et?"
called Little Joe Otter.

Grandfather Frog wanted to say no, but he always tells the truth.
"Ye-e-s," he replied. "I've had my breakfast, such as it was. Why do you
ask?"

"Oh, for no reason in particular. I just thought that if you hadn't, you
might like a fish. But as long as you have breakfasted, of course you
don't want one," said Little Joe, his bright eyes beginning to twinkle.
He held the fish out so that Grandfather Frog could see just how plump
and nice they were.

"Chugarum!" exclaimed Grandfather Frog. "Those certainly are very nice
fish, very nice fish indeed. It is very nice of you to think of a poor
old fellow like me, and I--er--well, I might find room for just a little
teeny, weeny one, if you can spare it."

Little Joe Otter knows all about Grandfather Frog's greediness. He
looked at Grandfather Frog's white and yellow waistcoat and saw how it
was already stuffed full to bursting. The twinkle in his eyes grew more
mischievous than ever as he said: "Of course I can. But I wouldn't think
of giving such an old friend a teeny, weeny one."

With that, Little Joe picked out the biggest fish he had and tossed it
over to Grandfather Frog. It landed close by his nose with a great
splash, and it was almost half as big as Grandfather Frog himself. It
was plump and looked so tempting that Grandfather Frog forgot all about
his full stomach. He even forgot to be polite and thank Little Joe
Otter. He just opened his great mouth and seized the fish. Yes, Sir,
that is just what he did. Almost before you could wink an eye, the fish
had started down Grandfather Frog's throat head first.

Now you know Grandfather Frog has no teeth, and so he cannot bite things
in two. He has to swallow them whole. That is just what he started to do
with the fish. It went all right until the head reached his stomach. But
you can't put anything more into a thing already full, and Grandfather
Frog's stomach was packed as full as it could be of foolish green flies.
There the fish stuck, and gulp and swallow as hard as he could,
Grandfather Frog couldn't make that fish go a bit farther. Then he tried
to get it out again, but it had gone so far down his throat that he
couldn't get it back. Grandfather Frog began to choke.

VIII

SPOTTY THE TURTLE PLAYS DOCTOR

Greed's a dreadful thing to see,
As everybody will agree.

At first Little Joe Otter, sitting on the bank of the Smiling Pool,
laughed himself almost sick as