III
HOW OLD MR. TOAD LEARNED TO SING
Peter Rabbit never will forget how he laughed the first time he heardOld Mr. Toad say that he could sing and was going to sing. Why, Peterwould as soon think of singing himself, and that is something he can nomore do than he can fly. Peter had known Old Mr. Toad ever since hecould remember. He was rather fond of him, even if he did play jokes onhim once in a while. But he always thought of Old Mr. Toad as one of thehomeliest of all his friends,--slow, awkward, and too commonplace to bevery interesting. So when, in the glad joyousness of the spring, OldMr. Toad had told Jimmy Skunk that he was going down to the Smiling Poolto sing because without him the great chorus there would lack one of itssweetest voices, Peter and Jimmy had laughed till the tears came.
A few days later Peter happened over to the Smiling Pool for a call onGrandfather Frog. A mighty chorus of joy from unseen singers rose fromall about the Smiling Pool. Peter knew about those singers. They wereHylas, the little cousins of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. Peter sat verystill on the edge of the bank trying to see one of them. Suddenly hebecame aware of a new note, one he never had noticed before and sweeterthan any of the others. Indeed it was one of the sweetest of all thespring songs, as sweet as the love notes of Tommy Tit the Chickadee,than which there is none sweeter.
It seemed to come from the shallow water just in front of Peter, and helooked eagerly for the singer. Then his eyes opened until it seemed asif they would pop right out of his head, and he dropped his lower jawfoolishly. There was Old Mr. Toad with a queer bag Peter never had seenbefore swelled out under his chin, and as surely as Peter was sitting onthat bank, it was Old Mr. Toad who was the sweet singer!
Old Mr. Toad paid no attention to Peter, not even when he was spoken to.He was so absorbed in his singing that he just didn't hear. Peter satthere a while to listen; then he called Jimmy Skunk and Unc' BillyPossum, who were also listening to the music, and they were just assurprised as Peter. Then he spied Jerry Muskrat at the other end of theSmiling Pool and hurried over there. Peter was so full of the discoveryhe had made that he could think of nothing else. He fairly ached totell.
"Jerry!" he cried. "Oh, Jerry Muskrat! Do you know that Old Mr. Toad cansing?"
Jerry looked surprised that Peter should ask such a question. "Of courseI know it," said he. "It would be mighty funny if I didn't know it,seeing that he is the sweetest singer in the Smiling Pool and has sunghere every spring since I can remember."
Peter looked very much chagrined. "I didn't know it until just how," heconfessed. "I didn't believe him when he told me that he could sing. Iwonder how he ever learned."
"He didn't learn any more than you learned how to jump," replied Jerry."It just came to him naturally. His father sang, and his grandfather,and his great grandfather, way back to the beginning of things. Ithought everybody knew about that."
"I don't. Tell me about it. Please do, Jerry," begged Peter.
"All right, I will," replied Jerry good-naturedly. "It's somethingyou ought to know about, anyway. In the first place, Old Mr. Toadbelongs to a very old and honorable family, one of the very oldest.I've heard say that it goes way back almost to the very beginning ofthings when there wasn't much land. Anyway, the first Toad, thegreat-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Old Mr. Toad and own cousin tothe great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather of Grandfather Frog, was oneof the first to leave the water for the dry land.
"Old Mother Nature met him hopping along and making hard work of itbecause, of course, it was so new. She looked at him sharply. 'What areyou doing here?' she demanded. 'Aren't you contented with the waterwhere you were born?'
"Mr. Toad bowed very low. 'Yes'm,' said he very humbly. 'I'll go rightback there if you say so. I thought there must be some things worthfinding out on the land, and that I might be of some use in the GreatWorld.'
"His answer pleased Old Mother Nature. She was worried. She had plantedall kinds of things on the land, and they were springing up everywhere,but she had discovered that bugs of many kinds liked the tender greenthings and were increasing so fast and were so greedy that theythreatened to strip the land of all that she had planted. She had somany things to attend to that she hadn't time to take care of the bugs.'If you truly want to be of some use,' said she, 'you can attend to someof those bugs.'
"Mr. Toad went right to work, and Old Mother Nature went about someother business. Having so many other things to look after, she quiteforgot about Mr. Toad, and it was several weeks before she came that wayagain. Right in the middle of a great bare place where the bugs hadeaten everything was a beautiful green spot, and patiently hopping fromplant to plant was Mr. Toad, snapping up every bug he could see. Hedidn't see Old Mother Nature and kept right on working. She watched hima while as he hopped from plant to plant catching bugs as fast as hecould, and then she spoke.
"'Have you stayed right here ever since I last saw you?' she asked.
"Mr. Toad gave a start of surprise. 'Yes'm,' said he.
"'But I thought you wanted to see the Great World and learn things,'said she.
"Mr. Toad looked a little embarrassed. 'So I did,' he replied, 'but Iwanted to be of some use, and the bugs have kept me so busy there was notime to travel. Besides, I have learned a great deal right here. I--Icouldn't get around fast enough to save _all_ the plants, but I havesaved what I could.'
"Old Mother Nature was more pleased than she was willing to show, forMr. Toad was the first of all the little people who had tried to helpher, and he had done what he could willingly and faithfully.
"'I suppose,' said she, speaking a little gruffly, 'you expect me toreward you.'
"Mr. Toad looked surprised and a little hurt. 'I don't want any reward,'said he. 'I didn't do it for that. It will be reward enough to know thatI really have helped and to be allowed to continue to help.'
"At that Old Mother Nature's face lighted with one of her most beautifulsmiles. 'Mr. Toad,' said she, 'if you could have just what you want,what would it be?'
"Mr. Toad hesitated a few minutes and then said shyly, 'A beautifulvoice.'
"It was Old Mother Nature's turn to look surprised. 'A beautiful voice!'she exclaimed. 'Pray, why do you want a beautiful voice?'
"'So that I can express my happiness in the most beautiful way I knowof,--by singing,' replied Mr. Toad.
"'You shall have it,' declared Old Mother Nature, 'but not all the timelest you be tempted to forget your work, which, you know, is the realsource of true happiness. In the spring of each year you shall go backto your home in the water, and there for a time you shall sing to yourheart's content, and there shall be no sweeter voice than yours.'
"Sure enough, when the next spring came, Mr. Toad was filled with agreat longing to go home. When he got there, he found that in his throatwas a little music bag; and when he swelled it out, he had one of thesweetest voices in the world. And so it has been ever since with theToad family. Old Mr. Toad is one of the sweetest singers in the SmilingPool, but when it is time to go back to work he never grumbles, but isone of the most faithful workers in Mother Nature's garden," concludedJerry Muskrat.
Peter sighed. "I never could work," said he. "Perhaps that is why Icannot sing."
"Very likely," replied Jerry Muskrat, quite forgetting that he cannotsing himself although he is a great worker.
IV
HOW OLD MR. CROW LOST HIS DOUBLE TONGUE