“The toad, too, used to catch and eat the bugs. By doing so he saved many a plant from being destroyed.
“But what a homely old fellow he was! And how handsome the woodpecker is!
“It is quite true that one does not grow to look like what he eats, but rather like what he thinks.
“The hop-toad lives so close to the ground that he sees only the brown earth. And if he thinks at all he thinks of that.
“But the woodpecker flies in the air and lives in the trees.
“He sees the blue sky and the pretty flowers and the silvery brook. There is beauty all around him. And if you wish to know of what he thinks, just see how he looks.”
Thus the queer old man spent his first day in the forest. Every little thing interested him. He watched the busy bees at work. He traced the footprints of bears and rabbits and deer in the soft ground along the brook.
But at last night came and spread its cover of darkness over all.
In a cave the queer little man made a soft bed of dry leaves. Then he lay down to sleep.