30 STORIES OF EARTH AND SKY 



" What do frogs eat ? " 



" All kinds of meat and game ; we like animal 

 food." 



" Meat ? Game ? " 



" Yes, flies, insects, and such things ; and the big 

 water frogs, like Dahinda, eat little ducks and 

 lizards, snakes, mice almost everything. In 

 fact, Dahinda and his tribe are sometimes canni- 

 bal frogs. 



" We are more dainty, and when we come up to 

 your garden in summer, or you hear us calling for 

 rain in the trees on the lawn, you needn't be 

 afraid of us and throw stones into the trees, for 

 we only do good." 



" I thought the things in the trees were Tree 

 Toads. Do you belong to the Toad Family ? " 



" No, indeed ; they are clumsy, ugly things, with 

 short hind legs ; they cannot leap as we do, and 

 their hands and feet are not made webbed for 

 swimming. Their skins are thick and warty and 

 full of sour juice ; some of them are fine singers 

 though, and they are great bug catchers." 



" Please, Mr. Hyla Pickering, won't you tell me 

 how a tree frog can change colour? " 



" Ask Wabeno, the Magician," whispered a 

 voice from the thin mist that was rising from the 

 ground. 



