could it? Of course, I know
it could if this were a fairy story, but it isn't.

[Illustration]

Well, something dreadful happened. The stone which Jimmie threw hit
grandfather's tall hat, went inside, just grazing the top of the old
gentleman duck's head, and then, what do you think? Well, I don't
believe you could guess if you tried a week, so I'll tell you.

That stone came out on the other side. It went right through the hat,
making a hole where it went in, and another hole where it came out. Two
holes; you could easily have counted them if you had been there.

Of course, as soon as Jimmie heard the noise, made by the stone which he
threw, hitting the hat, he could tell by the plinkity-plunkity sound that
there was going to be trouble. And there was.

Grandfather Goosey-Gander jumped up in the air. He uttered a loud quack,
and then he took off his tall hat. He looked at the two ragged holes in
it, and then he looked over at the boys in the field. He knew right away
they had done it, but he didn't know which one. Jimmie, however, was a
good boy, and he wasn't going to have any one else blamed for what _he_
had done. So he ran to where his grandfather stood, sorrowfully looking at
his hat, and Jimmie said:

"I did it, grandpa. I cannot tell a story. I did it with my little stone."

"Ha! Hum! Did you; eh?" cried Grandfather Goosey-Gander. "Well, that's a
pretty bad thing to do, Jimmie. This is my best hat. I put it on to go
down to the bank, to put money in. I mean to put money in the bank, not in
the hat, of course. I always wear it when I go to the bank, so folks will
know I am rich. Now I can't wear it any more. It's too bad!" And the old
gentleman duck looked very sorrowful.

"Yes," agreed Jimmie, "it is too bad," for he couldn't think of anything
else to say.

"You will have to pay for a new hat for me," went on his grandfather.

"I haven't any money," said Jimmie, and tears began to run down his broad,
yellow bill, for the little boy duck felt pretty bad, I can tell you.

"You will have to save up all the pennies you get," decided Grandfather
Goosey-Gander. "Boys should not be so careless."

"We thought you were a fox," said Billie Bushytail.

"And we all threw stones at you," added Sammie Littletail.

"But I'm the only one who hit your hat, though," admitted Jimmie.

"Do I look like a fox?" demanded the old duck. "That's what I want to
know. Do I look like a fox?" Well, of course, you know he did