en. You know a fisherman without patience rarely
catches anything. Of course Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter laugh at
this and say that it isn't so, but the truth is they sometimes go
hungry when they wouldn't if they had a little of the patience of
Longlegs.

Now Grandfather Frog is another who is very, very patient. He can sit
still the longest time waiting for something to come to him. Indeed, he
can sit perfectly still so long, and Longlegs can stand perfectly still
so long, that Jerry Muskrat and Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter have had
many long disputes as to which of the two can keep still the longest.

"He will make a splendid breakfast," thought Longlegs, as very, very
carefully he walked along the edge of the Smiling Pool so as to get
right opposite Grandfather Frog. There he stopped and looked very hard
at Grandfather Frog. Yes, he certainly must be asleep, for his eyes were
closed. Longlegs chuckled to himself right down inside without making a
sound, and got ready to wade out so as to get within reach.

Now all the time Grandfather Frog was doing some quiet chuckling
himself. You see, he wasn't asleep at all. He was just pretending to be
asleep, and all the time he was watching Longlegs out of a corner of one
of his big goggly eyes. Very, very slowly and carefully, so as not to
make the teeniest, weeniest sound, Longlegs lifted one foot to wade out
into the Smiling Pool. Grandfather Frog pretended to yawn and opened his
big goggly eyes. Longlegs stood on one foot without moving so much as a
feather. Grandfather Frog yawned again, nodded as if he were too sleepy
to keep awake, and half closed his eyes. Longlegs waited and waited.
Then, little by little, so slowly that if you had been there you would
hardly have seen him move, he drew his long neck down until his head
rested on his shoulders.

"I guess I must wait until he falls sound asleep again," said Longlegs
to himself.

But Grandfather Frog didn't go to sleep. He would nod and nod and then,
just when Longlegs would make up his mind that this time he really was
asleep, open would pop Grandfather Frog's eyes. So all the long morning
Longlegs stood on one foot without moving, watching and waiting and
growing hungrier and hungrier, and all the long morning Grandfather Frog
sat on his big green lily-pad, pretending that he was oh, so sleepy, and
all the time having such a comfortable sun-bath and rest, for very early
he had had a good breakfast of fool