The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad

by Thornton W. Burgess

  "Wha--what--" he began.

  "Nice bug," interrupted Old Mr. Toad. "Nicest bug I've eaten for alongtime."

  "But I didn't see you catch him!" protested Peter, looking at Old Mr. Toadas if he suspected him of joking.

  "Anything wrong with your eyes?" inquired Old Mr. Toad.

  "No," replied Peter just a wee bit crossly. "My eyes are just as good asever."

  "Then watch me catch that fly over yonder," said Old Mr. Toad. He hoppedtowards a fly which had lighted on a blade of grass just ahead. About twoinches from it he stopped, and so far as Peter could see, he sat perfectlystill. But the fly disappeared, and it wasn't because it flew away, either.Peter was sure of that. As he told Mrs. Peter about it afterwards, "It wasthere, and then it wasn't, and that was all there was to it."

  Old Mr. Toad chuckled. "Didn't you see that one go, Peter?" he asked.

  Peter shook his head. "I wish you Would stop fooling me," said Peter. "Thejoke is on me, but now you've had your laugh at my expense, I wish youwould tell me how you do it. Please, Mr. Toad."

  Now when Peter said please that way, of course Old Mr. Toad couldn't resisthim. Nobody could.

  "Here comes an ant this way. Now you watch my mouth instead of the ant andsee what happens," said Old Mr. Toad.

  Peter looked and saw a big black ant coming. Then he kept his eyes on OldMr. Toad's mouth. Suddenly there was a little flash of red from it, so tinyand so quick that Peter couldn't be absolutely sure that he saw it. Butwhen he looked for the ant, it was nowhere to be seen. Peter looked at OldMr. Toad very hard.

  "Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Toad, that you've got a tongue long enough toreach way over to where that ant was?" he asked.

  Old Mr. Toad chuckled again. With every insect swallowed he felt betternatured. "You've guessed it, Peter," said he. "Handy tongue, isn't it?"

  "I think it's a very queer tongue," retorted Peter, "and I don't understandit at all. If it's so long as all that, where do you keep it when it isn'tin use? I should think you'd have to swallow it to get it out of the way,or else leave it hanging out of your mouth."

  "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" laughed Old Mr. Toad. "My tongue never is in the way,and it's the handiest tongue in the world. I'll show it to you."

  XII

  OLD MR. TOAD SHOWS HIS TONGUE

  To show one's tongue, as you well know, Is not considered nice to do; But if it were like Mr. Toad's I'd want to show it--wouldn't you?

  I'm quite sure you would. You see, if it were like Old Mr. Toad's, it wouldbe such a wonderful tongue that I suspect you would want everybody to seeit. Old Mr. Toad thinks his tongue the most satisfactory tongue in theworld. In fact, he is quite sure that without it he couldn't get along atall, and I don't know as he could. And yet very few of his neighbors knowanything about that tongue and how different it is from most other tongues.Peter Rabbit didn't until Old Mr. Toad showed him after Peter had puzzledand puzzled over the mysterious way in which bugs and flies disappearedwhenever they happened to come within two inches or less of Old Mr. Toad.

  What Peter couldn't understand was what Old Mr. Toad did with a tongue thatwould reach two inches beyond his mouth. He said as much.

  "I'll show you my tongue, and then you'll wish you had one just like it,"said Old Mr. Toad, with a twinkle in his eyes.

  He opened his big mouth and slowly ran his tongue out its full length."Why! Why-ee!" exclaimed Peter. "It's fastened at the wrong end!"

  "No such thing!" replied Old Mr. Toad indignantly. "If it was fastened atthe other end, how could I run it out so far?"

  "But mine and all other tongues that I ever have seen are fastened way downin the throat," protested Peter. "Yours is fastened at the other end, wayin the very front of your mouth. I never heard of such a thing."

  "There are a great many things you have never heard of, Peter Rabbit,"replied Old Mr. Toad drily. "Mine is the right way to have a tongue.Because it is fastened way up in the front of my mouth that way, I can usethe whole of it. You see it goes out its full length. Then, when I draw itin with a bug on the end of it, I just turn it over so that the end thatwas out goes way back in my throat and takes the bug with it to just theright place to swallow."

