MRS. TOAD ARRIVES

It was not a great while until every frog in the pond had heard that the Lark had gone to invite all the other frogs to come and make their home in Rainbow Valley. Some thought it was foolish to think of such a thing. Others thought the plan a good one, but said the Lark would not be able to tell all of them. There were others who said that, while they hoped more frogs would come, they didn't suppose a great many would care to travel so far. Grandfather Bull Frog said it was a splendid plan and he hoped they would come, for there was room enough in Rainbow Valley for all. Bully thought about it almost every minute of the day. He was so anxious for them to begin to come. He wondered about them by day and dreamed of them by night. He couldn't think of anything else, and he was often late to dinner and never on time for the evening concert. Grandmother was a bit worried about him, for he never seemed to hear what she was saying to him. He didn't seem to be ill, yet he took no interest in play or in his meals. Had she asked him, Bully could have told her why. He was busy thinking of the fun he would have with all the other young frogs. He wondered and wondered how many kinds of frogs there were, and when they would reach the pond. Would there be any little boy and girl frogs, or would the newcomers all be big, grown-up frogs? All his plans would be spoiled if no young frogs came. How many frogs would there be? What would they look like? Would they like this new home? These were only a few of the many questions Bully was trying to answer to his own satisfaction.

One morning he slept later than usual. I don't know whether he would have waked when he did if old Mr. Sun, peeping slyly through the tree tops, had not sent a bright ray of light straight into his face. Bully rubbed his eyes sleepily, and was about to hide under a big waterlily to take another nap, when the merry spring breezes came rushing madly through the tree tops. They tossed the branches of the trees about, and laughed gaily as the little seeds came whirling down, their wings spread out like tiny sails. The little seeds looked like hundreds and hundreds of butterflies as they came tumbling all about the lily pad where Bully was thinking about taking another nap. One little seed pecked him softly on the nose. He woke with a start. Then all at once he heard a queer noise. It was like the far-off distant hum of a swarm of bees, or like the gurgling sound of a laughing brook rippling over its bubbly bed. Bully sat up straight. He was curious to know at once what the noise was all about. It didn't take him long to find out. Looking out from under the lily pad, he saw most of the frogs sitting under a big tree on the bank of the pond. They were all crowded around a strange visitor and were all asking her questions at the same time. "Where did you come from?" "How did you get here?" "Did the Lark tell you of this place?" These and many other questions they asked without giving the stranger time to answer one of them.

The visitor sat in their midst looking about with a broad smile on her face. She wasn't trying to answer all those questions. In fact, she had no chance to do so. Bully saw that she was short and fat and that her skin was rough and warty. Her hind legs were shorter than a frog's hind legs. He thought her a very ugly-looking creature. Just then some one near him whispered, "My, what beautiful eyes she has!" Then for the first time he noticed the visitor's eyes. Sure enough, they were large, dark, and beautiful, with a soft, kind light in them. They made him forget all about her ugly coat. He wondered who she was.

Then Grandfather Bull Frog began to speak. When he spoke, everyone else always kept silent. "I'm a little ashamed," he said, turning to the frogs on the bank. "You are asking this stranger so many questions at one time that she cannot answer any of them. This," he told them, "is our honored cousin, Mrs. Toad. We are glad she has come to live among us, and I hope you will all try to make her very welcome."

At this they all croaked loudly. "You are welcome, Mrs. Toad, indeed you're very welcome to our home."

"Now," Grandfather Bull Frog said, "I have decided that Mrs. Toad may live under the big rock at the farther side of the pond. If you will all be quiet, I will ask her to tell us her story."

