As a last resort she started for the swamp lands, thirty of her exhausted daughters trailing after her. They were all so tired they could no longer walk, and finally, being faint and bent over to the ground, they took to hopping.
Down, down, down, through the hills they hopped until at last they reached the dark, damp swamp. The daughters had become as lazy as the sons; and Mrs. Frog herself desired nothing in the world but a cool, muddy bed at night, and a good log or a lily pad to sit on throughout the livelong day.
But in her muddy bed she doesn't sleep; for all night long one may hear her calling: "More rain! More rain! More rain!"
While Mr. Frog croaks: "Knee deep! Knee deep! Knee deep!"
And all the little frogs: "Wade in! Wade in! Wade in!"
[IX]
THE SCARE-MAN TREE
There was a time when the world was mostly forest. There were plains, to be sure, and rich valleys, but the trees were everywhere, so that even the towns and farms were hidden by them; and there were no great cities at all.
It was then that the animals lived in peace, and they were not driven to hide themselves, nor to be always moving farther and farther away to find new shelters.