  Peter thought this over for a few minutes before he ventured anotherquestion. "I begin to understand," said he, "but how do you hold on to thebug with your tongue?"

  "My tongue is sticky, of course, Mr. Stupid," replied Old Mr. Toad, lookingvery much disgusted. "Just let me touch a bug with it, and he's mine everytime."

  Peter thought this over. Then he felt of his own tongue. "Mine isn'tsticky," said he very innocently.

  Old Mr. Toad laughed right out. "Perhaps if it was, you couldn't ask somany questions," said he. "Now watch me catch that fly." His funny littletongue darted out, and the fly was gone.

  His funny little tongue darted out, and the fly was gone.]

  "It certainly is very handy," said Peter politely. "I think we are going tohave more rain, and I'd better be getting back to the dear Old Briarpatch.Very much obliged to you, Mr. Toad. I think you are very wonderful."

  "Not at all," replied Old Mr. Toad. "I've simply got the things I need inorder to live, just as you have the things you need. I couldn't get alongwith your kind of a tongue, but no more could you get along with mine. Ifyou live long enough, you will learn that Old Mother Nature makes nomistakes. She gives each of us what we need, and each one has differentneeds."

  XIII

  PETER RABBIT IS IMPOLITE

  Peter Rabbit couldn't get Old Mr. Toad off his mind. He had discovered somany interesting things about Old Mr. Toad that he was almost on the pointof believing him to be the most interesting of all his neighbors. And hisrespect for Old Mr. Toad had become very great indeed. Of course. Whowouldn't respect any one with such beautiful eyes and such a sweet voiceand such a wonderful tongue? Yet at the same time Peter felt very foolishwhenever he remembered that all his life he had been acquainted with OldMr. Toad without really knowing him at all. There was one comfortingthought, and that was that most of his neighbors were just as ignorantregarding Old Mr. Toad as Peter had been.

  "Funny," mused Peter, "how we can live right beside people all our livesand not really know them at all. I suppose that is why we should neverjudge people hastily. I believe I will go hunt up Old Mr. Toad and see if Ican find out anything more."

  Off started Peter, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He didn't know just where to go,now that Old Mr. Toad had left the Smiling Pool, but he had an idea that hewould not be far from their meeting place of the day before, when Old Mr.Toad had explained about his wonderful tongue. But when he got there, Peterfound no trace of Old Mr. Toad. You see, it had rained the day before, andthat is just the kind of weather that a Toad likes best for traveling.Peter ought to have thought of that, but he didn't. He hunted for awhileand finally gave it up and started up the Crooked Little Path with the ideaof running over for a call on Johnny Chuck in the Old Orchard.

  Jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun was shining his brightest, and Peter soonforgot all about Old Mr. Toad. He scampered along up the Crooked LittlePath, thinking of nothing in particular but how good it was to be alive,and occasionally kicking up his heels for pure joy. He had just done thiswhen his ears caught the sound of a queer noise a little to one side of theCrooked Little Path. Instantly Peter stopped and sat up to listen. There itwas again, and it seemed to come from under an old piece of board. It wasjust a little, rustling sound, hardly to be heard.

  "There's some one under that old board," thought Peter, and peeped under.All he could see was that there was something moving. Instantly Peter wasall curiosity. Whoever was there was not very big. He was sure of that. Ofcourse that meant that he had nothing to fear. So what do you think Peterdid? Why, he just pulled that old board over. And when he did that, he saw,whom do you think? Why, Old Mr. Toad, to be sure.

  But such a sight as Old Mr. Toad was! Peter just stared. For a full minutehe couldn't find his voice. Old Mr. Toad was changing his clothes! Yes,Sir, that
is just what Old Mr. Toad was doing. He was taking off his oldsuit, and under it was a brand new one. But such a time as he was having!He was opening and shutting his big mouth, and drawing his hind legs underhim, and rubbing them against his body. Then Peter saw a strange thing. Hesaw that Old Mr. Toad's old suit had split in several places, and he wasgetting it off by sucking it into his mouth!

  In a few minutes his hind legs were free of the old suit, and little bylittle it began to be pulled free from his body. All the time Old Mr. Toadwas working very hard to suck it at the corners of his big mouth. He glaredangrily at Peter, but he couldn't say anything because his mouth was toofull. He looked so funny that Peter just threw himself on the ground androlled over and over with laughter. This made Old Mr. Toad glare moreangrily than ever, but he couldn't say anything, not a word.

