athering worms and grubs and bugs; and
before long he would find himself singing merrily, "Cheerily, cheer-up!"
because it made him happy to know that he was doing somebody a good
turn.

Once in a while Grandfather Mole thrust his head out of the soil of the
garden, as if he were watching Mr. and Mrs. Robin at their task. Of
course he couldn't see what they were doing. But Mrs. Robin said that it
gave her a queer turn to have Grandfather Mole stick his nose out of
the ground at her very feet. And since he was too busy catching
angleworms for himself to help her and her husband, she wished he would
keep out of sight.

Sometimes Grandfather Mole would speak to Mrs. Robin, or her husband;
for he could hear them talking. And when you hear anybody in a garden
exclaiming, "Oh, here's a big one! The children will like him, if I can
ever pull him loose!" you may know at once that the speaker is talking
about an angleworm. There can be no mistake about it.

When Grandfather Mole overheard Mrs. Robin making such a remark he would
quite likely advise her to "try a smaller one."

Such a suggestion only made Mrs. Robin pull all the harder.

"Grandfather Mole wants all the big ones himself," she would splutter
as soon as she and her husband were where Grandfather Mole couldn't
listen to what she said. And then, probably, Jolly Robin would laugh and
tell her not to mind, for there ought to be worms enough for everybody.

More than once, when Grandfather Mole had advised her to "try a smaller
one," Mrs. Robin had declared afterward that she wished she could catch
the biggest angleworm in the whole garden, just to spite old Grandfather
Mole and teach him that other people had their rights, as well as he.

"Well, well!" Jolly Robin always exclaimed with a laugh. "Well, well!
Perhaps some day you will find the grandfather of all the angleworms!"

XI

SURPRISING GRANDFATHER MOLE

SOMEHOW Grandfather Mole heard that Mrs. Robin hoped to capture the
biggest angleworm in the garden. So the very next time he happened to
find her at work there he offered her another bit of unsought advice.
And Mrs. Robin liked it no better than any other of Grandfather Mole's
counsels.

"Don't waste your valuable time looking for the biggest angleworm in the
garden!" he told her. "I've caught him already."

Well, for once Mrs. Robin almost said something tart to the old
gentleman. But she checked herself in time; not by biting her tongue,