It was a wonderful day for hunting, so Snake Clarabelle, who is usually just called Clara, crawled out from the woodpile she lived in to see what she could find to eat.

Snake Clara liked her woodpile house very much and even decorated her entrance with a golden bell. She really liked that bell because it was kind of shiny and would ring when there was enough wind. Being a snake, it was hard for her to put the bell up, but she had many friends at Ponderings Pond that had gladly helped her.

So Snake Clara went off to find a mole or rat for lunch.

After about an hour, a couple of other snakes slithered by her house — they were snakes Jake and Joe.

Jake and Joe were not at all hungry, but they were in a playful mood. As they looked at the woodpile, they saw the shiny golden bell.

“Look at that Joe. What is it?” asked Jake.

“I don’t know. Let’s go see,” said Joe.

Both crawled over to look at it.

“It’s hard to reach,” said Joe. But then, he coiled back just enough to do a snake leap. When he jumped up, he hit the bell and it rang.

“Wow! Hey I have an idea for a game, but we have to get that thing. I think people call it a bell,” said Joe. “Help me get it down.”

So Joe crawled on top of the back of Jake and stuck his head in the bell. He kept pushing up and down until the bell was finally free.

“Got it!” said Joe. “Now let’s take it over to one of those round blocks in the field.”

So both snakes dragged the bell over to a round block.

“What’s your plan Joe?”

“Let’s put it on the block,” said Joe and so they did.

“Now, go ahead, you climb up there, and nudge it to the edge until it falls. This will be fun,” explained Joe.

So Jake crawled up on the block and pushed the bell with his nose until it fell. When it hit the ground, it rang, and Joe laughed a whole lot. Jake laughed too, but Joe laughed more.

“Ah rah ha ha ha! Dats funny,” said Joe. “Do it again.” And Jake did.

Then they took turns. Joe pushed it off while Jake was on the ground.

They kept doing it over and over again, taking turns and laughing until their sides hurt.

Finally, they had enough and decided to leave. However, they were so tired from having fun that they just left the bell there.

In the meantime, Clara was crawling back from hunting. She had caught some moles and was quite happy.

“La dee la dee la la,” sang Clara. She was in very happy mood and she was all set to crawl back into her woodpile house and take a nap.

But then, as she got near her house, she looked up to see the bell. It was always nice to see the bell after a hunt, but now it was gone!

“Oh no! My bell! Where is my bell?” asked Clara, and then she began to cry a whole lot.

“Oh! Boohoohoohoo! Boohoohoo!” she cried and kept on crying as she crawled into her house.

As she kept crying and crying, Freddy Frog hopped by and heard Clara crying. He knocked on her door.

“Gung! Clara, Clara, what’s the matter?” asked Freddy.

Clara crawled over to her entrance and said, “Something has happened to my bell and I don’t know where it is.”

“I hope, gung, no one stole it,” said Freddy.

“I’m afraid that someone did. The wind is not strong enough to blow it way. Oh, I do miss my golden bell,” said Clara and began to cry again.

“Tell you what, let’s pray about your missing bell,” said Freddy, and so they did.

“Thank you Freddy. I feel much better now after praying. I would feel a whole lot better if I could find my bell,” she said.

“Gung! Perhaps you will Clara. Perhaps you will,” said Freddy.

And, we most likely will see what happens about this bell in an upcoming story of Ponderings Pond.