at pollywogs Grandfather Frog's children, or Old Mr.
Toad's?" asked Peter.

"Grandfather Frog's last year's children," replied Jerry. "They'll grow
into real Frogs this summer, if nothing happens to them."

"Where are Old Mr. Toad's last year's children?" asked Peter.

"Don't ask me," replied Jerry. "They hopped away last summer. Never saw
anything like the way those Toad youngsters grow. Those Toad pollywogs you
see now will turn into real Toads, and be leaving the Smiling Pool in a few
weeks. People think Old Mr. Toad is slow, but there is nothing slow about
his children. Look at that little fellow over there; he's begun to grow
legs already."

Peter looked, and sure enough there was a pollywog with a pair of legs
sprouting out. They were his fore legs, and they certainly did make him
look funny. And only a few days before there hadn't been a sign of legs.

"My gracious!" exclaimed Peter. "What a funny sight! I thought my babies
grew fast, but these beat them."

X

THE LITTLE TOADS START OUT TO SEE THE WORLD

The world is a wonderful great big place
And in it the young must roam
To learn what their elders have long since learned--
There's never a place like home.

It had been some time since Peter Rabbit had visited the Smiling Pool to
watch the pollywogs. But one cloudy morning he happened to think of them,
and decided that he would run over there and see how they were getting
along. So off he started, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He wondered if those
pollywog children of Old Mr. Toad would be much changed. The last time he
saw them some of them had just begun to grow legs, although they still had
long tails.

He had almost reached the Smiling Pool when great big drops of rain began
to splash down. And with those first raindrops something funny happened.
Anyway, it seemed funny to Peter. Right away he was surrounded by tiny
little Toads. Everywhere he looked he saw Toads, tiny little Toads just
like Old Mr. Toad, only so tiny that one could have sat comfortably on a
ten-cent piece and still had plenty of room.

Peter's big eyes grew round with surprise as he stared. Where had they all
come from so suddenly? A minute before he hadn't seen a single one, and now
he could hardly move without stepping on one. It seemed, it really seemed,
as if each raindrop turned into a tiny Toad the instant it struck the
ground. Of course Peter knew that that couldn't be, but it was very
puzzling. And all tho