Speaker 1: The bragging grasshopper. Gus measured every jump before his feet
Speaker 1: touched the ground. That was at least twelve leaves, he announced.
Speaker 1: It was four, said Mina Mouse. Large leaves. Mina wrote
Speaker 1: four on her scorecard. The Meadows Summer Games were two
Speaker 1: days away. Gus had entered the long jump, high jump,
Speaker 1: seed toss, log balance, and loudest song. You cannot win
Speaker 1: loudest song, said Wren. You chirp with your legs. Gus
Speaker 1: rubbed one wing against one leg and produced a sharp buzz.
Speaker 1: Wren tilted her head. I withdraw my objection. On the
Speaker 1: morning of the games, Gus told everyone he would break
Speaker 1: five records. He set it near the rabbit burrow beside
Speaker 1: the pond and directly into a hollow stump because the
Speaker 1: echo made the number sound larger. His first event was
Speaker 1: the seed toss. Gus threw a sunflower seed with both
Speaker 1: front feet. It went backward and landed in Mina's cup.
Speaker 1: Do I get points for accuracy, he asked. Not in
Speaker 1: this event. At the log balance, Gus crossed quickly while
Speaker 1: waving to the crowd. He did not see a patch
Speaker 1: of moss. He slid off and landed in a fern.
Speaker 1: The log moved, he said. The log did not answer.
Speaker 1: Gus still had his best events left. In the high jump,
Speaker 1: he cleared the first twig, the second twig, and a
Speaker 1: stem nearly as high as Mina's ears. Between events, Gus
Speaker 1: offered advice nobody had requested. He told Frog to croak
Speaker 1: from the stomach and Wren to keep her knees together.
Speaker 1: He advised Mina to write larger numbers on the scorecard
Speaker 1: so the records would look more impressive. Mina turned the
Speaker 1: scorecard around. Would you like to see your seed-toss score
Speaker 1: in larger writing? Gus decided she was doing fine. Then
Speaker 1: Wren cleared it too. Birds should not be allowed, Gus complained.
Speaker 1: I hopped, Wren said. My wings were folded. For the
Speaker 1: long jump, Mina marked the ground with smooth pebbles. Gus
Speaker 1: bounced on his back legs. Move the last pebble farther,
Speaker 1: He said, that is the record. It looks close. Gus leapt.
Speaker 1: For one wonderful second, he believed every claim he had made.
Speaker 1: Then his foot clipped the record pebble. He tumbled through
Speaker 1: a clump of clover and stopped upside down beside the pond.
Speaker 1: Nobody laughed until Gus said, I meant to examine the roots.
Speaker 1: Even Gus laughed at that. The final event was loudest song.
Speaker 1: Wren sang a bright, clear call. Frog filled the pond
Speaker 1: with a deep croak. Gus rubbed his wings and legs
Speaker 1: until the meadow rang. Halfway through, one leg cramped. His
Speaker 1: chirp ended in a squeak. Frog won. At the picnic afterward,
Speaker 1: Gus sat beside Mina and counted his prizes. He had none.
Speaker 1: I broke a record, he said. Mina looked at him.
Speaker 1: Most events entered without winning. Most clover collected on one head.
Speaker 1: Three leaves were stuck between his feelers. Mina added a fourth.
Speaker 1: Frog placed his blue ribbon on the table while he ate.
Speaker 1: A breeze carried it toward the pond. Gus jumped and
Speaker 1: caught it before it touched the water. Record rescue, he'd said.
Speaker 1: Good catch, Frog replied. Gus waited for everyone else to
Speaker 1: announce it. Nobody did, but Frog moved over and shared
Speaker 1: his berry pie. The next week, Gus practiced the long
Speaker 1: jump alone. He measured each attempt honestly. Four leaves, four
Speaker 1: and a half, then five. When Wren flew past, she
Speaker 1: asked how far he had jumped. Gus looked at the mark.
Speaker 1: Five leaves. Large leaves? Ordinary ones. At the autumn games,
Speaker 1: Gus entered only the long jump and loudest song. He
Speaker 1: finished second in both. He carried his two red ribbons
Speaker 1: around the meadow without mentioning them once. They were pinned
Speaker 1: to his chest, so mentioning them would have been unnecessary.
Speaker 1: The end. As always, visit us at readthetale.com for all
Speaker 1: your favorite tales and stories.