Page:Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes, 1879).djvu/37

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The Voracious Frog.
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the frog ate up all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat came back she saw no frog, no dinner. She went away into the jungle and called to him, and the frog answered from behind a tree, "Here I am, here I am." The rat went to him and said, "Why did you eat my dinner?" "I didn't," said the frog. "It was a great big dog ate the dinner, and he wanted to eat me too, and so I ran away." The rat said, "Very well. Go and fetch me some more sticks, and I will go for flour and milk." Then she cooked the dinner again and went to bathe. The frog ate up all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat returned she saw no dinner, no frog. So she went far into the jungle, found the frog, and told him that it was he that had eaten the dinner. And the frog said, "No," and the rat said, "Yes." And the frog said, "If you say that again I will eat you up." "All right," says the rat, "eat me up." So he ate her up and sat behind the tree, and the baker came past. The frog called out, "Baker, come here! come here! Give me some bread." The baker looked about everywhere, could not see anybody, could not think who was calling him. At last he saw the frog sitting behind a tree. "Give me some bread," says the frog. The man said, "No, I won't give you any bread. I am a great big man, and you are only a little frog, and you have no money." "Yes, I have money. I will give you some pice and you will give me some bread." But the man said, "No, I won't." "Well," said the frog, "if you won't give me bread, I will eat you up first, and then I'll eat up your bread." So he ate up the man, and then he ate up his bread. Presently a man with oranges and lemons passed by. The frog called to him, "Come here! come here!" The man was very much afraid. He didn't know who had called him. Then he saw the frog, and the frog said, "Give me some lemons." The man wouldn't, and said, "No." "Very well," says the