'THIS COMES HOPPING^ 



17 



people in the town wanted to be sure of always 

 having plenty of clean water to drink, so they built 

 a big wall called a dam, right across the top of the 

 valley, over the course of the stream, and far up 

 the two sides. And the little stream stopped 

 running down the valley, and all the little trout 

 gasped and wriggled in the tiny pools that were 

 left, till the village children came and caught them 

 and ate them for supper. The wheel also left off 

 singing, because there was no water to turn it 

 round, and the people had to draw water from 

 their wells. 



And all the while, at the top of the valley, beyond 

 the dam, the stream kept on flowing and floAving up 

 against the great strong wall, and it gradually grew 

 into a beautiful lake, which filled up all the top of 

 the valley, and pushed hard against the dam, while 

 the little waves came jumping up against the shore, 

 and all turned into singing fairies as they reached 

 the land. And the people in the town made big 

 pipes to bring the clean water down among the 

 furnaces and chimneys, whenever they wanted it, 

 and there was always plenty to come, because the 

 stream kept the lake full. 



And then one day came a clever little cousin of 

 mine, the water-rat. I suppose that he was part of 



2 



