"Chug-a-rum! Because he can't," replied Grandfather Frog.

"Can't!" cried Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck together.

"That's what I said--can't," replied Grandfather Frog. "And no more
can Mr. Blacksnake, or Mr. Rattlesnake, or Mr. Gophersnake, or any
other member of the Snake family."

"Why not?" cried Peter and Johnny, all in the same breath.

"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog, folding his hands across his
white and yellow waistcoat, "if you will sit still until I finish,
I'll tell you; but if you move or ask any foolish questions, I'll stop
right where I am, and you'll never hear the end of the story, for no
one else knows it."

Of course Peter and Johnny promised to sit perfectly still and not say
a word. After they had made themselves comfortable, Grandfather Frog
cleared his throat as if to begin, but for a long time he didn't say a
word. Once Peter opened his mouth to ask why, but remembered in time
and closed it again without making a sound.

At last Grandfather Frog cleared his throat once more, and with a
far-away look in his great, goggly eyes began:

"Once upon a time, long, long ago, when the world was young, lived old
Mr. Snake, the grandfather a thousand times removed of little Mr.
Greensnake and all the other Snakes whom you know. Of course he wasn't
old then. He was young and spry and smart, was Mr. Snake. Now there is
such a thing as being too smart. That was the trouble with Mr. Snake.
Yes, Sir, that was the trouble with Mr. Snake. He was so smart that he
soon found out that he was the smartest of all the meadow and forest
people, and that was a bad thing. It certainly was a very bad thing."
Grandfather Frog shook his head gravely.

"You see," he continued, "as soon as he found that out, he began to
take advantage of his neighbors and cheat them, but he would do it so
smoothly that they never once suspected that they were being cheated.
Mr. Snake would go about all day cheating everybody he met. At night
he would go home and chuckle over his smartness. It wasn't long before
he began to look down on his neighbors for being so honest that they
didn't suspect other people of being dishonest, and for being so
easily cheated.

"Now one bad habit almost always leads to another. From cheating, Mr.
Snake just naturally slipped to stealing. Yes, Sir, he became a thief.
Of course that made trouble right away, but still no one suspected
Mr. Snake. He was always very polite to every one and always off