

them,and some n ights

,when he could

stop and rest,h is fins ached as though

theyWould drop Off. But they never did .

As the Stickleback ch ildren grew

stronger,they swam Off to take care Of

themselves,and he had less to do . When

the last had gone,he left the Old nest and

went to the pool where the dull-colored

Sticklebacks were They told h im he

was not looking wel l,and that he had n ’

t

managed the ch ildren right,and that they

thought he tried to do too much .

He was too t i red to talk about it,so he

just said , Perhaps,

” and began to eat

someth ing. Yet,down in h is fatherly

heart he knew it was worth do ing. He

knew,too

,that when spring should come

once more,he would become red and blue


again,and bu ild another nest

,and fight

and work and love as he had done before .

“ There is noth ing in the world better

than working for one ’s own l i ttl e Stickle

backs,

” said he.


it,but they went to Sl eep for the n ight

soon after she got up , and whenever she

saw them coming she flew away.

“ I do

not seem to feel hungry,

” said she,

“ so

why should I eat ? Besides,

”

she added,

I could n’

t eat i f I wanted to,my mouth

is so small and weak. I ate a great deal

wh ile I was growing—qu ite enough to lastme and it saves t ime not to bother with

hunt ing food now.

”

When her eggs hatched,the larvae

were slender,soft

,s i! -footed bab ies called

Caddis Worms . They were white,and

they showed as plainly in the water as a

pond-l i ly does on the top of i t . I t is not

safe to be white i f one i s to l ive in the

water ! certainly not unless one can swim

fast and turn qu ickly. And there is a

reason for th is,as any one of the pond

people wil l tel l you . Even the fishes

wear all thei r wh ite on the under side Of

their bodies, so that if they swim near the

top of the water,a hungry Fish Hawk is

The Careless Caddis Worm 47

not so l ikely to see them and pounce

down on them .

The Caddis Worms soon found that

white was not a good color to wear,and

they talked Of i t among themselves . They

were very bright larvae. One day the

biggest one was standing on a stem Of p ick

erel-weed,when his s ister came toward h im .

She did not come very fast,because she

was ne ither swimming nor walking,but

bit ing herself along. All the Caddis Worms

did th is at t imes,for their legs were weak .

She reached as far forward as she could,

and fastened her strong jaws in the

weed,then she gave a jerk and pulled her

body ahead .

“ I t is a very good way to

travel,

” said she,

“ and such a saving Of

one’s legs . ” Now she was i n so great a

hurry that somet imes when she pulled

hersel f ahead,she turned a half-somersault

and came down on her back .

What is the matter ? ” cal led the B ig

gest Caddis Worm . Don ’t hurry so .

48 Among the Pond PeOpl

There is lots Of t ime . That was j ust

h im,for he was lazy. Everybody said so .

“ I must hurry,

” said she,and she

breathed very fast with the wh ite breath

ing hairs that grew on both s ides Of her

body. She p icked herself up from her

last somersault and stood bes ide her

brother,near enough to speak qu ite softly.

I have been gett ing away from Belos

toma,

”

she said ,“ and I was dreadfully

afraid he would catch me.“Well

,you ’re al l right now

,are n ’

t

you ? ” asked her brother. And that was

also l ike h im . As long as he could have

enough to eat and was comfortable,he

did not want to th ink about anything

unpleasant .

NO,I ’m not

,she answered ,

“and I

won ’t be so long as any hungry fish or

water-bug can see me SO plain ly. I ’m

tired Of being white .

”

“ Y ou are not so white as you were ,said her brother. None of us ch ildren

The Careless Caddis Worm 49

are . Our heads and the front part Of our

bodies are turn ing brown and gett ing

harder. That was true,and he was

particularly hard-headed .

“ Yes,but What about the rest Of us

said she,and surely there was some ex

cuse for her if she was impatient . “ I f

Belostoma can see part Of me and chase

that,he wil l find the rest Of m e rather

near by.

”

Keep qu iet then,and see if you don ’t

get hard and brown all over,

” said he .

I never shall,

” said she. “ I went to

the Clams and asked them if I would,and

they said ‘ NO .

’

I’

m going to bu ild a

house to cover the back part Of my body,

and you ’

d better do the same th ing.

The B iggest Caddis Worm looked very

much surprised .

“ Whatever made you

think Of that said he .“ I suppose because there was n ’t any

th ing else to th ink Of,said she.

“One

has to th ink Of someth ing.

”


I don ’t,

” said be.

She started away to Where her other

brothers and s isters were .

“ Where are

you going ? cried he .

“ Going to bu i ld my house,answered

she. “ Y ou’

d better come too.

Not now,said he. I am wait ing to

get the rest Of my breakfast . I ’

11 come

by and by.

”

The B iggest Caddis Worm stood on

the p ickerel-weed and ate h is breakfast .

Then he stood there a While longer. I

do not th ink i t is well to work right after

eating,he said . Below him in the water,

h is brothers and s isters were bus ily

gathering t iny st icks,stones

,and b its Of

broken shell,with which to make thei r

houses . Each Caddis Worm found h is

own,and fastened them together with a

sort Of S i lk which he pulled out Of h is

body. They had nobody to show them

how,so each planned to su it h imsel f

,and

no two were exactly al ike.

The Careless Caddis Worm 5 1

I ’m going to make my house big

enough so I can pul l in my head and legs

when I want to,

” said one.

SO am I,cried al l the other Caddis

Worms .

After a while,somebody said

,

“ I ’m

going to have an open door at the back

O f my house. ” Then each O f h is busy

brothers and s isters cried,SO am I .

When the t iny houses were done,each

Caddis Worm crawled ins ide of h is own,

and lay with head and legs outs ide the

front door. The white part Of their

bodies d id not Show at all,and

,i f they

wanted to do so,they could pul l thei r

heads in . Even Belostoma,the Giant

Water-Bug,might have passed close to

them then and not seen them at all .“ Let ’

s hook ourselves in cried one

Caddis Worm,and all the others an

swered,Let ’

s .

”

SO each hooked h imsel f i n with the two

stout hooks which grew at the end Of h is


body,and there they were as snug and

comfortable as Clams . About th is t ime the

B ig Brother came S lowly along the stem

Of p ickerel-weed.

“What,said he , “ you

have n ’

t got your houses done al ready ? ”

“ Yes,answered the

‘

rest j oyfully .

See us pul l i n our heads . ” And they

all pulled in thei r heads and poked them

out again . He was the only wh ite-bodied

person in S ight .“ I must have a home

,said he .

“ I

wish one Of you Worms would give me

yours . Y ou could make yourself an

other,you know . There is lots more

stuff. ”

“ Make it yourself,they repl ied .

Help yoursel f to stu ff.

But I don ’t know how,he said

,

and you do .

“ Whose fault is that ? asked h is s is

ter. Then she was afraid that he might

th ink her cross,and she added qu ickly,

We ’l l tel l you how,i f you ’

ll begin .

”


not well fastened together,and every day

he said,

“ I really must fix it to-morrow .

But when to-morrow came,i t always

proved to be tod ay,and

,bes ides

,he usu

ally found someth ing more interest ing to

be done. I t took h im a great deal Of

t ime to change h is skin,and that could

not be easi ly put Off. He grew so fast

that he was l ikely to awaken almost any

morn ing and find h is head poking through

the top Of h is skin,and

,lazy as he was , he

would not have the pond people see h im

around with a crack in the skin Of h is

head,right where i t showed . SO when

th is happened,he always pulled h is body

through the crack,and threw the Old skin

away. There was sure to be a whole

new one underneath,you know.

When they had changed their skin

many t imes,the Caddis Worms became

more qu iet and thoughtful . At last the

sister who had first planned to bu ild

houses,fastened hers to a stone

,and spun


gratings across both its front and its back

doors . I am going to sleep,

”

she said,

to grow my feelers and get ready to fly

and breathe air. I don ’t want anybody

to awaken me. All I want to do is to

Sleep and grow and breathe. The water

wil l come in through the gratings,so I

Shall be al l right . I could n ’

t sleep in a

house where there was not plenty Of fresh

water to breathe .

” Then she cuddled

down and dozed Off,and when her brothers

and S isters spoke of her, they called her“ the Caddis Nymph .

They did not speak Of her many t imes,

however,for they soon fastened their

houses to someth ing sol id,and spun grat

ings i n their doorways and went to Sleep .

One day a Water-Adder came around

where al l the Caddis houses were. Um

hum ,

” said he to h imself. “ There used

to be a n ice lot Of Caddis Worms around

here,and now I have n ’

t seen one i n ever

80 long. I suppose they are h idden away


somewhere asleep . Well,I must go away

from here and find my dinner. I am

nearly starved . The front hal f Of my

stomach has n ’

t a th ing in it . He whisked

h is tail and went away,but that wh isk h it

a t iny house Of st icks , stones, and bits Of

broken shell,and a fat sleep ing Caddis

Nymph rol led out . I t was the B iggest

Brother.

Soon Belostoma,the Giant Water-Bug

,

came that way.

“What is th is he ex

claimed,as he saw the S leep ing Caddis

Nymph . Somebody bu il t a poor house

to sleep in . Y ou need to be cared for,young Caddis . He p icked up the sleep

ing Caddis Nymph in h is stout forelegs

and swam Off Nobody knows j ust what

happened after that .

When the other Caddis Nymphs awak

ened,they bit through their grat ings and

had a good vis it before they crawled out

Of the pond into their new home, the

air. Has anybody seen my biggest


brother ? asked one Nymph Of another,

but everybody answered , NO .

”

Each looked all around with h is two far

apart eyes,and then they decided that he

must have awakened first and left the

water before them . But you know that

he could not have done so,because he

could never be a Caddis Fly unless he fin

ished the Nymph-sleep in h is house , and

he did not do that . He had stopped be

i ng a Caddis Worm when he turned into

a Caddis Nymph . Nobody will ever

know j ust what did become Of h im unless

Belostoma tells and Belostoma is not

l ikely to tell .

THE TADPOLE WHO WANTED

TO BE GROWN -UP

!T was a bright

,warm April day when

the First Tadpole Of the season ate h is

way out Of the j el ly-covered egg in which

he had come to l ife . He was a very tiny,

dark brown fellow. I t would be hard to

tell j ust what he did look l ike,for there is

noth ing in the world that one Tadpole

looks l ike unless it i s another Tadpole.

He had a very small head with a busy

l ittle mouth Open ing on the front s ide Of

i t j ust above each end Of th is mouth was

a sh in i ng black eye,and on the lower side

Of h is head was a very W iggly tail . Some

where between h is head and the t ip O f th is

were h is small stomach and places for legs ,but one could not see al l that in looking at

58

The Tadpole 59

h im . I t seemed as i f what was not head

was tail,and what was not tai l was head .

When the First Tadpole found himsel f

free i n the water,he swam along by the

great green floating j elly-mass Of Frogs’

eggs,and pressed h is face up close to fi rst

one egg and then another. He saw other

Tadpoles almost as large as he,and they

were wriggl ing ins ide thei r egg homes.

He could n ’

t talk to them through the

j el ly-mass—he could only look at them,

and they looked green ish because he saw

them through green j elly. They were

really dark brown,l ike h im . He wanted

them to come out to play with h im and he

tried to Show them that it was more inter

esting where he was,so he Opened and

shut h is hard l ittle j aws very fast and took

big Tadpole-mouthfuls Of green j elly.

Perhaps i t was seeing th is,and perhaps

i t was because the warm sunsh ine made

them restless—but for some reason theshut-in Tadpoles n ibbled busily at the


egg-covering and before long were in

the water with their brother. They all

looked al ike,and nobody except that one

particular Tadpole knew who had been

the first to hatch H e never forgot i t,

and indeed why should he ? I f one has

ever been the First Tadpole,he is qu ite

sure to remember the lonel iness Of it al l

h is l i fe .

Soon they dropped to the bottom of

the pond and met thei r neighbors . They

were such l ittle fell ows that nobody paid

much attent ion to them . The Older pond

people O ften seemed to forget that the

Tadpoles heard what they said,and cared

too. The M innows swam in and out

among them,and hit them with their fins

,

and slapped them with their tai ls,and

called them “ l ittle-big-mouths , and the

Tadpoles could n ’

t hit back because they

were SO l ittle . The M innows did n’

t hurt

the Tadpoles,but they made fun Of them ,

and even the smallest M innow would swim


down to look the Tadpoles over and de

cide which were hers . Why,you won ’t

always want to breathe water. Before

long you wil l have to breathe air by swal

l owing it,and then you cannot stay long

under water. I must go now. I am

qu ite out Of breath . Good-bye

Then the Tadpoles looked again at

each other. She did n ’

t tel l us what to

do with our breath ing-gills,they said .

