was a bitter blow for Tired Tim Beaver. In fact, he felt more tired
than ever; and he sank to the bottom of the pond to rest, where his
friends couldn't see him.

As for the other members of the Beaver family, they all went home with a
great longing inside them. There wasn't a single one of them that wasn't
eager to wear clothes exactly as far ahead of the times as were those of
the elegant stranger, Ferdinand Frog.

XI

FERDINAND FROG IS IN NO HURRY

Although everybody in the Beaver village looked worried, Mr. Frog seemed
to be all the more cheerful. He knew well enough that there was hardly
one Beaver in the pond that didn't wish and long for clothes which were,
like Mr. Frog's, five years ahead of the times.

As day after day passed, not only were the Beavers unable to do a single
stroke of work; they were so upset that they could scarcely eat or
sleep. And at last the older villagers, such as Grandaddy Beaver, began
to see that something would have to be done. There was the dam, which
needed mending; and there was the winter's food, which had to be
gathered.

So Grandaddy Beaver went to Ferdinand Frog one day and told him that he
simply _must_ come to the rescue of the pond folk, and tell them how
they might have clothes as far ahead of the times as were his own.

"Why?" Mr. Frog inquired. "What's the trouble?"

"They can't work," Grandaddy Beaver told him. "And there's the dam to be
fixed, and tree-tops to be cut and stored for food, because winter's
a-coming, and there's no way we can stop it."

"I'll tell you what you and your people can do," Ferdinand Frog replied.
"Just bury yourselves in the mud during the winter, as I do, and you'd
have no use for a dam, nor for food, either."

But Grandaddy Beaver explained that though such a plan might suit a Frog
exceedingly well, for a Beaver it would never do at all.

"You have got us into this scrape," he told Mr. Frog, "so it's only fair
that you should help us out of it."

Ferdinand Frog then did a number of things, all of which were intended
to let Grandaddy Beaver see that what he asked couldn't be done. Mr.
Frog held up his hands with the palms out and rolled his eyes; he shut
his great mouth together as if he did not intend to say another word. He
looked so determined that Grandaddy Beaver's heart sank.

And then--when Grandaddy Beaver had almost given up all hope--then Mr.
Frog said suddenly:

"I'll consent to help you, because I see that