A Mouse who had always lived on
the land,
and a Frog who passed most
of his time in
the water, became friends.
The mouse showed the
Frog his nest, and
everything he could think of that was
pleasant
to see; and the Frog invited the Mouse to
go
home with him, and see all the beautiful things
that are under the water.
"Can you swim?" asked the Frog.
"Not much," said the Mouse.
"No matter," said the Frog; "I will
tie
your foot to my foot with a piece of this strong
grass, and then I can pull you along nicely."
The Frog laughed as he said this. He thought
it would be good fun for
him, but he well
knew that the Mouse would not enjoy it.
When the Frog had tied the Mouse's
foot
to his own, they started together across the
meadow. They soon came to the edge of the
water, and the Frog jumped in, pulling the
Mouse in with him.
"Oh, how cool and nice the water is, after
the dry, hot land," said the Frog, as he swam
gaily about. But the poor Mouse was frighten-
ed.
"Please let me go," said he, "or I shall
die."
"Oh, never mind," said the unkind
Frog;
"you will get used to the water. I
love it."
But soon the poor Mouse was drowned, and
he floated up to the top of the water, while the
Frog frisked about, down below.
Just then a Hawk, who was flying over, saw
the Mouse, and pounced upon it.
As he flew away with it,
the Frog was
dragged out of the water too, as he was still
tied to the Mouse.
"Stop, stop!" cried the Frog. "Let
me go.
It is the Mouse you want."
"Come along," said the Hawk;
"I want
you both. I will eat you first, for I like Frog
even better than I do Mouse."
In a few moments the Hawk
had made a
good supper, and there was nothing left of
either the false Frog or the foolish Mouse.
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