Show H 0 Stor Thor Thornton orn nion o W Bur z I r ess w. w cs M LONGLEGS LONGLEGS' BREAKFAST IS SNATCHED AWAY Dont Don't count your chickens till they're hn hatched Nor cat eat your dinner till you get tret It It Dont Don't try to fly till you get wIngs wines Nor wash your our taco face until you wet wot et H It iL LONGLEGS the heron stood among the rushes on the edge of the tho Smiling Pool and his eyes were bright with joy Just a little way out In lri front of him a school of ot minnows were at play pIny anI and little by little they were drawing near and nearer Longlegs knows all aU about minnows He Be Ie knows ns n's Just how heedless and careless they are when at play and he knows that they dearly love to play among the bulrushes You see when Longlegs Longlegs Long Long- legs Isn't about they are salter there than anywhere else and the they know It Out In the deep water live Uve big fish who are quite as fond of minnows as is Longlegs himself but where the bulrushes grow the water yater is very shallow It Is not deep enough for the big fish but plenty deep enough for little min flows Then too there Is always plenty to eat there So Longlegs felt sure that these minnows he was watching would soon come swimming around his very feet teet for he knew that they did not know that be was vas there ne He had waited so 50 long that his stomach stomach stomach ach was so empty that he felt Celt as If the bottom was dropping out of ot It Not so much as a single pollywog had shown Itself This was because because because be be- cause Grandfather Fro Frog had bad seen Longlegs when he be arrived and had warned the pollywogs to keep n away way from Crom where he was vas You know the pollywogs are aro Grandfather Frogs Frog's children grandchildren and great great- grandchildren So when at last Longlegs saw those minnows he was happy He lIe felt absolutely sure of ot at least one of them and he lie meant to pick out the biggest and fattest Now It Is one of the laws of ot the Great World that no one can be beC beHe beHo rr I I e l lV I V I I I ft A y r r r C T THo Ho He Shot Downward at a Very Great Speed sure of ot a thing until he has It People think they are sure of things Buster Bear thought he was sure of ot all the honey In Busy Bees Bee's storehouse but you remember ber what happened He had eaten enten but half balf of oC It when Farmer Browns Brown's Boy noy gave him Wm such a fright that he ran away leaving the other half baIt More than once Reddy neddy Fox has thought he was sure of catching catchIng catch catch- Ing Peter Rabbit only to have Peter Leter get away most unexpected unexpected- ly Then there thero was the time when Little Mr Striped Snake caught one of ot the children of ot the Tree toad and had already be be- gun to swallow him He Be had every reason to think that he was sure of little but along came Farmer Browns Brown's Boy and ma made e him cough up little Sticky toes So you see It Is of ot no use to even think you are arc sure of nn anything until un til lil you have It where It cannot get getaway getaway away or be taken away from you The only time you can be sure of ofa ofa ofa a dinner Is when it Is In your our stomach Longlegs knew this Anyway he ought to have known It But the thc fact the plain fact remains that he thought he was sure of one of those minnows He could almost feel the comfortable sensation of one of them wriggling down his long throat thront to his empty stomach Nearer Near er en the careless minnows came and nearer The head hend of was drawn back ready to be shot forward forward for for- ward with the speed 1 eed of ot lightning The biggest fattest minnow was lazily swimming straight toward him an and was almost within reach Right HIght then something happened Out from the Big Dig Hickory Tree on the bank ban Ie of the Smiling Pool flew fiew another fisherman He was not very ery big He lle wore a n pointed cap which made mado his head look too big bigfor bIgfor bigfor for his body and ho he was mo modestly estly but handsomely dressed In blue an and 1 gray and white Straight out ont right over oyer the school of minnows ho he flew and for Just a second seemed to stand still In the tho air Then he shot downward at a very good speed There was ms a silvery splash and then up he came with the biggest fattest minnow in his stout bill With a harsh rattling cry of triumph triumph tri trl he flew fiew back to the Big Dig Hickory Hickory Hickory Hick Hick- ory Tree where he thumped the minnow on a branch an and then began began began be be- gan to gulp It down head bead first It was Rattles the Of Ot co course all aU the other minnows darted away In to great fright while poor Longlegs could coul only stare across at that breakfast he be ba had thought he lie was so sure of at and which was now going down the throat of Rattles the Kingfisher t 1932 1132 by T. T TW W Burgers DUr |