Animals -- Juvenile fiction; Beavers -- Juvenile fiction; Children's literature
"I'm not ten yet," he said. "So if I look ten years younger, I must
appear very young indeed."
"The new clothes will fix that," Mr. Frog assured him.
"But you just told me you were not making a suit for me," said
Brownie.
"Quite true, too!" answered Mr. Frog--"because it's all finished. So,
of course, I'm not making it now."
They had stepped inside the shop. And Mr. Frog carefully took some
garments off a peg and spread them before Brownie Beaver.
"There!" he said with an air of pride. "The finest suit you ever saw!"
"I'll slip it on," said Brownie.
"Oh! I wouldn't do that!" Mr. Frog told him. "You might stretch it."
But nothing could have kept Brownie Beaver out of his new suit. He
scrambled into it quickly, while the tailor stood by with a worried
look upon his face.
"The coat seems to be all right," Brownie remarked. "But there's
something wrong with the trousers. I can't see my feet!" He bent over
and gazed down where his feet ought to have been. But they had
vanished. And an end of each trouser-leg trailed on the floor. "These
trousers are too long!" Brownie declared.
"Then you stretched them, putting them on," Mr. Frog said. "I warned
you, you know."
"I was very careful," Brownie said. "I'm sure it can't be that."
"Then your legs are too short," Mr. Frog told him glibly. "They look
to me to be _much_ shorter than they were when I measured you."
"My legs--" Brownie Beaver exclaimed--"my legs are exactly the same
length they were three days ago! You've made a mistake, Mr. Frog.
That's what's the matter with these trousers!"
But Mr. Frog shook his head.
"I made them according to your measurements," he insisted.
"Let me see your figures!" Brownie Beaver cried.
But Mr. Frog shook his head again.
"I don't do business that way," he explained. "As soon as I've
finished a suit I throw away the stone on which I've written the
measurements. It saves trouble, if there's any complaint afterwards."
"Well!" said Brownie. "What can we do about this? I can't wear the
trousers as they are."
"You'll have to get your legs stretched," Mr. Frog told him. "Just tie
a stone to each foot and wear the trousers for a few days. As soon as
you see your feet, take off the stones.... It's simple enough." He
helped tie some heavy stones to Brownie's feet. And then Brownie swam
away.
Now, swimming with your feet weighted like that is no easy matter. But
Brownie managed to reach home. He stayed there, too, for the rest of
the day, because it was hard for him to move about. And since he had
nothing else to do, he went to sleep.
When he awoke, about an hour before sunset, he couldn't think at first
what made his feet feel so heavy. He thought he must be ill--until he
remembered about the stones being tied to his feet.
Then he looked down. And to his great surprise and joy there were his
feet sticking out of his trousers, just as they ought to stick out!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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