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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat
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THE ADVENTURES OF JERRY MUSKRAT
BY THORNTON W. BURGESS
CHAPTER I: Jerry Muskrat Has A Fright
What was it Mother Muskrat had said about Farmer Brown's boy and his
traps? Jerry Muskrat sat on the edge of the Big Rock and kicked his
heels while he tried to remember. The fact is, Jerry had not half heeded.
He had been thinking of other things. Besides, it seemed to him that
Mother Muskrat was altogether foolish about a great many things.
"Pooh!" said Jerry, throwing out his chest, "I guess I can take care
of myself without being tied to my mother's apron strings! What if
Farmer Brown's boy is setting traps around the Smiling Pool? I guess
he can't fool your Uncle Jerry. He isn't so smart as he thinks he is;
I can fool him any day." Jerry chuckled. He was thinking of how
he had once fooled Farmer Brown's boy into thinking a big trout was
on his hook.
Slowly Jerry slid into the Smiling Pool and swam over towards his
favorite log. Peter Rabbit stuck his head over the edge of the bank.
"Hi, Jerry," he shouted, "last night I saw Farmer Brown's boy
coming over this way with a lot of traps. Better watch out!"
"Go chase yourself, Peter Rabbit. I guess I can look out for
myself," replied Jerry, just a little crossly.
Peter made a wry face and started for the sweet clover patch.
Hardly was he out of sight when Billy Mink and Bobby Coon came
down the Laughing Brook together. They seemed very much excited.
When they saw Jerry Muskrat, they beckoned for him to come over
where they were, and when he got there, they both talked at once,
and it was all about Farmer Brown's boy and his traps.
"You'd better watch out, Jerry," warned Billy Mink, who is a great
traveler and has had wide experience.
"Oh, I guess I'm able to take care of myself," said Jerry airily,
and once more started for his favorite log. And what do you suppose
he was thinking about as he swam along? He was wishing that he knew
what a trap looked like, for despite his boasting he didn't even
know what he was to look out for. As he drew near his favorite log,
something tickled his nose. He stopped swimming to sniff and sniff.
My, how good it did smell! And it seemed to come right straight from
the old log. Jerry began to swim as fast as he could. In a few
minutes he scrambled out on the old log. Then Jerry rubbed his eyes
three times to be sure that he saw aright. There were luscious
pieces of carrot lying right in front of him.
Now there is nothing that Jerry Muskrat likes better than carrot.
So he didn't stop to wonder how it got there. He just reached out
for the nearest piece and ate it. Then he reached for the next piece
and ate it. Then he did a funny little dance just for joy. When he
was quite out of breath, he sat down to rest. Snap! Something had
Jerry Muskrat by the tail! Jerry squealed with fright and pain. Oh,
how it did hurt! He twisted and turned, but he was held fast and
could not see what had him. Then he pulled and pulled, until it
seemed as if his tail would pull off. But it didn't. So he kept
pulling, and pretty soon the thing let go so suddenly that Jerry
tumbled head first into the water.
When he reached home, Mother Muskrat did his sore tail up for him.
"What did I tell you about traps?" she asked severely.
Jerry stopped crying. "Was that a trap?" he asked. Then he remembered
that in his fright he didn't even see it. "Oh, dear," he moaned, "I
wouldn't know one to-day if I met it."
CHAPTER II: The Convention At Ther Big Rock
Jolly round, red Mr. Sun looked down on the Smiling Pool. He almost
forgot to keep on climbing up in the blue sky, he was so interested
in what he saw there. What do you think it was? Why, it was a
convention at the Big Rock, the queerest convention he ever had seen.
Your papa would say that it was a mass-meeting of angry citizens.
Maybe it was, but that is a pretty long term. Anyway, Mother Muskrat
said it was a convention, and she ought to know, for she is the one
who had called it.
Of course Jerry Muskrat was there, and his uncles and aunts and all
his cousins. Billy Mink was there, and all his relations, even old
Grandfather Mink, who has lost most of his teeth and is a little
hard of hearing.
Little Joe Otter was there, with his father and mother and all his
relations even to his third cousins. Bobby Coon was there, and he
had brought with him every Coon of his acquaintance who ever fished
in the Smiling Pool or along the Laughing Brook. And everybody was
looking very solemn, very solemn indeed.
When the last one had arrived, Mother Muskrat climbed up on the Big
Rock and called Jerry Muskrat up beside her, where all could see him.
Then she made a speech. "Friends of the Smiling Pool and Laughing
Brook," began Mrs. Muskrat, "I have called you together to show you
what has happened to my son Jerry and to ask your advice." She stopped
and pointed to Jerry's sore tail. "What do you think did that?" she
demanded.
"Probably Jerry's been in a fight and got whipped," said Bobby Coon
to his neighbor, for Bobby Coon is a graceless young scamp and does
not always show proper respect to his neighbors.
Mrs. Muskrat glared at him, for she had overheard the remark. Then
she held up one hand to command silence. "Friends, it was a trap --
a trap set by Farmer Brown's boy! a trap to catch you and me and our
children!" said she solemnly. "It is no longer safe for our little
folks to play around the Smiling Pool or along the Laughing Brook.
What are we going to do about it?"
Everybody looked at everybody else in dismay. Then everybody began
to talk at once, and if Farmer Brown's boy could have heard all the
things said about him, his cheeks certainly would have burned.
Indeed, I am afraid that they would have blistered. Such excitement!
Everybody had a different idea, and nobody would listen to anybody
else. Old Mr. Mink lost his temper and called Grandpa Otter a
meddlesome know-nothing. It looked very much as if the convention
was going to break up in a sad quarrel. Then Mr. Coon climbed up on
the Big Rock and with a stick pounded for silence.
"I move," said he, "that in as much as we cannot agree, we tell
Great-Grandfather Frog all about the danger and ask his advice, for
he is very old and very wise and remembers when the world was young.
All in favor please raise their right hands."
At once the air was full of hands, and everybody was good-natured
once more. So it was agreed to call in Great-Grandfather Frog.
CHAPTER III: The Oracle Of The Smiling Pool
Grandfather Frog sat on his big green lily-pad with his eyes half
closed, for all the world as if he knew nothing about the meeting at
the Big Rock. Of course he did know, for there isn't much going on
around the Smiling Pool which he doesn't see or at least hear all
about. The Merry Little Breezes, who are here, there, and everywhere,
told him all that was going on, so that when he saw Jerry Muskrat
and Little Joe Otter swimming towards him, he knew what they were
coming for. But he pretended to be very much surprised when Jerry
Muskrat very politely said: "Good morning, Grandfather Frog."
"Good morning, Jerry Muskrat. You're out early this morning,"
replied Grandfather Frog.
"If you please, you are wanted over at the Big Rock," said Jerry.
Grandfather Frog's eyes twinkled, but he made his voice very deep
and gruff as he replied: "Chugarum! You're a scamp, Jerry Muskrat,
and Little Joe Otter is another. What trick are you trying to play
on me now?"
Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe Otter looked a wee bit sheepish, for it
was true that they were forever trying to play tricks on Grandfather
Frog. "Really and truly, Grandfather Frog, there isn't any trick
this time," said Jerry. "There is a meeting at the Big Rock to try
to decide what to do to keep Farmer Brown's boy from setting traps
around the Smiling Pool and along the Laughing Brook, and everybody
wants your advice, because you are so old and so wise. Please come."
Grandfather Frog smoothed down his white and yellow waistcoat and
pretended to think the matter over very seriously, while Jerry and
Little Joe fidgeted impatiently. Finally he spoke.
"I am very old, as you have said, Jerry Muskrat, and it is a long way
over to the Big Rock."
"Get right on my back and I'll take you over there," said Jerry eagerly.
"I'm afraid that you'll spill me off," replied Grandfather Frog.
"No, I won't; just try me and see," begged Jerry.
So Grandfather Frog climbed on Jerry Muskrat's back, and Jerry
started for the Big Rock as fast as he could go. When all the Minks
and the Otters and the Coons and the Muskrats saw them coming, they
gave a great shout, for Grandfather Frog is sometimes called the oracle
of the Smiling Pool. You know an oracle is one who is very wise.
Bobby Coon helped Grandfather Frog up on the Big Rock, and when he
had made himself comfortable, Mrs. Muskrat told him all about Farmer
Brown's boy and his traps, and how Jerry had been caught in one by
the tail, and she ended by asking for his advice, because they all
knew that he was so wise.
When she said this, Grandfather Frog puffed himself up until it seemed
as if his white and yellow waistcoat would surely burst. He sat
very still for a while and gazed straight at jolly, round, red
Mr. Sun without blinking once. Then he spoke in a very deep voice.
"To-morrow morning at sunrise I will tell you what to do," said he.
And not another word could they get out of him.
CHAPTER IV: Grandfather Frog's Plan
Just as Old Mother West Wind and her Merry Little Breezes came down
from the Purple Hills, and jolly, round, red Mr. Sun threw his
nightcap off and began his daily climb up in the blue sky,
Great-Grandfather Frog climbed up on the Big Rock in the Smiling
Pool. Early as he was, all the little people who live along the
Laughing Brook and around the Smiling Pool were waiting for him.
Bobby Coon had found two traps set by Farmer Brown's boy, and
Billy Mink had almost stepped in a third. No one felt safe any more,
yet no one knew what to do. So they all waited for the advice of
Great-Grandfather Frog, who, you know, is accounted very, very wise.
Grandfather Frog cleared his throat. "Chugarum!" said he. "You must
find all the traps that Farmer Brown's boy has set."
"How are we going to do it?" asked Bobby Coon.
"By looking for them," replied Grandfather Frog tartly.
Bobby Coon looked foolish and slipped out of sight behind his mother.
"All the Coons and all the Minks must search along the banks of the
Laughing Brook, and all the Muskrats and all the Otters must search
along the banks of the Smiling Pool. You must use your eyes and your
noses. When you find things good to eat where you have never found
them before, watch out! When you get the first whiff of the man-smell,
watch out! Billy Mink, you are small and quick, and your eyes are
sharp. You sit here on the Big Rock until you see Farmer Brown's
boy coming. Then go hide in the bulrushes where you can watch him,
but where he cannot see you. Follow him everywhere he goes around
the Smiling Pool or along the Laughing Brook. Without knowing it,
he will show you where every trap is hidden.
"When all the traps have been found, drop a stick or a stone in each.
That will spring them, and then they will be harmless. Then you can
bury them deep in the mud. But don't eat any of the food until you
have sprung all of the traps, for just as likely as not you will get
caught. When all the traps have been sprung, why not bring all the
good things to eat which you find around them to the Big Rock and
have a grand feast?"
"Hurrah for Grandfather Frog! That's a great idea!" shouted Little
Joe Otter, turning a somersault in the water.
Every one agreed with Little Joe Otter, and immediately they began
to plan a grand hunt for the traps of Farmer Brown's boy.
The Muskrats and the Otters started to search the banks of the
Smiling Pool, and the Coons and the Minks, all but Billy, started
for the Laughing Brook. Billy climbed up on the Big Rock to watch,
and Grandfather Frog slowly swam back to his big green lily-pad to
wait for some foolish green flies for his breakfast.
CHAPTER V: A Busy Day At The Smiling Pool
Everybody was excited. Yes, Sir. everybody in the Smiling Pool and
along the Laughing Brook was just bubbling over with excitement.
Even Spotty the Turtle, who usually takes everything so calmly that
some people think him stupid, climbed up on the highest point of an
old log where he could see what was going on. Only Grandfather
Frog, sitting on his big green lily-pad and watching for foolish
green flies for his breakfast, appeared not to know that something
unusual was going on. Really, he was just as much excited as the
rest, but because he is very old and accounted very, very wise, it
would not do for him to show it.
What was it all about? Why, all the Minks and the Coons and the
Otters and the Muskrats, who live and play around the Smiling Pool
and the Laughing Brook, were hunting for traps. Yes, Sir, they were
hunting for traps set by Farmer Brown's boy, just as Grandfather
Frog had advised them to.
Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe Otter were hunting together. They
were swimming along close to shore just where the Laughing Brook
leaves the Smiling Pool, when Jerry wrinkled up his funny little
nose and stopped swimming. Sniff, sniff, sniff, went Jerry Muskrat.
Then little cold shivers ran down his backbone and way out to the
tip of his tail.
"What is it?" asked Little Joe Otter.
"It's the man-smell," whispered Jerry.
Just then Little Joe Otter gave a long sniff. "My, I smell fish!"
he cried, his eyes sparkling, and started in the direction from
which the smell came. He swam faster than Jerry, and in a minute he
shouted in delight.
"Hi, Jerry! Some one's left a fish on the edge of the bank: What a
feast!"
Jerry hurried as fast as he could swim, his eyes popping out with
fright, for the nearer he got, the stronger grew that dreadful man-smell.
"Don't touch it," he panted. "Don't touch it, Joe Otter!"
Little Joe laughed. "What's the matter, Jerry? 'Fraid I'll eat it
all up before you get here?" he asked, as he reached out for the fish.
"Stop!" shrieked Jerry, and gave Little Joe a push, just as the
latter touched the fish.
Snap! A pair of wicked steel jaws flew together and caught Little
Joe Otter by a claw of one toe. If it hadn't been for Jerry's push,
he would have been caught by a foot.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Little Joe Otter.
"Next time I guess you'll remember what Grandfather Frog said about
watching out when you find things to eat where they never were before,"
said Jerry, as he helped Little Joe pull himself free from the trap.
But he left the claw behind and had a dreadfully sore toe as a result.
Then they buried the trap deep down in the mud and started to look
for another.
All around the Smiling Pool and along the Laughing Brook their
cousins and uncles and aunts and friends were just as busy, and
every once in a while some one would have just as narrow an escape
as Little Joe Otter. And all the time up at the farmhouse Farmer
Brown's boy was planning what he would do with the skins of the
little animals he was sure he would catch in his traps.
CHAPTER VI: Farmer Brown's Boy Is Puzzled
Farmer Brown's boy was whistling merrily as he tramped down across
the Green Meadows. The Merry Little Breezes saw him coming, and they
raced over to the Smiling Pool to tell Billy Mink. Farmer Brown's
boy was coming to visit his traps. He was very sure that he would
find Billy Mink or Little Joe Otter, or Jerry Muskrat, or perhaps
Bobby Coon.
Billy Mink was sitting on top of the Big Rock. He saw the Merry
Little Breezes racing across the Green Meadows, and behind them
he saw Farmer Brown's boy. Billy Mink dived head first into the
Smiling Pool. Then he swam over to Jerry Muskrat's house and warned
Jerry. Together they hunted up Little Joe Otter, and then the three
little scamps in brown hid in the bulrushes, where they could watch
Farmer Brown's boy.
The first place Farmer Brown's boy visited was Jerry Muskrat's
old log. Very cautiously he peeped over the edge of the bank.
The trap was gone!
"Hurrah!" shouted Farmer Brown's boy. He was very much excited, as
he caught hold of the end of the chain, which fastened it to the old
log. He was sure that at last he had caught Jerry Muskrat. When he
pulled the trap up, it was empty. Between the jaws were a few hairs
and a little bit of skin, which Jerry Muskrat had left there when he
sprung the trap with his tail.
Farmer Brown's boy was disappointed. "Well, I'll get him to-morrow,
anyway," said he to himself. Then he went on to his next trap;
it was nowhere to be seen. When he pulled the chain he was so excited
that he trembled. The trap did not come up at once. He pulled and
pulled, and then suddenly up it came, all covered with mud. In it
was one little claw from Little Joe Otter. Very carefully Farmer
Brown's boy set the trap again. If he could have looked over in the
bulrushes and have seen Little Joe Otter and Billy Mink and Jerry
Muskrat watching him and tickling and laughing, he would not have
been so sure that next time he would catch Little Joe Otter.
All around the Smiling Pool and then up and down the Laughing Brook
Farmer Brown's boy tramped, and each trap he found sprung and buried
in the mud. He had stopped whistling by this time, and there was a
puzzled frown on his freckled face. What did it mean? Could some
other boy have found all his traps and played a trick by springing
all of them? The more he thought about it, the more puzzled he
became. You see, he did not know anything about the busy day the
Minks and the Otters and the Muskrats and the Coons had spent the
day before.
Old Grandfather Frog, sitting on his big green lily-pad, smoothed
down his white and yellow waistcoat and winked up at jolly, round,
red Mr. Sun as Farmer Brown's boy tramped off across the Green Meadows.
"Chugarum!" said Grandfather Frog, as he snapped up a foolish green fly.
"Much good it will do you to set those traps again!"
Then Grandfather Frog called to Billy Mink and sent him to tell all
the other little people of the Smiling Pool and the Laughing Brook
that they must hurry and spring all the traps again as they had before.
This time it was easy, because they knew just where the traps were,
so all day long they dropped sticks and stones into the traps and
once more sprung them. Then they prepared for a grand feast of the
good things to eat which Farmer Brown's boy had left, scattered
around the traps.
CHAPTER VII: Jerry Muskrat Makes A Discovery
The beautiful springtime had brought a great deal of happiness to
the Smiling Pool, as it had to the Green Meadows and to the Green
Forest. Great-Grandfather Frog, who had slept the long winter away
in his own special bed way down in the mud, had waked up with an
appetite so great that for a while it seemed as if he could think of
nothing but his stomach. Jerry Muskrat had felt the spring fever in
his bones and had gone up and down the Laughing Brook, poking into
all kinds of places just for the fun of seeing new things. Little
Joe Otter had been more full of fun than ever, if that were possible.
Mr. and Mrs. Redwing had come back to the bulrushes from their
winter home way down in the warm Southland. Everybody was happy,
just as happy as could be.
One sunny morning Jerry Muskrat sat on the Big Rock in the middle of
the Smiling Pool, just thinking of how happy everybody was and
laughing at Little Joe Otter, who was cutting up all sorts of capers
in the water. Suddenly Jerry's sharp eyes saw something that made
him wrinkle his forehead in a puzzled frown and look and look at the
opposite bank. Finally he called to Little Joe Otter.
"Hi, Little Joe! Come over here!" shouted Jerry.
"What for?" asked Little Joe, turning a somersault in the water.
"I want you to see if there is anything wrong with my eyes,"
replied Jerry.
Little Joe Otter stopped swimming and stared up at Jerry Muskrat.
"They look all right to me," said he, as he started to climb up on
the Big Rock.
"Of course they look all right," replied Jerry, "but what I want to
know is if they see all right. Look over at that bank."
Little Joe Otter looked over at the bank. He stared and stared, but
he didn't see anything unusual. It looked just as it always did.
He told Jerry Muskrat so.
"Then it must be my eyes," sighed Jerry. "It certainly must be my
eyes. It looks to me as if the water does not come as high up on the
bank as it did yesterday."
Little Joe Otter looked again and his eyes opened wide. "You are
right, Jerry Muskrat!" he cried. "There's nothing the matter with
your eyes. The water is as low as it ever gets, even in the very
middle of summer. What can it mean?"
"I don't know," replied Jerry Muskrat. "It is queer! It certainly
is very queer! Let's go ask Grandfather Frog. You know he is very
old and very wise, so perhaps he can tell us what it means."
Splash! Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe Otter dived into the Smiling
Pool and started a race to see who could reach Grandfather Frog first.
He was sitting among the bulrushes on the edge of the Smiling Pool,
for the lily-pads were not yet big enough for him to sit on comfortably.
"Oh, Grandfather Frog, what's the matter with the Smiling Pool?"
they shouted, as they came up quite out of breath.
"Chugarum! There's nothing the matter with the Smiling Pool; it's
the best place in all the world," replied Grandfather Frog gruffly.
"But there is something the matter," insisted Jerry Muskrat, and
then he told what he had discovered.
"I don't believe it," said Grandfather Frog. "I never heard of such
a thing in the springtime."
CHAPTER VIII: Grandfather Frog Watches His Toes
Grandfather Frog sat among the bulrushes on the edge of the Smiling
Pool. Over his head Mr. Redwing was singing as if his heart would
burst with the very joy of springtime.
"Tra-la-la-lee, see me! See me!
Happy am I as I can be!
Happy am I the whole day long
And so I sing my gladsome song."
Of course Mr. Redwing was happy. Why shouldn't he be? Here it was
the beautiful springtime, the gladdest time of all the year, the
time when happiness creeps into everybody's heart. Grandfather Frog
listened. He nodded his head. "Chugarum! I'm happy, too," said
Grandfather Frog. But even as he said it, a little worried look
crept into his big goggly eyes and then down to the corners of his
big mouth, which had been stretched in a smile. Little by little the
smile grew smaller and smaller, until there wasn't any smile. No,
Sir, there wasn't any smile. Instead of looking happy, as he said he
felt, Grandfather Frog actually looked unhappy.
The fact is he couldn't forget what Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe
Otter had told him -- that there was something the matter with the
Smiling Pool. He didn't believe it, not a word of it. At least he
tried to make himself think that he didn't believe it. They had said
that the water in the Smiling Pool was growing lower and lower, just
as it did in the middle of summer, in the very hottest weather.
Now Grandfather Frog is very old and very wise, and he had never
heard of such a thing happening in the springtime. So he wouldn't
believe it now. And yet -- and yet Grandfather Frog had an
uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong. Ha! he knew now
what it was! He had been sitting up to his middle in water, and now
he was sitting with only his toes in the water, and he couldn't
remember having changed his position!
"Of course, I moved without thinking what I was doing," muttered
Grandfather Frog, but still the worried look didn't leave his face.
You see he just couldn't make himself believe what he wanted to
believe, try as he would.
"Chugarum! I know what I'll do; I'll watch my toes!" exclaimed
Grandfather Frog.
So Grandfather Frog waded out into the water until it covered his feet,
and then he sat down and began to watch his toes. Mr, Redwing
looked down and saw him, and Grandfather Frog looked so funny gazing
at his own toes that Mr. Redwing stopped singing long enough to ask:
"What are you doing, Grandfather Frog?"
"Watching my toes," replied Grandfather Frog gruffly.
"Watching your toes! Ho, ho, ho! Watching your toes! Who ever heard
of such a thing? Are you afraid that they will run away, Grandfather
Frog?" shouted Mr. Redwing.
Grandfather Frog didn't answer. He kept right on watching his toes.
Mr. Redwing flew away to tell everybody he met how Grandfather Frog
had become foolish and was watching his toes. The sun shone down
warm and bright, and pretty soon Grandfather Frog's big goggly eyes
began to blink. Then his head began to nod, and then -- why, then
Grandfather Frog fell fast asleep.
By and by Grandfather Frog awoke with a start. He looked down at his
toes. They were not in the water at all! Indeed, the water was a
good long jump away.