“I thought I’d caught a thousand flies,
All on this summer day.
But now that you’ve awakened me
They all have flown away.
“Oh, it was such a pleasant dream,
I fear I shall grow thinner.
You should have let me slumber on
Until I’d finished dinner.”
[POOR JIMMY MINK]
As soon as Little Rabbit had told the old gentleman frog to watch out for the Miller’s Boy, he hopped along by the Bubbling Brook, as it wound in and out among the trees of the Shady Forest or went splashing over rocks and fallen logs. All of a sudden he met Jimmy Mink. But, oh dear me! What was the matter with Jimmy Mink? He was hobbling on three legs. What could be the matter?
“Helloa, there, Jimmy Mink,” shouted the little rabbit.
“What makes you walk on three legs,
When you can walk on four?
I didn’t know that you had been
A soldier in the war.”
“I haven’t,” replied Jimmy Mink. “I got caught in a trap,” and he lifted up his right foreleg.
“Why, your foot’s gone!” gasped the little rabbit. “Isn’t that dreadful?”
“Yes, it’s pretty bad,” answered Jimmy Mink. “But the only way I could free myself was to bite off my foot.”