The four friends

Title

The four friends

Year

1939

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Mm·ck, 1939 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 95 The Four Friends By SIXTO M. RODRIGUEZ * LONG ago a Dragon-Fly, a MudDauber, a Snail, and a Shrimp lived together in a little house. They were happy and contented. Each one of them had a certain work to do. The. Mud-Dauber patched up the tiny holes in the roof and the walls of the house. With her little scoops of mud she was very clever at filling the cracks and ho I es in the house. The Sn a i I flattened a n d smoothed t h e mud which the l\lud-D au be r placed, so the roof and the w a 11 s always looked smo o t h Such was the wonderful friendship of these four creatures that they were often mentioned as the models of good comradeship. They served as examples to the other creatures of the neighborhood, who likewise became friendly with each other and industrious. But alas! happiness cannot last forever. 0 n e bright morning the four friends decided to go to the river for a little outing. a s i f nothing has been put Each had work to do. But the Dragon-FI y said that before she could go she must have her hair shampooed. The Dragon-Fly there to mar the beauty of the house. The Dragon-Fly flew about all day long-from morning to night-to hunt for food. She was the one who provided food for the four of them. The Shrimp kept the yard and the house clean. With her fan-like tail she swept and swept, so the yard and the house were never dirty or untidy. "'Teacher, Pacdal Elementary School, Baguio, never neglected her hair. She requested her friend, the Mud-Dauber, to shampoo her hair. The Muri-Dauber did so, but .I am sorry to say she shampooed too vigorously, and-snap !-off went the DragonFly's head. The Mud-Dauber was frightened. Her friend, the 1Dragon-Fly, lay decapitated and lifeless on the ground. (Please turn to page 118.) 118 THE FQUR FRIENDS (Continued frorri page 95) The poor M u d - D a u b e r jumped about so much thatcrack !-her w.aist broke in two, and she died instantly. The Snail had seen the two tragedies. She began to weep and wail. "Poor Draggie and Muddi~ are dead," she wept. She wailed so loudly that she actually loosened her body from the shell-rip! rip!and in a Jittle while she, too, died. Only the last of the four friends, the S h r i m p, remained. That morning she had busied herself with cleaning the yard before they should go on their outing. While she was at wor)\, her attention was attracted by the loud walling of the Snail. Soon she learned that her two friends, the Dragon-Fly and the Mud-Dauber, were no more. And then, before her very eyes, her friend, the Snail, came to an unhappy end, so that she was the only one· left. "Poor Draggie and GUESS MY NAME (Answe,·s fro·m pnge 111) I.An fC:JCJ THE YOUNG CITIZEN Muddie and Snailie are all dead, dead," she wept. "Oh, what shall I do?" Marek, 1989 MAKING OUR TOWN BEAUTIFUL (Contfnued from page 116) Announcer: Our principal She, too, began jumping will now award the prize. and lamenting. Hither and Mr. Cruz: This school is thither she jumped, neither proud to have a pupil like Maseeing nor caring where she rio Jovito. The ideas in his went. Suddenly she landed in composition are good, and he a pot of boiling hot water has explained them well. We which the Dragon-Fly had are all proud ·of Mario. Puprep.ared that morning to pils, you have heard his comcook their rice. Into the position. Now we must begin water she went-sizz ! sizz ! a campaign to get th e s e -and instantly poor Shrimp- things done in our town, and ie was scalded to· death-a so make our town beautiful. dreadful fate which caused Next Monday I shall call you the end of the last of the four all to the auditorium and anfriends. noun~e our plans. And now The news of the terrible to Mario J ovito, the winner of happenings spr~ad arid all the this contest, I award this neighborhood mourned for splendid book, Rizal: Man Draggie and Mudd i e and and Martyr by Laubach. I Snailie and Shrimpie. They congratulate y o u, M ·• r i o. buried them in the yard of (Gives Mario the book and the little house where the shctkes hands with him. There four had lived so happily. is much cippla:u.<;e. Mario bows To this day the folk of that his thanks to Mr. Cruz ctnd to community tell of the unhap- , the A.ssembly.) pv fate which overtook the Announce~: Now we ~hall Dragon-Fly, the Mud-Dauber, stand and smg ~ur nat10nal the Snail, and the Shrimp. anthem, after which we shall The always end their sad r~turn to our rooms. (T~e story b re ea tin this an- song is su1~g. Then all pu'!11ls y Y p g. d pa.SR to their room.<;. Curtmn.) cient saying: "Happ mess an sadness are the two extremes C&oss:WoRD PUZZLE of life. They come one after anothe1·. You are happy today, but tomorrow you may be sad or-dead." 1 CHOOSING THE WORD (Ans1ce1'8 from page 111) 2 1. is 2. go 3. is 4. her 5. met 3 6. play 7. going 8. was 9. has JO. play 11. take 12. killed 4 13. for 14. bring 15. were (Answe1·s from page 111) 1 ~ 3 4 K I N G I R 0 N N 0 R A G N A T

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