The Adventures of Grandfather Frog | Page 7

breakfast yet?"
called Little Joe Otter.
Grandfather Frog wanted to say no, but he always tells the truth.
"Ye-e-s," he replied. "I've had my breakfast, such as it was. Why do
you ask?"
"Oh, for no reason in particular. I just thought that if you hadn't, you
might like a fish. But as long as you have breakfasted, of course you
don't want one," said Little Joe, his bright eyes beginning to twinkle.
He held the fish out so that Grandfather Frog could see just how plump

and nice they were.
"Chugarum!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog. "Those certainly are very
nice fish, very nice fish indeed. It is very nice of you to think of a poor
old fellow like me, and I--er--well, I might find room for just a little
teeny, weeny one, if you can spare it."
Little Joe Otter knows all about Grandfather Frog's greediness. He
looked at Grandfather Frog's white and yellow waistcoat and saw how
it was already stuffed full to bursting. The twinkle in his eyes grew
more mischievous than ever as he said: "Of course I can. But I wouldn't
think of giving such an old friend a teeny, weeny one."
With that, Little Joe picked out the biggest fish he had and tossed it
over to Grandfather Frog. It landed close by his nose with a great
splash, and it was almost half as big as Grandfather Frog himself. It
was plump and looked so tempting that Grandfather Frog forgot all
about his full stomach. He even forgot to be polite and thank Little Joe
Otter. He just opened his great mouth and seized the fish. Yes, Sir, that
is just what he did. Almost before you could wink an eye, the fish had
started down Grandfather Frog's throat head first.
Now you know Grandfather Frog has no teeth, and so he cannot bite
things in two. He has to swallow them whole. That is just what he
started to do with the fish. It went all right until the head reached his
stomach. But you can't put anything more into a thing already full, and
Grandfather Frog's stomach was packed as full as it could be of foolish
green flies. There the fish stuck, and gulp and swallow as hard as he
could, Grandfather Frog couldn't make that fish go a bit farther. Then
he tried to get it out again, but it had gone so far down his throat that he
couldn't get it back. Grandfather Frog began to choke.

VIII
SPOTTY THE TURTLE PLAYS DOCTOR
Greed's a dreadful thing to see, As everybody will agree.

At first Little Joe Otter, sitting on the bank of the Smiling Pool,
laughed himself almost sick as he watched Grandfather Frog trying to
swallow a fish almost as big as himself, when his white and yellow
waistcoat was already stuffed so full of foolish green flies that there
wasn't room for anything more. Such greed would have been disgusting,
if it hadn't been so very, very funny. At least, it was funny at first, for
the fish had stuck, with the tail hanging out of Grandfather Frog's big
mouth. Grandfather Frog hitched this way and hitched that way on his
big green lily-pad, trying his best to swallow. Twice he tumbled off
with a splash into the Smiling Pool. Each time he scrambled back again
and rolled his great goggly eyes in silent appeal to Little Joe Otter to
come to his aid.
[Illustration: As soon as they saw Grandfather Frog, they began to
laugh, too. Page 37.]
But Little Joe was laughing so that he had to hold his sides, and he
didn't understand that Grandfather Frog really was in trouble. Billy
Mink and Jerry Muskrat came along, and as soon as they saw
Grandfather Frog, they began to laugh, too. They just laughed and
laughed and laughed until the tears came. They rolled over and over on
the bank and kicked their heels from sheer enjoyment. It was the
funniest thing they had seen for a long, long time.
"Did you ever see such greed?" gasped Billy Mink.
"Why don't you pull it out and start over again?" shouted Little Joe
Otter.
Now this is just what Grandfather Frog was trying to do. At least, he
was trying to pull the fish out. He hadn't the least desire in the world to
try swallowing it again. In fact, he felt just then as if he never, never
wanted to see another fish so long as he lived. But Grandfather Frog's
hands are not made for grasping slippery things, and the tail of a fish is
very slippery indeed. He tried first with one hand, then with the other,
and at last with both. It was of no use at all. He just couldn't