Once upon a time there were four friends: a frog, a scorpion, an ant, and a waterbug.  They all lived in an abandoned cul-de-sac.  Then a flash flood flooded the entire cul-de-sac. "Let us on your back," cried the ant, and scorpion.  "Okay," the frog and waterbug said.

Then, midway through the flood the scorpion and ant stung the frog and the waterbug.  "Now we'll all die," cried the waterbug and frog.   "We lied to you.  We weren't your friends," the scorpion and ant said, and they all drowned.

At the park on a freezing, rainy day a puppy was walking without an umbrella.   He spotted a monkey with an umbrella.  The puppy asked if the monkey would share.  The monkey said no.  The puppy went away.

Then the monkey's umbrella broke because he hit a tree branch.   The monkey looked around for someone to share an umbrella and the monkey asked, "Can I share your umbrella?"  The puppy said no.

So the monkey was so cold he could not move and he froze to death.

Once upon a time there was a shark.  He thought he was the biggest fish in the sea.  So he went over to a clown fish and ate it.

So the shark was swimming along thinking he was the big boy of the sea.  Then, to his surprise, a whale shark gobbled him up.

Once long, long ago in the dead of night, there was a very disgruntled dragon doing drugs.  His lungs were black with smoke and he couldn't think straight.   Then, a very healthy bald eagle soared up above him.

The eagle gave him a pitiful look and said, ''Dear, dear dragon, as I once told you, you shouldn't do drugs.  I am very healthy and you are not.  Let this be a lesson to you.''

Once there were mice walking in the woods.  One of them was very smart.   The other one was just average.  Soon they came apon a dead cat.   "Lets bring this cat back to life," said the smart mouse.  The other mouse did not think that was a very good idea.  But the smart mouse ignored him and brought him back to life.  The not smart mouse jumped into a lake and watched the cat eat his friend.

One day Frog was sitting in the lunchroom.  "I have great news," Frog said.  "What is it?" asked Pig. "I joined the Quizbowl team," said Frog. "So," said Pig. "I think it's a good thing," said Cat.  I joined too.  "I don't call it the Quizbowl team," said Pig.  I call it the Geek Squad!  Pig and Frog didn't talk for the rest of the day.

One fine day, Hoggy Doggy woke up to the heavenly smell of bacon.  As he tottered down the stairs to see Ripster the raptor reading.  As he saw Hoggy he leapt in front of the oven.  "OH NO PIGGO," Ripster yelled.  "Other people have to eat!"

"OK," said Hoggy as he ate it all.  "You know, if this wasn't a child's fable I would probably deposit you out the nearest window!"   Ripster snarled.

Hoggy shrugged and tried to walk... but he couldn't!  He was too fat!

And there he stayed for 10 years.

Once upon a time there was a fast cheetah named Chad and there was a not as fast fox named Fritz.  Fritz was not fast, but he was very, very smart.  Fritz and Chad hated each other because, for one thing, Chad always brags about being so fast.

One day Fritz walked up to Chad and said, "I challenge you to a race."  Smiled Fritz, "O.K."  Chad agreed.  "But you better practice, because I am very fast!" grinned Fritz.

Chad went home scared.  What if Fritz was right!  I better practice, thought Chad.  He practiced all night and when he went to bed it was 5:30!!!.

At the starting line Fritz said, "I hope you practiced."   When the BANG!! set off, both of the competitors zipped off!  In the middle of the race Chad fell asleep because he was so tired!  Fritz got in front of sleeping Chad and won the race.

Fritz tricked Chad!!!!  THE END......?

Once upon a time, in a city called Townsville, there was going to be a big race.  The race was 10 miles with a tough terrain.  The winner was to get $1,000.  There were many racers, but in the eye of the spectators there was only one.   His name was Bud and he was a frog.

Bud was very arrogant and thought he was the best at everything he did.  He figured like everyone else that he would win the upcoming race.  But deep in the forest there lived a snail named Sterkle.  Sterkle was a hard working, intelligent animal.  He was planning on running the race.  He knew he would finish dead last but he didn't care.  There were exactly 5 days until the big race and it was sign-up time.  Bud was the first one to sign up and was waiting at the top of the line telling everyone how badly he was going to win the race and the $1,000 award.

Then Sterkle came up and was writing his name and Bud couldn't help it.  He started mocking Sterkle about how slow he was going to be out there and Sterkle didn't take it kindly.  When he got home he started to devise a plan to beat the Frog.  Sterkle called a few of his fellow snail family and told them what he was planning to do.

It was the morning of the race and everyone was very alive.   All the competitors were lined up on the starting line and warming up and stretching.  When Sterkle lined up, Bud came over and started mocking him.   Sterkle just sat there and smiled at him.  The race was about to start.   The starter shot the gun and the race began.

