frown that had crept into Spotty's face. "Perhaps Happy Jack
sometimes wishes that he could swim as I can, so I guess we are even.
I can't climb, but he can't swim. How foolish it is to wish for
things never meant for you!"

And with that, all the discontent left Spotty the Turtle, and he
began to study how he could make the most of his short legs and his
perseverance, of which, as you already know, he had a great deal. He
looked this way, and he looked that way, and he saw that if he could
climb to the top of the bank on one side of the Laughing Brook, he
would be able to walk right out on the strange wall of logs and
sticks and mud, and then, of course, he could see just what was on
the other side.

So Spotty the Turtle wasted no more time wishing that he could do
something it was never meant that he should do. Instead, he picked
out what looked like the easiest place to climb the bank and started up.
My, my, my, it was hard work! You see, he had to carry his house
along with him, for he has to carry that wherever he goes, and it
would have been hard enough to have climbed that bank without
carrying anything. Every time he had climbed up three steps he
slipped back two steps, but he kept at it, puffing and blowing,
saying over and over to himself:

"I can if I will, and will if I can!
I'm sure to get there if I follow this plan."

Half-way up the bank Spotty lost his balance, and the house he was
carrying just tipped him right over backward, and down he rolled to
the place he had started from.