All the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind were hurrying across the Green Meadows. Some flew this way. Some ran that way. Some danced the other way. They each carried an invitation from Jerry Muskrat — a party at the Big Rock in the Smiling Pool!
And of course everyone said yes.
Round Mr. Sun shone his very brightest. The sky turned its deepest blue. The little birds promised to come and sing. So every small creature in the Green Meadows and in the wood set off for the Smiling Pool.
There was Johnny Chuck. Reddy Fox. Jimmy Skunk. Bobby Coon. Happy Jack Squirrel. Striped Chipmunk. Billy Mink. Little Joe Otter. Grandfather Frog. Old Mr. Toad. And Mr. Blacksnake — all heading to Jerry Muskrat's party.
When they got there, Jerry Muskrat was ready. His brothers and his sister, his aunts and his uncles and his cousins were already waiting. What a noise! What a SPLASH! Billy Mink and Little Joe Otter and Grandfather Frog jumped right in. They played tag in the water. They hid behind the Big Rock. They flew down the slippery slide — WHOOOOSH — and hit the water — SPLASH!
Oh, what a time.
But Reddy Fox and Peter Rabbit and Bobby Coon and Johnny Chuck and Jimmy Skunk and Happy Jack and Striped Chipmunk — they couldn't swim.
They sat on the bank. They watched. They wished.
No tag in the water. No hide-and-seek. No slippery slide.
Just… sitting.
Peter Rabbit's ears drooped. Jimmy Skunk's tail hung low. They didn't feel like party guests at all.
"Let's go home," said Peter Rabbit quietly to Johnny Chuck.
"We can have more fun up on the hill," said Jimmy Skunk.
Jerry Muskrat saw their faces, and his heart sank. He lived in the water so much that he had forgotten — completely forgotten — that some of his friends couldn't swim. If he had remembered, he never, never would have asked the meadow folks to come.
But just then —
Little Joe Otter came pushing a great big log across the Smiling Pool.
"Hey, Bobby Coon!" he called. "Here's a ship! Climb on one end and I'll give you a sail!"
Bobby Coon looked at the log. He looked at the water. He crawled out — very, very carefully — and held on tight.
Little Joe Otter kicked his strong back legs and pushed. That big log glided across the Smiling Pool. Across — and back again.
Bobby Coon's eyes were huge. "Again!" he said. "Again!"
But Jimmy Skunk was already hopping from foot to foot. "My turn! MY turn!"
So Bobby Coon hopped off and Jimmy Skunk hopped on, and away he went across the Smiling Pool with Little Joe Otter pushing behind.
Then Jerry Muskrat found another log and gave Peter Rabbit a ride. Jerry Muskrat's brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins found logs too. They carried Reddy Fox and Johnny Chuck and even old Mr. Toad back and forth, back and forth across the Smiling Pool.
And Happy Jack Squirrel? Happy Jack sat up very straight on the end of his log. He spread his great bushy tail out wide — like a sail. All the little Breezes blew and blew, and Happy Jack sailed round and round and round the Smiling Pool.
Sometimes — SPLOOSH — someone tumbled right off into the water! But Jerry Muskrat or Billy Mink always pulled them out again, and nobody minded one tiny bit.
In the bushes around the Smiling Pool, the little birds sang and sang. Reddy Fox barked his loudest. Happy Jack chattered and chirr-r-r-r-ed. All the muskrats squealed and squeaked. What a sound! What a party!
By and by, Mr. Sun dipped down behind the Purple Hills. Old Mother West Wind gathered up her Merry Little Breezes and followed him home. The little stars came out to twinkle and twinkle.
The Smiling Pool lay quiet and still — smiling and smiling and smiling.
