ΤΟ It was true. There they were, still very small and weak, but really legs. The lizard and the tadpole had been too busy talking over how to make them grow to notice that they were already budding. They 5 were still more excited when, soon afterwards, they saw near the front part of the tadpole's body two more little buds; and the lizard was sure these would prove to be wings. It was a terrible blow to them when they found these were not wings at all, but more legs. "Now it's all over," cried the tadpole, in despair. "It was bad enough not to have wings; but now that I'm getting legs this way, there's no knowing where it'll end." 15 The lizard, too, was almost hopeless, until suddenly she remembered a crawfish she had known who had lost one of his legs in a fight, and it had hardly hurt him at all. She said perhaps she could pull the tadpole's front legs off the same way. 20 He was quite willing for her to try, but at the first twitch she gave he cried out, "Ouch! that hurts!" so the lizard had to stop. She still thought, however, that something could have been done about it if the tadpole had not been such 25 a coward and had let her pull harder. But worse was to follow. One morning, before the lizard was up, the tadpole came wriggling over to the door of her house. "Lizard, Lizard, come out here," he cried. Then, as soon as she came out, he begged her to get a piece of eelgrass and measure his tail. "I've been afraid it was shrinking for some time," he said, "and now I'm almost sure of it. I have such strange s feelings, too. Sometimes I feel as though I must have air, and I get up on a stone so that I'm almost out of the water, and only then am I comfortable." Hastily the lizard got the eelgrass and measured. Then they sat staring at each other in dismay. The 10 tail was almost gone! Still the lizard would not give up all hope. That same crawfish that had lost a leg lived farther down the stream, and he was very old and wise. She would get him to come and look at the tadpole and give 15 his advice. So the kindly little lizard bustled away, and soon she came back to where the tadpole was lying, and the crawfish came with her, twiddling his feelers, and staring both ways with his goggle eyes. "Sick tadpole!" he cried. "This is no tadpole !" Then, coming closer, the crawfish went on: "Why are you lying here? Why aren't you over in the swamp singing with all the rest of them? Don't you know you are a frog?" "A frog!" cried the lizard. But the young tadpole frog leaped clear out of the brook with a joyous cry. 20 25 ΙΟ "A frog!" he shouted. "Why, that's the best of all! If that's true, I must say good-by, little Lizard. Hey for the wide green swamp and the loud frog chorus under the light of the moon! Good-by, little s friend, good-by! I shall never forget what you have done for me." So the frog went away to join his brothers. The little lizard felt quite lonely for a while after the frog had gone; but she comforted herself by thinking how happy he must be. Often in the twilight, or when the moon was bright, she listened to the chorus of frogs as they sang over in the swamp, and wondered if the one who sang so much louder and deeper than the rest was the little 15 frog who had tried so hard to be a bird. "After all," she said to herself, "there are more ways of singing than one." – Prose and Verse for Children. 1. What is a tadpole? How does it differ from a frog? 2. Name ten objects that may be found in or near a brook in summer time. 3. Have you ever seen a lizard? A crawfish? Where? Describe them. 4. What other animals live in the water? 5. Word Study: wriggled - Moved uneasily back and forth. eel'grass-A plant with narrow leaves which grows in shallow JACK FROST BY GABRIEL SETOUN You have often seen the frost pictures on the window panes. These pictures are frozen bits of moisture from your breath, or steam from your mother's cooking. Below is what a poet sees in these pictures when he gets up of a cold morning. What have you seen? T HE door was shut as doors should be Yet Jack Frost has got in, you see, And left your windows silver white. He must have waited till you slept, And not a single word he spoke, But penciled o'er the panes and crept Away before you woke. And now you cannot see the trees Or fields that stretch beyond the lane, But there are fairer things than these His fingers traced on every pane. Rocks and castles towering high, ΤΟ And yonder, palm trees waving fair, And butterflies with gauzy wings; And herds of cows and flocks of sheep; And fruits and flowers and all the things For creeping softly underneath The door when all the lights are out, He paints them on the window pane In fairy lines with frozen steam ; And when you wake, you see again The lovely things you saw in dream. 1. Name the frost pictures the author sees. Did he live in the country or the city? 2. What does Jack Frost do besides draw pictures? What kind of noises does he make? In what months of the year do you see him? What children have never seen him? What children know him best? 3. Word Study: knights (nīts) - Mounted warriors of olden times. |