Otter swam around in the strange pond and enjoyed themselves, Jerry
Muskrat worked and worked and worked. And just as jolly, round, red
Mr. Sun started down behind the Purple Hills, Jerry broke through
into the strange pond, and the water began to run in the Laughing
Brook once more.



CHAPTER XX: Jerry Has A Dreadful Disappointment

There's nothing in this world that's sure,
No matter how we scheme and plan.
We simply have to be content
With doing just the best we can.

Jerry Muskrat had curled himself up for the night, so tired that he
could hardly keep his eyes open long enough to find a comfortable
place to sleep. But he was happy. Yes, indeed, Jerry was happy. He
could hear the Laughing Brook beginning to laugh again. It was just
a little low, gurgling laugh, but Jerry knew that in a little while
it would grow into the full laugh that makes music through the Green
Forest and puts happiness into the hearts of all who hear it.

So Jerry was happy, for was it not because of him that the Laughing
Brook was beginning to laugh? He had worked all the long day to make
a hole through the dam which some one had built across the Laughing
Brook and so stopped its laughter. Now the water was running again,
and soon the new, strange pond behind the dam there in the Green
Forest would be gone, and the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool
would be their own beautiful selves once more. It was because he had