see it clearly

Grandfather Frog Fools Farmer Brown's Boy

By Thornton W. Burgess

Farmer Brown's boy had a freckled face. He wore a battered old straw hat and generally when he wasn't smiling he was whistling. He was a good-natured boy and everybody liked him, everybody but the little people of the Green Meadows and the little folks of the Green Forest. They hated him because they were afraid of him and they were afraid of him because he was always trying to frighten them. It wasn't because he was hard-hearted but because he was thoughtless. That was why he had thrown the stone that spoiled Grandfather Frog's ride on the Smiling Pond.

Grandfather Frog had not forgotten this, or how he had nearly been caught with a piece of red flannel on a hook by Farmer Brown's boy. Grandfather Frog never forgets. He was thinking of this as he watched Farmer Brown's boy fishing for trout in the Smiling Pool. Grandfather Frog had at once warned Mr. and Mrs. Trout and they had warned all the little Trout's, so of course Farmer Brown's boy has having no luck at all. Grandfather Frog grinned as he watched. Then he had an idea. It tickled him so that he laughed right out loud.

Very quietly Grandfather Frog slipped into the water and swam over to where Jerry Muskrat was hiding in the bulrushes. He whispered to Jerry for a few minutes and as he listened Jerry giggled. "I'll do it," said Jerry, his eyes dancing with mischief. Then Jerry disappeared under water.

Farmer Brown's boy was having no luck at all. He didn't understand it, for he could see the trout swimming around in the Smiling Pool. You see he didn't know anything about the warning Grandfather Frog had given the trout.

"Gee, I wish I could get just one bite." muttered Farmer Brown's boy.

Just then there was such a sudden pull on his line that the pole was nearly yanked out of his hands. "Hurrah! That's a whopper!" he shouted. But his hook came up empty. There wasn't even the bait. He tried again with the same result -- an empty hook.

"Bet I catch him next time," said Farmer Brown's boy as he put on a new bait. But he didn't.

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Grandfather Frog over the bulrushes. "I wonder what ails that old frog," he grunted. Then he made another cast for the big fish that bit so hard. Just as before, there was a sharp pull, but this time his hook did not come up empty. Indeed, it did not come up at all. My, how excited he got!

"It's the king of all the trout!" he shouted as he tugged and pulled.

Snap! His line broke. He had been pulling so hard that when he line was released he lost his balance and fell flat on his back in the water.

"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Grandfather Frog as he watched Farmer Brown's boy start for home dripping water with every step.

"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed Jerry Muskrat as he crawled out on the Big Rock and dragged the missing piece of fish line after him. At the end of it was the hook fastened tight in an old log that Jerry had found on the bottom of the Smiling Pool.

"How do you like playing fish?" asked Grandfather Frog.

"It's great fun," replied Jerry.

And Farmer Brown's boy still tells about the great trout he didn't catch.