Out of Context

True Grit (John Wayne and Glen Campbell version) is playing in the background while I type this up.

Mother West Wind “Where” Stories
Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess

“‘I wonder if that fellow is good to eat,’ thought he, and almost without thinking he plunged his head under water and caught the bug. It was good. Grandfather Quack at once started to look for more, and while doing this he discovered that there were a great many seeds from the rushes scattered about in the mud at the bottom of the Smiling Pool, and that these also were good to eat. Then quite by accident he got hold of a tender root in the mud and found that this was especially good.

“This was enough for Grandfather Quack. He had found that he could get plenty to eat without leaving the Smiling Pool. Moreover, he didn’t have to share it with anybody, because there was no one else who thought of looking for food there. He knew when he was well off. So Grandfather Quack grew fat and was happy. The only things that bothered him were the slowness with which he had to pick up seeds, one at a time, and the slowness with which he could paddle about, for you couldn’t really call it swimming. But in spite of these things he was happy and made the best of his lot.

“One day he tugged and tugged at a root with his head under water. When at last he had to bring his head up for a breath, whom should he discover but Old Mother Nature watching him from the opposite bank. ‘Come over here, Mr. Quack, and tell me all about it,’ she commanded.”