Arthur Scott Bailey

“ So it is easy to see that Ferdinand Frog was a vain and silly fellow. He was even foolish enough to repeat Aunt Polly's remark to everybody he chanced to meet that night, and the following day as well.
There was no one who could help grinning at Ferdinand Frog's news—he looked so comical. And old Mr. Crow, who was noted for his rudeness, even burst out with a hoarse haw-haw.
"You're pretty as a picture, eh?" he chuckled. "I suppose Aunt Polly means that you're as pretty as one of the pictures that the circus men have pasted on Farmer Green's barn. . . . ”

“ Really, he was so good-natured that nobody could feel peevish towards him for long. In fact, he was a great favorite—especially among the ladies. When [11] ever he met one of them—it might be the youngest of the Rabbit sisters, or old Aunt Polly Woodchuck—he never failed to make the lowest of bows, smile the broadest of smiles, and inquire after her health.
That was Ferdinand Frog—known far and wide for his elegant manners. Every young lady declared that he wore exquisite clothes, too; and many of them secretly thought him quite good-looking. ”

“ Crow. "If you're on your way to the barn to look at that picture, I'll fly over there myself, because I'd like to see it again."
"Aren't you afraid of meeting Farmer Green?" Ferdinand Frog asked him.
"Afraid?" Mr. Crow snorted. "Certainly not! We're the best of friends. He set up this straw man here, just to keep me company. . . . Besides," he went on, "at this time o' day Farmer Green is inside the barn, milking the cows. And we'll be outside it, looking at the circus pictures." ”

“ But people as old as Aunt Polly Woodchuck seldom take heed of what a person wears. As for Mr. Frog's looks, since Aunt Polly believed that "handsome is as handsome does," she admitted that Ferdinand Frog was—as she put it—"purty as a picter."
When Ferdinand Frog heard that, he was so delighted that he hurried straight home and put on his best suit. And then [12] he spent most of a whole afternoon smiling at his reflection in the surface of the Beaver pond, where he was living at the time. ”

“ So pleased were they over the prospect of having "unfashionable" clothes like Mr. Frog's at last that all of them wanted to be measured not once but several times. And each and every one, as soon as Mr. Frog had taken his measurements, went out through the back door and slipped around the little building, to wait again at the foot of the line.
Now, Mr. Frog was a spry worker. [72] He passed his tape around his customers and jotted down figures on flat, black stones as fast as he could make his fingers fly. And if it hadn't been for just one thing Ferdinand Frog would have been quite happy. ”

“ Mr. Frog inquired. "Are you getting tired?"
"No—not tired," Mr. Heron told him.
"Are your eyes troubling you?" the tailor asked him. [100]
"No—I can see well enough," Mr. Heron replied. "But I'm beginning to feel a bit faint. And I think I've made enough button-holes for one day."
But Mr. Frog said that he had a special suit which he was making for somebody. And he begged Mr. Heron to make the button-holes in that too.
Mr. Heron frowned. But presently he yielded, telling Mr. Frog to hurry, for he had another matter to attend to.
So the tailor leaped into his shop once more. ”

“ Frog's ways better than his other neighbors did. [116]
Now, Ferdinand Frog did not mind the laughter at all.
"Of course," he went on, "you can't breathe through your skin quite so well as you can in the regular way. After you have stayed in the mud a while, you'll begin to want a regular breath of fresh air. So then you come up to the top of the water."
"Cat-tails and pussy-willows!" Long Bill Wren cried out. "I'm sure I shall never take a mud bath. They seem to me to be very dangerous."
"Not at all!" Mr. Frog assured him. "They're as safe as standing on your head." ”

“ But Tired Tim objected to that plan. [38]
"You would be hanging about this place—and singing—for four-and-twenty hours," he grumbled. "It will be a great deal better if we meet on the edge of the swamp."
"Just as you wish!" Ferdinand Frog exclaimed. "And since you're going to Cedar Swamp, I'll hop along with you, to keep you company."
"You forget——" said Tired Tim Beaver——"you forget that you haven't been invited yet."
"Have you?" Mr. Frog inquired.
"Certainly!" said Tired Tim. And grinning over his shoulder, he swam away. ”