One Of the Tadpoles who had hatched

last,swam up to the F irst Tadpole .

“ Your breath ing-gil ls are not SO large as

mine,

”

She said .

“ They surely are he exclaimed,for

he felt very big indeed,having been the

fi rst to hatch .

Oh,but they are not ! cried all h is

friends . “ They don ’t st ick out as they

used to . And that was true,for h is

breath ing-gills were s inking into h is head,

and they found that th is was happen ing

to al l the Older Tadpoles .

The Tadpole 63

The next day they began going to the

top to breathe air, the O ldest ones first,

and so on until they were all there . They

thought it much pleasanter than the bot

tom Of the pond,but i t was not so safe .

There were more dangers to be watched

for here,and some Of the careless young

Tadpoles never l ived to be Frogs . I t is

sad,yet it i s always SO .

Sometimes the Frogs came to see them,

and once once,after the Tadpoles had

gotten their h indlegs,the B iggest Frog

sat i n the marsh near by and told them

stories Of h is Tadpolehood . He said that

he was always a very good l ittl e Tadpole,

and always did as the Frogs told h im to

do and that he was such a promising l it

tle fellow that every Mother Frog in the

pond was sure that he had been hatched

from one of her eggs .

And were you ? ” asked one Tadpole ,who never l istened carefully

,and so was

always asking stupid quest ions .


The B iggest Frog looked at h im very

sternly . NO,said he

,I was not.

Each wanted me as her son,but I never

knew to which I belonged . I never

knew Still,

” he added,i t does not so

much matter who a Frog’s mother is,i f

the Frog is truly great . ” Then be fi l led

the sacs on each s ide Of h is neck with air,

and croaked loudly. H is s ister afterward

told the Tadpoles that he was th inking O f

one Of the forest people , the Ground Hog,wh o was very proud because he could re

member h is grandfather.

The Green Brown Frog came Often to

look at them and see how they were

growing. She was very fond of the First

Tadpole. Why, you have your fore

legs she exclaimed onemorn ing. H ow

you do grow“What wil l I have next ? he asked ,more legs or another tail

The Green Brown Frog smiled the whole

length Of her mouth,and that was a very

The Tadpole 65

broad smile indeed .

“ Look at me,she

said .

“What change must come next to

make you look l ike a Frog ? ”

“ You have n ’

t any tai l , he said slowly.

I s that al l the d i fference between us

Tadpoles and Frogs“ That is al l the di fference now

,she

answered,

“ but it wil l take a long,l ong

time for your tail to d isappear. I t wil l

happen with that qu ite as i t d id with your

breath ing-gil ls . You wil l grow bigger and

bigger and bigger,and it wil l grow smaller

and smaller and smaller,until some day

you will find yourself a Frog.

” She shut

her mouth to get her breath,because

, you

know,Frogs can only breathe a l ittle

through thei r skins,and then only when

they arewet. Most Of their ai r they take

in through their noses and swallow with

the ir mouths closed . That is why they

cannot make long speeches . When the ir

mouths are open they cannot swallow air.

After a wh ile she spoke again .

“ I t

66 Among the Pond Peopl

takes as many years to make a newly

hatched Tadpole into a fully grown Frog,

she said,

“ as there are toes on one Of your

h indfeet .

The First Tadpole d id not know what

a year was,but he felt su re from the way

in which she spoke that it was a long,long

t ime,and he was i n a hurry to grow up .

“ I want to be a Frog sooner ! he said,

crossly. I t is n ’

t any fun at all being a

Tadpole. The Green Brown Frog swam

away,he was becoming SO disagreeable .

The First Tadpole became crosser and

crosser,and was very unreasonable . He

did not th ink Of the pleasant th ings wh ich

happened every day,but only Of the trying

ones . He did not know that Frogs Often

wished themselves Tadpoles again,and he

sulked around in the pondweed al l day.

Every t ime he looked at one Of his h ind

feet i t reminded him of what the Green

Brown Frog had said,and he even grew

out Of pat ience with h is tai l the same


Your what ? said the Snapp ing Tur

tle,i n h is most surprised way.

My tail,

” answered the First Tadpole,

who had never had a tail snapped Off,and

thought i t could be easi ly done . I want

to be a Frog to-day and not wait.

Certainly,said the Snapp ing Turtle .

With pleasure NO trouble at all

Anyth ing else I can do for you

NO,thank you

,

”

said the F irst Tad

pole,

“ only you won ’t snap Off too much,

wil l you

Not a b it,answered the Snapp ing

Turtle,with a queer look in h is eyes .

And if any Of your friends are in a hurry

to grow up,I shal l be glad to help them .

”

Then he swam toward the F irst Tadpole

and did as he had been asked to do .

The next morn ing all the other Tadpo les

crowded around to look at the First Tad

pole . Why-ee they cried .

“Where

is your tai l

I don ’t know,he answered

,

“ but I

The Tadpole 69

th ink the Snapping Turtle could tell

you .

“ What is th is ? asked the Green

Brown Frog,swimming up to them .

Did the Snapp ing Turtle try to catch

you ? Y ou poor l ittle fel low ! H ow

did it happen She was very fond Of

the First Tadpole,and had about dec ided

that he must be one of her sons .“Well

,

” he said slowly,for he did n ’t

want the other Tadpoles to do the same

th ing,

“ I met h im last even ing and he

Snapped at you I ” exclaimed the

Green Brown Frog. I t is lucky for

you that he does n ’

t bel ieve i n eat ing

hearty suppers,that is al l I have to say !

But you are a very fool ish Tadpole not

to keep out of h is way,as you have always

been told you must . ”

Then the First Tadpole lost h is temper.

I ’

m not fool ish,and I ’

m not a Tadpole,

”

he said . I asked h im to snap it Off,and

now I am a Frog !


Oho ! said the vo ice of the Yellow

Brown Frog beh ind h im . Y ou are a

Frog,are you ? Let ’s hear you croak

then . Come Out on the bank and have a

hopping match with me

I—I don ’t croak yet,stammered the

First Tadpole,

“a —and I don ’t care to

hop

Y ou are j ust a tailless Tadpole,said

the Yellow Brown Frog sternly.

“ Don ’t

any more of you youngsters try such a

plan,or some Of you wil l be Tadpole-less

tai ls and a good many Of you won’t be

anyth ing.

”

The Old Snapping Turtle waited al l

morn ing for some more Tadpoles who

wanted to be made into Frogs,but none

came . The B iggest Frog croaked

hoarsely when he heard of it . “ Tails !

Tails ! Tails ! Tails ! Tails ! Tails ! Tails !

Tails ! said he .

“ That youngster wil l

never be a strong Frog. Tadpoles must

be Tadpoles,tails and all

,for a long time,

The Tadpole 7 1

i f they hope to ever be really fine Frogs

l ike me . And that is so,as any Frog

will tel l you .

The Green Brown Frog s ighed as she

crawled out on the bank .

“What a si lly

Tadpole,

” she said !“ I ’m glad he is n ’t

my ch ild

TH E RUNAWAY WATER

SP I DERS

HEN the l i ttle Water Sp iders first

opened their eyes,and th is was as

soon as they were hatched,they found

themselves i n a cosy home Of one room

which their mother had bu il t under the

water. This room had no window and

only one door. There was no floor at all .

When Father Stickleback had asked Mrs .

Sp ider why she did not make a floor,she

had looked at h im in great surprise and

said,

“ Why,i f I had bu il t one

,I should

have no place to go in and out .

” She

real ly thought h im qu ite stupid not to

th ink of that . I t Often happens , you know,

that really clever people th ink each other

stup id,j ust because they l ive i n different

72

The Runaway Water Sp iders 73

ways . Afterward , Mrs . Water Sp ider saw

Father Stickleback’s nest,and understood

why he asked that question .

When her home was done,i t was half

as large as a b ig acorn and a charming

place for Water Sp ider bab ies . The side

wal ls and the rounding ceil ing were all Of

the finest Spider s ilk,and the bottom was

j ust one round doorway. The house was

bu ilt under the water and fastened down

by t iny ropes Of Sp ider s i lk which were

t ied to the stems Of pond plants . Mrs .

Water Spider looked at it with a happy

smile . Next I must fi l l i t with ai r,

” said

she,

“ and then it wi ll be ready. I am out

Of breath now.

”

She crept up the stem of the nearest

plant and sat i n the air for a few minutes,

eating her lunch and resting. Next she

walked down the stem unt i l j ust the end

of her body was i n the air. She stood so,

with her head down,then gave a l ittle

j erk and dove to her home. As she


j erked,she crossed her h indlegs and

caught a small bubble Of air between them

and her body. When she reached her

home,she went qu ickly in the open door

way and let go Of her bubble. I t d id not

fal l downward to the floor,as bubbles do

in most houses,and there were two rea

sons for th is . I n the fi rst place,there was

no floor. I n the second place,air always

fal ls upward in the water. This fel l up un

t i l i t reached the rounded ce il ing and had

to stop . J ust as i t fel l , a drop Of water

went out through the open doorway. The

home had been ful l Of water, you know,

but

now that Mrs . Sp ider had begun to bring

in air someth ing had to be moved to make

a place for it.

She brought down th irteen more bub

bles Of air and then the house was fi l led

with it . On the lower side of the Open

doorway there was water and on the upper

side was air,and each stayed where i t

should . When Mrs . Spider came into her


are interested in the same things . You

know we both carry air about with us i n

the water,and so few Of our neighbors

seem to care anyth ing for it . ” She was a

sensible l i ttle person and knew that peo

ple who are really fond Of their friends do

not care how many legs they have. She

carried her air under her wings,but there

were other Water-Boatmen,near relat ives

,

who spread theirs over their whole bodies,

and looked very s ilvery and beauti ful

when they were under water.

One day,when Mrs . Water Sp ider was

s itt ing on a l i ly-pad and talking with her

friends,a Water-Boatman rose qu ickly

from the bottom Of the pond . As soon

as he got right s ide up !and that means

as soon as he got to float ing on his back! ,he said to her

,

“ I heard queer sounds in

your house ! I was feeding near there ,and the no ise startled me so that I let go

Of the stone I was holding to,and came

up . I th ink your eggs must be hatch ing.

”


for food,one of the ch ildren said

,I tel l

you what let ’s do Let ’s all go down to

the doorway and peek out . ” They looked

at each other and wondered if they dared .

That was someth ing the i r mother had

forbidden them to do . There was no

window to look through and they wanted

very much to see the world . At last the

l i ttle fel low who had made a face said,

I ’

m going to,anyway.

” After that,his

brothers and s isters went,too . And th is

shows how,i f good l ittle Sp iders l isten

to naughty l ittle Spiders,they become

naughty l ittle Spiders themselves .

All the ch ildren ran down and peeked

around the edge Of the door,but they

could n ’

t see much besides water,and they

had seen that before . They were sadly

disappointed . Somebody said,

“ I ’

m go

i ng to put two O f my legs out Some

body else said,

“ I ’l l put four out !” A

big brother said,

“ I ’

m going to put

s i! out ! And then another brother

The Runaway Water Sp iders 79

said I ’l l put eight out ! Dare you

to

You know what naughty l ittle Sp iders

would be l ikely to do then . Well , they

did it . And,as i t happened

,they had

j ust pulled the ir last legs through the

Open doorway when a Stickleback Father

came along. Are n ’

t you rather young

to be out Of the nest ? sa id he,i n h is

most pleasant voice .

Poor l ittl e Water Spiders ! They

did n ’

t know he was one O f thei r mother’s

friends,and he seemed so big to them

,

and the bones on h is cheeks made h im

look so quee r,and the st ickles on his back

were so sharp,that every one Of them

was afraid and let go Of the wall Of the

house and then

Every one of them rose qu ickly to the

top,into the l ight and the open ai r. They

crawled upon a l i ly-pad and clung there,

frightened,and feel ing weak in all the i r

knees. The Dragon Fl ies flew over


them,the Wild Ducks swam past them

,

and on a log not far away they saw a long

row Of Mud Turtles sunn ing themselves .

Why noth ing dreadful happened,one can

not tell . Perhaps i t was bad enough as

i t was,for they were so scared that they

could only huddle close together and cry,

We want our mother.

Here Mrs . Water Sp ider found them .

She came home with someth ing for din

ner,and saw her house empty. O f course

she knew where to look,for

,as she said

,

“ I f they stepped outside the door,they

would be qu ite sure to tumble up into

the air. She took them home,one at a

t ime,and how she ever did i t nobody

knows .

When they were all safely there and

had eaten the food that was wait ing for

them,Mrs . Spider

,who had not scolded

them at all,said

,

“ Look me straight in

the eye,every one of you ! Will you

promise never to run away again ? ”


The l i ttle Water Spiders were more

ashamed than ever, but they had to look

her in the eye and promise to be good .

