Theme: Kindness. Friendship

The cricket and the frog
 

	The cricket Antenor was a nice guy. He was known for many animals, as he used to take long night walks
through the Blue Forest in order to meet other animals and make new friends.

The Blue Forest was a beautiful place, full of beautiful flowers, trees, and all kinds of nourishment: plants, fruits, and a beautiful lake where you could drink clean water. Antenor, the cricket, lived on the edge of this lake, in a beautiful little house built by him. He had many neighbors who also lived near the lake and were friends with him.

	Close to the lake, but on the opposite side, lived the frog Valdemar, a very
hardworking guy who liked to stay at home, reading and listening to music.

One night, Antenor decided to take a walk to a place he had never been before. He had heard that to the east of the Blue Forest lived a bird called Janjão, who knew exactly when it was going to rain. And he loved knowing the weather forecast.

Everything was going well on the Antenor tour. Suddenly, however, the moon disappeared, and everything became very dark. Antenor, who was not afraid of the dark, continued his walk. It was then that he felt a strange thing on his feet... The ground was different...

- Help! - shouted Antenor - Help!

He had fallen into a swamp. Swamp is a place where the soil is damp, and animals can sink until die by suffocation. The swamp was surrounded by barbed wire, but as it was very dark Antenor didn’t see the danger.

In that moment of difficulty, Antenor still managed to find the strength to say a prayer to his guardian angel. And he continued to shout:

 - Help! I'm sinking!

What a tragic end for Antenor! He was terrified. That's when he heard:

- Where are you?

- Here - the cricket shouted back. - Who would it be? - thought Antenor.

It was Valdemar, the frog, who was passing by. He was going to borrow a book from Diogenes, a frog friend of his who lived on the east side of the Blue Forest.

Valdemar then saw the cricket and, without getting too close, so as not to fall into the swamp too, he took a wand and extended it to the cricket.

Antenor held on tight, and Valdemar pulled the cricket out of the swamp.

The cricket was very grateful for the help. Valdemar had saved his life!

Soon the two introduced themselves and became friends.

That night, they went together to the house of the bird Janjão and learned many things about the weather. On the way back, they borrowed the book from Diogenes, Valdemar's friend.

Talking, they discovered that both were very fond of music. Antenor lent his music CDs to Valdemar, who was delighted. They are even thinking of forming a duo to sing at the Spring Festival.

And to think that this friendship started when Valdemar decided to help someone, even without knowing who it was. But the frog already knew that helping others is good for those who are helped and also for those who help.

Text by Claudia Schmidt, from the website Seara do Mestre

Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com

marcelapradacontato@gmail.com