The Tale of the Stolen Fly

Illustration by Oliver  Age:  4  Paris, TN

           The early morning sun peeked through the cattails around Polliwog Pond.  Xavier the frog stretched his legs as he woke from a good night's sleep.  On a rock a few feet away, Xavier spied the biggest, juiciest fly he had ever seen.           
             “I’m hungry,” he said to himself and prepared to dart his tongue out to catch the big, juicy fly.

            Suddenly, Emerson the dragonfly came out of nowhere and scooped up the fly in his arms.

            “Hey!!”  Xavier called out.  “That’s my breakfast!!” but Emerson the dragonfly just flew away.

            Xavier sat on his rock and frowned an enormous frown.  While he was busy frowning, Audra the duck swam up to him.

            “Good morning, Xavier,” said Audra. 

            Xavier looked up at her with big sad eyes and said, “Emerson just stole my breakfast.  I thought he was my friend, but he took my fly and then he flew away!”

            “I’m sorry,” said Audra.  “Maybe he didn’t mean to take your fly.”

            “Maybe,” said Xavier his frown growing deeper.

            “Hey, let’s go find Emerson and see if we can’t get your fly back,” suggested Audra.

            The two friends set out through the tall grass surrounding Pollywog Pond in search of Emerson the dragonfly.  Before long they came across Hayden the turtle asleep in his shell.

            “Excuse me, Hayden,” said Audra as she tapped on his shell. 

            Hayden slowly peeped his head out and yawned a great big yawn.  “Hey Audra,” said Hayden sleepily.  Then he started to speak to Xavier and stopped when he saw Xavier’s frown.

            “Have you seen Emerson this morning?” Audra asked.

Illustration by Logan  Age:  3  Paris, TN

            “I think I heard him fly by a few minutes ago,” said Hayden.  “Maybe if you hurry you can catch him.”

            As Hayden pulled his head back into his shell the two friends set out again.  Before long they heard a soft buzzing noise.  Emerson landed on a cattail right above Xavier’s head.

            “Good morning, Audra,” said Emerson.  Then he looked down and saw a very angry Xavier.    

            “What’s wrong with Xavier?” Emerson asked Audra.

            “Xavier thinks you stole his fly that he was going to have for breakfast,” Audra replied.

            “You mean this fly that I have in my hands?” said Emerson as he showed the fly to the friends.

              “My fly!” shouted Xavier.  “Give it back!

              “Here Xavier, I didn’t mean to take away your breakfast.”

               Xavier’s frown began to disappear as he shot out his tongue and took the fly.  He smiled and said, “Thanks, Emerson.  You’re the best!”

               For the rest of the morning the three friends played hide-and-seek among the cattails along the shore of Pollywog Pond.