So the dam grew and grew, and so did the pond above the dam. Of
course, it took a good many days to build so big a dam, and a lot
of hard work! Every morning the little people of the Green Forest
and the Green Meadow would visit it, and every morning they would
find that it had grown a great deal in the night, for that is
when Paddy likes best to work.

By this time, the Laughing Brook had stopped laughing, and down
in the Smiling Pool there was hardly water enough for the minnows
to feel safe a minute. Billy Mink had stopped making fun of the
dam, and all the little people who live in the Laughing Brook and
Smiling Pool were terribly worried.

To be sure, Paddy had warned them of what he was going to do, and
had promised that as soon as his pond was big enough, the water
would once more run in the Laughing Brook. They tried to believe
him, but they couldn't help having just a wee bit of fear that he
might not be wholly honest. You see, they didn't know him, for he
was a stranger. Jerry Muskrat was the only one who seemed
absolutely sure that everything would be all right. Perhaps that
was because Paddy is his cousin, and Jerry couldn't help feeling
proud of such a big cousin and one who was so smart.

So day by day the dam grew, and pond grew, and one morning
Grandfather Frog, down in what had once been the Smiling Pool,
heard a sound that made his heart jump for joy. It was a murmur
that kept growing and growing, until at last it was the merry
laugh of the Laughing Brook. Then he knew that Paddy had kept his
word, and water would once more fill the Smiling Pool.