"Grandfather Mole wants all the big[p. 46] ones himself," she would splutter as soon as she and her husband were where Grandfather Mole couldn't listen to what she said. And then, probably, Jolly Robin would laugh and tell her not to mind, for there ought to be worms enough for everybody.

More than once, when Grandfather Mole had advised her to "try a smaller one," Mrs. Robin had declared afterward that she wished she could catch the biggest angleworm in the whole garden, just to spite old Grandfather Mole and teach him that other people had their rights, as well as he.

"Well, well!" Jolly Robin always exclaimed with a laugh. "Well, well! Perhaps some day you will find the grandfather of all the angleworms!"

[p. 47]

XI

SURPRISING GRANDFATHER
MOLE

Somehow Grandfather Mole heard that Mrs. Robin hoped to capture the biggest angleworm in the garden. So the very next time he happened to find her at work there he offered her another bit of unsought advice. And Mrs. Robin liked it no better than any other of Grandfather Mole's counsels.

"Don't waste your valuable time looking for the biggest angleworm in the garden!" he told her. "I've caught him already."

Well, for once Mrs. Robin almost said something tart to the old gentleman. But[p. 48] she checked herself in time; not by biting her tongue, however, but by clapping her bill upon a fat bug that was trying to hide under a potato-top. And away she flew to her nest, leaving Grandfather Mole to talk to the air, if he wished.