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THE TALE OF
FERDINAND FROG




SLEEPY-TIME TALES

(Trademark Registered)

  BY
  ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

AUTHOR OF TUCK-ME-IN TALES

(Trademark Registered)

        THE TALE OF CUFFY BEAR
        THE TALE OF FRISKY SQUIRREL
        THE TALE OF TOMMY FOX
        THE TALE OF FATTY <DW53>
        THE TALE OF BILLY WOODCHUCK
        THE TALE OF JIMMY RABBIT
        THE TALE OF PETER MINK
        THE TALE OF SANDY CHIPMUNK
        THE TALE OF BROWNIE BEAVER
        THE TALE OF PADDY MUSKRAT
        THE TALE OF FERDINAND FROG
        THE TALE OF DICKIE DEER MOUSE

[Illustration: Mr. Frog Bows to Aunt Polly Woodchuck]




SLEEPY-TIME TALES (Trademark Registered)


  THE TALE OF
  FERDINAND
  FROG

  BY
  ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

Author of "TUCK-ME-IN TALES"

(Trademark Registered)

  ILLUSTRATED BY
  HARRY L. SMITH

  NEW YORK
  GROSSET & DUNLAP
  PUBLISHERS
  Made in the United States of America




  Copyright, 1918,
  by GROSSET & DUNLAP




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                   PAGE

      I  PRETTY AS A PICTURE                9

     II  THE DANGERS OF TRAVEL             14

    III  MR. FROG'S DOUBLE                 19

     IV  MR. CROW LOSES SOMETHING          25

      V  MR. FROG'S SECRET SORROW          31

     VI  TIRED TIM DOES A FAVOR            36

    VII  THE SINGING-PARTY                 42

   VIII  THE MISSING SUPPER                46

     IX  THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER           51

      X  CATCHING UP WITH MR. FROG         56

     XI  MR. FROG IS IN NO HURRY           61

    XII  A BAD BLUNDER                     66

   XIII  A SIXTY-INCH MEAL                 71

    XIV  AN UNPLEASANT MIX-UP              77

     XV  EVERYONE IS HAPPY                 82

    XVI  STOP THAT!                        87

   XVII  A LONG, SHARP BILL                92

  XVIII  MAKING BUTTON-HOLES               97

    XIX  THE SWIMMING TEACHER             103

     XX  DISTURBING THE NEIGHBORS         109

    XXI  MUD BATHS                        114

   XXII  HOLDING HIS BREATH               119

  XXIII  MR. FROG RUNS AWAY               124




THE TALE OF FERDINAND FROG




I

PRETTY AS A PICTURE


There was something about Ferdinand Frog that made everybody smile. It
may have been his amazingly wide mouth and his queer, bulging eyes, or
perhaps it was his sprightly manner--for one never could tell when Mr.
Frog would leap into the air, or turn a somersault backward. Indeed,
some of his neighbors claimed that he himself didn't know what he was
going to do next--he was so _jumpy_.

Anyhow, all the wild folk in Pleasant Valley agreed that Ferdinand Frog
was an agreeable person to have around. No matter what happened, he was
always cheerful. Nobody ever heard of his losing his temper, though to
be sure he was sometimes the means of other peoples losing theirs. But
let a body be as angry as he pleased with Mr. Frog, Mr. Frog would
continue to smile and smirk.

Of course, such extreme cheerfulness often made angry folk only the more
furious, especially when the whole trouble was Ferdinand Frog's own
fault. But it made no difference to him what blunder he had made. He was
always ready to make another--and smile at the same time.

Really, he was so good-natured that nobody could feel peevish towards
him for long. In fact, he was a great favorite--especially among the
ladies. Whenever he met one of them--it might be the youngest of the
Rabbit sisters, or old Aunt Polly Woodchuck--he never failed to make the
lowest of bows, smile the broadest of smiles, and inquire after her
health.

That was Ferdinand Frog--known far and wide for his elegant manners.
Every young lady declared that he wore exquisite clothes, too; and many
of them secretly thought him quite good-looking.

But people as old as Aunt Polly Woodchuck seldom take heed of what a
person wears. As for Mr. Frog's looks, since Aunt Polly believed that
"handsome is as handsome does," she admitted that Ferdinand Frog was--as
she put it--"purty as a picter."

When Ferdinand Frog heard that, he was so delighted that he hurried
straight home and put on his best suit. And then he spent most of a
whole afternoon smiling at his reflection in the surface of the Beaver
pond, where he was living at the time.

So it is easy to see that Ferdinand Frog was a vain and silly fellow. He
was even foolish enough to repeat Aunt Polly's remark to everybody he
chanced to meet that night, and the following day as well.

There was no one who could help grinning at Ferdinand Frog's news--he
looked so comical. And old Mr. Crow, who was noted for his rudeness,
even burst out with a hoarse _haw-haw_.

"You're pretty as a picture, eh?" he chuckled. "I suppose Aunt Polly
means