"That's just the way they felt," said he. "When they came to the top
again they found, to their surprise, that they could swim; and feeling
most indignant and injured they struck out straight for shore. But
there, between them and the good dry ground, swam their mother, and
would not let them land. They did not see how mothers could be so
heartless. But there was no help for it; so they swam out again very
haughtily and joined their father in mid-stream. And before they knew
it they were enjoying themselves immensely.

"And now life became much more interesting to them. For a bit it was
harder to keep them out of the water than it had been to get them into
it. They had their first lessons in fishing. And though they were too
clumsy at first to catch even a slow, mud-grubbing sucker, they found
the attempt most interesting. The stream just opposite their home was
deep and quiet, but a little way below, the current ran strong; and
once, having ridden down it gaily for a couple of hundred yards, they
found themselves unable to swim back against it. At first they battled
bravely and were most surprised to find themselves making so little
progress. Then they grew tired; and then frightened, and they were
just being carried off down stream by this strange, soft, irresistible
force when their mother arrived. The current was nothing to her. She
took them on her back, and shot off up stream again with them. After
that they would ride on her back, or on their father's whenever they
got tired. And their parents began to take them on long trips up and
down stream. You see, their housekeeping being so simple, they didn't
mind going away even for a couple of days at a time, and leaving the
house to look after itself."

"I don't think I'd like to be wet like that _all_ the time, even in