Billy Mink was feeling very good -- very good indeed . He had caught a fine fat trout for breakfast . He had hidden two more away for dinner in a snug little hole no one knew of but himself . Now he had nothing to do but get into mischief . You can always depend upon Billy Mink to get into mischief . He just ca n't help it . So Billy Mink came hopping and skipping down the Laughing Brook to the Smiling Pool . Then he stopped , as still as the rock he was standing on , and peeped through the bulrushes . Billy Mink is very cautious , very cautious indeed . He always looks well before he shows himself , that nothing may surprise him . So Billy Mink looked all over the Smiling Pool and the grassy banks . He saw the sunbeams dancing on the water . He saw the tadpoles having such a good time in the Smiling Pool . He saw the Merry Little Breezes kissing the buttercups and daisies on the bank , and he saw old Grandfather Frog with his hands folded across his white , and yellow waistcoat sitting on the green lily pad , dreaming of the days when the world was young . Then Billy Mink took a long breath , a very long breath , and dived into the Smiling Pool . Now , Billy Mink can swim very fast , very fast indeed . For a little way he can swim even faster than Mr. Trout . And he can stay under water a long time . Straight across the Smiling Pool , with not even the tip of his nose out of water , swam Billy Mink . The thousand little tadpoles saw him coming and fled in all directions to bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of the Smiling Pool , for when he thinks no one is looking Billy Mink sometimes gobbles up a fat tadpole for breakfast .
Straight across the Smiling Pool swam Billy Mink toward the big green lily pad where Grandfather Frog sat dreaming of the XXXXX when the world was young .
Brook Frog Mink bottom bulrushes buttercups days mud sunbeams tadpole