"Good morning, Grandfather !" Jolly called.  
"What!" cried Grandfather Mole. "Have I made the mistake again of coming up on top of Farmer Green's garden?"
 
"You certainly have," Jolly told him.
 
"I must be getting old," said Grandfather Mole. "I'm growing more careless every day. I didn't mean to dig my way above ground." And then, thrusting his long nose right into the dirt, he began to out of sight.
 
"Stop! Please stop!" Jolly Robin him. "I want to ask you a question about digging."
 
Grandfather Mole pulled his nose out of the ground.
 
"What's your question?" he inquired.
 
"It's about Grunty Pig," Jolly Robin began.
 
"I thought you said it was about digging," Grandfather Mole . And he started to burrow once more.
 
"So it is!" Jolly exclaimed. "I want to know how long it will take Grunty Pig to dig up the apple tree where I live."
 
Again Grandfather Mole paused.
 
"It all depends," he muttered. "It all depends on how much of his time he spends at digging."
 
"He works every day," said Jolly Robin. "A good, long while every day!"
 
Grandfather Mole appeared to be thinking deeply.
 
 
"He boasts—" Jolly Robin explained—"he boasts that he will have the tree before fall."
 
"Nonsense!" Grandfather Mole snorted. "If Grunty Pig says that, he doesn't know much about apple trees. He may be a fair digger; but he must be stupid."
 
"That's what I've always thought!" Jolly Robin exclaimed.
 
"He can't go very deep into things, or he'd never have made such a boast," Grandfather Mo............