"Because you've got such a sharp nose," Paddy Muskrat replied. And he was quite pleased with himself, for he thought that he wasn't so stupid as some people thought.
"Any other reason?" Grumpy Weasel inquired, stepping to the edge of the overhanging bank.
"You don't like to get your feet wet," Paddy Muskrat said. And feeling safe as anything, he swam nearer the spot where the stranger was crouching.
Paddy saw, almost too late, that he had made a bad blunder. For without the slightest warning Grumpy Weasel leaped at him. And had not Paddy been a won
derful swimmer and able to dive like a flash, he would never have dashed, panting, into his house a few moments later.
"What on earth is the matter?" his wife asked him.
"I've been having a swimming race with a stranger," Paddy explained. "I don't know his name. But I do know that he'd just as soon get his feet wet as I would."
"Well, why not?" Mrs. Muskrat inquired. "That only shows he's sensible."
"Does it show I'm sensible, too?" Paddy asked her.
"Certainly not!" said Mrs. Muskrat.