“Stop making that noise,” said Father, “and keep your mouth in the water.”
So I did it and whimpered instead of howled and my mouth began to feel better. But my tongue was swollen all up and when I tried to talk I just made funny noises. After a while I crawled out of the pond and shook myself, feeling sort of ashamed because I had made such a fuss. But Mother licked my face, and Freya, who had been lying nearby whining, came running up and leaped about and barked. Even Father seemed sorry for me. Then he took us back to the frog, which was still sitting where I had left him, and said:
“Have a good look at him, children.”
So we looked at the frog and the frog blinked at us and seemed to be laughing. I growled and backed away from him.
“The next time you take a frog in your mouth,” said Father, “be sure it is a frog and not a toad. Toads are very unhealthy for dogs and that thing there is a toad. When you took him up he put poison in your mouth. It was a good thing you were near the pond, for water is the only thing I know of that will help. I heard of a dog once who was poisoned by a frog and there was no water around and so he ran for home. The poison made froth in his mouth and Two-Legged Folks thought he was mad and a policeman tried to shoot him. Luckily for him the policeman aimed wrong and the dog got away. Now do you think you will know a toad the next time you see one?”
I said I was sure of it and then we went home and I crawled behind the flower-pots and stayed there a long time. I didn’t want any supper that day. You wouldn’t have wanted any, either, if your mouth had felt the way mine did. I think it is quite wrong to have things look so much alike as frogs and toads do; and flies and bees, too. How is a puppy to know?
When it was almost dark I crept out from behind the flower-pots and went to get a drink of water. Ju-Ju was outside, playing with a beetle, and when she saw me she grinned. She must have found out somehow about that toad. I hate cats.