I t is very certai n that not one Of those

ch ildren even peeped around the edge Of

the doorway from that day until the ir

mother told them that they might go into

the world and bu ild houses for them

selves . Remember j ust one th ing,she

said,as they started away.

“ Always

take your food home to eat . And they

always d id,for no Water Sp ider who has

been well brought up wil l ever eat

from h is own home .

THE SLOW LITTLE MUD

TURTLE

WHEN the twenty l ittle Mud Turtles

broke their egg-shells one hot

summer day,and poked their way up

through the warm sand in which they had

been buried,they looked almost as much

al ike as so many raindrops . The Mother

Turtle who was sunn ing hersel f on the

bank near by,said to her friends

,

“Why

There are my ch ildren ! Did you ever

see a finer family ? I bel ieve I will go

over and speak to them .

Most Of the young Mud Turtles

crawled qu ickly out Of the sand and

broken shells,and began drying them

selves in the sunshine. One l W l i ttl e

fellow stopped to look at the broken

83


shells,stubbed one Of h is front toes on a

large piece and then sat down unt i l I t

should stop ach ing.

“ Wait for me !

he cal led out to h is brothers and sisters.

I ’

m coming in a minute .

”

The other l ittl e Turtles waited,but

when h is toe was comfortable again and

he started toward them,he met a very in

terest ing Snail and talked!

a while with

him .

“ Come on,

” said the B iggest L it

tle Turtle . Don ’t let ’s wait any longer.

He can catch up .

”

SO they sprawled along unti l they came

to a place where they could s it i n a row on

an Old log,and they cl imbed onto it and

sat j ust close enough together and not at

all too close . Then the Slow Little Tur

tle came hurrying over the sand with a

rather cross look in h is eyes and putt ing

h is feet down a l ittl e harder than he

needed to—qu ite as though he wereout Of

,pat ience about someth ing.

Why did n ’t you Turtles wait for

The Slow Little Mud Turtle 85

me ? he grumbled . I was coming

right along.

J ust then the Mother Turtle came up .

Good morn ing,said she . “ I bel ieve

you are my ch i ldren ? ”

The l ittle Mud Turtles looked at each

other and did n ’t say a word . This was

not because they were rude or bashful,

but because they did not know what to

say. And that,you know

,was qu ite right

,

for unless one has someth ing worth say

ing,i t is far better to say noth ing at all .

She drew a long Mud Turtle breath and

answered her own question .

“ Yes,

she

said,

“ you certainly are,for I saw you

scrambl ing out of the sand a l ittle while ago,

and you came from the very place where I

laid my eggs and covered them during the

first really warm nights th is year. I was

tell ing your father only yesterday that it

was about t ime for you to hatch . The sun

has been so hot lately that I was sure you

would do well . ”


The Mother Turtle stretched her head

th is way and that unt i l there was hardly a

wrinkle left i n her neck-skin,she was so

eager to see them all . “Why are you not

up here with your brothers and ,s isters ?

she asked suddenly Of the Slow Little

Turtle,who was trying to make a place for

h imself on the log.

“ They did n ’

t wait for me,he said . I

was coming right along but they would n ’

t

wait I th ink they are j ust as mea

The Mother Turtle raised one Of her

forefeet unt il al l five of its toes with their

strong claws were po int ing at h im . She

also raised her head as far as her uppershel l would let her. SO you ar e the

one,

she said .

“ I thought you were

when I heard you trying to make the

others wait . I t i s too bad .

”

She looked SO stern that the Slow Lit

tle Turtle did n ’

t dare fin ish what he had

begun to say,yet down in h is l ittle Turtle

heart he thought,

Now they are going

Among the Pond People

The . Slow Littl e Turtle felt the ten

brothers and sisters on his right s ide look

ing at h im out Of their left eyes,and the

n ine brothers and s isters on h is left S ide

looking at h im out Of their right eyes .

He drew in h is head and his tai l and h is

legs,unt i l al l they could see was h is

rounded upper shell,his shell S ide-walls

,

and the yel low edge Of h is flat lower

shel l . He would have l iked to draw them

in too,but Of course he could n ’t do that .

I d id hope,

” said the Mother Turtle,

that I might have one family without

such a ch ild in it . I cannot help loving

even a slow ch ild who i s cross,i f he i s

hatched from one Of my eggs,yet i t makes

me sad—very,very sad .

”

Try to get over th is,

she said to the

Slow Little Turtle,

“ before i t is too late .

And you,

”

she added turn ing to h is

brothers and S isters,must be patient

with h im . We Shall not have h im with

us long.

”


What do you mean ? asked the Slow

Little Turtle,peep ing out from between

h is shells . I ’

m not going away.

”

You do not want to,

” said h is mother,

but you will not be with us long unless

you learn to keep up with the rest . Some

th ing always happens to pond people who

are too slow. I cannot tel l you what it

wil l be,yet it is sure to be som et/zz

'

ng . I

remember so well my first slow ch ildHand how he She began to cry

,and

since She could not eas i ly get her forefeet

to her eyes,she sprawled to the pond

and swam Off with only her head and a

l ittle Of her upper shel l showing above

the water.

The Slow Little Turtle was real ly

frightened by what h is mother had said,

and for a few days he tried to keep up

with the others . Nothing happened to

h im,and SO he grew careless and made

people wait for h im just because he was

not qu ite ready to go with them,or be


cause he wanted to do th is or look at that

or talk to some other person . He was a

very trying l ittl e Turtle,yet h is mother

loved h im and did not l ike i t when the

rest called him a Land Torto ise. I t is all

right, you know,

to be a Land Torto ise

when your father and mother are Land

Torto ises,and these cous ins O f the Tur

tles look SO much l ike them that some

people cannot tell them apart . That is

because they forget that the Torto ises

l ive on land,have higher back shells

,and

move very,very slowly. Turtles l ive

more in the water and can move qu ickly

i f they wil l . This is why other Turtles

somet imes make fun Of a slow brother

by call ing h im a Land Torto ise.

One beaut iful sunsh iny afternoon,when

most O f the twenty l i ttl e Turtles were

s itt ing on a float ing log by the edge Of

the pond,thei r mother was with some Of

her friends on another log near by. She

looked Often at her ch ildren,and thought


ing her. The B iggest L ittle Turtle saw

these great an imals coming toward h im .

He sprawled off the end of h is log and

sl id i nto the water,and all h is brothers

and s isters followed h im except the Slow

Little Turtle . “ Wait for me,he said .

I ’

m coming i n j ust a

Then one of these great an imals stooped

over and picked h im up,and held him bot

tom side uppermost and rapped on that

s ide,which was flat ! and on the other

s ide,which was rounded ! and stared at

h im with two great eyes . Next the other

great an imal took h im and turned h im

over and rapped on his shells and stared

at h im . The poor Slow Little Turtle

drew in h is head and tai l and legs and

kept very,very st i ll . He wished that he

had side-pieces of shel l al l around now,

i nstead of j ust one on each s ide between

h is legs . He was th i nking over and over,Someth ing has happened Someth ing

has happened ! And he knew that back


i n the pond his mother would be trying to

find h im and could not .

The boys carried h im to the edge of

the meadow and put h im down on the

grass . He lay perfectly sti l l for a long,

long t ime,and when he thought they had

forgotten about h im he tried to run away.

Then they laughed and picked h im up

again,and one of them took someth ing

sharp and sh iny and cut marks i nto h is

upper shell . This d id not really give h im

pain,yet

,as he said afterward

,I t hurts

almost as much to th ink you are going to

be hurt,as it does to be hurt . ”

I t was not unti l the sun went down that

the boys let the Slow Little Turtle go .

Then he was very,very t i red

,but he

wanted so much to get back to h is home

in the pond that he started at once by

moonl ight . This was the fi rst t ime he

had eve r seen the moon,for, except when

they are laying eggs,Turtles usually sleep

at n ight. He was not qu ite sure which


way he should go , and if it had not been

for the kindness of the Tree Frog he

might never have seen h is brothers and

s isters again . Y ou know the Tree Frog

had been carried away when he was

young,before he came to l ive with the

meadow people,so he knew how to be

sorry for the Slow Little Turtle.

The Tree Frog hopped along ahead to

show the way,and the Turtle followed unti l

they reached a place from which they could

see the pond .

“ Good night ! said the

Tree Frog.

“ Y ou can find your way now.

”

“ Good night ! ” said the Turtle . “ I

wish I might help you some t ime .”

Never mind me,

” said the Tree Frog.

Help somebody else and it wil l be al l

r ight . He hopped back toward h is

home,and for a long t ime afterward the

Turtle heard h is cheerful “ Pukr-r-rup !

Pukr—r—rup ! ” sounding over the dewygrass and through the st il l air. At the

edge of the pond the Slow Little Turtle


s isters,she said “ I shal l not be sorry

that the boys carried you off .”

“ Y ou j ust wait and see,

” said the Slow

Little Turtle . And he was as good as

h is word . After that he was always the

fi rst to sl ip from the log to the water i f

anyth ing scared them ! and when , one

day,a strange Turtl e from another pond

came to visit,he said to the Turtles who

had always l ived there,

“Why do you

call that young fellow with the marked

shell ‘The Slow Little Turtle ? ’ He is

the qu ickest one i n h is family.

”

The pond people looked at each other

and laughed .

“ That is queer ! ” they

said .

“ After th is we will cal l h im ‘The

Quick Little

Th is made h im very happy,and when

,

once in a while,somebody forgot and by

mistake called h im “ The Qu ick Slow

Little Turtle,he said he rather l iked

it because i t showed that a Turtle need n’

t

keep h is faults i f he did have them .

THE DRAGON FLY CH I LDREN

AND THE SNAPP I NG TURTLE

TH E Dragon-Fl ies have always l ived

near the pond . Not the same ones

that are there now,of course

,but the

great great great grandfathers of these .

A person would th ink that,after a family

had l ived so long in a place,al l the neigh

bors would be fond of them,yet it is not

so. The Dragon-Fl ies may be very good

people—and even the Snapp ing Turtlesays that they are st i ll

,they are so

pecul iar that many of thei r neighbors do

not l ike them at all . Even when they

are only larvae,or babies

,they are not

good playmates,for they have such a bad

habit of putt ing everyth ing into thei r

mouths. I ndeed,the Stickleback Father

797


once told the l ittle St icklebacks that they

should not st i r out of the nest,unless

they would promise to keep away from

the young Dragon-Fl ies .

The Stickleback Mothers said that it

was al l the fault of the Dragon - Fly

Mothers . “What can you expect,

” ex

claimed one of them,

“ when Dragon-Fly

eggs are so carelessly laid ? I saw a

Dragon - Fly Mother laying some only

yesterday,and how do you suppose she

did i t just flew around in the sunsh ine

and vis ited with her friends,and once i n a

while flew low enough to touch the water

and drop one in . I t is d isgraceful

The M innow Mothers did not th ink

it was SO much in the way the eggs were

laid,

“ although,

” said one,

“ I always lay

mine close together,i nstead of scatter

ing them over the whole pond . They

thought the trouble came from bad bring

ing up or no bringing up at all . Each

egg, you know,

when it is laid,drops to


as thei r bodies,and they were never

really happy unless their stomachs were

full . They always ate plain food and

plenty of it,and they never ate between

meals . They had breakfast from the

t ime they awakened in the morn ing unti l

the sun was high in the sky,then they

had dinner unt i l the sun was l ow in the

sky,and supper from that t ime unti l i t

grew dark and they went to sleep ! but

never a mouthful between meals,no

matter how hungry they might be . They

said th is was thei r only rule about eat ing,

and they would keep it .

They were always slow children . You

would th ink that,with s ix legs apiece and

three j o ints i n each leg,they might walk

qu ite fast,yet they never did . When

they had to,they hurried i n another way

by taking a long leap through the water.

O f course they breathed water l ike their

neighbors,the fishes and the Tadpoles .

They did not breathe it into their mouths,

The Dragon-Fly Children 1 0 1

or through gills,but took it i n through

some open ings i n the back part of their

bodies . When they wanted to hurry,

they breathed th is water out so suddenly

that i t sent them qu ickly ahead .

The Snapping Turtle had called them

bothering bugs ” one day when he was

cross !and that was the day after he had

been cross,and just before the day when

he was going to be cross again! , and they

did n ’

t l ike h im and wanted to get even .

They all put their queer l ittle three

cornered heads together,and there was

an ugly look in their great staring eyes.

Horrid old th ing ! ” said one larva.

I wish I could st ing h im .

”

“ Well,you can ’t

,

” said a Nymph,turn

ing towards h im so suddenly that he

leaped .

