And Mrs. Robin liked it no better than any other of Grandfather Mole"s counsels.
"Don"t waste your valuable time looking for the biggest angleworm in the garden!" he told her. "I"ve caught him already."
Well, for once Mrs. Robin almost said something tart to the old gentleman. But she checked herself in time; not by biting her tongue, however, but by clapping her bill upon a fat bug that was trying to hide under a potato-top. And away she flew to her nest, leaving Grandfather Mole to talk to the air, if he wished.
"She went off without thanking me," he muttered. To be sure, he hadn"t seen Mrs. Robin go, but he had heard the beat of her wings as she began her flight. He didn"t know that he had barely escaped a sharp scolding.
"What do you think Grandfather Mole has just said to me?" Mrs. Robin asked her husband, whom she found at the nest feeding their children.
Jolly Robin made three guesses. But none of them was right. So his wife repeated Grandfather Mole"s remarks. And as usual Jolly Robin laughed.
"I shouldn"t pay any attention to what Grandfather Mole says," he advised his wife. "I should keep an eye out for big angleworms, if I were you. Grandfather Mole may be mistaken. He may have caught only the second biggest one."
What her husband said made Mrs. Robin feel better. And she declared that she would surprise Grandfather Mole yet.
Strange to say, the very next day Grandfather Mole spoke to Mrs. Robin again and told her that "there was no use trying to surprise him, so she needn"t waste her valuable time trying to do it."
This news made Mrs. Robin quite speechless. She couldn"t think how Grandfather Mole had happened to learn of her remark, unless her husband had been gossiping with his friends. And if that was the case, Mrs.
Robin didn"t mean to let anything of the kind occur again. So she went on searching for her children"s breakfast and said nothing to any one about Grandfather Mole"s latest bit of advice.
Mrs. Robin worked harder than ever that day. It seemed to her husband that she had eyes for nothing but worms. Certainly she paid little attention to him. So he couldn"t help feeling pleased when she called to him toward evening.
He flew quickly to her side. And he saw at once that she needed his help. For Mrs. Robin had an end of a pinkish-white worm in her bill, on which she was tugging as hard as she could.
"I think it"s the biggest one in the garden!" she managed to gasp. "But it simply won"t come up out of the ground."
"It must be the grandfather of them all!" Jolly Robin cried. And laying hold of the worm himself, he pulled with her.
Somehow there seemed a great commotion in the loose dirt at their feet, as they struggled to get the worm out of its hiding-place. And at last, to their great delight, they felt it--saw it--coming.
Then a shower of dirt flew into their faces and both Jolly Robin and his wife tumbled over backward.
It was no worm that Mrs. Robin had found, but Grandfather Mole"s hairless tail sticking out of the ground. Together they had dragged him to the surface.
And if Mrs. Robin hadn"t found the grandfather of all angleworms, at least she had found Grandfather Mole.
And she had given him a surprise, too.
XII
MR. BLACKBIRD"S ADVICE
OUT of the pine woods beyond the meadow Mr. Blackbird sometimes came to breakfast in Farmer Green"s garden. He claimed that he came there to look for angleworms. But those that knew him best said that he wasn"t above taking an egg out of some small bird"s nest. And some whispered that he had even been known to devour a nestling.
Whenever he visited the garden he told everybody that he should never come there again because Grandfather Mole was too greedy. Mr. Blackbird said that Grandfather Mole didn"t leave enough angleworms to make it worth his while to fly across the meadow. And one day when he chanced to meet Grandfather Mole he told him that it was a shame, the way he was treating Farmer Green.
"Farmer Green is good enough to let you live underneath his garden. But instead of showing him that you are grateful you eat all of his angleworms you can."
Grandfather Mole was thunderstruck. After pondering over Mr. Blackbird"s speech for a few moments he raised his head. "What shall I do?" he asked in a plaintive voice.
"I should think you"d turn over a new leaf," Mr. Blackbird told him severely.
And Grandfather Mole promised that he would.
"I"ll turn one over to-day," he said, "if you think it will please Farmer Green."
"There"s no doubt that it will," Mr. Blackbird a.s.sured him in a slightly more amiable tone.
A hopeful look came into Grandfather Mole"s face. And after thanking Mr.
Blackbird for his advice, he turned away and burrowed out of sight.
Then Mr. Blackbird selected a good many choice tidbits here and there, which he bolted with gusto. And after he had eaten what Jolly Robin, who had been watching him, declared afterward to have been a hearty meal and big enough for any one, Mr. Blackbird began to scold. He announced that there wasn"t any use of his looking for anything more to eat in that neighborhood, for there wasn"t enough there to keep a mosquito alive.
And thereupon he flew away. Nor was anybody sorry to see him go.
Most of the feathered folk agreed that Mr. Blackbird ought not to have spoken as he did to Grandfather Mole. But Jolly Robin"s wife said that she was glad there was somebody with backbone enough to tell Grandfather Mole the truth.
"If there were many more like Grandfather Mole in the garden we"d all have to spend our summers somewhere else," she said, "or starve."
Jolly Robin told her that she would find things much the same, no matter where she lived. "What"s a garden, without an old mole or two?" he asked the company in general. And since n.o.body answered, Jolly Robin seemed to think he had silenced Mrs. Robin--for once.
But it was not so.
"A garden without an old mole in it would be just what I"d like," she cried.
"Well, anyhow, my dear," her husband said, "please remember that Grandfather Mole is going to turn over a new leaf."
XIII
TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF
SEVERAL days pa.s.sed before Mr. Blackbird returned to Farmer Green"s garden. And when at last he flew across the meadow one morning and perched on the garden fence, to take a look around before beginning his breakfast, he saw that Mrs. Jolly Robin was making countless trips between the garden and her home. Early as it was she was hard at work feeding her nestlings.
"How are the pickings this morning?" Mr. Blackbird called to her.
"I"m finding plenty for my children to eat--if that"s what you mean,"
Mrs. Robin replied somewhat haughtily. Mr. Blackbird laughed in the sleeve of his black coat. The rascal delighted in using language that did not please Mrs. Robin.
"If the pickings are good, then there must be fewer pickers," he remarked with a grin. "I suppose Grandfather Mole has taken my advice and turned over a new leaf."
"I don"t know about that," said Mrs. Robin. "Anyhow, there are plenty of good crawling things stirring after last night"s shower. Everything seems to be coming up out of the garden this morning."