e replied. "I can't keep up with them."

"Then why not lie near the corn crib and visit with the Mice?"

"Oh, they don't like the things that I like, and it isn't any fun."

"How would it suit you to watch the Peacock for a while?"

"I'm tired of watching the Peacock."

"Then," said the mother, "you must help somebody else. You are old
enough to think of such things now, and you must remember this wise
saying: 'When you don't know what to do, help somebody.'"

"Whom can I help?" said the lame Duckling. "People can all do things for
themselves."

"There is the Blind Horse," answered his mother. "He is alone to-day,
and I'm sure he would like somebody to visit him."

"Quack!" said the Duckling. "I will go to see him." He waddled slowly
away, stopping now and then to rest, and shaking his little pointed tail
from side to side as Ducks do. The Blind Horse was grazing in the
pasture alone.

"I've come to see you, sir," said the Duckling. "Shall I be in your
way?"

The Blind Horse looked much pleased. "I think from your voice that you
must be one of the young Ducks," said he. "I shall be very glad to have
you visit me, only you must be careful to keep away from my feet, for I
can't see, and I might step on you."

"I'll be careful," said the Duckling. "I can't waddle much anyway this
morning, because my leg hurts me so."

"Why, I'm sorry you are lame," said the Horse. "What is the matter?"

"A Weasel bit me in the night, sir. But it doesn't hurt so much as it
did before I came to see you. Perhaps the pasture is a better place for
lame legs than the farmyard." He didn't know that it was because he was
trying to make somebody else happy that he felt so much better, yet that
was the reason.

The Blind Horse and the Duckling became very fond of each other and had
a fine time. The Horse told stories of his Colthood, and of the things
he had seen in his travels before he became blind. And the Duckling told
him what the other farmyard people were doing, and about the soft,
fleecy clouds that drifted across the blue sky. When the mother Duck
came to look for him, the little fellow was much surprised. "Didn't you
go to the brook?" he asked.

"Yes," said his mother, with a smile. "We have been there all the
morning. Don't you see how high the sun is?"

"Why-ee!" said the Duckling. "I didn't think I had been here long at
all. We've been having the nicest time. And I'm coming again, am I not?"
He asked this question of