Atondido Stories
He ran and ran until his little heart was beating so fast that it
seemed as if it would burst. At last he arrived at the goal of the
race which the toad had set and there sat the toad's brother who
looked so much like him that the lamb couldn't tell them apart.
The lamb went back to his pasture very meekly and quietly. He
acknowledged that he had been beaten in the race.
The next morning the toad said to him, "Even though you
did not run fast enough to win the race, still you are a very fast
runner. I have told the daughter of the king about you and I
have said to her that some day she shall see me riding on your
back with a bridle in your mouth as if you were my horse."
The lamb was very angry. "Perhaps you are strong enough to
pull me into the sea, and perhaps you can beat me when we run
a race," said the lamb, "but never, never in the world will I be
your horse."
Time passed and the sunshine was very bright and the soft,
gentle breezes were very sweet. The lamb was so happy again
that he forgot all about how the toad had pulled him into the
sea, and how the toad had beaten him at running the race. He
was very sorry for the toad when he saw him all humped up in a
disconsolate little heap one day. "O, poor toad, are you sick?" he
asked. "Isn't there something I can do to help you?"
The toad told him how very sick he was. "There is something
you could do to help me," he said, "but I don't believe that you
are quite strong enough or can travel quite fast enough."
The lamb took a deep breath and blew out his chest. "I'll show
you," he said. "Just tell me what it is."
The toad replied that he had promised to be at a party that
afternoon at the house of the king's daughter and he did not see
how he could possibly get there unless some one would carry
him.
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