Then he looked it over carefully before , with a sigh of contentment , he sat down to put it in his empty little stomach . When he had finished it to the last sweet , juicy kernel , he ambled sleepily up the Lone Little Path to the big hollow chestnut tree where he lives , and in its great hollow in a soft bed of leaves Bobby Coon curled himself up in a tight little ball to sleep the long , bright day away . One of the Merry Little Breezes softly followed him . When he had crawled into the hollow chestnut and only his funny , ringed tail hung out , the Merry Little Breezes tweaked it sharply just for fun , and then danced away down the Lone Little Path to join the other Merry Little Breezes around the Smiling Pool . `` Oh ! Grandfather Frog , '' cried a Merry Little Breeze , `` tell us why it is that Bobby Coon always washes his food . He never eats it where he gets it or takes it home to his hollow in the big chestnut , but always comes to the Laughing Brook to wash it . None of the other meadow people do that . '' Now Great-Grandfather Frog is counted very wise . He is very , very old and he knows the history of all the tribes of little meadow people way back to the time when the frogs ruled the world . When the Merry Little Breeze asked him why Bobby Coon always washes his food , Grandfather Frog stopped to snap up a particularly fat , foolish , green fly that came his way . Then , while all the Merry Little Breezes gathered around him , he settled himself on his big green lily pad and began : `` Once upon a time , when the world was young , old King Bear ruled in the Green Forest . Of course old Mother Nature , who was even more beautiful then than she is now , was the real ruler , but she let old King Bear think he ruled so long as he ruled wisely . `` All the little Green Forest folk and all the little people of the Green Meadows used to take presents of food to old King Bear , so that he never had to hunt for things to eat . He grew fatter and fatter and fatter until it seemed as if his skin must burst . And the fatter he grew the lazier he grew . '' Grandfather Frog paused with an expectant far-away look in his great bulging eyes . Then he leaped into the air so far that when he came down it was with a great splash in the Smiling Pool . But as he swam back to his big lily pad the leg of a foolish green fly could be seen sticking out of one corner of his big mouth , and he settled himself with a sigh of great contentment . `` Old King Bear , '' continued Grandfather Frog , just as if there had been no interruption , `` grew fatter and lazier every day , and like a great many other fat and lazy people who have nothing to do for themselves but are always waited on by others , he grew shorter and shorter in temper and harder and harder to please .
`` Now perhaps you do n't know it , but the Bear family and the XXXXX family are very closely related .
Bear Breeze Brook Coon Forest Frog King Nature day lazier