Then old Mr. Toad once more opened his big mouth and began to laugh harder than ever. Jimmy Skunk looked at him for just a minute and he looked so funny that Jimmy Skunk began to laugh too.
Now a good honest laugh is like whooping cough—it is catching. The first thing Danny Meadow Mouse knew his tears would not come. It's a fact, Danny Meadow Mouse had run short of tears. The next thing he knew he wasn't crying at all—he was laughing. Yes, Sir, he actually was laughing. He tried to cry, but it was of no use at all; he just had to laugh.
The more he laughed the harder old Mr. Toad laughed. And the harder Mr. Toad laughed the funnier he looked. Pretty soon all three of them, Danny Meadow Mouse, old Mr. Toad and Jimmy Skunk, were holding their sides and rolling over and over in the grass, they were laughing so hard.
By and by Mr. Toad stopped laughing.
"Dear me, dear me, this will never do!" said Mr. Toad. "I must get busy in my garden.
"The little slugs, they creep and crawl
And eat and eat from spring to fall
They never stop to laugh nor cry,
And really couldn't if they'd try.
So if you'll excuse me I'll hurry along to get them out of my garden."
Mr. Toad started down the Lone Little Path. After a few hops he paused and turned around.
"Danny Meadow Mouse," said old Mr. Toad, "an honest laugh is like sunshine; it brightens the whole world. Don't forget it."
Jimmy Skunk remembered that he had started out to find some beetles, so still chuckling he started for the Crooked Little Path up the hill. Danny Meadow Mouse, once more alone, sat down on his doorstep. His sides were sore, he had laughed so hard, and somehow the whole world had changed. The grass seemed greener than he had ever seen it before. The sunshine was brighter and the songs of the birds were sweeter. Altogether it was a very nice world, a very nice world indeed to live in. Somehow he felt as if he never wanted to cry again.