Once, there was a frog who lived in
the middle of a swamp. His entire family had lived in that swamp for
generations, but this particular frog decided that he had had quite enough
wetness to last him a lifetime. He decided that he was going to find a dry place
to live instead.
The only thing that separated him
from dry land was a swampy, muddy, swiftly flowing river. But the river was
home to all sorts of slippery, slittering snakes that loved nothing better than
a good, plump frog for dinner, so Frog didn't dare try to swim across.
So for many days, the frog stayed
put, hopping along the bank, trying to think of a way to get across.
The snakes hissed and jeered at
him, daring him to come closer, but he refused. Occasionally they would slither
closer, jaws open to attack, but the frog always leaped out of the way. But no
matter how far upstream he searched or how far downstream, the frog wasn't able
to find a way across the water.
He had felt certain that there
would be a bridge, or a place where the banks came together, yet all he found
was more reeds and water. After a while, even the snakes stopped teasing him
and went off in search of easier prey.
The frog sighed in frustration and
sat to sulk in the rushes. Suddenly, he spotted two big eyes staring at him
from the water. The giant log-shaped animal opened its mouth and asked him,
"What are you doing, Frog? Surely there are enough flies right there for a
meal."
The frog croaked in surprise and
leaped away from the crocodile. That creature could swallow him whole in a
moment without thinking about it! Once he was a satisfied that he was a safe
distance away, he answered. "I'm tired of living in swampy waters, and I
want to travel to the other side of the river. But if I swim across, the snakes
will eat me."
The crocodile harrumphed in
agreement and sat, thinking, for a while. "Well, if you're afraid of the
snakes, I could give you a ride across," he suggested.
"Oh no, I don't think
so," Frog answered quickly. "You'd eat me on the way over, or go
underwater so the snakes could get me!"
"Now why would I let the
snakes get you? I think they're a terrible nuisance with all their hissing and
slithering! The river would be much better off without them altogether! Anyway,
if you're so worried that I might eat you, you can ride on my tail."
The frog considered his offer. He
did want to get to dry ground very badly, and there didn't seem to be any other
way across the river. He looked at the crocodile from his short, squat buggy
eyes and wondered about the crocodile's motives. But if he rode on the tail,
the croc couldn't eat him anyway. And he was right about the snakes--no
self-respecting crocodile would give a meal to the snakes. "Okay, it
sounds like a good plan to me. Turn around so I can hop on your tail."
The crocodile flopped his tail into
the marshy mud and let the frog climb on, then he waddled out to the river. But
he couldn't stick his tail into the water as a rudder because the frog was on
it -- and if he put his tail in the water, the snakes would eat the frog. They
clumsily floated downstream for a ways, until the crocodile said, "Hop
onto my back so I can steer straight with my tail." The frog moved, and
the journey smoothed out.
From where he was sitting, the frog
couldn't see much except the back of Crocodile's head. "Why don't you hop
up on my head so you can see everything around us?" Crocodile invited.
"But I don't want to see
anything else," the frog answered, suddenly feeling nervous.
"Oh, come now. It's a
beautiful view! Surely you don't think that I'm going to eat you after we're
halfway across. My home is in the marsh-- what would be the point of swimming
across the river full of snakes if I didn't leave you on the other bank?"
Frog was curious about what the
river looked like, so he climbed on top of Crocodile's head. The river looked
almost pretty from this view. He watched dragonflies darting over the water and
smiled in anticipation as he saw firm ground beyond the cattails. When the
crocodile got close enough, the frog would leap off his head towards freedom.
He wouldn't give the croc a chance to eat him.
"My nose tickles," the
crocodile complained suddenly, breaking into the frog's train of thought.
"I think there might be a fly buzzing around it somewhere, or a piece of
cattail fluff swept into it while I was taking you across the river."
"I don't see a fly," the
frog said, peering at the crocodile's green snout. It seemed odd that anything
could tickle a crocodile through it's thick skin.
"Would you go check my nose
for a piece of cattail fluff, then?" the crocodile begged, twitching his
nose. "I'm afraid I'll sneeze and send you flying. I don't want to feed
you to the snakes." A tear seeped out of his eye, as if he was holding
back a mighty sneeze.
The bank isn't too far, the frog
thought. And it's the least he could do to repay him for bringing him over. So
he hopped onto the crocodile's snout and checked the nostrils. Just a little
closer, and he could jump... "I don't see--" he began.
Just then, with a terrific CHOMP!
the frog disappeared. The crocodile licked his lips in satisfaction and gave a
tiny half-sneeze. "Good, I feel much better already," he smiled, and
turned around to go back home.
Answer :
1. Once, there
was a frog who lived in the middle of a swamp = PAST TENSE
2. His entire
family had lived in that swamp for generations = PAST PERFECT
3. He decided
that he was going to find a dry place to live instead = PAST CONTINUOUS
4 4. He had felt
certain that there would be a bridge = PAST PERFECT
5. They would
slither closer = PAST FUTURE
6. The frog
sighed in frustration and sat to sulk in the rushes = PAST TENSE
7. The
crocodile licked his lips in satisfaction and gave a tiny half-sneeze = PAST
TENSE
8. So he
climbed on top of Crocodile's head = PAST TENSE
9. The frog
would leap off his head towards freedom = PAST FUTURE
10. The river
looked almost pretty from this view = PAST TENSE
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