w funny little creatures
wiggling and swimming about. Pinkie Whiskers asked:

"What are they and where are they going?"

Mother Gray and Father Gray looked and they also were surprised, for
they had never seen or heard of anything like them.

Billy Jay was thoroughly enjoying himself, for it is always fun to show
something strange to your friends. He laughed as he answered:

"They are tadpoles and they are not going anywhere. They just swim
around and around here near the shore, for this is their home just as
the cheese factory is your home."

"Will they always be small like this?" inquired Pinkie Whiskers.

"Bless your heart, no," replied Billy Jay. "They will grow into great,
big frogs."

They all watched the tadpoles swim about until Mother Gray said: "Come,
children, we will have our supper now."

They found a very nice place to eat and everyone was so hungry that they
began to eat at once.

Pinkie Whiskers kept thinking of the tadpoles and without saying a word
he slipped away from the others and went back to the creek. Right beside
a big rock, he found a fish rod and net.

He picked them up and began to fish. In a moment a tadpole swallowed the
hook. Pinkie Whiskers jerked him out of the water and put the net under
him.

"You are the little tadpole I have been fishing for," he cried.

The little tadpole was so amazed that he could not speak. He just hung
and flopped on the hook.

CHAPTER IX

The longer that Pinkie Whiskers looked at the tadpole, the more proud he
grew to think that he had caught him.

At last the tadpole found his voice and said, "Oh, please put me back in
the water. I want to go home."

Pinkie Whiskers jumped when the tadpole spoke. Someway he had not
thought about a tadpole having a voice or being able to talk.

"No, my little tadpole. I am not going to let you go back home. I am
going to take you to my home. I will put you in a glass of water and you
can swim as much as you please," replied Pinkie Whiskers.

"I have a mother and father just as you have and I do not want to leave
them. I want to stay here and I will stay here," said the tadpole and
he jumped about so lively that Pinkie Whiskers had all he could do to
keep from falling off the stone.

"Stop pulling my fish line. Stop pulling it, I say," cried Pinkie
Whiskers.

The little tadpole paid no heed to Pinkie Whiskers' demand. In fact he
jumped and pulled all the harder and faster.

The first thing Pin