Bud took off way in front of everyone.  Then about half a mile ahead the snail popped out of the forest in front of Bud.  Bud couldn't believe his eyes.  He started going his full speed and blew past Sterkle.  Bud was going and going.  He ran until he couldn't see that snail anymore, then started a light jog.   In about another mile Bud saw the snail ahead of him.  His jaw dropped to the ground.  He ran up to the snail and asked him, “How did you get ahead of me?   I made sure I was way a head of you when I slowed down and I didn't see you pass me.”

"Well,” said Sterkle, “Maybe you just were not paying very good attention.”

“Whatever,” said Bud, then he took off again.  This time Bud sprinted his hardest to exactly the 6 mile mark and the last time he saw the snail was at the 2 mile mark.  Bud started to barricade the premises so that snail couldn't pass.  He built a brick wall 20 feet tall and at least a quarter mile long on both sides of the road.  As soon as he did that he started running again.   And at the 7 mile sign he saw that snail again.  He was in complete shock.   He was in so much furry he just ran and ran and ran.

Bud was at the 9 mile mark now and there was no sign of that snail anywhere.  A few minutes later he saw the finish line.  He went all out for the last few hundred yards.  He finished.  Then he noticed there was a large crowd all around someone or something.

He went over to see where the commotion was.  He then saw the snail in the center of the crowd.  Bud was in disbelief.  This had been the worst day of his life.  He just lost a race to a snail.  Sterkle came over to him and congratulated him.  Bud shook his hand in total rage but he couldn't show it because all the people were around them.  Bud then went home and so did Sterkle with his $1,000.

Waiting at his house were a few of his family snails.  He took his money and split it with them and said, “This is for pretending to be me and fooling that Frog.”

The lesson to this story is:  You should not ever be too arrogant, or you should not judge a book by its cover.

One day a monkey was swinging through the forest with his monkey friends.   One of the monkeys was swinging down by the ground and he saw a dog walking along a path.  The monkey looked at him and said, “What are you doing walking all alone in the forest.”

The dog just looked up at him and said, “I cannot swing like you monkeys, so I walk instead.”  The monkey felt bad for the dog so he jumped down for the trees and walked with him.  The dog wanted to swing like the monkeys, but he couldn't grab on to the branches.  The monkey wanted to be friends with the dog, but the monkey wanted to swing all the time.

One day the monkey and dog were walking through the forest and the dog told the monkey that he was going to swing with him and his monkey friends.

The monkey told the dog that he couldn't swing with him and his monkey friend.

The dogs asked, “Why?”

The monkey said, “Because dogs are not the right type of animal to be swinging through the forest and because you will make fun of yourself when you swing with all my other friends.”

The dog asked, “Why?”

The monkey said, “My friends will think that you are a really weird animal.”

Then the dog said, “So, I do what I like to do and if people make fun of me I don’t care.  I do what I want to do.”

Then the monkey was okay and he said, “Don’t tell anyone that I didn't warn you.” Then he took off.

Then the dog started to jump up into a tree.  He went higher and higher until he looked down and then he froze.  He didn't know what to do.   He had realized then that he couldn't get back down to the ground.

Later that day the monkey had found his dog friend sitting on a branch in a tree.  He asked him what he was doing up in the tree.

The dog said, “I was trying to swing like you monkeys, but I kind‘a got stuck.

Then the monkey said, “Wait here and I will go and get some of my monkey friends.”  He went and got some of his monkey friends and they all helped the dog get down by using a lot of vines.

On one sunny day, Turtle was excited because it was his birthday.  He would run around the house yelling in cheer, “it's my birthday, it's my birthday!”

His mother said, “Now Turtle settle down, you are not going to be this wild when your friends get here now are you?”

He replied, “ Well, I guess not. OK, I’ll settle down.”

His mother had baked him a big cake that had the whole Turtle family on top.  Turtle almost took a bite but mother caught him.  The doorbell rang and turtle rushed to the door.  When he opened it, Giraffe and Tiger came running in the door.  “Settle down, settle down children,” mother said in a pleasing voice.

After all of the cake and playing around, it was time to open presents.  Tiger gave Turtle his present first.  Turtle opened it with cheer.   “What’s in it?... it's, it's, a Green Truck?  Wahoo!” turtle yelled in excitement.  Now Giraffe gave Turtle his present.  “This time it is a Red Truck!  Thank you guys.”

When the three went to play, Turtle retrieved his Blue truck from his room.  When they were outside, Turtle was playing with all three of the toys.   Tiger and Giraffe were all alone.  They wanted to play too.  Tiger went up to Turtle and said, “Turtle, can you share so everybody gets a truck?”

Turtle replies, “Let me think ………. No!”

“But why?” Tiger complained.  “Because I want to play with ALL of the trucks,” Turtle shouted.

