Now when Little Joe Otter¹ found that Buster Bear had been too smart[Pg 23] for him and that instead of spoiling Buster's fishing in the Laughing Brook² he had really made it easier for Buster to catch all the fish he wanted, Little Joe went off down to the Smiling Pool in a great rage.

 

Billy Mink³ stopped long enough to eat the fat fish Buster had left on the bank and then he too went down to the Smiling Pool.

 

When Little Joe Otter and Billy Mink reached the Smiling Pool, they climbed up on the Big Rock, and there Little Joe sulked and sulked, until finally Grandfather Frog asked what the matter was. Little Joe wouldn't tell, but Billy Mink told the whole story. When he told how Buster had been too smart for Little Joe, it tickled⁴ him so that Billy had to laugh in spite of himself. So did Grandfather Frog. So did Jerry Muskrat⁵, who had been listen[Pg 24]ing. Of course this made Little Joe angrier than ever. He said a lot of unkind things about Buster Bear and about Billy Mink and Grandfather Frog and Jerry Muskrat, because they had laughed at the smartness of Buster.

 

"He's nothing but a great big bully⁶ and thief!" declared Little Joe.

 

"Chug-a-rum! He may be a bully, because great big people are very apt to be bullies⁷, and though I haven't seen him, I guess Buster Bear is big enough from all I have heard, but I don't see how he is a thief," said Grandfather Frog.

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