“ Y ou have n ’

t any st ing,and

you never wil l have , so you just keep

still . I t was not at all n ice in her to

speak that way,but She was not well

brought up, you know,

and that,perhaps

,


is a reason why one Should excuse her

for talk ing so to her l ittle brother. She

was often impat ient,and said she could

never go anywhere without one of the

larva'

tagging along.

“ I tel l you what let ’s do,said an

other Nymph . Let ’

s all go together to

the shallow water where he suns h imsel f,

and let ’s al l stand close to each other,

and then,when he comes along

,let ’s st ick

out our l ips at h im

Both l ips ? asked the larva .

Well,

our lower l ips anyway , an

swered the Nymph .

“ Our upper l ips are

so small they don ’t matter. ”

We ’l l do i t,

” exclaimed al l the Dragon

Fly ch ildren,and they started together

to walk on the pond-bottom to the shallow

water. They thought it would scare the

Snapping Turtle dreadful ly . They knew

that whenever they stuck out thei r lower

l ips at the small fishes and bugs,they swam

away as fast as they could . The Giant


Oh , look ! cried a Nymph .

“ There

go some grown-up Dragon-F l ies over

our heads . J ust you wait unt il I change

my skin ‘Once more,and then won ’t I have

a good time I ’

ll dry my wings and then

I ’

ll

Sh-h said one of the larva . Here

comes the Snapp ing Turtle . ”

Sure enough,there he came through

the shallow water,h is wet back-shell partly

out of i t and sh in ing in the sunl ight. He

came straight toward the Dragon-Fly

ch ildren,and they were glad to see that

he did not look hungry. They thought

he might be going to take a nap after h is

dinner. Then they al l stood even closer

together and stuck out their lower l ips at

h im . They thought he might run away

when they did th is . They felt sure that

he would at least be very badly

frightened .

The Snapp ing Turtle did not seem to

see them at al l . I t was queer. He just

The Dragon-Fly Children 1 05

waddled on and on,coming straight to

ward them . Ah-h-h said he . How

sleepy I do feel I wi l l l ie down in the

sunshine and rest . He took a few more

steps,which brought his great body right

over the crowd of Dragon-Fly ch ildren .

“ I th ink I will draw in my head,

”

said he

!the Dragon-Fly ch ildren looked at each

other! ,“ and my tail !here two of the

youngest larva began to cry! and l ie

down .

” He began to draw in h is legs

very,very slowly

,and just as h is great

hard lower shel l touched the mud,the last

larva crawled out under h is tail . The

Nymphs had already gotten away .

Oh,

” said the Dragon-Fly ch ildren to

each other,Was n ’

t i t awful

H umph,said the Snapp ing Turtle

,

talking to h imself he had gotten into the

way of do ing that because he had so few

friends How dreadfully they did scare

me ! Then he laughed a grim Snap

ping Turtle laugh,and went to sleep .

THE SNAPPY SNAPP I NG

TURTLE

THERE was but one Snapping Turtle

i n the pond,and he was the only

person there who had ever been heard to

wish for another. He had not always

l ived there,and could j ust remember

leaving h is brothers and sisters when he

was young.

“ I was carried away from

my people,he said

,

“ and kept on land

for a few days Then I was brought here

and have made it my home ever s ince .

”

One could tel l by looking at h im that

he was related to the Mud Turtles . He

had upper and lower shells l ike them,and

could draw in h is head and legs and tai l

when he wanted to . H is shells were

gray,qu ite the color of a clay-bank

,and

1 06


I t was a Mud Turtle Father who first

spoke to h im .

“ I hope you ’ll l ike the

pond,

” said he. “We think it very home

l ike and comfortable .

”

Humph Shallow l ittle hole ! snapped

the one who had just come . I bump my

head on the bottom every t ime I dive .

”

“ That is too bad,

” exclaimed the Mud

Turtle Father. “ I hope you dive where

there is a soft bottom .

”

“ Sometimes I do and somet imes I

don ’t,

” answered the Snapping Turtle. I

can ’t bother to swim down slowly and try

it,and then go back to dive . When I

want to dive,I wan t to dive

,and that ’s

all there is to it . ”

Yes,

” said the Mud Turtle Father.

I know how it is when one has the

div ing feel i ng. I hope your head will

not trouble you much , and that you wil l

soon be used to our waters . He spread

h is toes and swam strongly away,pushing

against the water with h is webbed feet .

The Snappy Snapp ing Turtle 1 09

Humph ! said the Snapping Turtle

to h imsel f. I t is al l very well to talk

about getting used to these waters,but I

never shall . I can hardly see now for

the pain in the right side of my head,

where I bumped it . O r was i t the left

s ide I h it ? Queer I can ’t remember !

Then he swam to shallow water,and drew

himsel f into h is shell,and lay there and

thought how badly he felt,and how horrid

the pond was,and what poor company h is

neighbors were,and what a disagreeable

world th is is for Snapp ing Turtles .

The Mud Turtle Father went home

and told h is wi fe al l about i t . “What a

disagreeable fellow ! ” she said . But

then,he is a bachelor

,and bachelors are

often queer. ”

I never was,said her husband .

Oh ! ” said she . And,being a wise

wife,she did not say anyth ing else . She

knew,however

,that Mr. Mud Turtle was

a much more agreeable fellow s ince he

1 I O Among the Pond People

had married and learned to th ink more of

somebody else than of himself. I t is the

people who th ink too much of themselves

you know,who are most unhappy in this

world .

The Eels also tried to be friendly,and

,

when he dove to the bottom,cal led to h im

to stay and vis it with them .

“ You must

excuse us from making the first call,

” they

said “ We go out so l ittle i n the day

t ime .

Humph said the Snapp ing Turtle.

D o you good to get away from home

more . No wonder your eyes are weak,

when you l i e around in the mud of the

dark pond-bottom all day. I ndeed,I ’

ll

not stay. Y ou can come to see me l ike

other people .

Then he swam away and told the Clams

what he had said,and he acted qu ite proud

of what was really dreadful rudeness .“ I t ’l l do them good to hear the truth

,

”

said he . I always speak right out .

1 1 2 Among the Pond People

seen with you i f he could help it . They

all h ide i f they see you coming. I ’l l be

heartily glad when you get your wings

and fly away. Don ’t let any of your

friends lay the i r eggs in th is pond. I ’

ve

seen enough of your family.

”

O f course th is made Belostoma feel

very badly. He was not a popular bug,

and i t is poss ible that if he could have

had h is own way, he would have chosen

to be a Crayfish or a Stickleback,rather

than what he was . As for h is not work

ing—there was noth ing for h im to do,

so how could he work ? He had to eat,

or he would not grow,and s ince the

Snapping Turtle was a hearty eater h im

sel f,he should have had the sense to

keep st i l l about that . Belostoma told the

Mud Turtles what the Snapp ing Turtle

had said and the Mud Turtl e Father

spoke of I t to the Snapping Turtle.

By that t ime the Snapp ing Turtle was

feel ing better natured and was very gra

The Snappy Snapping Turtle 1 I 3

c ious .

“ Belostoma should n ’t remember

those th ings,

’ said he,moving one warty

foreleg.

“When I am angry,I often

say th ings that I do not mean ! but then ,I get right over it I had almost forgot

ten my l ittle talk with h im . I don ’t see

any reason for tel l ing h im I am sorry.

He is very s il ly to th ink so much of i t . ”

He li fted h is b ig head qu ite h igh,and

acted as though i t was really a noble

th ing to be ugly and then forget about it .

He might j ust as sensibly ask people to

admire h im for not eat ing when his

stomach was full , or for lying st il l when

he was too t i red to swim .

When the Mud Turtle Mother heard

of th is,she was qu ite out of patience .

All he cares for,said She

,

“ i s j ust

Snapping Turtle,Snapping Turtle

,Snap

ping Turtle . When he is good-natured,

he th inks everybody else ought to be !and when he is bad-tempered he does n ’t

care!how other people feel H e will


never be any more agreeable until he

does something kind for somebody,and I

don ’t see any chance of that happen ing.

”

There came a day,though

,when the

pond people were glad that the Snap

ping Turtle l ived there . Two boys were

wading in the edge of the pond,splash

ing the water and scaring all the people

who were near them . The Sticklebacks

turned pale al l over,as they do when

they are badly frightened . The Yellow

Brown Frog was so scared that he emptied

out the water he had saved for wett ing

h is sk in i n dry weather. He had a great

pocket i n h is body fi l led with water,for

i f h is skin should get dry he could n ’t

breathe through it,and unless he carried

water with h im he could not stay ashore

at al l .

The boys had even turned the Mud

Turtl e Father onto h is back in the sun

shine,where he lay

,waving h is feet in

the air,but not strong enough to get


p ing Turtle took long,strong strokes

with his webbed feet,and Belostoma

could not keep up with h im . The Snap

p ing Turtle saw th is . J ump onto my

back,

” cried he. Y ou are a l ight fel low.

Hang tight .

Belostoma jumped onto the Snapping

Turtle ’s clay-colored shell,and when he

found himsel f sl ipp ing off the back end of

i t,he stuck h is claws into the Snapping

Turtle ’s tai l and held on i n that way. He

knew that he was not eas i ly hurt,even i f

he did make a fuss when he bumped h is

head . As soon as they got near the boys ,the Snapping Turtle spoke over h is back

shel l to Belostoma . Sl ide off now,said

he,

“ and drive away the smaller boy.

Don't stop to talk with these Blood

su ckers . ”

So Belostoma sl id off and swam toward

the smal ler boy, and he ran out h is stout

l i ttle sucking tube and stung him on the

leg. J ust then the Snapping Turtle

TH ERE WAS A ! REAT SPLASH I N ! AND DASH I N ! .Page H 7

Among the Pond People

did not show that he remembered some

qu ite different th ings wh ich the Snapping

Turtle had said before,about h is leaving

the pond . And that Showed that he was

a very wise bug as well as a brave one.

Humph said the Snapping Turtle.

There is the Mud Turtle Father on his

back.

” And he ran to h im and pushed

h im over onto his feet . “ Oh,thank

you,cried the Mud Turtle Mother. “ I

was not strong enough to do that . ”

“ Always glad to help my neighbors,

said the Snapping Turtle .

“ Pleasant

day,i s n ’t i t ? I must tel l the fishes that

the boys are gone . The poor l ittle fel lows

were almost too scared to swim .

” And

he went away with a really happy look on

h is face .

“ There ! said the Mud Turtle Mother

to her husband . He h as begun to help

people,and now he l ikes them

,and is

contented. I always told you so

THE CLEVER WATER-ADDER

NONE of the pond people were alone

more than the Water-Adders . The

Snapping Turtle was left to h imself a

great deal unt i l the day when he and Bel

ostoma drove away the boys . After that

h is neighbors began to understand h im

better and he was l ess grumpy,so that

those who wore Shells were soon qu ite

fond of h im .

Belostoma did not have many friends

among the smaller people,and only a few

among the larger ones . They said that

he was cruel,and that he had a bad habit

of using his stout sucking tube to sting

with . Still,Belostoma did not care ! he

said,

“ A Giant Water-Bug does not al

ways l ive in the water. I shall have my1 1 9


wings soon,and leave the water and

marry. After that , I shall fly away on

my wedding trip . Mrs . Belostoma may

go with me,i f She feels l ike do ing so after

laying her eggs here I shal l go anyway.

And I shal l flutter and sprawl around the

l ight,and st ing people who bother me

,

and have a happy t ime . That was Bel

ostoma’s way . He wou ld st ing people

who bothered h im,but then he always

said that they need not have bothered

h im . And perhaps that was so .

With the Water-Adders i t was differ

ent . They were good-natured enough,

yet the Mud Turtles and Snapp ing Turtle

were the only ones who ever cal led upon

them and found them at home . The

smal l people without shells were afraid of

them,and the Clams and Pond Snails

never called upon any one. The M in

nows said they could not bear the looks

Of the Adders—they had such ugly mouths

and such qu ick motions . The larger


The Water-Adders were certainly the

cleverest people in the pond,and there

was one Mother Adder who was so very

bright that they called her “ the Clever

Water -Adder. She could do almost

anyth ing,and she knew it . She talked

about i t,too

,and that showed bad taste

,

and was one reason why she was not l iked

better. She could swim very fast,could

creep,gl ide

,catch hold of th ings with her

tail,hang hersel f from the branch of a

tree,l i ft her head far into the air

,l eap

,

dart,bound

,and dive . All her family

could do these th ings,but she could do

them a l ittl e the best .

One day she was hanging over the pond

in a very graceful posit ion,with her tail

twisted carelessly around a willow branch .

