you’ll never learn to float on sand,

nor swim by staying on the land.

                little joe otter.

one morning peter rabbit was a little late in getting over to the home of little joe otter. when he got there, there was not a sign of the two brown otter children at the doorway of their home between the roots of the big tree. “it must be,” thought peter, “that they have gone off hunting. i wonder if i can find them if i look for them.”

just then his ears caught the sound of splashing in the laughing brook. very, very carefully peter crept over where he could see what was going on. such a funny sight as it was! there in the water were little joe and mrs. joe, diving and swimming and splashing as only they can. on the bank were the two otter children, watching with their eyes round with wonder, and a great longing. at the same time it was very clear to peter that those two youngsters were afraid of the water. little joe and mrs. joe kept calling to them to come in, but they wouldn’t.

no, sir, those little otters wouldn’t more than wet their feet. mrs. joe swam over to where they were and coaxed them, as only a mother can. it was of no use. all the coaxing in the world couldn’t overcome their fear of the water. then she pretended to be very angry, and she ordered them to follow her. they whimpered and cried, but not one step into the water would they go. then she tried making fun of them, but she was no more successful than before.

they were afraid. yes, sir, they were afraid. there was no doubt about it. peter doesn’t like the water himself, but when he has to he can swim. he couldn’t remember ever having been as much afraid of the water as those two otter children, not even when he was a very little fellow. and that seemed funny, too. in fact, peter couldn’t understand it at all. here were two babies whose father and mother were among the best swimmers in the world, and yet they couldn’t get their two youngsters into the water.

finally, with a great deal of coaxing, mrs. otter got one of them to take a ride on her back. then she gave the other a ride. for a long time they swam around and around, and had a beautiful time. the babies liked this. you see, they felt perfectly safe, and it was great fun to be carried about, here and there and everywhere. then, without the least bit of warning, while both babies were on her back mrs. joe dived. now of course when she did this, it carried the two babies right under water, and the minute they went under water they let go and came to the top.

my, my, my, what a frightened pair they were! they blew the water out of their noses, and both began to whimper and cry. but at the same time both began to paddle as fast as ever they could.

little joe and mrs. joe popped their round brown heads out of water and swam just ahead of the two babies. the two babies did their very best to get on the backs of little joe and mrs. joe. but the latter kept just out of their reach. then one of the babies stopped crying. he had discovered something; he had discovered that he was swimming, and that swimming was really great fun. somehow that water didn’t seem so dreadful any more. then the other discovered the same thing. they had had their first swimming lesson and had found that mother and father were right after all; the water wouldn’t hurt them. when at last they scrambled up on the shore and shook the water from their little brown coats, their eyes were shining with pride and excitement.