the most
eager to help, and he was busy every minute. After a while the Toads had
caught most of the bugs and worms on the ground and within reach, and
the plants began to grow. But when the plants got above the reach of the
Toads, the bugs and the worms were safe once more and began to multiply
so that the plants suffered and stopped growing. You see, there were no
birds in those days to help. One day little Mr. Frog sat under a bush on
which most of the leaves had been eaten. He saw a worm eating a leaf on
one of the lower branches. It was quite a way above his head. It worried
him. He kept his eyes on that worm and thought and thought until his
head ached. At last he got an idea. 'I wonder,' thought he, 'if I jump
as hard as I can, if I can catch that fellow. I'll try it. It will do
no harm to try.'

"So he drew his long legs close under him, and then he jumped up with
all his might. He didn't quite reach the bug, but he got his hands on
the branch and by pulling and struggling, he managed to get up on it. It
was a very uncertain seat, but he hung on and crept along until he could
dart his tongue out and catch that worm. Then he saw another, and in
trying to catch that one he lost his balance and fell to the ground with
a thump. It quite knocked the wind from his body.

"That night little Mr. Frog studied and studied, trying to think of some
way by which he could get up in the bushes and trees and clear them of
bugs and worms. 'If only I could hold on once I get up there, I would be
all right,' thought he. 'Then I could leave the bugs and worms on the
ground for my cousins the Toads to look after, while I look after those
beyond their reach.'

"The next day and the next, and for many days thereafter, little Mr.
Frog kept jumping for bugs on the bushes. He got many thumps and bumps,
but he didn't mind these, for little by little he was learning how to
hang on to the branches once he got up in them. Then one day, just by
accident, he put one hand against the trunk of a young pine-tree, and
when he started to take it away, he found it stuck fast. He had to pull
to get it free. Like a flash an idea popped into his head. He rubbed a
little of the pitch, for that was what had made his hand stick, on both
hands, and then he started to climb a tree. As long as the pitch lasted,
he could climb.

"Little Mr. Frog was tickled to death, with his discovery, but he didn't
say a word to any one about it. Every day he rubbed pi