The Snapping Turtle and a Mud Turtle

Father were i n the shallow water below

her. Her slender forked tongue was dart

ing in and out of her open mouth . She

was us ing her tongue in th is way most of

The Clever Water-Adder 1 23

the t ime . I t is usefu l i n feel ing of

th ings,

” she said,

“ and then,I have always

thought i t qu ite becoming. She could

see hersel f reflected i n the sti l l water be

low her,and she not iced how prett ily the

dark brown of her back shaded into the

wh ite of her bel ly. Y ou see she was vain

as well as clever.

The Snapping Turtle felt cross to-day,

and had come to see i f a talk with her

would not make h im feel better. The

Mud Turtle was t i red of having the ch il

dren sprawl around h im,and of Mrs . Mud

Turtle tel l ing about the trouble she had to

get the right kind of food .

The Clever Water-Adder spoke fi rst of

the weather. I t must be dreadfully hot

for the shore people,

”

she said .

“ Think

of thei r having to wear the same feathers

all the year and fly around in the sunsh ine

to find food for thei r ch i ldren .

Ah yes,

” said the Mud Turtle . How

they must wish for shells


Humph ! said the Snapping Turtle .

What for ? To fly with ? Let them

come in swimming with their ch ildren,i f

they are warm and t ired .

The Water-Adder laughed in her snaky

way,and Showed her sharp teeth .

“ I

have heard,

” she said,

“ that when the

Wild Ducks bring the ir ch i ldren here to

swim,they do not always take so m any

home as they brought . ”

The Snapping Turtle became very much

interested in h is warty right foreleg,and

did not seem to hear what she said The

Mud Turtl e smiled .

“ I have heard,

”

she went on,

“ that when young Ducks

dive head first,they are qu ite sure to

come up again,but that when they dive

feet first,they never come up .

”

“What do you mean asked the Snap

ping Turtle,and he was snappy about it .

“ Oh,noth ing

,

” repl ied the Water-Ad

der,sw inging her head back and forth

and looking at the scales on her body.


Adders do . Nobody can ever say that

we close our eyes to danger. They

could n ’t shut their eyes if they wanted

to,because they had no eyel ids

,but she

did not speak of that . How stup id peo

ple are,she said

Most of them,remarked the Turtles .

All of them,

”

she said,

“ except us

Adders and the Turtles . I even th ink

that some of the Turtles are a l i ttle queer,

don ’t you“ We have thought so

,said the Mud

Turtle .

“ They certainly are,agreed the Snap

ping Turtle,who was beginn ing to feel

much better natured .

“What did you say ? asked the Ad

der who,l ike al l her family

,was a l ittle

deaf

Ouch ! exclaimed the Snapp ing

Turtle. “ Ouch ! Ouch !

What is the matter asked the Mud

Turtle . Then he began to slap the

The Clever Water-Adder I 2 7

water with h is short,stout tail

,and say

Ouch

Two naughty young Water-Boatmen

had swum qu ietly up on their backs,and

stung the Turtles on their tails . Then

they swam . away , push ing themselves

qu ickly through the water with swift

strokes of the ir hai ry oar-l egs .“ Ah-h -h exclaimed the Snapping

Turtle,and he backed into the m ud

,

knowing that fine,soft mud is the best

th ing in the world for st ings .

Ah-h -h exclaimed the Mud Turtle,

I f I could only reach my tail with my

head,or even with one of my hind feet

“ Reach your tai l with your head ?

asked the Water-Adder in her sweetest

voice. “ Noth ing is eas ier. And she

wound herself around the wil low branch

in another graceful pos it ion,and took

the t ip of her tail daint i ly between her

teeth .

Humph said the Snapping Turtle,


and he pulled his tai l out of the mud and

swam away.

Ugh said the Mud Turtle,and

he swam away with the Snapping Turtle .

What a rude person she is they

said .

“ Always try ing to show how much

more clever she i s than other people . We

would rather be stup id and pol ite .

After a Wh ile the Snapping Turtle said,

But then, you know,

we are not stup id .

”

O f course not,

” repl ied the Mud Tur

tle,

“not even queer. ”


not afraid of Snakes and Rats,they said

,

“ but we would fear someth ing fal l ing on

the nest . They were talking to qu ite an

O ld Crane when they said th is .

Do you mean to bu ild in a tree said

he .

“ My dear young friends,don ’t do

that . J ust th ink,a h igh wind might blow

the nest down and spoi l everyth ing. Do

whatever you wish , but don’t bu ild i n a

tree .

” Then he flew away.

“ Dear me exclaimed young Mrs .

Crane,

“one tel ls me to do th is and never

to do that . Another tells me to do that

and never to do th is . I shall j ust please

mysel f s ince I cannot please my friends . ”

“ And which place do you choose ?

asked her husband,who always l iked

whatever she did .

I shal l bu ild on the ground,She said

dec idedly.

“ I f the tree falls,i t may hit

the nest and it may not,but i f we bu ild

in the tree and i t fall s,we are sure to hit

the ground .

”

The Good Little Cranes 1 3 1

H ow wise you are ! exclaimed her

husband .

“ I bel ieve people get i n a way

of building just so,and come to th ink

that no other way can be right . Which

shows that Mr. Sand-H ill Crane was also

wise .

Both worked on the nest,bringing

roots and dried grasses with which to

bu ild i t up . Sometimes they went to

dance with their friends,and when they

did they bowed most of the t ime to each

other. They did not real ly care very

much about going,because they were so

interested in the nest . This they had to

bu ild qu ite h igh from the ground,on ac

count of thei r long legs . “ I f I were a

Duck,

” said Mrs . Sand-H ill Crane,

“ i t

would do very well for me to s i t on the

nest,but with my legs ? Never ! I

would as soon s it on two bare branches

as to have them doubled under me .

” So

she tried the nest until i t was just as h igh

as her legs were long.


When it was h igh enough,she laid i n i t

two gray eggs with brown spots . After

that she d id no more danc ing, but stood

with a leg on either s ide of the nest,and

her soft body j ust over the eggs to keep

them warm . I t was very t i resome work,

and somet imes Mr. Crane covered the

eggs wh ile She went fish ing. The Cranes

are always very kind to their wives .

This, you know,

was the first t ime that

ei ther had had a nest,and i t was all new

and wonderful to them . They thought

that there never had been such a beaut i

ful home . They often stood on the

ground beside i t,and poked it th is way

and that with their b il ls,and said to each

other,

“ J ust look at th is fine root that I

wove i n,

”

or,Have you noticed how

well that tuft of dried grass looks where I

put i t ? ” As it came near the t ime for

thei r eggs to hatch,they could hardly

bear to be away long enough to find

food.


and wondered how their mother could

seem bright and cheerful with two such

disappo int i ng ch ildren . She said al l the

pol ite th ings that she honestly could,then

got something to eat,and flew home .

They are very,very homely

,

”

she said

to her husband,

“ and I th ink it queer.

All their older ch ildren are good-looking.

”

She had hardly said th is when she

heard a faint tapping sound in the nest .

She looked,and there was the t ip of a

t iny beak showing through the shel l of

one egg. She stood on one s ide of the

nest,watch ing

,and her husband stood on

the other wh ile their oldest ch i ld slowly

made h is way out . They dared not help

for fear of hurt ing him ,and besides

,al l

the other Cranes had told them that they

must not .“ Oh

,look ! ” cried the young mother.

What a dear l ittle bi ll“ Ah ! ” said the young father. “ Did

you ever see such a neck ?

The Good Little Cranes 1 35

Look at those legs,cried she. “What

a beauti ful ch i ld he is“ He looks j ust l ike you

,said the

father,

“ and I am glad of it . ”

Ah,no

,

” said she.

“ He is exactly

l ike you .

” And she began to clear away

the broken egg-shell .

Soon the other Crane baby poked her

bill out,and again the young parents

stood around and admired the ir ch ild .

They could not decide wh ich was the

handsomer,but they were sure that both

were remarkable bab ies . They felt more

sorry than ever for the ir neighbors across

the pond,who had such homely ch ildren .

They took turns i n covering their own

damp l ittle Cranes,and were very

,very

happy

Before th is,i t had been easy to get

what food they wanted,for there had

been two to work for two . Now there

were two to work for four,and that made

i t much harder. There was no t ime for


danc ing,and both father and mother

worked steadily,yet they were happier

than ever,and neither would have gone

back to the careless old days for al l the

food in the pond or all the dances on the

beach .

The l ittle Cranes grew finely. Thev

changed their down for p in-feathers,and

then these grew into fine brownish gray

feathers,l ike those wh ich their parents

wore . They were good ch ildren,too

,

and very wel l brought up . They ate

whatever food was given to them,and

never found faul t with it . When they

left the nest for the first t ime,they flut

tered and tumbled and had trouble in

learn i ng to walk . A Mud Turtle Father

who was near,told them that th is was

because their legs were too long and

too few.

“Well,said the brother

,as he p icked

h imsel f up and tried to stand on one leg

wh ile he drew the other foot out of the


from them . They did tuck thei r heads

under their wings,but they peeped out

between the feathers,and when they were

sure their father and mother were asleep,

they walked softly away and planned to

do someth ing naughty.

“ I ’m tired of being good,said the

brother. “ The Gulls never are good .

They scream,and snatch

,and contradict

,

and have lots of fun . Let ’s be bad just

for fun .

”

All right said h is s ister. “What

shall we do“ That ’s the trouble

,said he. I

can ’t th ink of anyth ing naughty that I

really care for.

Each stood on one leg and thought for

a wh ile . “We might run away,

” said she.

“Where would we go asked he .

We might go to the meadow,said she.

So they started off i n the moonl ight and

went to the meadow,but al l the people

there were asleep , except the T ree Frog,

The Good Little Cranes 1 39

and he scrambled out of the way as soon

as he saw them coming, because he

thought they might want a late supper.

This is n ’

t any fun said the brother.

Let ’s go to the forest .

They went to the forest,and saw the

Bats fl itt ing in and out among the trees,

and the Bats flew close to the Cranes and

scared them . The Great H orned Owl

stood on a branch near them,and stared

at them with h is b ig round eyes,and said

,

“Who ? Who ? Waugh-ho-oo Then

the brother and s ister stood closer to

gether and answered,

“ I f you please,s ir

,

we are the Crane ch ildren .

But the Great H orned Owl kept on

staring at them and saying Who Who ?Waugh-ho-oo ! unt il they were sure he

was deaf,and answered louder and louder

st il l .

The Screech Owls came also,and

looked at them,and bent the ir bodies

over as i f they were laughing, and nodded


thei r heads,and shook themselves . Then

the Crane ch ildren were sure that they

were being made fun of,so they stalked

away very stiffly,and when they were out

Of s ight of the Owls,they flew over to

ward the farmhouse . They were not

having any fun at al l yet,and they meant

to keep on t rying,for what was the good

of being naughty i f they did n ’

t ?

They passed Horses and Cows asleep

in the fields,and saw the Brown H og

lying in the pen with a great many l ittl e

Brown Pigs and one White Pig sleep ing

beside her. Nobody was awake except

Coll ie,the Shepherd D og ,

who was s itt ing

in the farmyard with h is nose in the air,

barking at the moon .

Go away he said to the Crane ch il

dren,who were walking around the yard .

Go away ! I m ust bark at the moon ,and I don ’t want anybody around . They

did not start qu ite soon enough to please

h im,so he dashed at them ,

and ran around


What d ifference does that make ?

asked h is father. “Why should a Crane

care what a Gull says ?“ Why

,I— I don ’t know

,stammered

the brother. “ I guess it does n ’t make

any difference after all . ”

The next day when the Crane ch i ldren

were standing in the edge of the pond,a

pai r of young Gulls flew down near them

and screamed out,Goody-goody

Then the Crane brother and s ister

l i fted their heads and necks and opened

their long bills and trumpeted back,

Baddy-baddy

There ! ” they said to each other.

Now we are even .

”

THE OLDEST DRAGON -FLY

NYMPH

HEN the O ldest Dragon Fly

Nymph fel t that the wings un

der her skin were large enough,she said

good-bye to her water friends,and crawled

slowly up the stem of a tall cat-tail . All

the other Dragon-Fly Nymphs crowded

around her and wished that their W ings

were more nearly ready,and the larva

talked about the t ime when they should

become Nymphs . The O ldest Nymph ,the one who was going away

,told them

that if they would be good l ittl e lar

va, and eat a great deal of plain food

and take care not to break any of their

legs,or to hurt e ither of their short

,stiff

l ittle feelers,they would some day be fine

1 43


great Nymphs l ike her. Then she crawled

Slowly up the cat-tail stem,and when she

drew the tenth and last j o int o f her body

out of the water,her friends turned to

each other and said,She is real ly gone .

”

They felt so badly about it that they had

to eat someth ing at once to keep from

crying.

