"What harm can happen to you?" asked Mrs. Reed-Warbler. "You don't travel, so you're not exposed to as many dangers as the rest of us." "One can never tell," said the duck. "I feel it in my back." [Illustration] Then she paddled on and quacked to her children with her anxious old voice and wore a distressful look in her eyes. One day something happened that set the whole pond in commotion. The pike was suddenly hauled up out of the water. The reed-warbler saw it himself. The pike hung and sprawled terribly at the end of a thin line, flew through the air in a great curve and fell down on the grass. At the other end of the line was a rod, and at the other end of the rod a boy, who was crimson in the face with delight at the big fish he had caught. "It serves him right, the highwayman!" said the perch. "Thank goodness, he's gone!" croaked the frogs. And all the little roach and carp danced round the water with delight. "He had not many friends," said the reed-warbler. "He had not one," said the perch. "He was the worst robber in the pond." "He never did anything to me," said the water-lily. "He was a brave and distinguished gentleman, who hadn't his equal among the lot of you. It was always a real pleasure to me when he came sweeping past my stalks." "Well, I have seen many go sweeping down his throat," said the eel. "And they did not think that so amusing. But he did just what I should have done in his place! Now that he's gone, I suppose I'm the biggest in the pond." He stretched himself to his full length. "You have grown big and stout," said the reed-warbler. "I have had a good year," said the eel. "But I shall soon be going to sea now and working off my fat." On the evening of the same day a man stood at the edge of the pond, just where the reed-warblers lived. He wore high boots with wooden soles and whetted a scythe till the sound of it whizzed through the air. "What's going to happen now?" said Mrs. Reed-Warbler. "Quack! Quack!" cried the duck in terror. But the man spat on his hands and took hold of the scythe. Then he walked out into the water and began to cut down the reeds, close in, at the edge, and right out, as far as they grew. They fell into the water, with a soft sigh; and then, when he had finished, he stood on the bank and contemplated his work. "That was a fine clearing," he said. "Duck-hunting begins to-morrow." [Illustration] Then he went a bit farther with his scythe and made another clearing. But he had caused terrible misfortunes. He had torn the water-spider's nest and crushed the spider herself. He had broken the bladder-wort at the root with his heavy wooden boots. And the reed-warblers' nest lay overturned among the cut reeds. The reed-warblers flew round the nest with loud screams: "The children! The children!" they cried.