  When he had got his hands free by pulling the sleeves of his old coat offinside out, he used his hands to pull the last of it over his head. Then hegulped very hard two or three times to swallow his old suit, and when thelast of it had disappeared, he found his voice.

  "Don't you know that it is the most impolite thing in the world to look atpeople when they are changing their clothes?" he sputtered.

  XIV

  OLD MR. TOAD DISAPPEARS

  Admit your fault when you've done wrong, And don't postpone it over long.

  Peter Rabbit didn't blame Old Mr. Toad a bit for being indignant becausePeter had watched him change his suit. It wasn't a nice thing to do. OldMr. Toad had looked very funny while he was struggling out of his old suit,and Peter just couldn't help laughing at him. But he realized that he hadbeen very impolite, and he very meekly told Old Mr. Toad so.

  "You see, it was this way," explained Peter. "I heard something under thatold board, and I just naturally turned it over to find out what was there."

  "Hump!" grunted Old Mr. Toad.

  "I didn't have the least idea that you were there," continued Peter. "WhenI found who it was, and what you were doing, I couldn't help watchingbecause it was so interesting, and I couldn't help laughing because youreally did look so funny. But I'm sorry, Mr. Toad. Truly I am. I didn'tmean to be so impolite. I promise never to do it again. I don't suppose,Mr. Toad, that it seems at all wonderful to you that you can change yoursuit that way, but it does to me. I had heard that you swallowed your oldsuits, but I never half believed it. Now I know it is so and just how youdo it, and I feel as if I had learned something worth knowing. Do you know,I think you are one of the most interesting and wonderful of all myneighbors, and I'll never laugh at or tease you again, Mr. Toad."

  "Hump!" grunted Old Mr. Toad again, but it was very clear that he was alittle flattered by Peter's interest in him and was rapidly recovering hisgood nature.

  "There is one thing I don't understand yet," said Peter, "and that is whereyou go to to sleep all winter. Do you go down into the mud at the bottom ofthe Smiling Pool the way Grandfather Frog does?"

  "Certainly not!" retorted Old Mr. Toad. "Use your common sense, PeterRabbit. If I had spent the winter in the Smiling Pool, do you suppose Iwould have left it to come way up here and then have turned right aroundand gone back there to sing? I'm not so fond of long journeys as all that."

  "That's so." Peter looked foolish. "I didn't think of that when I spoke."

  "The trouble with you, and with a lot of other people, is that you speakfirst and do your thinking afterward, when you do any thinking at all,"grunted Old Mr. Toad. "Now if I wanted to, I could disappear right here."

  "You mean that you would hide under that old board just as you did before,"said Peter, with a very wise look.

  "Nothing of the sort!" snapped Old Mr. Toad. "I could disappear and not gonear that old board, not a step nearer than I am now."

  Peter looked in all directions carefully, but not a thing could he seeunder which Old Mr. Toad could possibly hide except the old board, and hehad said he wouldn't hide under that. "I don't like to doubt your word,Mr. Toad," said he, "but you'll have to show me before I can believe that."

  Old Mr. Toad's eyes twinkled. Here was a chance to get even with Peter forwatching him change his suit. "If you'll turn your back to me and lookstraight down the Crooked Little Path for five minutes, I'll disappear,"said he. "More than that, I give you my word of honor that I will not hopthree feet from where I am sitting."

  "All right," replied Peter promptly, turning his back to Old Mr. Toad."I'll look down the Crooked Little Path for five minutes and promise not topeek."

  So Peter sat and gazed straight down the Crooked Little Path. It was agreat temptation to roll his eyes back and peep behind him, but he hadgiven his word that he wouldn't, and he didn't. When he thought the fiveminutes were up, he turned around. Old Mr. Toad was nowhere to be seen.Peter looked hastily this way and that way, but there was not a sign of OldMr. Toad. He had disappeared as completely as if he never had been there.

  XV

  OLD MR. TOAD GIVES PETER A SCARE

  If you play pranks on other folks You may be sure that they Will take the first chance that they get A joke on you to play.

  Old Mr. Toad was getting even with Peter for laughing at him. While Peter'sback had been turned, Old Mr. Toad had disappeared.

