While he was thinking and thinking, a shadow passed swiftly before his face and made him jump. In another moment there was a whirr of wings and his friend the Lark was beside him. "My," said Bully, "how you made me jump!"
The Lark sang merrily, "I saw you sitting here looking so glum I thought I would frighten you a bit. But, friend Bully, what is your trouble? You ought to be hopping about trying out that voice of yours for the spring chorus instead of spending this fine morning in the dumps on this log."
"Well," said Bully, "I am worried and will tell you all about it, but I don't suppose it will do any good." But he brightened up a bit and told the Lark Grandmother Bull Frog's story of the bad boys and the frogs.
"Is that all that's bothering you?" asked his friend as he gobbled up a grasshopper that had been thoughtless enough to settle on the log near them.
"All!" exclaimed Bully. "Don't you think it's enough to make any frog feel badly?"
"Why, I suppose it is," replied the Lark after thinking a moment. "But I see many worse things happen to your family every day. Anyway, I don't think you can help things by making yourself so unhappy. Of course I would help all the frogs," he hastened to say, "but I see no way, and it keeps me busy looking out for my own family."
"What worse things do you see happen?" asked Bully.
"Oh," replied the Lark, "sometimes I see snakes swallow frogs whole. Often I see ducks, geese, and other big birds eat them. I see turtles eat them, too, and every now and then I see big water bugs destroying frogs' eggs. And I think," he went on to say, "the very worst thing of all that I see is men sitting on the bank, putting a fish hook right through a live frog, and then throwing the line in the water and jerking the frog about. Oh," he fluttered, "that's too dreadfully cruel to look at! I always fly away as quickly as I can and try to forget it. All these things are very, very dreadful," he said. "I can't bear to think about them."
Bully looked horrified. His big, round eyes nearly bulged out of his head and had such a frightened look. "Do you mean to tell me," he asked, "that all this is true?"
"Why, yes," said the Lark. "Do you think I would make up such dreadful stories? No, indeed, I couldn't think up such wicked things. But cheer up, Bully. It will do the other frogs no good for us to worry about them and it will only make us unhappy."