The Tale of the Breakfast Hunt

          Xavier the frog stretched his legs as the sun rose in the morning sky.  His lily pad on Polliwog Pond had to be the most comfortable place to sleep in the whole world, but now it was time to find breakfast.  Xavier scanned his surroundings.  He spotted one fly, but it was out of reach.  He really didn’t want to have to work too hard for his breakfast this morning.  He let it go.

            After sitting for quite some time, he decided a fly wasn’t going to land anywhere near him.  He hopped off of his lily pad and onto the banks of Polliwog Pond.  Again, he scanned his surroundings.  This time he spotted a fly that was within reach.  Quickly, he shot out his tongue, but the fly was too fast.  It flew up and landed just out of his reach.  Xavier stared at the fly trying to decide if it was worth the effort of the chase.  He decided it wasn’t and set off down the path to the clearing.

            All along the path Xavier spotted flies that were just out of his reach, but he just really wasn’t in the mood to have to chase down his breakfast.  He was hoping to just get lucky and catch a fly unawares.  When he reached the clearing he met Emerson the dragonfly.

            “Good morning, Emerson,” said Xavier.  “What are you doing?”

            “I saw this humungous fly just a minute ago and I’m trying to figure out where it went,” said Emerson excitedly.  “That fly is going to be my breakfast.”

            “Not if I see it first,” said Xavier trying to find the fly that Emerson had seen.

            “There it is!” shouted Emerson as he took flight.  The fly had just taken off into the air and Emerson was in hot pursuit.

            Xavier just grunted when he saw how far away the fly was and decided to just let Emerson have that one.  Before long, Emerson came back with a huge smile on his face.  “That fly was delicious,” he said.

            Xavier gave Emerson a nasty look and then hopped to the other side of the clearing.  He was starting to really get hungry now.

            Just then the butterfly twins flew up.  “Good morning, Xavier,” they said at the same time.  Xavier thought it was so annoying when they did that.

            “Good morning, Summer and Madison,” said Emerson as he flew up next to them.  “I just had the most delicious fly for breakfast.”

            “We found some sweet nectar in a flower patch over by the fence,” said Summer.  “What did you have for breakfast, Xavier?” asked Madison.

            “Nothing, yet,” said Xavier grumpily, “and if you will excuse me, I need to find me some.”

            Xavier headed back down the path toward Polliwog Pond looking everywhere for an easy catch for his breakfast.  He was looking so hard that he nearly ran over Audra the duck as she made her way to the clearing.

             “Oh!” shouted Xavier as he looked up to see Audra right in front of him.

            “Good morning, Xavier,” said Audra pleasantly.  “What are you doing?”

            “I’m trying to find some breakfast,” said Xavier.

            “Oh, I saw a bunch of flies down by the pond,” stated Audra.  “I’m sure you can find some breakfast there.”

            Xavier thanked her and went back to the pond.  Sure enough, there were plenty of flies but none of them were an easy catch.  Suddenly, Xavier’s tummy began to rumble.  He was really starting to get hungry now.  Maybe he should pick a decent size fly and hunt it down.  If he kept waiting for an easy catch, he might not get any breakfast at all.  Just then, a large fly flew by his nose and Xavier decided that was the one.  He set out in hot pursuit.  It took him a few minutes, but his efforts were rewarded.  Soon his tummy was all full.

            Xavier made his way back to the clearing to play with his friends.  For the rest of the morning they played hide and seek, and when lunchtime came, Xavier decided to go on the hunt right away.  Waiting for his meals to come to him only made for a hungry frog.