"Have you gone crazy?" Golden Tree Frog asked the Crow
"Have you gone crazy?" Golden Tree Frog asked the Crow
"Have you gone crazy?" Golden Tree Frog asked the Crow
"No, I'm not crazy," answered the Crow crossly. "And if you're not going to be polite, I shall spread my wings and fly away without telling you my news. I'm very sure the frogs of this pond would like to know what I found out, but if they all think more of filling their stomachs than of listening to me, I shall not take the trouble to tell it."
"Please pardon us, friend Crow," said Golden Tree Frog. "I will go and see if I can find Grandfather Bull Frog."
Back along the old limb and quickly down the tree trunk to the ground he ran, and soon was out of sight. It was not long before Grandfather and Grandmother Bull Frog and Golden Tree Frog swam quickly from among the bulrushes to the island. As soon as they had landed, Grandfather croaked loudly three or four times. At the summons every frog stopped eating his supper at once and went splashing off through the water to join Grandfather on his island.
Bully and Mrs. House Frog were among the first to reach there. When all the frogs had landed on the island, Grandfather Bull Frog asked the Crow to tell his news.
"Yesterday," he told them, "our friend the Lark came home."
"The Lark came home!" cried several frogs all at once. "Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"
"Of course I'm sure," replied the Crow crisply. "Isn't he an old friend of mine? And don't I know where the Larks' nest is? I saw the Lark and talked with him. He is hard at work helping his mate find fat worms for those dear baby larks."
Then without adding anything more the Crow flew away and the astonished frogs sat still looking at each other. "What could have made the Lark come home so soon?" they asked each other.
"Surely he has not told all the frogs," sobbed Bully, "and I was so sure he would do that." Mrs. House Frog begged Bully in a whisper not to cry until he had seen his friend the Lark and found out his reason for coming home so soon.
"I can't understand why he should come back now," said Grandfather Bull Frog thoughtfully, "unless he has told all the frogs. Though I hardly think it possible that he has seen them all. But let us wait until we learn from him his reason for coming back before we find fault with him. He will no doubt be round to see us in a day or two. Then he can tell us his story."
So the frogs went back to finish their supper. Many of them said they didn't understand why their friend had not done as he promised. Bully was so worried he just couldn't eat his supper. Climbing on his lily pad, he sat there all alone thinking sadly about his friend, for he felt sure he hadn't quite done as he had promised.
That night Bully had a dream. In his dream he saw bad boys killing frogs, and he saw snakes and turtles eating them. He saw men, with live frogs on cruel hooks, jerking them back and forth through the water trying to catch fish with them. In his dream he saw frogs put in stuffy little pens with little to eat, and many people lean over the pen looking down at them. And he saw ducks eating thousands and thousands of young frogs. All these little cousins were reaching out their tiny hands and begging him to get the Lark to hurry and tell them how to find the Frog Pond. In his dream they told him they were unhappy where they were and wanted to go to his beautiful home.
Bully sobbed in his sleep. He wiggled about uneasily. Then he dreamed he was trying to find his friend the Lark. He went looking behind old stumps and among the rocks. He hunted among the tall weeds and grasses. In his dream he was gazing up into the treetops to see if the Lark was there. He looked and looked every place in the whole round world to find the Lark, but he could not be found. "Oh," cried Bully aloud, "what shall I do? I cannot find him!"
"Ha, ha!" sang a well-known voice near him. "And why are you moaning in your sleep?" the Lark went on, gently pecking him in the side. "Wake up! Wake up! Aren't you glad to see me?"
Bully opened his eyes, and sure enough, there was his friend on the lily pad close beside him. "Oh, those poor suffering frogs!" Bully cried out. "They want to come so much, and they don't know the way. Why didn't you tell all of them? What made you come home so soon? You didn't tell all the frogs, did you, friend Lark?"
"No, I didn't," replied the Lark. "When I went away I had made up my mind to be gone all summer, but as the days went by I thought more and more about my mate and our babies. I wondered and wondered how they were getting along without me. I wondered if they were well, or if anything had harmed them. I kept thinking of how many worms it would take every day to feed them. I wondered if my mate would be able to get enough food for them. And the more I thought about it, the more I worried. It seemed to me I wasn't a very good father to go away and leave them. I kept flying about trying to find frogs, but my thoughts were all the time with my mate and babies. I seemed to hear them calling me.
"At last I got so homesick I couldn't eat or sleep. I could only long for my home. I hated to come and break my promise. Perhaps it was foolish to think so much about my family. I made up my mind not to come home; and just then something dreadful happened that made me come.