The frogs all promised to keep still, so Mrs. Toad began:

"I may as well begin by telling you about myself. The very first thing I remember is only a few summers ago when I was a little toad living with many others like myself in a big country road. We thought that a very good place to live. We knew no better. It was great fun hopping about making the dust fly. You see, many autos, wagons, and other things on wheels passed up and down that road. Soon I found it a dangerous place for us to live. While I always succeeded in dodging the big wheels as they rolled by, I often saw them crush other little toads to death. As this place was so full of danger, I decided one day to start out and see if I couldn't find a safer home. I traveled about for a few days until I came to a beautiful cabbage field with a fine wire fence around it. Peeping through this fence, I could see long rows of cabbages with many fat green worms crawling about on them. This was enough for me. I at once decided to move in and make the cabbage field my new home.

"I lived here in this place for some time. The gardener who owned the field raised vegetables to sell. He seemed glad to have me stay. He was very careful never to strike me with his hoe and was kind to me in every way. I tried to repay his kindness by destroying as many bugs and worms as I could eat. His children were good to me, too, and often brought me choice bits from the table, which I enjoyed very much. The little boys and girls would laugh merrily as they dropped a bit of food to see me catch it quickly on my tongue and eat it. This garden home suited me so well I thought I should never leave it.

"One day when the family were away from home I was dozing under a big leaf when a boy jumped over the wire fence. Quick as a wink he had me shut up in a small box and was running off with me. I was frightened, of course, but there was nothing to do but go with him peaceably.

"By and by I learned that a rich woman who lived in the city had advertised for toads. She had a lovely garden where she raised beautiful flowers and she offered a good price to any boy who would bring her some toads to put in her garden. The boy sold me to this woman, who put me in her flower garden. The garden was at her city home, where she lived with her husband and two charming daughters. I often watched the young ladies as they sat on the wide front porch with their many friends. Just over the way lived another family. The houses were not far apart. These people also had a pleasant home. The man was a doctor who took care of a great many sick people. He had a lovely wife and two handsome boys. They were fine young fellows, but, like many other boys, were full of mischief, especially the older one. He usually kept things lively for both families.

"One summer evening some time after I had come to live in the flower garden, the two young ladies were sitting on the front porch pretending to read. I think really they were looking for some young men who came often to call on them, for I saw that one of them was holding her paper upside down, and the other kept lifting her eyes from the book on her lap and looking down the street as if she were expecting some one. It had been a dreadfully hot day. The leaves of the plants curled up like little corkscrews, and the grass was quite brown in places. The air was dry and no breeze was blowing. Even the garden seemed hot and stuffy. The woman came out of the house, fastened the hose to the water faucet, and began to sprinkle the flowers. She was very fond of the flowers and always cared for them herself. I was among the plants amusing myself by catching fireflies. My, how good and cool that water seemed! Very soon the plants began to lift up their heads and the leaves to uncurl. The flowers fairly seemed to smile. While the cool water trickled down my back I sat looking at them, snapping up one firefly after another. As I sat watching the water as it showered over the thirsty flowers and the dry grass, the mischievous boy who lived across the way came slipping round the house. He was smiling slyly and looking first toward where I sat and then at the young ladies. I could see plainly that he was planning some mischief. Before I knew what he was up to, he had picked me up and started toward the porch. You should have seen the young ladies then. They didn't stop for anything, but dropped book and paper, took one hasty look at me, and sprang for the door, crying out, 'O you dreadful, dreadful boy!'

"They ran into the house as fast as they could go, slamming the door and locking it after them. Now why should anyone be afraid of me? I'm sure I don't know. I can see why people should be afraid of a snake or a savage dog, but to be afraid of a harmless toad is more than I can understand. I know I'm not handsome, as I am rather fat and have warts on my skin. I have seen some people, too, who were fat and not so very handsome and yet I didn't run from them. And there are some folks silly enough to believe that if you touch a toad, you, too, will have warts. I don't believe any such thing. That boy who liked mischief didn't seem to be afraid either of me or of my warts.

"Well, when the girls ran away from the boy, he started for the woman. She was so busy with the hose that for a moment she did not realize what he was up to. Then, seeing him spring toward her with me in his hand, she, too, started to run and cried out, 'Don't you put that toad on me! Don't you dare do such a thing!'

