“Of course he isn’t going to catch you again.  I know how wise and smart you are, but you look to me very tired, and there are so many dangers out here in the Great World that it seems to me that the very best thing you can do is to go back to the Smiling Pool.”

But Grandfather Frog is stubborn, you know.  He had started out to see the Great World, and he didn’t want the little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest to think that he was afraid.  The truth is, Grandfather Frog was more afraid of being laughed at than he was of the dangers around him, which shows just how foolish wise people can be sometimes.  So he shook his head.

“Chugarum!” said he, “I am going to see the Great World first, and then I am going back to the Smiling Pool.  Do you happen to know where there is any water?  I am very thirsty.”

Now over on the other side of the Long Lane was a spring where Farmer Brown’s boy filled his jug with clear cold water to take with him to the cornfield when he had to work there.  Striped Chipmunk knew all about that spring, for he had been there for a drink many times.  So he told Grandfather Frog just where the spring was and how to get to it.  He even offered to show the way, but Grandfather Frog said that he would rather go alone.

“Watch out, Grandfather Frog, and don’t fall in, because you might not be able to get out again,” warned Striped Chipmunk.

Grandfather Frog looked up sharply to see if Striped Chipmunk was making fun of him.  The very idea of any one thinking that he, who had lived in the water all his life, couldn’t get out when he pleased!  But Striped Chipmunk looked really in earnest, so Grandfather Frog swallowed the quick retort on the tip of his tongue, thanked Striped Chipmunk, and hurried away to look for the spring, for he was very, very thirsty.  Besides, he was very, very hot, and he hurried still faster as he thought of the cool bath he would have when he found that spring.

XIX

GRANDFATHER FROG JUMPS INTO MORE TROUBLE

Some people are heedless and run into trouble.  Some people are stupid and walk into trouble.  Grandfather Frog was both heedless and stupid and jumped into trouble.  When Striped Chipmunk told him where the spring was, it seemed to him that he couldn’t wait to reach it.  You see, Grandfather Frog had spent all his life in the Smiling Pool, where he could get a drink whenever he wanted it by just reaching over the edge of his big green lily-pad.  Whenever he was too warm, all he had to do was to say “Chugarum!” and dive head first into the cool water.  So he wasn’t used to going a long time without water.

Jump, jump, jump!  Grandfather Frog was going as fast as ever he could in the direction Striped Chipmunk had pointed out.  Every three or four jumps he would stop for just a wee, wee bit of rest, then off he would go again, jump, jump, jump!  And each jump was a long one.  Peter Rabbit certainly would have been envious if he could have seen those long jumps of Grandfather Frog.