“Hello, Lulu!” called Bawly.
“Hello!” answered Lulu. “Come on, Bawly, let’s see who can throw a stone the farthest; you or I.”
“Oh, pooh!” cried the frog boy. “I can, of course. You’re only a girl.”
Well, would you ever believe it? When Bawly and Lulu were out on the shore of the pond and had thrown their stones, Lulu’s went ever so much farther than did Bawly’s. Oh! she was a good thrower, Lulu was!
“Well, anyhow, I can beat you jumping!” cried Bawly. “Now, let’s try that game.”
So they tried that, and, of course, Bawly won, being a very good jumper. He jumped over two stones, three sticks, a little black ant and also a big one, a hump of dirt, two flies and a grain of sand. And, as for Lulu, she only jumped over a brown leaf, a bit of straw, part of a stone and a little fuzzy bug.
“Now we’re even,” said Bawly, who felt good-natured again. “Let’s go for a walk in the woods and we’ll get some wild flowers and maybe something will happen. Who knows?”
“Who knows?” agreed Lulu. So off they started together, talking about the weather and ice cream cones and Fourth of July and all things like that. For it was Saturday, you see, and there was no school.
Well, pretty soon, in a little while, not so very long, as Bawly was hopping, and Lulu was wobbling along, they heard a noise in the bushes. Now, of course, when you’re in the woods there is always likely to be a noise in the bushes. Sometimes it’s made by a fairy, and sometimes by a giant and sometimes by a squirrel or a rabbit, or a doggie, or a kittie, and sometimes only by the wind blowing in the treetops. And you can never tell what makes the noise until you look. So Bawly and Lulu looked to see what made the noise in the bushes.
“Maybe it’s a giant!” exclaimed Lulu.