“ Turtle waddled up the bank of Black Creek and listened to Ferdinand Frog's directions.
"You take hold of Long Bill's tail," Mr. Frog ordered him, while to the frightened owner of the tail he said cheerfully, "Anything Mr. Turtle takes hold of just has to come. He never lets go until it does."
Now, Long Bill Wren had suddenly [126] made up his mind that he wouldn't take a mud bath, after all. He didn't like the prospect of having his skin pulled off. Suppose Mr. Frog should be mistaken about that second skin, which the tailor claimed lay underneath the old one? ”

“ Frog's tongue.
"Yes!" he said, in response to Ferdinand Frog's speech, "there isn't another bill like mine for twenty miles around—except my wife's."
"You don't live in this neighborhood, do you?" Mr. Frog inquired.
"My home is beyond the Second Mountain," the stranger informed him.
And Ferdinand Frog was glad to hear that the huge fellow dwelt no nearer.
"What's your name, friend?" Mr. Frog then asked.
"My name——" the giant bird replied—"my name is G. B. Heron."
"'G. B.'!" Mr. Frog exclaimed, turning a pale green color. "What do those letters stand for? Not Grizzly Bear, I [94] hope!" ”

“ Frog, who was certainly many years younger than Grandaddy Beaver. "I'm not prepared to explain everything to you just yet.
"You come to the big rock on the other side of the pond as soon as it's dark to-night; and bring with you every [65] body who wants to know how to get clothes like mine.
"Now, do exactly as I say," Mr. Frog cautioned Grandaddy, "and everything will be made easy." [66]
XII A BAD BLUNDER
When it was almost dark Grandaddy Beaver swam across the pond to the big rock, where Ferdinand Frog had told him to come. ”

“ Frog would leap into the air, or turn a somersault backward. Indeed, some of his neighbors claimed that he himself didn't know what he was going to do next—he was so jumpy.
Anyhow, all the wild folk in Pleasant [10] Valley agreed that Ferdinand Frog was an agreeable person to have around. No matter what happened, he was always cheerful. Nobody ever heard of his losing his temper, though to be sure he was sometimes the means of other peoples losing theirs. But let a body be as angry as he pleased with Mr. ”

“ Crow only said hastily that he would be at the barn by the time Ferdinand reached it. And without another word he flapped himself away across the field.
"He's a queer one," said Ferdinand Frog to himself. "It seems as if a person couldn't please him, no matter how much a person tried." Then he untied his necktie, and tied it again, because he thought one end of the bow was longer than the other; and that was something he couldn't endure.
Then he resumed his jumping. And after exactly one hundred and thirty-two jumps he reached a corner of Farmer Green's great barn, where he found old Mr. ”

“ Frog explained, "is fastened at the front of my mouth instead of at the back. So I can often reach a fly when he thinks he's perfectly safe. And furthermore, my tongue is so sticky that if it touches a fly, he can't get away. ”

“ Ferdinand Frog knew then that he had blundered. So he hastened to mend matters.
"There, there!" he said in a soothing tone. "Having a tail is not so bad, after all; for you can always cut it off, if you want to be in style." And he was surprised to find that his remark only made Mr. Crow angrier than ever.
Old Mr. Crow Plays a Joke on Mr. ”

“ Well, I'll tell you something: he's right, in a way. And in another way he isn't. The reason why I'm not in style is because I always aim to keep five years ahead of everybody else.
"Five years from now and your neighbors will all be wearing clothes like mine."
"Can't we ever catch up with you?" Tired Tim asked him. ”

“ XX DISTURBING THE NEIGHBORS
It was no wonder that Long Bill Wren's wife did not care for Ferdinand Frog, after his blundering remark about her children.
Though her husband often told her that Mr. Frog must have been merely joking, she insisted that he was not a safe person to have in the neighborhood.
"That Mr. Frog certainly is a queer one," she said to her husband one day. "I was watching him this morning. And what do you suppose I saw him do?" Mrs. Wren did not wait for Long Bill to answer her question. "Mr. ”