"I'm tired of watching the Peacock."
"Then," said the mother, "you must help somebody else. You are old enough to think of such things now, and you must remember this wise saying: 'When you don't know what to do, help somebody.'"
"Whom can I help?" said the lame Duckling. "People can all do things for themselves."
"There is the Blind Horse," answered his mother. "He is alone to-day, and I'm sure he would like somebody to visit him."
"Quack!" said the Duckling. "I will go to see him." He waddled slowly away, stopping now and then to rest, and shaking his little pointed tail from side to side as Ducks do. The Blind Horse was grazing in the pasture alone.
"I've come to see you, sir," said the Duckling. "Shall I be in your way?"
The Blind Horse looked much pleased. "I think from your voice that you must be one of the young Ducks," said he. "I shall be very glad to have you visit me, only you must be careful to keep away from my feet, for I can't see, and I might step on you."
"I'll be careful," said the Duckling. "I can't waddle much anyway this morning, because my leg hurts me so."
"Why, I'm sorry you are lame," said the Horse. "What is the matter?"
"A Weasel bit me in the night, sir. But it doesn't hurt so much as it did before I came to see you. Perhaps the pasture is a better place for lame legs than the farmyard." He didn't know that it was because he was trying to make somebody else happy that he felt so much better, yet that was the reason.