The O ldest Nymph now stopped breath

ing water and began to breathe air. She

waited to look at the pond before she

went any farther. She had never seen i t

from above,and it looked very queer to

her I t was beaut ifu l and sh in ing,and

,

because the sky above it was cloudless,the

water was a most wonderful blue . There

was no wind sti rring,so there were no tiny

waves to sparkle and send dancing bits

of l ight here and there . I t was one of

the very hot and st i l l summer days , which

Dragon-Fl ies l ike best .

A sad look came into the Nymph’

s

great eyes as she stood there .

“ The


Then he flew away With another V irginDragon-Fly.

Hurry up and get your skin changed,

said a vo ice above her,and there was a

fine great fellow float ing in the air over

her head .

“ I ’

ll tel l you a secret when

you do .

”

Dragon-Fl ies care a great deal for se

c rets,so she qu ickly hooked her twelve

sharp claws into the cat-tai l stem,and un

fastened her old skin down the back,and

wriggled and twisted and pulled unti l she

had al l her s i! legs and the upper part of

her body out . This made her very t ired

and she had to rest for a wh ile. The Old

skin would only Open down for a l ittle

way by her shoulders , and it was hard to

get out through such a small place . Next

she folded her legs close to her body, and

bent over backward,and swayed th is way

and that,unt i l she had drawn her long

,

slender body from its outgrown covering.

She crawled away from the empty skin


secret now,and of course you will never

speak of i t . I saw you talk ing with a

Virgin Dragon-Fly . He may be all right,

but he is n ’

t really in our set, you know,

and you ’

d better not have anything to do

with h im .

Thank you,

she said .

“ I won ’t . ”

She thought it very kind in h im to tel l her.

He soon flew away,and

,as she took

her fi rst fl ight into the air,a second B ig

Dragon-Fly overtook her. I ’

ll tell you

a secret,said he

,i f you will never tell . ”

I won ’t,

” said she .

I saw you talking to a Virgin Dragon

Fly a while ago . Y ou may have noticed

that he folded h is wings over h is back .

The B ig Dragon-Fl ies never do th is,and

you must never be seen with yours so .

”

“ Thank you,

”

she said .

“ I won ’t .

But when they were drying I had to hold

them in that way .

”

“ O f cou rse,

” said he . We all do

th ings then that we would n ’

t afterward.

”

The O ldest Dragon-Fly Nymph 1 49

Before long she began egg-laying,fly

ing low enough to touch her body to the

water now and then and dropa single egg.

This egg always sank at once to the

bottom,and she took no more care of i t.

A third B ig Dragon-Fly came up to

her. “ I want to tel l you someth ing,he

said .

“ Put your head close to mine .

She put her head close to h is,and he

whispered,

“ I saw you flying with my

cousin a few minutes ago . I disl ike to

say it,but he is not a good friend for you .

Whatever you do , don’t go with h im

again . ! O with me.“ Thank you

,

” said she,yet she began

to wonder what was the matter. She saw

that just as soon as she vis ited with any

body,somebody else told her that she

must not do so again . Down in the pond

they had all been friends . She wondered

if it could not be so i n the air. She

rubbed her head with her right foreleg,

and frowned as much as she could . You


know she could n ’t frown very much,be

cause her eyes were so large and close

together that there was only a small

frown ing-place left .

She turned her head to see i f any one

else was coming to tel l her a‘ secret . Her

neck was very,very slender and did not

Show much,because the back side of her

head was hollow and fitted over her

shoulders . No other Dragon Fly was

near. I nstead,she saw a Swallow swoop

ing down on her. She sprang l ightly into

the ai r and the Swallow chased her. When

he had his beak Open to catch her as he

flew,She would go backward or s idewise

without turn ing around . This happened

many t imes,and i t was well for her that

i t was so,for the Swallow was very hun

gry,and if he had caught her—well , she

certainly would never have told any of

the secrets she knew.

The Swallow qu ite lost h is pat ience and

flew away grumbl ing.

“ I won ’t waste


knew that Dragon-Fl ies are certain to

feel so on dark and wet days . “ I don ’t

see what difference that should make ,she said . I ’

m not afraid o f rain . I ’

ve

always been careless about gett ing my

feet wet and it never hurt me any.

”

Ugh ! said one of her friends .

Y ou’

ve never been wet i n spots , or h it

on one wing by a great rai n-drop that has

fallen clear down from a cloud . I had a

rain-drop h it my second right knee once,and it has hurt me ever since . I have

only five good knees left,and I have to

be very careful about l ight ing on sl ippery

leaves .

I t was ve ry dul l . Nobody seemed to

care about anybody or anyth ing. The

fine B ig Dragon-Fl ies,who had been so

pol ite to her the day before,hardly said

Good morn ing to her now. When

she asked them quest ions,they would say

nothing but Yes”

or No or I don ’t

know,

” and one of them yawned i n her

The O ldest Dragon-Fly Nymph 1 53

face. “ Oh dear ! she said . How I

wish mysel f back in the pond where the

rain could n ’

t wet me . I ’

d l ike to see my

old friends and some of the dear l ittl e

larva . I wish more of the Nymphs would

come up .

”

She looked al l around for them,and as

she d id so she saw the sh in ing back-shell

of the Snapping Turtle,showing above

the shallow water. “ I bel ieve I ’l l cal l

on h im,

” she said .

“ He may tel l me

something about my old friends,and any

way it wil l cheer me up .

” She l ighted

very carefully on the middle of h is back

shell and found i t very comfortable .

“ Good morning,said she. “ Have

you

No,snapped he . I have n ’

t,and I

don ’t mean to l“ Dear me

,said she . “ That is too

I don ’t see why,said he . I s there

any part icular reason why I should


I thought you might have just hap

pened to,

” said she,

“ and I should l ike to

know how they are .“What are you talking about ? snap

ped he.

I was going to ask if you had seen

the Dragon-Fly ch ildren lately,

”

She said .

And as she spoke she made sure that she

could not sl ip . She felt perfectly safe

where she was,because she knew that

,

no matter how cross he might be,he

could not reach above the edges of his

back-Shel l .“Well

,why did n

’

t you say so i n the

first place,

” he snapped,

“ i nstead of s it

t ing there and talking nonsense ! They

are al l right . A lot of the Nymphs are

going into the air to-day ! Now that

he had said a few ugly th ings,he began

to feel better natured .

“ You ’ve changed

a good deal s ince the last t im e I saw

you .

”

When was that asked she.


I thought I ’d better not tell . I might

want to sit on you some other t ime, you

know.

“ You ’l l never have the chance,said

she,with a twinkle in her big eyes . “ I t

is my turn to s it on you .

” And after

that they were very good friends —aslong as she sat on the middle of h is shel l .

THE EELS ’ MOVI NG-N IGHT

HE Eels were as different from the

Clams as people wel l could be. I t

was not alone that they looked unl ike,

but that they had such different ways of

enjoying l i fe . The Clams were chubby

people,each comfortably settled in h is

own shell,which he could open or shut

as he chose . They never wanted to l ive

anywhere else, or to get beyond the edges

of their own pearl-l i ned shells .

The Eels were long,slender

,and sl ip

pery people,looking even more l ike snakes

than they did l ike fishes . They were

always careful to tel l new acquaintances,

though,that they were not even related

to the snakes . “ To be sure,

” they would

say,

“ we do not wear our fins l ike most1 57


fishes,but that is only a matter of taste

after all . We should find them dreadful ly

in the way if we did .

” And that was j ust

l ike the Eels they were always so ready

to explain everyth ing to their friends .

They were great talkers. They would

talk about themselves,and their friends

,

and the friends of their friends,and the

pond,and the weather

,and the state of

the mud,and what everyth ing was l ike

yesterday,and what it would be l ikely to

be l ike to-morrow,and did you really

th ink so,and why ? The Water-Adder

used to say that they were the eas iest

people in the pond to vis it with,for all

one had to do was to keep st il l and look

very much interested . Perhaps that may

have been why the Clams and they were

such good friends .

The Clams,you know

,were a qu iet

family. U nless a Clam was very,very

much excited,he never said more than

Yes,

” No,

” or I ndeed They were


was last year,

she said ,“ and the mud is

gett ing posit ively dirty . Our family are

very particular about that,and I th ink we

may have to move. I do dread the mov

ing,though . I t is so much work with a

family the s ize of mine,and Mr. Eel is no

help at al l with the ch ildren .

She was talking with Mother Mud

Turtle when she said th is,and the l ittl e

Eels were wriggl i ng al l around her as she

spoke . Then t hey began teasing her to

go,unti l she told them to swim away at

once and play with the young Minnows.

I ’

m afraid I shal l have to go,

” said she,

i f only on account of the ch ildren . I

want them to see someth ing of the world .

I t is so dull i n th is pond . Were you

ever out of i t she asked , turn ing sud

denly to Mrs . Mud Turtle .

Oh,yes

,

” answered she. I go qu ite

often,and one of my sons took a very

l ong trip to the meadow. He went with

some boys . I t was most exc i t i ng.

”


about i t sometimes,and I say to h im

,

‘Mr. Eel,where would those ch ildren be

now if i t were not for me“ And what does he say then ? asked

the Mud Turtle Mother.

Noth ing,

” answered Mother Eel,with

a sm art l i ttl e wriggle . There is noth ing

for h im to say. Yes,we shall certainly

move . I am only wait ing for the right

k ind of n ight . I t must not be too l ight,

or the land people would see us ! not too

dark,or we could not see them . And

then the grass must be dewy. I t would

never do for us to get dry,you know

,or

we should all be s ick . But please don ’t

speak of th is,dear Mrs . Turtle . I would

rather leave qu ietly when the t ime

comes .

So the Mud Turtle Mother remembered

that i t was a secret,and told nobody ex

cept the Mud Turtle Father,and he d id

not speak of i t to anybody but the Snap

p ing Turtle.

The Eels ’ Moving-N ight 1 63

Did you say that i t was a secret ?

asked the Snapping Turtle .

Yes,

” said the Mud Turtle Father,

I t i s a great secret .

Humph ! said the Snapp ing Turtle.

Then why did you tel l me

That same day when the Stickleback

Father came to look for n ineteen or

twenty of h is ch ildren who were miss ing,

Mother Eel told h im about her plans . “ I

thought you would be interested in hear

ing of it,she said

,

“ but I shal l not men

tion it to anybody else .

”

“ You may be sure I shal l not speak of

it,

” said he . And probably he would not

have told a person , i f i t had not been that

he forgot and talked of i t with the Snails .

He also forgot to say that i t was a secret ,and so they spoke freely of i t to the

C rayfishes and the Caddis Worms .

The Caddis Worms were playing with

the Tadpoles soon after th is,and one of

them whispered to a Tadpole right before


the others,although he knew perfectly

wel l that it was rude for h im to do so .

Now,don ’t you ever tel l ,

” said he aloud .

Uh-uh ! answered the Tadpole,

and everybody knew that he meant No,

”

even if they had n ’

t seen h im wave h is

h indlegs s idewise . O f course,not having

the right k ind Of neck for it,he could n ’

t

shake h is head .

Then the other Tadpoles and Caddis

Worms wanted to tel l secrets,and they

kept whispering to each other and saying

out loud,

“ Now don ’t you ever tel l .

When a Caddis Worm told a Tadpole

anyth ing,he said

,

“ The Eels are going

to move away.

” And when a Tadpole

told a secret to a Caddis Worm,he jus t

moved h is l ips and said,

“ S iss-el,s iss-el

,

s iss-el-s iss I ’m only making bel ieve,

you know. But he was sure to add out

loud,

“ Now don ’t you tel .

” And the

Caddis Worm would answer,

“Uh-uh

The Eel Mother also spoke to the B ig


Eels are going -your uncles and aunts

and cousins—and you ch i ldren must keep

with the older ones . Be careful where

you wriggle to,and don ’t get on any

body else ’s tail . ”

She led the way out of the water and

wriggled graceful ly up the bank,although

it was qu ite steep at that place. “ I came

th is way,

”

She said,

“ because I felt more

as though th is was the way to come .

”

She closed her mouth very fi rmly as she

spoke . Mr. Eel had thought another

way better. They had to pass through

crowds of pond people to reach the shore,

for everybody had kept awake and was

watch ing. The older ones cried out,

“ Good-bye ! we shall miss you ,

” and

waved their fins or thei r legs,or their

tails,whichever seemed the handiest .

The younger ones teased the l ittle Eels

and tried to hold them back,and told

them they ’d miss lots Of fun,and that

they guessed they ’

d wish themselves back

The Eels ’ Moving-N ight 1 67

i n the pond again . When they got onto

the shore,the Frogs and the Mud Turtles

were there,and it was a long t ime before

they could get started on thei r j ourney.

One of the l ittle Eels was missing,and

his mother had to go back for him . She

found that a misch ievous young Stickle

back had h im by the tail .