Tiger left crying.  Giraffe saw what happened so he got out different toys that Turtle, Tiger and he could all play with.  Giraffe found 3 cars to play with.  Giraffe and Tiger went up to turtle.  “Look,” said Giraffe “I got some cars for us to play with.”

Turtle said in excitement, “oh good, now more toys to play with.”

Tiger and Giraffe left.  They went to go play by themselves.   Turtle was all alone.  He was wondering where everybody was.  Turtle was really sad and he began to cry.  His mother came in the room and said, “What is the matter Turtle?”

He replied in a sad voice, “Nobody wants to play with me.”

“Tiger and Giraffe left because you didn't share,” his mother said.

Turtle went off to go find his friends.  He found Tiger and Giraffe in the park.  They saw Turtle coming up the hill.  They could see that he was sad. “We should go see if he wants to play with us,” Tiger said.

When they got there Turtle looked up and walked away. “Hey!   Wait, we want to play with you,” Tiger yelled.

Turtle came back and said he was sorry to Tiger and Giraffe.   “I really am sorry.  Can you forgive me?” Turtle said.

Tiger said in excitement, “Sure, come on let’s go play.”

So Turtle learned that sharing is very important and everyone needs a friend to share with.

Once upon a time, there lived a mama bunny, a papa bunny, and three little bunnies, whose names were Hoppity, Floppity, and Mop.  One day the mama bunny sent her three little bunnies on a mission to go and pick three large carrots for their dinner.   As the bunnies scrambled out the door, they were all shouting, "Me first, me first!"  Mama just rolled her eyes.  When the three little bunnies came to the trail that led to the farmer's garden, Hoppity exclaimed to Floppity, "I am going to pick the juiciest carrot there ever was!"  Floppity then said to Mop, "I am going to dig up the BIGGEST carrot there ever was!"  Then Mop bellowed to Hoppity, "I am going to choose the roundest carrot there ever was!"

When the three bunnies got to the garden they were as excited as they could be; they all smiled to themselves and gave out a little chuckle.  First, Hoppity saw a the juiciest carrot just sitting there waiting for him in the patch.   "Ah - ha!" yelped Hoppity.  Then Floppity saw the BIGGEST, most gigantic carrot there ever was.  "Wow - wee!"  Floppity jumped for joy.  Finally, Mop saw the roundest carrot there ever was.  It was deep orange and looked oh-so crunchy!  "Mmmmmmm!" thought Mop.  When the three bunnies got to their carrots, they each pulled and tugged, but they were not able to budge the carrots out of the ground.  So they sat down to take a rest.

All of a sudden the three bunnies heard a giggling sound.  It was the carrots!!  They were laughing, giggling, and teasing the tired little bunnies.  We'll show them thought all the bunnies, and they got up and went back to work.  They pulled and tugged some more, but to their surprise the carrots would still not budge!  So Hoppity had an idea, he called to Floppity, "Come and help me pull out this carrot."  The two bunnies tugged on the carrot once again, yet it still would not move and the two bunnies tumbled to the ground.  Now the bunnies were getting quite upset, but were even more determined to pull up those rude carrots.   Floppity and Hoppity called out "Come and help me pull out this carrot!"

When the three worked together to pull the carrots, guess what?   They were successful and each went home happy and with his carrot!

There once was an arrogant duck who lived in a cozy pond at the edge of the woods.  He thought very highly of himself and often didn't give others the respect they deserved.

One day his neighbor, the antelope gave his typical mid-morning greeting, and as usual the duck said nothing in return.  He didn't even wave.   This upset the antelope because he was a friendly guy who had never done anything that he knew of to offend the duck.  However, being the easy-going type, he just continued on with his walk.

In truth, the duck never even thought twice about how badly he treated the antelope day in, day out, each and every time the antelope greeted him.   The antelope simply didn't matter at all to him.

Later that day a huge storm picked up.  Lightning was bolting, thundering and rumbling and rain was pouring cats and dogs.  Suddenly the duck was lifted up by the wind and was tossed miles away.  He landed in a field of scratchy weeds and brush far from his cozy little pond.  He was cold, lost, and scared.   Unaccustomed to being so miserable, he had no idea what to do.

As he frantically looked around the antelope appeared to his left and offered to escort him back to his pond.  The duck gratefully accepted the help, suddenly aware every step of the way that without the antelope he would still be back in the awful stinky field.  He realized that he had been a selfish jerk and had never given the antelope the respect he deserved for being such a nice guy and yet the antelope had kept on treating him well, even willing to get him back home safely.

It was quite a startling thought for the duck, to realize that the antelope had treated him well, every single day, simply because the antelope respected others, and it was the right way to act.  The duck also had to admit that he had been doing just the opposite.  If he had encountered someone as selfish as himself while he was lost it that awful field, he might still be there.

From that day on, the duck and the antelope were friends.  Each morning when the antelope passed and gave a greeting, the duck not only returned the greeting, but he also gave a big wave.