1 A Marble and a Toad

该页暂无翻译

1 A Marble and a Toad "Give me back my marble!" Violet Briggs was yelling at a toad. The toad hopped away from her. It held a large marble in its mouth. It was Violet's favorite marble. The best one in her collection. She had been in her backyard playing with the marbles. Then the toad came. It picked up the marble and hopped away.

"Come back here!" Violet yelled. Violet chased the toad. It hopped across the green grass. Violet reached for it. She almost had it... Hop! It landed on a rock. Violet reached out again. Hop! It landed on a small patch of yellow buttercups. Violet tried to grab it... Hop! The toad landed on the roots of an old oak tree. Violet stopped running. She got down on her knees. The damp grass soaked through her pants.

The toad sat still on the roots of the tree. Slowly, Violet crawled to the toad. "I don't want to hurt you," she whispered. "I just want my marble back!" Violet held out her hand. She was so close! She could almost touch the toad's brown, bumpy skin. Hop! The toad hopped right into a hole in the tree trunk and disappeared. "No!" Violet cried. She looked inside the hole. A face looked back at her. But it wasn't a frog face. In fact, it wasn't the face of an animal at all! It was the face of a tiny person.