1.”Ah！it has been raining again，“said the squirrel，as he hurried down to the brook next morning.
“How muddy you are，little stream，”chirped the robin.“I don‘t like to bathe in your water to-day.You are not nearly so pretty as you were yesterday.”
2.“When I have told you my story.”replied the brook，“you may perhaps like me much better with my dark load of mud than when I was a clear，sparkling stream.
3.”Last night a heavy shower fell in our.Tiny streams chased each other down thehillside like playful squirrels；but they were hard at work.They were cutting deep rutsin the steep places，and carrying away the finest of the soil.
4.“They ran away with the earth-worm mounds，and spread their rich soil all over the meadows.Some of it they brought to me，and that is why I am so muddy this morning.
5.”But my work is not yet done，as you will see.I want you to follow me，and see what becomes of my load of fine rich soil.
6.“I must leave most of my load here，”continued the brook，as it flowed into a wide pond.“I can carry it no further.All day long I shall pour this rich loam into the pond and build its muddy bed higher and higher.
7.”Now，my little friends，you see by this what all thebrooks in the world are doing.They are wearing down the slopes，grinding the pebbles and sand into fine soil，and carrying it down to the low lands.Little by littlethe hills are being spread over the valleys；for it is the work of water to wear down the high lands，and to fill up the low places.
8.“Now look once more at the mud banks which I am forming in the pond.By-and-by you will find little islands where these banks now are.After a long time，the pond will be filled with this soil；and then there will be no pond at all，but a fertile.
9.”The cluster of little islands that I am making here is called a delta.At the mouths of great rivers，where they empty their muddy waters into the ocean，deltas are often formed so large that great cities are built on them，where thousands of people live.Some deltas are covered with green fields and some with denserich.
forests，for the soil that we make is always very10.“That is the kind of work we do when our waters are muddy：we tear to pieces the old barrenhills，andmake new and fruitful plains out of the rubbish.”Then the brook seemed to lose itself in the big lazy pond，and its voice once more became silent.