Squdge was a large, stout, active duckling. He could run faster than any of the others, and so he was the first to reach the river bank. There he began looking about for any tid-bits he could find in the way of a fat beetle, a grass-hopper or a tadpole. He was a very greedy duckling. Often and often his mother was obliged to tell him not to be so greedy, but to share things with his little brothers and sisters, but he was not always willing to do this.
Now as he peered about with his bright black eyes he suddenly espied near the mud-bank a little round hole, and just showing over the edge of the hole was what looked like the tail of a particularly fine, fat worm.
“Oh, ho!” thought Squdge to himself. “Here’s a fine fat morsel. I’ll just pull it out and eat it before any of the others come to share it with me.”
With his broad little beak he made a dive at the tail, and pinching it tight he began to pull.
She gave one to Fluffy and one to Curly-tail
Now the tail did not belong to a worm at all, but to a little brown snake that had been lying there in the hole (which was its home) fast asleep.