THE WIDE-MOUTHED FROG

This a story about a frog, and this is the frog that this story is about. [DRAW frog]

That frog lived in the reeds by a pond in a meadow. [DRAW pond] It was a very ordinary pond in a very ordinary meadow, but that frog thought his pond was a little piece of Heaven on Earth. And when you think about it that frog had everything he needed right there in that pond -- he had water to splash in, he had friends to visit with, and... most important...

... all around that pond there were thousands and thousands of tiny, delicious, crunchy, black flies for that frog to eat. [DRAW flies] And that frog loved eating flies! It was his favorite thing in the whole world!

So every day he would be sitting by the pond waiting for some flies to come by so he could eat them. And one day when he was sitting there a bird came along and landed on a branch of a tree nearby. There was a tree growing right close to the pond. Here's the branch [DRAW branch] and here's the bird [ADD the bird] .

The bird looked down and saw the frog there by the edge of pond. The bird said, "Excuse me... Excuse me.... You... there by the pond. What kind of critter are you?"

The frog looked up at the bird, and he said, [DRAW frog] "I'm a Wiiiiiiiide-Mouthed Frog! And I eats flies!"

"Well!" said the bird. [DRAW bird] "Did you say you were a Wide-Mouthed Frog? I never heard of a Wide-Mouthed Frog before! I gotta tell you, you are one amazing critter!"

A few minutes later, the bird flew away, leaving the frog sitting at the edge of the pond saying to himself, "I am an amazing critter. I'm [DRAW frog] a Wiiiiiiide-Mouthed Frog! And I bet there are lots of other critters who've never heard of a critter like me, and I had better go and tell them."

So off he went to tell the whole world about Wide-Mouthed Frogs. He went hopping along and it wasn't very long before he met a critter who looked sort of like this...

[DRAW cow] "What kind of critter are you? And what do you eat?"

"I'm a cow. And us cows like to eat grass. [DRAW grass] Hay is okay, but grass is the best."

"Well! [DRAW frog] I'm a Wiiiiiide-Mouthed Frog. And I eats flies!"

And off the frog hopped again. Very soon, he met another critter who looked sort of like this...

[DRAW pig] "What kind of critter are you? And what do you eat?"

"I'm a pig. Us pigs like to eat corn. [DRAW corn] Yep! You can give us corn on the cob, canned corn, creamed corn, pop corn, any kind of corn. We love it!"

"Well! [DRAW frog] I'm a Wiiiiiide-Mouthed Frog. And I eats flies!"

Eventually, the frog was hopping along and he saw some tall buildings off in the distance. [DRAW city] He'd heard of these places where there were all kinds of critters crowded together, and he decided this would be a good place to go and tell about Wide-Mouthed Frogs.

Well. he did meet a lot of critters in that city, including one who lived in the front yard of a big white house, a critter who looked sort of like this...

[DRAW dog] "What kind of critter are you? And what do you eat?"

"I'm a dog, a hound dog to be exact. And us hound dogs, we like gnawing on bones. [DRAW bone] You give me a bone to gnaw on and you got yourself one happy hound. Yes, sir..."

"Well! [DRAW frog] I'm a Wiiiiiide-Mouthed Frog. And I eats flies!"

The frog went hopping out of the city, and on the far side of the city, met a critter who looked sort of like this...

[DRAW cat] "What kind of critter are you? And what do you eat?"

"I'm a cat, and us cats just adore nibbling on them delicious little mice." [DRAW mouse]

"Well! [DRAW frog] I'm a Wiiiiiide-Mouthed Frog. And I eats flies!"

On and on, that frog hopped meeting lots of critters and telling lots of critters about Wide-Mouthed Frogs. Finally, late in the day, he came to Swamp Country. Now you know about swamps... you always got a crick running through a swamp, [DRAW the crick part of the swamp symbol] you got all kinds of poison plants growing, [ADD the plant] and you have to be keeping an eye out all the time for sink holes and quick sand... [ADD the quick sand] I, personally, would not go into a Swamp, but that frog did. The went into that Swamp, and he met some critters...

One of those critters looked sort of like this...

[DRAW alligator] "What kind of critter are you? And what do you eat?"

"I'M AN ALLIGATOR! AND US ALLIGATORS, WE LIKE EATING.... WIDE-MOUTHED FROGS!"

The frog looked around kind of nervous-like [DRAW draw small-mouthed frog] and he said, "Owww! You don't see many of those around here, do you!"

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