When at last they were all together on

the bank,the Eel Father said to his wife

,

“ Are you sure that the Cranes and Fish

Hawks don ’t know about our moving ?

Because i f they did“ I know

,

”

she said . I t would be

dreadful i f they found out and we have

been so late in gett i ng started . We shall

have to stop at the very first water we

find now,whether we l ike it or not . She

lay sti l l and thought . I have a feel ing,

said she,

“ that we should go th is way.

SO that way they went,dragging thei r

yellow bell ies over the ground as carefully

as they could,their dark green backs with


their long fringes of back fins hardly

showing in the grass . I t was a good

th ing that the ir ski n was SO fat and th ick,

for sometimes they had to cross rough

places that scraped it dreadfully and even

rumpled the t iny scales that were in it,

while their long fringes of belly fins be

came worn and almost ragged . I f your

scales were on the outside,

” said thei r

father,

“ l ike those of other fishes,you

would n ’

t have many left .

Mother Eel was very t ired and did not

say much . Her friends began to fear that

she was i l l . At last she spoke,I do not

see,

” she said,

“ how people found out

that we were to move .

“ Y ou did n ’t tel l anybody ? said Mr.

No indeed said she ! and she really

bel ieved it . That was because she had

talked so much that she could n’

t re

member what she did say. I t is always

so with those that talk too much .


we were gone,so they have fel t runn ing

water too . I t was clean— I will say that

for it but i t was no place for Eels,and

so we came back .

”

There is no tell i ng how long she would

have kept on talking i f she had not been

called away. As soon as she left,the

St icklebacks began to talk about her.“ So she th inks we must be t ired of

staying in the water al l the t ime,

” said

one.

“ I t does n ’

t t i re me nearly so much

as i t would to go dragging myself over

the country,wearing out my fins on the

ground .

”

“ I ndeed ? said a Clam,to whom she

turned as she spoke .“ Well

,I ’

ll tel l you what I th ink , said

another Stickleback Mother. “ I th ink

that i f she did n ’

t care so much for travel

hersel f,she would not be dragging her

family around to learn grass and trees .

Some n ight they will be learn ing Owls or

men,and that will be the end of them

The Crayfish Mother 1 7 1

I do not bel ieve i n i t at all,said the

fi rst speaker. “ I certainly would not

want my sons to learn these th ings,for

they must grow up to be good nest

bu ilders and baby-tenders . I have told

their fathers particularly to bring them

up to be careful housekeepers . With my

daughters,i t is d ifferent . ”

For a long time nobody spoke then a

Clam said,

“What a difference there is

i n mothers I t qu ite startled the Stickle

backs to hear a C lam say so much . I t

showed how interested he was,and wel l

he might be . The Clam who brings up

ch ildren has to do it alone,and be both

father and mother to them,and of course

that is hard work . I t is hard,too

,be

cause when a l i ttl e Clam is naughty,h is

parent can never say that he takes his

naughtiness from any one else .“ And there is a di fference in fathers

too ,exclaimed one fine-looking Stickle

back Mother. “I say that a father

’s place


i s by the nest,and that i f he does h is work

there well,he wil l not have much t ime to

want to travel,or to loaf around by the

shore .

” The Clams looked at each other

and said noth ing. Some people thought

that the Stickleback Mothers were lazy.

J ust then a Crayfish Mother came

swimming slowly along,stopp ing often

to rest . Her legs were almost usel ess ,there were so many l ittle C rayfishes cl ing

ing to them .

Now l ook at her,said one Stickle

back .

“ J ust look at her. She laid her

eggs at the beginn ing of last winter and

fastened them to her legs . Said she was

so afraid someth ing would happen i f she

left them,and that th is was a custom

in her family anyway. Now they have

hatched,and her ch ildren hang on to her

in the same way.

The Crayfish Mother stopped with a

s igh . I s n ’

t i t dreadfully warm said

she .


She held up first one leg and then an

other to Show off her dangl ing babies .“ I don ’t know what will happen to

them when I cast my shel l,

” said she . I

Shall have to soon,for I can hardly

breathe in it . My sister changed hers

some t ime ago,and her new one is get

t ing hard already.

”

Oh,they ’l l be all right

,said a Stick

lebackcheerful ly.

“ Their fathers tel l m e

that my ch ildren learn remarkably fast

how to look out for themselves. ”

“ But my ch i ldren can ’t walk yet,said

the Crayfish Mother,

“ and they don ’t

know how to swim .

”

“What of that ? asked a St ickleback,

who was beginn ing to lose her pat ience .

They can learn,can ’t they They have

eight legs apiece,have n

’

t they,besides

the ones that have p incers ? I S n’

t that

enough to begin on ? And have n ’

t they

tail-paddles

I suppose so, said their mother, with

The Crayfish Mother 1 75

a sigh ,“ but they don ’t seem to want to

go . I must put them to sleep now and

try to get a l i ttle rest mysel f,for the sun

is well up .

”

The next n ight she awakened and re

membered what the St icklebacks had

said, so she thought she would try shak

ing her ch ildren off. I t is for your own

good ,” she said

,and she waved fi rst one

leg and then another. When she got four

of her legs free,and stood on them to shake

the other four,her ch ildren scrambled

back to her and took hold again with

their strong l ittle p inch ing-claws . Then

she gave it up .

“ You dear t iny th ings

she said . But I do wish you would walk

instead of making me carry you .

”

“We don ’t want to they cried we

don ’t know how.

”

“ There,there said their mother.

NO ,to be sure you don

’t . ”

The next n ight,though

,they had to let

go,for their mother was cast ing her shell .


When it was off she lay weak and help

less on the pond-bottom,and her ch ildren

lay around her. They behaved very badly

indeed .

“ Come here and let me catch

hold of you,

” cried one. I can ’t walk,

said another,

“ because I don ’t know how.

Some of them were so cross that they

j ust lay on their backs and kicked with al l

the i r eight feet,and screamed

,

“I won

’

t

try I t was dreadful

The Crayfish Mother was too weak to

move,and when the Wise O ld Crayfish

came along she spoke to h im . My ch ild

ren wil l not walk,said she

,

“ even when I

tel l them to .

” He knew that it was because

when she had told them to do th ings be

fore,she had not made them mind .

“ I wil l see what I can do,

” said he,

but you must not say a word .

” He

walked backward to where they were,and

kept h is face turned toward their mother,which was pol ite of him . D o you want

the Eels to find you here ?” he said

,i n

TWO LITTLE CRAYFI SH ES

QUARREL

TH E day after the Eels left

,the pond

people talked of noth ing else . I t

was not that they were so much missed,

for the Eels,you know

,do not swim

around in the dayt ime . They l ie qu ietly

in the mud and sleep or talk I t is only

at n ight that they are really l ively. Still,

as the Mother Mud Turtle said,

“ They

had known that they were there,and the

mud seemed empty without them .

”

The larger people had been sorry to

have them go , and some of them felt that

without the Eels awake and st irring,the

pond was hardly a safe place at n ight“ I th ink it is a good deal safer

, re

marked a Minnow,who usually said what1 78

Two Little C rayfishes Quarrel 1 79

she thought. “ I have always bel ieved

that the Eels knew what became of some

of my brothers and s isters , although , of

course,I do not know.

”

“Why did n ’t you ask them ? said a

Stickleback .

“ Why ? ” repl ied the M innow.

“ I f I

had gone to the Eels and asked them

that,my other brothers and sisters would

soon be wonder ing what had become of

me .

”

I have heard some queer th ings about

the Eels mysel f,

” said the Stickleback,

“ but I have never felt much afraid of

them . I suppose I am braver because I

wear so many of my bones on the out

side .

”

J ust then a Wise O ld Crayfish came

along walking s idewise . What do you

th ink about the Eels asked the Stickle

back,tu rn ing suddenly to h im .

The Crayfish stuck h is tail i nto the

mud . He often did th is when he was


surprised . I t seemed to help h im think .

When he had thought for a while,he

waved h is big pinch ing-claws and said,

“ I t would be better for me not to tel l

what I th ink . I used to l ive near them .

”

This showed that the Wise O ld Cray

fish had been well brought up,and knew

he should not say unpleasant th ings about

people i f he could help it . When there

was need of i t,he could tel l unpleasant

truths,and indeed that very even ing he

did say what he thought of the Eels .

That was when he was teaching some

young C rayfishes , his pupils . Their mother

had brought up a large family,and was

not strong. She had just cast the shel l

wh ich she had worn for a year,and now

she was weak and helpless until the new

one should harden on her. I t i s such a

bother,

”

she said,

“ to keep changing one ’s

shell i n th is way, but i t is a comfort to

th ink that the new one wil l l ast a year

when I do get it . ”


c ircle of six teachers,so that he might be

taught on all s ides at once .

“ That is the way in wh ich ch ildren

should learn,he said

,

“ all around at

once . But I do the best I can,and I at

least teach one s ide o f each .

This even ing the Wise O ld Crayfish

was very S l eepy. There had been so

much talking and exc itement during the

day that he had not slept so much as

usual ! and now,when he should have

been wide awake,he felt exceedingly dul l

and stup id . When he tried to walk,h is

eight legs stumbled over each other,and

the weak way in which he waved h is p inch

ing-claw legs showed how tired he was .

After he had told h is pup ils the best

way to hold their food with their p inch

ing-claws,and had explained to them how

i t was chewed by the teeth i n their stom

ac hs,one misch ievous l ittle fellow called

out,

“ I want to know about the Eels .

My mother would never let me go near

Two Little C rayfishes Quarrel 1 83

them,and now they ’ve moved away

,and

I won ’t ever see them,and I th ink it ’s

j ust horrid .

”

Eels,my ch ildren

,said their teacher

,

are long,slender

,sharp-nosed

,sl ippery

people,with a fringe of fins along thei r

backs,and another fringe along their

bel l ies . They breathe through very small

gi ll-open ings in the backs of thei r heads .

They have large mouths,and teeth in their

mouths,and they are always st icking out

their lower jaws . ”

“ And how do began the B iggest

Little Crayfish .

Ask me that to-morrow,said their

teacher,stretch ing his eight walking legs

and h is two p inch ing-claw legs and his tail

paddles,

“ but remember th is one th ing

i f you ever see an Eel, got out of bis

way. Don ’t stop to look at h im .

”

“ We won ’t,

” said one l i tt le Crayfish,

who thought i t smart to be saucy.

“We ’

11

look to stop at h im .

” All of which meant


noth ing at all and was only said to annoy

h is teacher.

They scrambled away over the pond-bot

tom,upsett ing Snails

, j iggl ing the young

Clams,and rac ing with each other where

the bottom was smooth . Beat you

runn ing backward cried the Saucy

Crayfish to the B iggest L ittle Crayfish,

and they scampered along backward in

the moonl it water. There was an old l og

on the bottom of the pond,and they sat

on that to rest . The B iggest Little

Crayfish had beaten .

“ I would l ike to

see an Eel,

” said he .

“ I ’d l ike to see them runn ing on the

land,said the saucy one .

Pooh said the biggest one. That ’

s

al l you know They don ’t run on land .

”

“ Well,I guess they do

,

” repl ied the

saucy one I know as much about it as

you do“ Eels swim . They don ’t run

,said

the b iggest one . Guess I know !

1 86 Among the Pond Peopl

yellow person swimming gently toward

them,and they did not know that the

Eels had come back to l ive i n the old

pond again . Mother Eel opened her big

mouth very wide . “ On land,

”

she said

dec idedly,as she swallowed the B iggest

L ittle Crayfish,

“ Eels wriggle . Then

she swallowed the Saucy Crayfish .

There said she . I ’ve stopped that

dreadful quarrel . And she looked around

with a sat isfied smile .


l ived up by the farmyard,and had the

same slender and elegant bod ies and short

legs as they. Like the Weasels,they

sometimes cl imbed trees,but that was not

often . They d id most o f the ir hunting

in the river,swimming with their bodies

almost al l under water,and diving and

turn ing and twist ing gracefully and

qu ickly. When they hunted on land,

they could tel l by smell ing j ust which

way to go for their food .

The Minks were a very dark brown,

and scattered through the ir close,soft fur

were long,sh in ing hairs of an even darker

shade,which made their coats very beaut i

fu l indeed . The fur was darker on their

backs than on the under part of thei r

bod ies,and their tapering

,bushy tai ls

were almost black. Thei r under j aws

were White,and they were very proud of

them . Perhaps i t was because they had

so l ittle white fur that they thought so

much of it. You know that is often

The Lucky Mink 1 89

the way we th ink most of those th ings

which are scarce or hard to get.

There was one old Mink by the river

who had a white t ip on h is tail,and that

is someth ing wh ich many people have

never seen . I t is even more uncommon

than for Minks to have white upper l ips,

and that happens only once in a great whi le.

