<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>A SAD ENDING</h2>
<div class='cap'>"I'M very sorry for poor little Mrs.
Mousey," said Puss, as he and Mr.
Rowley Frog hastened toward the pond.</div>
<p>"So am I," answered Rowley. "She was
very generous with all her good things to
eat."</p>
<p>"And the poor rat," continued Puss. "It
was a sad ending to our little feast. I guess
he's been eaten up by this time. That
naughty old cat looked very hungry."</p>
<p>"Oh dear, oh dear," sobbed Rowley, the
tears rolling down his face, "I want to get
home. I'll never run away again."</p>
<div class='poem'>
"But as Froggy was crossing over a brook,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Heigh-ho, says Rowley.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A lily-white duck came and gobbled him up,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">So there was an end of one, two and three,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Heigh-ho, says Rowley.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The Rat, the Mouse and the little Frog-gee,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinach,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Heigh-ho, says Anthony Rowley!"</span><br/></div>
<p>"This is dreadful," cried Puss, as he saw
his small friend disappear down the duck's
long neck; "it has been a sad day. All three
of my little friends are gone."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Never mind," cried the lily-white duck,
looking up at Puss standing mournfully by
the side of the brook, "Frogs are good to eat,
and if they will run away from home, it's
their own lookout. They should stay in their
ponds and not go wandering about strange
places."</p>
<p>Puss did not answer. It seemed pretty
hard to meet such a sad fate, and he did not
like the lily-white duck at all.</p>
<p>"Come, come," cried the duck, "cheer up,
I'll ferry you across the brook if you wish
to reach the other side."</p>
<p>"That's kind of you," said Puss, seating
himself on her back.</p>
<p>"I'm not such a bad sort of duck," she continued,
paddling swiftly toward the opposite
bank, "but I must eat, and frogs are mighty
good eating, let me tell you."</p>
<p>As she finished speaking she waddled up
the bank, and Puss sprang nimbly from her
back. "Thank you, Mrs. Duck," he said,
"indeed, I'm obliged to you; but I wish you
hadn't eaten my friend, the little frog."</p>
<p>Just then nine little yellow ducklings waddled
toward them. "These are my children,"
said Mrs. Duck, very proudly.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"How are you, my little ducklets?" cried
Puss.</p>
<p>"Quite well, thank you," they answered.
It was a pretty sight to see those yellow
balls of down cuddle up to their mother, and
Puss began to feel that, after all, she must
be a good sort of duck, for her children loved
her so much. Perhaps he had judged her
too harshly for gobbling up the frog, and
when she turned to Puss and said:</p>
<p>"Come home with us, Mr. Puss," he forgave
her for what she had done, and followed
her downy, yellow brood.</p>
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