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THINGS THAT LOVED THE LAKE

This story was worked out with a five-year-old boy. It is the result of
his own summer experiences on a lake.

THINGS THAT LOVED THE LAKE

Once there was a little lake. And many things loved the little lake for
its water was clear and smooth and blue when it was sunshiny, and dark
and wavy and cross-looking when it was rainy. Now one of the things that
loved the little lake was a little fish. He was a slippery shiny little
fish all covered with slippery shiny scales. He lived in the shadow of
a big rock near a deep, dark, cool pool. And when his wide-open shiny
eye saw a little fly fall on the top of the water, he would flip his
slippery, shiny tail and wave his slippery, shiny fins and dart out and
up and--snap! he'd have the fly inside him! Then like a shiny streak
he'd quietly slip back to the cool, deep, dark pool.

[Illustration]

Another thing that loved the little lake was a spotted green frog. He
too lived near the big rock. He would squat like a lump on the top in
the sun, blinking his bright little eyes. Then splash! jump he would go,
plump into the water. He'd keep his funny head with the little blinking,
bright eyes above water while he'd kick his long, spotted, green legs
and he'd swim across to another rock. At first he used to frighten the
slippery shiny little fish when he came tumbling into the quiet water.
But the spotted green frog never did anything to hurt the little fish so
the slippery shiny little fish didn't mind him after all. But at night
what do you think the spotted green frog did? He squatted on the rock
with his front feet toeing in, like this, and he looked up at the
far-away white moon in the far-away dark sky, and then he swelled and he
swelled and he swelled his throat, and then he opened his wide, wide
mouth and out came a noise. Oh, such a noise! "K-K-K-Krink!!
K-K-K-Krank!!" All night the spotted frog swelled his throat and croaked
at the moon.

Now another thing that loved the little lake was a beautiful wild duck.
The wild duck had beautiful green and brown feathers and on his head he
had a little green top-knot. Every year he flew north from the warm
south where he had been spending the winter. High up in the air he flew,
leading many other beautiful wild ducks. He flew with his head stretched
out and his feet tucked up close to his body and his strong wings
flapping, flapping, flappi