l he grew tired, and then he
stole away and hurried over to the Smiling Pool to tell Grandfather Frog
all about it and ask who these strangers were.

"Chug-a-rum!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog, opening his big mouth very
wide to laugh at Peter and his excitement. "That was Big Tom Gobbler,
and he was doing all that for the benefit of Mrs. Gobbler, who was
hiding in that brush. It was her head you saw. Big Tom is the most
conceited fellow in the Green Forest. He dearly loves to strut. He is
just like his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather. The
Gobblers never have gotten over strutting since Old Mr. Gobbler, the
first of the family, got the habit."

"Tell me about it. Please, Grandfather Frog, tell me about it," begged
Peter. "How did Old Mr. Gobbler get the habit?"

Grandfather Frog chuckled. "He got it from admiring his own reflection
in a pool of water," said he. "You see, in those days way back when the
world was young, people had more time to form habits than they do now.
With plenty to eat and little to do, they had more time to think about
themselves than they do now. Old Mr. Gobbler soon discovered that he was
the biggest of all the birds in that part of the Great World where he
lived, and this discovery was, I suspect, the beginning of his vanity.
Then one day as he was walking along, he came to a little pool of water.
It was very clear, and there wasn't a ripple on the surface. There for
the first time Mr. Gobbler saw his reflection. The more he looked, the
better he liked his own appearance. He spread his tail just to see how
it would look in the water. Then he puffed himself out and strutted.

"'There is nobody to compare with me,' thought he, and strutted more
than ever.

"After that he used to steal away every day to admire himself in that
little pool of water. He tried new ways of strutting and of puffing
himself out. After a while he was no longer content to admire himself.
He wanted others to admire him. So the first chance he got he began to
strut and show off all his grand airs before Mrs. Gobbler. At first she
paid no attention to him. At least that is the way she appeared. She
would turn her back on him and walk off into the bushes. This made Old
Mr. Gobbler very angry until he discovered that she would tiptoe back
and watch him admiringly when she thought he didn't know it. That made
him strut all the more.

"At first all the neighbors used to gather around and admire him and
t