Now Danny Meadow Mouse is fond of Grandfather Frog, and he couldn’t bear to think that something dreadful might happen to him.  So when he found that he couldn’t get Grandfather Frog to go back to the Smiling Pool, he made up his mind that he just had to go along with Grandfather Frog to try to keep him out of danger.  Yes, Sir, he just had to do it.  He felt re-spon-sible for Grandfather Frog’s safety.  So here they were, Danny Meadow Mouse running ahead, anxious and worried and watching sharply for signs of danger, and Grandfather Frog puffing along behind, bound to see the Great World which his cousin, old Mr. Toad, said was a better place to live in than the Smiling Pool.

Now Danny has a great many private little paths under the grass all over the Green Meadows, and along these he can scamper ever so fast without once showing himself to those who may be looking for him.  Of course he started to take Grandfather Frog along one of these little paths.  But Grandfather Frog doesn’t walk or run; he jumps.  There wasn’t room in Danny’s little paths for jumping, as they soon found out.  Grandfather Frog simply couldn’t follow Danny along those little paths.  Danny sat down to think, and puckered his brows anxiously.  He was more worried than ever.  It was very clear that Grandfather Frog would have to travel out in the open, where there was room for him to jump, and where also he would be right out in plain sight of all who happened along.  Once more Danny urged him to go back to the Smiling Pool, but he might just as well have talked to a stick or a stone.  Grandfather Frog had started out to see the Great World, and he was going to see it.

Danny sighed.  “If you will, you will, I suppose,” said he, “and I guess the only place you can travel in any comfort is the Lone Little Path.  It is dangerous, very dangerous, but I guess you will have to do it.”

“Chugarum!” replied Grandfather Frog, “I’m not afraid.  You show me the Lone Little Path and then go about your business, Danny Meadow Mouse.”

So Danny led the way to the Lone Little Path, and Grandfather Frog sighed with relief, for here he could jump without getting all tangled up in long grass and without hurting his tender feet on sharp stubble where the grass had been cut.  But Danny felt more worried than ever.  He wouldn’t leave Grandfather Frog because, you know, he felt re-spon-sible for him, and at the same time he was terribly afraid, for he felt sure that some of their enemies would see them.  He wanted to go back, but he kept right on, and that shows just what a brave little fellow Danny Meadow Mouse was.

XIV

GRANDFATHER FROG HAS A STRANGE RIDE

  A thousand things may happen to,
    Ten thousand things befall,
  The traveler who careless is,
    Or thinks he knows it all.