Once upon a time, long ago, all the animals of the forest were friends, and closest of all were elegant grasshopper and handsome green toad. Everyone thought they were good friends, yet they had never dined at each other’s house.
One day, Toad invited Grasshopper to his house to dine with him. So the next evening, grasshopper and his wife traveled to the pond to share a meal with toad. Before they sat down to eat, toad announced, “First, we shall wash our feet, of course,” and he washed his forelegs.
“Of course,” grasshopper said, and he too rubbed his forelegs together, and so did his wife. As they did, the silent pond was suddenly full of the sound of grasshoppers’ chirping.
Toad’s wife was startled by the sound and said,”What a terrible racket! Please don’t do that again!”
Grasshopper tried to eat without rubbing his forelegs together and making a noise, but it was impossible. Each time he gave a chirp, Toad asked him to be quiet. Grasshopper felt angry and could not eat in peace. Finally he said “Toad, I invite you to my house for dinner tomorrow.”
Toad and his wife arrived at Grasshopper’s house the next day. As soon as the meal was ready, Grasshopper washed his forelegs and invited Toad to do the same. Toad did the same and hopped towards the food.
“You had better go back and wash again,” said Grasshopper. All that hopping in the dirt has made your forelegs dirty again.”
Toad hopped back to the water jar, washed again and hopped back to the table, and was ready to reach out for some food from one of the platters when Grasshopper stopped him: “Please, don’t put your dirty paws into the food. Go and wash them again.”
Toad was furious. “It seems you don’t want me to eat with you,” he said. “You know very well I can’t move about without using my forelegs. They are bound to get a little dirty. I can’t help it.”
“Well, you are the one who started it yesterday.”
Grasshopper said, “ You know very well that I cannot rub my legs together without making a noise.”
From that day on, they both agreed never to share a meal again and were never again friends.
Moral lessons
Learn how to tolerate and accept people for who they are, with all their faults.
Learn how to apologize and make things right whenever there’s a misunderstanding.
Fill in the blanks with a letter that will end the first and begin the second
Arro (—-) ater
Brea (—-) rum
Photos: Pinterest; Source: recordonline.com
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