“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!
Brownie untied the stones. He had not supposed
his legs would stretch so quickly as that. And
he told himself that Mr. Frog was a good tailor.
He certainly knew his business. Now, as a matter
of fact, Mr. Frog was a very careless person.
He had thrown away Brownie’s measurements before
he made his clothes, instead of afterwards.
And he had made the new suit entirely by guesswork.
It was only natural that he would make some mistake;
and so he had cut the trousers entirely too long.
When he discovered that, he wanted to get Brownie
out of his shop. And what happened next was simply
this: After Brownie’s trousers were wet
in the pond, they dried while he was sleeping.
And while they were drying they were shrinking at
the same time.
Though Brownie Beaver didn’t know it, his legs
had not stretched at all. They were exactly the
same length they had always been.
