02 The Frogs and the Ox

2. THE FROGS AND THE

OX

By Tony Payne

'Mum! Mum! Come quickly!' called

the little frog, hopping and skipping

with excitement...

'Come and see the monster!' He

called.

'It’s got two big spikes sticking out

of its head and a funny brush thing

at the other end and it goes "OAR

RR AGH!" And it kicks frogs.'

'Not now dear,' said the little frog's

mother.

'Come on mum! Please!'

Mother frog looked more closely at

the little one.

'You're Stanley, aren't you?'

'No mum, I'm Zebadee.'

'Are you really? You all look so

alike.'

She had 247 children, and it is hard

to remember that many names, so

she called everyone Stanley to give

her memory a rest.

'Mu-ummm…' cried Zebedee,

'I haven’t finished breakfast, dear.'

The little frog hesitated. 'Can I

have some then?'

'No, Stanley,' she said. 'You’re not

a tadpole any more. Go and find

your own slugs - and stop jiggling

about, you're giving me a head

ache.'

'I'm not jiggling about, I'm hopping

about.'

'Well stop it. It looks like exercise,

and I can’t be having with that sort

of thing. How would it be if I were

to flip and flop about like you,

doing exercise?'

The little frog thought about it.

'You wouldn't be so podgy,' he

said.

'Exactly!' said his mother. 'You

don’t get a jelly-belly like mine by

exercising. I get all the exercise I

need chewing. Now, what's all the

fuss about?'

1'It's an Ox! And it's really gross

and his shoes have split down the

middle.'

'There are no such things as mon

sters, Stanley, and no creature in

the pond is bigger than me.'

'But it is bigger than you, mum.

Lot's bigger. I promise.'

'Right!' said his mum. 'We'll see

about that! I'll go with you, and if

you are telling fibs you'll have no

worms for a week.'

The damp hollow she sat in was

home to a good assortment of

slugs.

But she had eaten too many of

them. The big jelly-belly she was

so proud of made it difficult to get

about. Now she could only half

hop, and flop, and then stop.

Hop, flop and stop, until she was all

tired out and could go no further.

'Stop, Stanley!'

'You’ve only moved half a metre,

mum.'

'Far enough,' she wheezed. She

took a deep breath – and then she

took a deep breath – and then she

took a deep breath.

'Is the ox as big as this?' she

asked.

She sounded odd, because it's hard

to speak, blown up like a beach

ball.

'Much bigger than that,' said the

little frog.

So she sucked in more air, and

sucked in more air, and sucked in

more air.

'No, mum – it's still bigger…'

So she took in another breath, and

…and…she shot into the air like

an escaped balloon that zips

around the room making rude

noises because you let go of the end.

'YAAAAAH!' she yelled, looping-the

loop and fizzing off in all directions

before crashing - with a spectacular

splash - right in front of the ox!

The ox looked bored with the whole

thing. Water dribbled from his mouth.

'Stanley!' she called back to the

little frog a field and a half away.

'Let that be a lesson to you!'

But the lesson was hers really.

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