e," said Little Joe Otter, as they hurried
along. "It will be such fun to see his big goggly eyes pop out when he
opens them and sees Longlegs just ready to gobble him up! And won't
Longlegs be hopping mad when we cheat him out of the breakfast he is so
sure he is going to have!"

They reached the Smiling Pool before Longlegs, who had taken a
roundabout way, and they hid among the bulrushes where they could see
and not be seen.

"There's the old fellow just as I left him, fast asleep," whispered
Billy Mink.

Sure enough, there on his big green lily-pad sat Grandfather Frog with
his eyes shut. At least, they seemed to be shut. And over on top of his
big house sat Jerry Muskrat. Jerry seemed to be too busy opening a
fresh-water clam to notice anything else; but the truth is he was
watching all that was going on. You see, he had suspected that Billy
Mink was going to play some trick on Grandfather Frog, so he had warned
him. When he had seen Longlegs coming towards the Smiling Pool, he had
given Grandfather Frog another warning, and he knew that now he was only
pretending to be asleep.

Straight up to the Smiling Pool came Longlegs the Blue Heron, and on the
very edge of it, among the bulrushes, he dropped his long legs and stood
with his toes in the water, his long neck stretched up so that he could
look all over the Smiling Pool. There, just as Little Joe Otter had
said, sat Grandfather Frog on his big green lily-pad, fast asleep. At
least, he seemed to be fast asleep. The eyes of Longlegs sparkled with
hunger and the thought of what a splendid breakfast Grandfather Frog
would make. Very slowly, putting each foot down as carefully as he knew
how, Longlegs began to walk along the shore so as to get opposite the
big green lily-pad where Grandfather Frog was sitting. And over in the
bulrushes on the other side, Little Joe Otter and Billy Mink nudged each
other and clapped their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing
aloud.

IV

THE PATIENCE OF LONGLEGS THE BLUE HERON

Patience often wins the day
When over-haste has lost the way.

If there is one virtue which Longlegs the Heron possesses above another
it is patience. Yes, Sir, Longlegs certainly has got patience. He
believes that if a thing is worth having, it is worth waiting for, and
that if he waits long enough, he is sure to get it. Perhaps that is
because he has been a fisherman all his life, and his father and his
grandfather were fisherm