Grandfather Frog scratched his head thoughtfully and looked a long
time at the dam of logs and sticks and mud. Then his big mouth
widened in a big smile.

"Why, that is very simple," said he, "Jerry Muskrat will make a big
hole through the dam near the bottom, because he knows how, and the
rest of us will keep watch to see that no harm comes near."

"The very thing!" cried Little Joe Otter and Billy Mink and Spotty
the Turtle, but Jerry Muskrat thought it wasn't fair. You see, it
gave him all of the real work to do. However, Jerry thought of his
dear Smiling Pool, and how terrible it would be if it should smile
no more, and so without another word he set to work.

Now Jerry Muskrat is a great worker, and he had made many long
tunnels into the bank around the Smiling Pool, so he had no doubt
but that he could soon make a hole through this dam. But almost
right away he found trouble. Yes, Sir, Jerry had hardly begun before
he found real trouble. You see, that dam was made mostly of sticks
instead of mud, and so, instead of digging his way in as he would
have done into the bank of the Smiling Pool, he had to stop every
few minutes to gnaw off sticks that were in the way.

It was hard work, the hardest kind of hard work. But Jerry Muskrat
is the kind that is the more determined to do the work the harder
the work is to be done. And so, while Grandfather Frog sat on one
end of the dam and pretended to keep watch, but really took a nap in
the warm sunshine, and while Spotty the Turtle sat on the other end
of the dam doing the same thing, and while Billy Mink and Little Joe