"One afternoon I lit in an old tree to plume my feathers and rest a bit. Hearing a chirping below me, I looked down and saw a lark's nest hidden among some tall grasses. The father and mother lark were flying about looking for worms and insects to feed their hungry family. They were so happy! They seemed to love one another so much, and how proud they were of their babies! It kept them pretty busy to get enough food. Often they would be away for some time.
"As I sat on the limb watching this family of larks, it made me think of my own dear mate and babies. I hid my head under my wing and cried. I could not eat my supper that night. I didn't feel like it. I just sat there thinking of that lark family. Some time in the night a cry of fear rang out. Opening my eyes, I saw the father lark flying swiftly round and round above the nest. He was crying out in wild grief and terror.
"As the moon was bright, I could plainly see why he cried out. A coyote had found the larks. He was eating the mother bird. After that it took him only a little time to eat the babies. The father bird was almost crazy with grief, but there was nothing he could do. He had just to bear his trouble as best he could.
"After I saw what happened to that lark family I just had to come home. There seemed no other way. I started at once, and flew and flew and flew as fast as I could, without food or rest. I was so afraid something dreadful had happened to my mate and babies. But I found them all well and doing finely. Mrs. Lark says she wishes me to go again and tell the rest of the frogs about this pond, as she is very sorry for them. She wants them to be happy. I think I shall start in a few days."
Bully told the Lark he was glad he loved his babies so much, and that all the frogs loved him for being so good to them.
"Have many of them come?" the Lark asked him.
"Yes," Bully told him, "a good many of them are here. And they seem to like it."
"I shall try to go again," the Lark said. "I have heard of several frogs I wish to invite. I know they would like to come. I've been told there are some frogs shut up in a stuffy pen. I must find them and get them free. An oriole told me he saw a big strange frog wandering about all alone, not seeming to know where to go. I must find him too. And there are many others to tell. Now I must fly back to Mrs. Lark and the babies."
He spread his wings and was gone. Bully hurried over to the island to tell Grandfather Bull Frog all the Lark had told him.
Now, my young friends, we are all about as much disappointed in the Lark as the frogs were. But of course we can't blame him for being homesick for his mate and his babies. But if he hadn't been, this story would have been longer. As it is, we shall just have to make the best of it. I will tell you a secret the Robins told me, if you promise never to tell.
The Robins have a nest near the Larks' nest, and of course they didn't want everyone else to know. But they said if I whispered it to my young friends it would be all right, they thought. But you must not repeat it loud enough for others to hear.
Just turn your ear this way and listen, so I can whisper it ever so softly. The Lark told the Robins he would soon start back to tell all the other frogs. He said he had heard of some of the queerest frogs in the world. A bird told him he knew where there were some frogs who carried their babies in a bag. One Robin said another bird told the Lark of a frog that would bring all her family of fifty or sixty children with her to the pond. The Robin spoke so low I didn't hear just how she was going to do it.
The Lark told the Robin he had heard of many other queer kinds of frogs, and that soon he was going to start out to find them. Some of the frogs, he said, had big feet, some had little feet. Some wore beautiful coats, and others wore very plain clothes. Some frogs he knew of could really fly, others lived in holes in the ground, and some had horns and some had none. The Lark said he had heard about these queer frogs from different birds who had told him where he could find them. He told the Robins some of them lived in places a long, long way from the old Frog Pond. It would take him many days to make the journey to their homes, but by flying fast he could see them all and be back before Jack Frost came.
As soon as the Lark goes, and the strange frogs begin to come to Bully's Frog Pond, I shall write and tell you all about them. I'm sure it will not be many days before Bully's friend starts on his journey. Mrs. Lark thinks that, with the help of the Robins and Grandfather Bull Frog's good advice, she can take care of her babies. You wait patiently until he returns. He flies fast, so it will not take him long to visit them all. Then as the frogs come hopping in from all parts of the world I will tell you about them in my next book, calledBully's Queer Relations. You will find that he had a great many of them.
It all depends on the Lark. If he fails to invite all the frogs to the Frog Pond, they will not come. But I do not believe that he will fail. He is too true a friend of the frogs to disappoint them now when so much depends on him. So you may count on the story.
THE TRUE TO NATURE SERIESAdventures of Tommy Tad and Polly WogMore Adventures of Tommy Tad and Polly WogShellhouse, the Adventures of a Little Mud Turtle