He got
right out of the umbrella and went splash, dash, into the lake.
[Illustration: "BUSHY-TAIL WENT SPLASH, DASH, INTO THE LAKE"]
Grandpa Grumbles, as he sailed homeward, said,
"Sink or swim, just as you please,
For I have no desire to tease."
He left poor Bushy-Tail to swim to shore.
When Grandpa Grumbles got home he saw smoke coming out of his chimney.
He grumbled,
"It seems to me quite like a bore,
To have to enter by the door."
He was so used to sailing down the chimney!
The door opened for him and there stood Bunny and Susan. Snubby Nose
and Tippy Toes danced up to him and told him how Bushy-Tail had tried
to get in.
Grandpa Grumbles shook his green umbrella fiercely and said,
"He will not come this way again,
Either in sunshine or in rain."
Then Bunny and Susan and Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes begged Grandpa
Grumbles to tell what had become of Bushy-Tail, but Grandpa Grumbles
would only say,
"I am so deaf 'tis hard to hear,
Come, speak a little louder, dear."
Then Bunny spoke into his right ear, and Susan spoke into his left ear,
and asked him to tell where he had left Bushy-Tail.
Grandpa Grumbles shook his head and said,
"Bunny and Susan, what do you say?
I am so old and deaf to-day."
Then Snubby Nose cried into his right ear, and Tippy Toes cried into
his left ear, but Grandpa Grumbles only said,
"I can't hear, my deafness grows;
Ask the umbrella, for it knows.
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