  It was too much for Peter. Look as he would, he couldn't see so much as achip under which Old Mr. Toad might have hidden, excepting the old board,and Old Mr. Toad had given his word of honor that he wouldn't hide underthat. Nevertheless, Peter hopped over to it and turned it over again,because he couldn't think of any other place to look. Of course, Old Mr.Toad wasn't there. Of course not. He had given his word that he wouldn'thide there, and he always lives up to his word. Peter should have knownbetter than to have looked there.

  Old Mr. Toad had also said that he would not go three feet from the spotwhere he was sitting at the time, so Peter should have known better than tohave raced up the Crooked Little Path as he did. But if Old Mr. Toad hadnothing to hide under, of course he must have hopped away, reasoned Peter.He couldn't hop far in five minutes, that was sure, and so Peter ran thisway and that way a great deal farther than it would have been possible forOld Mr. Toad to have gone. But it was a wholly useless search, andpresently Peter returned and sat down on the very spot where he had lastseen Old Mr. Toad. Peter never had felt more foolish in all his life. Hebegan to think that Old Mr. Toad must be bewitched and had some strangepower of making himself invisible.

  For a long time Peter sat perfectly still, trying to puzzle out how Old Mr.Toad had disappeared, but the more he puzzled over it, the more impossibleit seemed. And yet Old Mr. Toad had disappeared. Suddenly Peter gave afrightened scream and jumped higher than he ever had jumped before in allhis life. A voice, the voice of Old Mr. Toad himself, had said, "Well, noware you satisfied?" _And that voice had come from right under Peter!_ Doyou wonder that he was frightened? When he turned to look, there sat OldMr. Toad right where he himself had been sitting a moment before. Peterrubbed his eyes and stared very foolishly.

  "Wh-wh-where did you come from?" he stammered at last.

  Old Mr. Toad grinned. "I'll show you," said he. And right while Peter waslooking at him, he began to sink down into the ground until only the top ofhis head could be seen. Then that disappeared. Old Mr. Toad had gone down,and the sand had fallen right back over him. Peter just had to rub his eyesagain. He had to! Then, to make sure, he began to dig away the sand whereOld Mr. Toad had been sitting. In a minute he felt Old Mr. Toad, who atonce came out again.

  Old Mr. Toad's beautiful eyes twinkled more than ever. "I guess we are evennow, Peter," said he.

  Peter nodded. "More than that, Mr. Toad. I think you have a little the bestof it," he replied. "Now won't you tell me how you did it?"

  Old Mr. Toad held up one of his stout hind feet, and on it was a kind ofspur. "There's another just like that on the other foot," said he, "and Iuse them to dig with. You go into a hole headfirst, but I go in the otherway. I make my hole in soft earth and back into it at the same time, thisway." He began to work his s
tout hind feet, and as he kicked the earth out,he backed in at the same time. When he was deep enough, the earth just fellback over him, for you see it was very loose and not packed down at all.When he once more reappeared, Peter thanked him. Then he asked one morequestion.

  "Is that the way you go into winter quarters?"

  Old Mr. Toad nodded. "And it's the way I escape from my enemies."

  XVI

  JIMMY SKUNK IS SURPRISED

  Jimmy Skunk ambled along the Crooked Little Path down the hill. He didn'thurry because Jimmy doesn't believe in hurrying. The only time he everhurries is when he sees a fat beetle trying to get out of sight. Then Jimmy_does_ hurry. But just now he didn't see any fat beetles, although he waslooking for them. So he just ambled along as if he had all the time in theworld, as indeed he had. He was feeling very good-natured, was Jimmy Skunk.And why shouldn't he? There was everything to make him feel good-natured.Summer had arrived to stay. On every side he heard glad voices. Bumble theBee was humming a song. Best of all, Jimmy had found three beetles thatvery morning, and he knew that there were more if he could find them. Sowhy shouldn't he feel good?

  Jimmy had laughed at Peter Rabbit for being so anxious for Summer toarrive, but he was just as glad as Peter that she had come, although hewouldn't have said so for the world. His sharp little eyes twinkled as heambled along, and there wasn't much that they missed. As he walked hetalked, quite to himself of course, because there was nobody near to hear,and this is what he was saying: