Long Bill Wren hadn't thought of that. And he said quickly that he was afraid it wouldn't be safe.
But Mr. Frog replied that it certainly wouldn't be safe not to, living as they did so close to the water.
"They're liable to tumble in almost any day," he said. "I suppose you can swim, yourself?"
"No!" Long Bill answered, looking somewhat worried. "I've never learned how."
Mr. Frog appeared greatly surprised by his neighbor's reply.
"Then I'd be glad to teach your children," he offered.
"Swimming is a very simple matter. And when you're young is the time to learn. I began when I was a tadpole. And knowing how to swim has saved my life a good many times."
Naturally the children were eager to have a lesson at once. And Long Bill Wren was about to yield to their teasing, when his wife happened to come flying home.
"What's going on here?" she asked sharply, for she saw that something unusual was afoot.
And when her husband explained Mr. Frog had kindly offered to teach the children to swim she cried, "The idea! I won't have it!"