The Adventures of Grandfather Frog by Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess
page 51 of 66 (77%)
page 51 of 66 (77%)
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never like to be told that they are old or that they do not know all
there is to know. Grandfather Frog straightened up and tried to look very dignified. "Chugarum!" said he, "I'd have you to know, Striped Chipmunk, that people were coming to me for advice before you were born. It was just an accident that Farmer Brown's boy caught me, and I'd like to see him do it again. Yes, Sir, I'd like to see him do it again!" Dear me, dear me! Grandfather Frog was boasting. If he had been safe at home in the Smiling Pool, there might have been some excuse for boasting, but way over here in the Long Lane, not even knowing the way back to the Smiling Pool, it was foolish, very foolish indeed. No one knew that better than Striped Chipmunk, but he has a great deal of respect for Grandfather Frog, and he knew too that Grandfather Frog was feeling very much out of sorts and very much mortified to think that he had been caught in such a scrape, so he put a hand over his mouth to hide a smile as he said: "Of course he isn't going to catch you again. I know how wise and smart you are, but you look to me very tired, and there are so many dangers out here in the Great World that it seems to me that the very best thing you can do is to go back to the Smiling Pool." But Grandfather Frog is stubborn, you know. He had started out to see the Great World, and he didn't want the little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest to think that he was afraid. The truth is, Grandfather Frog was more afraid of being laughed at than he was of the dangers around him, which shows just how foolish wise people can be sometimes. So he shook his head. |
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