Page 5 - SB-Newton and the Needy Newts

As I said, I knew very little about them before this time. It was interesting how both similar and different the newts and frogs are to one another. As I said, they both live on the ground and some in the water. They seem to like the same type of food, bugs (ugh). They like some of the same activities, like climbing, singing and such. But they also have differences. Newts have tails and frogs don’t. Frogs mostly get around by hopping but newts can’t hop. Frogs seem to be fairly satisfied with themselves but newts are ... needy. And that is why we have this story.
As I spent time on the lower branches, I noticed that frogs seem to be pretty happy with themselves. Don’t get me wrong, they like praise just as well as the rest of us. When one of them would make a particularly long jump from one rock to another the frogs would croak their approval, “Good jump!” and “Best I have seen all day.” And if the next frog tried the same jump but missed, there would be a choirs of “Nice try” and “Next time you will get it.” Sometimes they would give a friendly laugh and ask, “How cold is the water.”
Frogs never seemed to get upset if another frog caught a bigger bug or could jump farther. They were always encouraging each other to do their best and even seemed pleased when a friend managed to out do them in jumping or bug catching. The more I watched the frogs, the more I had to admire how well they got along and how nice they were to each other. And I admired how different they were from the newts. Have I told you about frogs, newts and colors?
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