"She ran toward the house, but was so excited her foot caught in the hose, and down she fell. The end of the hose with the nozzle flopped around and sprayed all over her as she lay on the ground. The boy, thinking she might be hurt, dropped me and ran to help her up. But the woman, thinking he still had me in his hand, cried, 'Go away, go away, you dreadful boy! If you put that toad on me, I'll paddle you well!' Finally he made her understand he had dropped me and was trying to help her to her feet. My, but she was a sight when she got up! Her hair, like wet strings, hung straight down her back. The water ran in little streams down her face and dropped from her nose and chin. Her clothes were as wet as though she had fallen in the river. Of course she had to go in at once and change them.

"After it was all over the young ladies came out on the porch and laughed and laughed until the tears rolled down their cheeks. The boy laughed, too, but he lay down and rolled over on the wet grass and laughed as though he'd never stop. No one seemed a bit cross about it. Even the woman, after she had changed her wet clothes for dry ones, had to smile when she saw the boy and the girls laughing so heartily. At first I couldn't see the joke. But finally I saw they were not laughing at me, as I supposed, but at the woman who got drenched so thoroughly. When I saw through the joke, I just hopped in among the flowers where I would not be noticed, and I, too, had the best laugh of my lifetime. Now, as I look back, I think it was the very funniest thing I ever saw happen. And just think, I was the cause of it all! Or perhaps I had better say the boy and I together made it all happen. If some women I've met had got such a ducking, there would have been a regular neighborhood row over it. But it didn't seem to make any difference between those two families. If anything, they seemed to think all the more of each other.

"I tell you, I liked that home, but there were no other toads near and so I was often lonely. I do so enjoy company and a good friendly visit at times. Then the mischievous boy, while he never hurt me, kept me upset most of the time by carrying me around in his big, warm hand. I was always wishing he would let me alone just as the man in the cabbage patch did.

"Yesterday morning after a good night's sleep I was sitting among the flowers thinking of what I was going to have for breakfast, when your friend, the Lark, lit on a rose bush in the garden. He began to plume his feathers and look about him. Finally he spied me down in between two tall plants. 'Good morning!' he said, 'aren't you lonely in this flower garden?'

"Good morning," said the Lark, "aren't you lonely in this flower garden?"

"I told him I was very lonely at times, especially when the boy over the way was not around. Then I told him how I came there, what kind of folks lived there, and about the boy who so frightened me at times. 'Why don't you go and live at the Frog Pond?' he said. 'What Frog Pond?' I asked. He then told me all about this beautiful place in Rainbow Valley. And when he said there were no boys here, I wanted to start right off. He told me he had been sent to tell about the place and to invite frogs to come here. Perhaps he thought I didn't look just like a frog, so that was why he said it. I told him I was first cousin to the frogs. Then he said he was sure it was all right for me to come.

"We talked together for some time, the Lark explaining your plan to have all the frogs come to what he called 'the old Frog Pond' in Rainbow Valley. I asked him how far it was to the pond and the way to get there. He was very careful to tell me all I needed to know and then said he must be going, as there were a great many others he wished to see that day.

"After he was gone I sat for a long time thinking of what he had told me. The more I thought of it the more I wanted to go. I did like my home in the flower garden, but I never knew what prank that mischievous boy would play on me. This kept me so restless I could hardly enjoy my meals or get a good night's rest. After thinking the matter over for a long time, I made up my mind to go. So that very evening after the sun was down and the shadows began to fall I said good-by to the garden, took a last look at the two houses and the garden hose, and slipped softly away. I traveled 'most all night. This morning, as the first faint streak of light appeared in the east, I heard a great croaking. I was tired, but I quickened my steps, for I felt I was nearing the pond. Sure enough, in a very short time I saw the water and the big rock. I knew then that I was at the right place. I think I am very fortunate to get here so soon. I am sure I shall like this home. And now, if you will excuse me, I will go over to the big rock and rest awhile."

As Mrs. Toad turned away, every frog began hunting his breakfast. All were well pleased that so fine a person as Mrs. Toad had come to live with them.