notice it. The fact is he did have something on his mind.
It had been there ever since his cousin, old Mr. Toad, had called the
day before and they had quarreled as usual over the question whether it
was best never to leave home or to go out into the Great World.

Right in the midst of their quarrel along had come Farmer Brown's boy.
Now Grandfather Frog is afraid of Farmer Brown's boy, so when he
appeared, Grandfather Frog stopped arguing with old Mr. Toad and with a
great splash dived into the Smiling Pool and hid under a lily-pad. There
he stayed and watched his cousin, old Mr. Toad, grinning in the most
provoking way, for he wasn't afraid of Farmer Brown's boy. In fact, he
had boasted that they were friends. Grandfather Frog had thought that
this was just an idle boast, but when he saw Farmer Brown's boy tickle
old Mr. Toad under his chin with a straw, while Mr. Toad sat perfectly
still and seemed to enjoy it, he knew that it was true.

Grandfather Frog had not come out of his hiding-place until after old
Mr. Toad had gone back across the Green Meadows and Farmer Brown's boy
had gone home for his supper. Then Grandfather Frog had climbed back on
his big green lily-pad and had sat there half the night without once
leading the chorus of the Smiling Pool with his great deep bass voice as
he usually did. He was thinking, thinking very hard. And now, this
bright, sunshiny morning, he was still thinking.

The fact is Grandfather Frog was beginning to wonder if perhaps, after
all, Mr. Toad was right. If the Great World had taught him how to make
friends with Farmer Brown's boy, there really must be some things worth
learning there. Not for the world would Grandfather Frog have admitted
to old Mr. Toad or to any one else that there was anything for him to
learn, for you know he is very old and by his friends is accounted very
wise. But right down in his heart he was beginning to think that perhaps
there were some things which he couldn't learn in the Smiling Pool. So
he sat and thought and thought. Suddenly he made up his mind.

"Chugarum!" said he. "I'll do it!"

"Do what?" asked Jerry Muskrat, who happened to be swimming past.

"I'll go out and see for myself what this Great World my cousin, old Mr.
Toad, is so fond of talking about is like," replied Grandfather Frog.

"Don't you do it," advised Jerry Muskrat. "Don't you do anything so
foolish as that. You're too old, much too old, Grandfather Frog, to go
out into t