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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to a special taster of our new

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premium only story. We hope you like it. He yo, Hello,

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I'm Josephine and this is the Animal Tales podcast, home

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to over four hundred and fifty stories written just for you.

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Our Friday story is especially for our premium subscribers only.

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Ari is a premium member for Massachusetts U s A.

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And he would like a story with a crane, a stork,

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a crocodile, a frog, and a turtle. Don't forget to

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listen to the animal facts after the story to learn

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more about some of these creatures. For now, it's time

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to sit back and get comfy, because it's time to

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begin crocodile fears. Growing up in a swamp might sound

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like an unpleasant place to live, but for Ari, it

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was the best place in the world. Ari was a crocodile,

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and he thought nothing could be better than the swamp's cool,

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murky waters. You're probably imagining Ari as a huge, long crocodile,

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covered in lumpy scuts and with a mouthful of enormous teeth. Well,

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he wasn't quite like that, although he hoped to be

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one day when he grew up. Right now, Ari wasn't

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very big at all, not even as long as a

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house cat, but that didn't bother him much. That was

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because he was surrounded by ten brothers and sisters, all

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of whom had hatched together. And then there was their mum.

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Now she really was a big crocodile, and that meant

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that all the other creatures of the swamp, particularly the predators,

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stayed well away. It was these other animals that fascinated Ari.

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As a wild animal, he had no TV to watch,

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books to read, or phones or tablets to look things

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up on, so the only way he was going to

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learn about the world around him was to look at

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it for himself. Stay close, warned his mum as he

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swam to investigate a snail suspended over the water upon

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a leaf, I will Ari called back, although he was

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hardly listening. How could he when there was such a

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bizarre animal in front of him. It had a soft,

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squidgy body and a hard curling shell. A deep buzzing

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sound thrumbed over his head, and Ari looked up in

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time to see a dragon fly buzz past. It looked

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so big and moved so strangely, darting this way and

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that hovering still for a moment, then zipping away once more.

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Ari couldn't help himself, creating a path through the green

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surface plants as he tried to follow. Then beside a

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half submerged log, the dragon fly put on a burst

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of speed and disappeared from sight. That was amazing, grinned

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the little crocodile, scrambling up the logs side. Perhaps from

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up here he could see more strange creatures, and he

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was in luck. He was being watched by a whooping crane.

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The tall white bird stood knee deep in the water.

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It had a long pointed beak and a red patch

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on top of its head. Hi, said Ari. The whooping

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crane look surprised to be spoken to er Hello, it replied,

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aren't you afraid of me? Why would I be afraid,

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asked the little crocodile. I don't know a thing about you.

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And besides, I'm with my mum and all my brothers

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and sisters. I don't see them, said the whooping crane.

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Unable to hide its grin, Ari had a good view

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around him from the top of the log. Worryingly, his

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family were nowhere to be seen. Oh no, said Ari,

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I've lost them. But said the whooping crane as it

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took a step forward. I've found you. If you'd like

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to hear more, please join our premium service. You can

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find out how in the description. The premium service means

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you can listen to all animal tell stories advert free,

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get bonus stories, and we guarantee to turn your animal

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suggestion into a future tale. I look forward to seeing

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you there