This M ink was a bachelor,and nobody

knew why. Some people said i t was be

cause he was wait ing to find a wife with a

wh ite t ip on her tai l,yet that could not

have been,for he was too wise to wait for

someth ing which might never happen .

However i t was he l ived alone,and fished

and hunted j ust for h imsel f. He could

dive more qu ickly,stay under water

longer,and hunt by scent better than any

other M ink round there . H is fur was

sleeker and more sh in ing than that of h is

friends,and it i s no wonder that the s is

ters of h is friends thought that he ought

to marry.


When the M inks vis ited together,some

body was sure to speak of the Bachelor’s

luck. They said that , whatever he d id ,he was always lucky.

“ I t is al l because

of a white t ip on h is tail,

” they said .

“ That makes h im lucky.

The young M inks heard thei r fathers

and mothers talking,and wished that they

had been born with wh ite t ips on their

tails so that they could be lucky too .

Once the Bachelor heard them wish ing

th is,and he smiled and showed h is beau

t i fu l teeth,and told them that it was not

the t ip of his tail but h is whole body that

made h im lucky. He did not smile to

Show h is teeth,because he was not at all

vain . He just smiled and showed his

teeth .

There was a family of young M inks

who l ived at the foot of the waterfall,

where the water splashed and dashed in

the way they l iked best . There were

four brothers and two s isters i n th is

The Lucky M ink 1 9 1

family,and the brothers were bigger than

the s isters !as M ink Brothers always are! ,although they were al l the same age . One

was very much larger than any of the

rest,and so they called h im B ig Brother.

He thought there was never such a fine

M ink as the Bachelor,and he used to fol

low h im around,and look at the tip on h is

tail,and wish that he was lucky l ike h im .

He W ished to be just l ike h im in every way

but one he did not want to be a bachelor.

The other young M inks laughed at

B ig Brother,and asked h im if he thought

h is tail would turn white i f he fol lowed

the Bachelor long enough . B ig Brother

stood i t very pat iently for a wh ile ! then

he snarled at them,and showed h is teeth

without smil ing,and said he would fight

anybody who spoke another word about

it . Minks are very brave and very fierce,

and never know when to stop if they have

begun to fight so,after that

,nobody

dared tease B ig Brother by saying any


th ing more about the Bachelor Some

t imes they did look at h is tail and smile ,but they never spoke

,and he pretended

not to know what they meant by it.

A few days after th is,the Bachelor was

caught i n a trap—a common , clumsy,wooden trap

,put together with nails and

twine . I t was not near the river,and

none of h is friends would have found

h im,i f B ig Brother had not happened

along. He could hardly bel ieve what he

saw. Was it poss ible that a trap had

dared to catch a M ink with a white

t ipped tail Then he heard the Bachelor

groan,and he knew that i t was so. He

hurried up to where the trap was .

Can ’t you get out said he .

No,

” said the Bachelor. I can ’t .

The best way to get out is not to get in

and I ’

ve gotten in .

Can ’t you do someth ing with your

lu cky tai l to make the trap Open asked

B ig B rother.


to hear. B ig Brother’s mouth became

very sore, and h is stomach became very

empty,but st i l l he kept at work. He was

afraid somebody would come for the trap

and the Mink in it,before he fin ished .

Now try it,

” said he,after he had

gnawed for qu ite a while . The Bachelor

backed out as far as he could,but h is

body stuck in the hole “ Y ou are rump

l ing your beaut iful fur,cried the young

Mink .

“ Never mind the fur,answered the

Bachelor. I can smooth that down

afterward . Y ou wil l have to gnaw a

l ittl e on th is s ide . And he raised one of

his h ind feet to show where he meant . I t

was a beauti ful h indfoot,th ickly padded

,

and with short partly webbed toes,and no

hair at al l growing between them . The

claws were short,sharp

,and curved .

B ig Brother gnawed away. Now try

it,

” said he . The Bachelor backed care

fully out through the open ing and stood

The Lucky Mink 1 95

there,l ooking tired and hungry and very

much rumpled .

“ Y ou are a fine young M ink,said he .

We will get someth ing to eat,and then

we will see about making you lucky .

They went to the river bank and had a

good dinner. The Bachelor ate more

than B ig Brother,for h is mouth was not

sore . But B ig Brother was very happy .

He thought how handsome he would look

with a white-t ipped tail,and how

,after he

had that,he could surely marry whoever

he wished . I t was the custom among h is

people to want to marry the best looking

and strongest . I ndeed it is so among all

the pond people,and that is one reason

why they care so much about being good

looking. I t is very hard for a young

M ink to have the one he loves choose

somebody else,j ust because the other fel

low has the bush iest tail,or the longest

fur,or the th ickest pads on his feet .

“ Now,

” said the Bachelor, “we wil l


talk about luck. We will go to a place

where nobody can hear what we say.

”

They found such a place and lay down .

The Bachelor rolled over three t imes and

smoothed h is fur ! he was st i l l so t i red

from being i n the trap . Then he looked

at the young Mink very sharply.

“ So

you want my tail said he .

“ Y ou said you would give me your

luck,answered B ig Brother

,

“ and every

body knows that your luck is in your tai l . ”

The Bachelor smiled . What will you

do with the tai l you have said he .

I don ’t know,

” answered B ig Brother.

You would n ’t want to wear two

asked the Bachelor.

Oh,no

,answered B ig Brother. How

that would look“Well

,how will you put my tai l i n

place of yours ? ” asked the Bachelor.“ I don ’t know

,

” answered the young

M ink,

“ but you are so wise that I thought

you might know some way. He began


I s that all ? asked the young Mink .

That is enough,answered the Bache

lor. “ Keep try ing and trying and try

ing,unt i l you can d ive deeper

,stay under

water longer,run faster

,and smell farther

than other M inks . Then you wil l have

good luck when theirs is poor. Y ou wil l

have plenty to eat when they are hungry.

Y ou can beat in every fight . Y ou can

have sleek,sh in ing fur when theirs is dull .

Luck is not a matter of white-t ipped

tails . ”

The more the young M ink thought

about i t,the happ ier he became . I

don ’t see that I am to have your luck

after all,

” said he .

“When I have learned

to do everyth ing in the very best way, i t

wil l be luck of my own .

”

O f course,

” answered the Bachelor.

Then i t is a kind of luck that cannot be

lost . I f I carried mine in the t ip of my

tail,somebody might bite it off and leave

me unlucky.

The Lucky M ink 1 99

other kept the secret,and worked

had learned to be as lucky as the

Then he married the person

d,and she was very

,very hand

t i s said that one of their sons

ite-t ipped tail,but that may not

THE PLAYFU L MU SKRATS

NE warm day in winter,when some

of the pussy-willows made a mistake

and began to grow because they thought

spring had come,a party of Muskrats

were vis it ing in the marsh bes ide the

pond . All around them were their winter

houses,bu ilt of mud and coarse grasses .

These homes looked l ike heaps of dried

rushes,unless one went close to them .

I f one did that,he could plai nly see what

they were ! and if one happened to be a

Muskrat,and could dive and go into them

through their watery doorways,he would

find under the queer roof of each,a warm

,

dry room in wh ich to pass the cold days .

Fine weather said every Muskrat

to h is neighbor. “ Could n ’

t sleep all of200


and down around the corners of h is

m outh .

Perhaps i f the Wild Ducks and the

Mud Hens were rais ing their famil ies in

the winter t ime it might be different,for

then the Muskrats get hungry enough to

eat almost anyth ing. I n spring and sum

mer,when they can find fresh grasses and

young rushes,or a few parsn ips

,carrots

,

and turn ips from the farmers ’ fields,other

an imals are qu ite safe . I n the W inter

they l ive mostly on roots .“ Fine day ! screamed the Gulls

,as

they swept through the air. “ Pity the

Frogs don ’t come out to enj oy it“ Y es

,great p ity

,chuckled the old

Muskrat . How glad you would be to

see them ! He smiled all around his

l ittle mouth and showed h is gnawing

teeth . He knew that the Frogs were

better off asleep in the mud at the bot

tom of the pond , than they would be s it

t ing in the sunshi ne with a few hungry

The Playful Muskrats 203

Gulls above them . The Turtles were

sleeping all winter,too

,in the banks of

the pond . The Eels were lying at the

bottom,stup id and drowsy

,and some

where the Water-Adders were h idden

away,dreaming of spring. O f al l the

birds who l ived by the water,only the

Gulls were there,and they were not

popular. I t is true that they helped keep

the pond sweet and clean,and picked

up and carried away many th ings which

made the shore untidy,sti ll

,they were

rude,and talked too loudly

,and wore

thei r feathers in such a way that they

looked l ike fine large birds,when really

they were lean and skinny and small .

The other pond people said that was just

l ike them,always pretending to be more

than they really were .

Fifteen young Muskrats,al l brothers

and sisters,and al l born the summer be

fore,started off to look at the old home

where they were ch ildren together. That


is to say,they were not all there at once

,

but there were five born early in the

season ! and when they were old enough

to look out for themselves,

five more

came to l ive in the old nest ! and when

these were old enough to l eave the nest,

another five were born .

I t does n ’

t mean so much to Muskrats

to be brothers and sisters as i t does to

some people,st i l l they remembered that

they were related,and they played more

with each other than with those young

Muskrats who were only thei r cous ins or

friends . Their mother was very proud

of them,and loved to watch them run

n ing around on thei r short legs,and to

hear them slap their long,scaly tails on

the water when they dove . They had

Short,downy fur

,almost black on the

back,soft gray underneath

,and a reddish

brown everywhere else . There was very

l ittl e fu r on thei r tai ls or on their feet, and

those parts were black .


and said ,“Who cares ? When they

were cold and hungry,they slapped their

tai ls on the ground or on the water and

said , Don ’t you th ink you ’

re smart

When they got to talking so and their

mother heard it,she would say

,Now

,

’

ch ildren ! ” i n such a way that they had

to stop . Their father sometimes slapped

them with h is tail . Teasing is not so

very bad,you know

,although it is dread

fully s il ly,but when people begin by teas

ing they sometimes get to saying th ings

in earnest even really hateful,mean

th ings . And that was what made the

Muskrat father and mother stop it when

ever they could .

Now the whole fi fteen crowded around

the old summer home,and some of them

went in one way,and some of them went

in another,for every Muskrat ’s summer

house has several burrows lead ing to it .

When they reached the old nest at the

end,al l of them tried to get in at once ,

The Playful Muskrats 207

and they pushed each other around with

their broad l ittle heads,scrambled and

clutched and held on with their strong

l ittl e feet . Five of them said,

“ I t ’s our

turn fi rst . We ’re the oldest . And five

more said,

“Well,it

’

s our turn next any

way,

’cause we ’re next oldest . ” The oth

ers said,

“ You might give up to us,

because we ’

re the youngest . ”

They pushed and scrambled some

more,and one of the youngest ch ildren

said to one of the oldest,Well

,I

don ’t care . I ’m just as b ig as you are

!which was so! . And the older one an

swered back,

“Well,you ’re not so good

looking !which was also true! .

Then part of the brothers and s isters

took s ides with one,and part took s ides

with the other. What had been a lovely

frol ic became an unpleasant,disgraceful

quarrel,and they said such th ings as

these

Fore I ’d make such a fuss !


Who ’s making any more fuss than

you are,I ’

d l ike to know ? ”

“Oh

,yes . You ’

re big enough,but

you’

re j ust as homely as you can be . So

there !“ Quit poking me

Y ou slapped your tail on my back !

I ’

m going to tel l on you fellows

I dare you to

Won ’t you catch it though

And many more th ings wh ich were

even worse . Think of i t . Fifteen young

Muskrats who really loved each other,

talking l ike that because they could n ’

t

dec ide whether the oldest or the youngest

or the half-way-between brothers and

s isters should go first into the old nest .

And it did n ’

t matter a bit who was oldest

or who was youngest,and it never would

have happened had it not been for thei r

dreadful hab it of teas ing.

J ust as they had become very hot and

angry,they heard their mother’s vo ice


wil l play ‘ Frogs in winter,

’ and the

youngest five wil l play ‘Snakes in winter. ’

The way to play these games is to l ie per

fec tly st il l i n some dark place and not say

a word .

”

The young Muskrats looked at each

other sorrowfully. They thought it

sounded very much the same as being

sent to bed for being naughty . They

did no t dare say anyth ing,for they

knew that,although their mother was

gentle,as Muskrats are most of the

t ime,she could be very severe . So they

went away qu ietly to play what she had

told them they must . But it was not

much fun to play those games when al l

the others were having a fine t ime in the

sunsh ine.

There were n ine of the young Musk

rats who did not tease any after that .

Even the other S ix were more careful .

d ear little fr i en d s —when the ten polliwogs came to spend a day with me, some two years ago,...

Documents