In things at once not understood  
Some people will admit no good.
 
             Little Joe Otter¹.
 
So many things happen every day to the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows² that they do not think of any one thing very long. Two days after the mysterious disappearance³ of his big fish the young Otter had stopped thinking about it. He had made up his mind that he never would know what became of that fish and that the matter was no longer worth puzzling over. There were too many other things to think about and do.
 
On the third day he caught another fine fish and climbed out on the ice with it near the place where he had left the other. This fish wasn’t so big as the one that had disappeared, but it was a fine fish for all that. The young Otter was hungry and he intended to eat that fish right there. But he had taken only a bite or two when his sharp eyes saw another fish in the water. Two fish would be better than one. He dropped on the ice the fish he was eating, plunged⁴ into the water and like a brown streak⁵ shot after the other fish.
 
Swift as a fish is in water, there isn’t much chance for it when once an Otter gets after it. The young Otter had quite a chase, but in the end he caught the fish. Then with it in his mouth he swam back and climbed out on the ice at the place where he had left the first fish. He was feeling very............