“What is it? What did you see?” began the bear, the fox, and the wolf. Brother Terrapin crept up to the edge of the pond, looked straight into the water, jumped back, and said, “Tut, tut, tut! To be sure! To be sure!”
“Come, come, tell us. We cannot bear this suspense,” snapped the fox.
Then Brother Rabbit said slowly, “The moon has dropped into the mill pond, and if you don’t believe me, go and look for yourselves.”
“Impossible!” cried Brother Bear.
They all crept up to the edge of the pond and looked in and there they saw the golden moon right down in the clear water.
“Isn’t that too bad?” said Brother Wolf.
“Well, well, well,” sighed Brother Fox; and Brother Bear shook his head slowly and said, “The impossible has happened!”
“Now, I’ll tell you something,” began the rabbit, who was not to be easily daunted, “we must get that moon out of the water before we begin to fish. I tell you truly no fish will bite while that great golden ball is near.”
“Well, Brother Rabbit,” said the wolf, “can’t you make a suggestion in this matter? You usually know what to do.”
“I have it, my friends,” said the rabbit jumping up and down. “I have it! I know where I can borrow a sieve. I’ll run and get it and then we can dip up the moon in no time. We’ll have our fishing party yet!” and off he ran.