t that you want me to do for you, Danny Meadow Mouse?" asked
Grandfather Frog as he smacked his lips, for he knew that Danny Meadow
Mouse must want something to bring him four fat, foolish, green flies.

"If you please," said Danny Meadow Mouse, very politely, "if you
please, Grandfather Frog, old Mr. Toad told me that you could tell me
how Grandfather Meadow Mouse a thousand times removed lost half of his
tail. Will you, Grandfather Frog--will you?"

"Chug-a-rum," said Grandfather Frog. "My cousin, Mr. Toad, talks too
much."

But he settled himself comfortably on the big lily pad, and this is
what he told Danny Meadow Mouse:

"Once upon a time, when the world was young, Mr. Meadow Mouse, your
grandfather a thousand times removed, was a very fine gentleman. He
took a great deal of pride in his appearance, did Mr. Meadow Mouse, and
they used to say on the Green Meadows that he spent an hour, a full
hour, every day combing his whiskers and brushing his coat.

"Anyway, he was very fine to look upon, was Mr. Meadow Mouse, and not
the least attractive thing about him was his beautiful, long, slim
tail, of which he was very proud.

"Now about this time there was a great deal of trouble on the Green
Meadows and in the Green Forest, for some one was stealing--yes,
stealing! Mr. Rabbit complained first. To be sure, Mr. Rabbit was
lazy and his cabbage patch had grown little more than weeds while he
had been minding other folks' affairs rather than his own, but, then,
that was no reason why he should lose half of the little which he did
raise. And that is just what he said had happened.

"No one really believed what Mr. Rabbit said, for he had such a bad
name for telling things which were not so that when he did tell the
truth no one could be quite sure of it.

"So no one paid much heed to what Mr. Rabbit said until Happy Jack
Squirrel one day went to his snug little hollow in the big chestnut
tree where he stores his nuts and discovered half had been stolen.
Then Striped Chipmunk lost the greater part of his winter store of
corn. A fat trout was stolen from Billy Mink.

"It was a terrible time, for every one suspected every one else, and no
one on the Green Meadows was happy.

"One evening Mr. Meadow Mouse went for a stroll along the Crooked
Little Path up the hill. It was dark, very dark indeed. But just as
he passed Striped Chipmunk's granary, the place where he stores his
supply of corn and acorns for the