“Gung! It’s a great day for croquet,” said Freddy Frog to Pedro Persistence. He remembered what fun they had the other day playing croquet.

Today was a bright sunny day at Ponderings Pond, and Pedro readily agreed. However, when he looked at how tall the grass was around his cottage, he said, “¡Si! But I think I need to mow the lawn first.”

“Yes, gung, it is kind of high. Tell you what, gung, I will help you by picking up the trash the wind has blown onto your lawn,” said Freddy.

“That you very much señor Frog,” said Pedro.

So while Pedro readied his lawn mower, Freddy hopped and hopped all around the cottage, picking up trash. It was kind of fun for him because every now and then he found a crispy insect to eat.

“Gung! Ummmm! Delicious! Crunchy!,” Freddy would say when he found a bite to eat.

In the meantime Pedro had taken the mower out of his shed, checked the oil, and filled its tank with gasoline. He just had enough gasoline on hand to fill the tank on his mower.

Freddy hopped over to him and said, “I am finished picking up the trash.”

“Very good Freddy. Thank you very much.”

Pedro then yanked the cord and the mower started.

Back and forth, back and forth went Pedro. He liked to mow the lawn.

He did the one side, front and back of his cottage, then finally got to the shady side.

Then, the mower stopped. It was out of gasoline.

“Oh no, it is out of gasoline, and the gasoline stations are closed now,” said Pedro. The whole lawn was mowed except for a patch on the shady side of the cottage.

“What can I do?” Pedro asked. Then he thought of it. Perhaps Donkey Don would come over and eat that patch of tall grass. So Pedro called Don and asked him to come over.

Don soon showed up. Pedro said to him, “Señor Don, I need some help and I think you can help me.”

“Heehaw! Me?” asked Don. “I am just a donkey. I cannot do much.”

“Oh, but I think you can,” said Pedro. “You like to eat grass. ¿No?”

“Heehaw! I sure do like to eat grass,” said Don.

“Good! I was mowing my lawn and the mower ran out of gasoline. The gas stations are closed now, and I have a patch that I could not finish,” said Pedro, and asked, “Would you please eat that for me?”

“Haw! Heehaw! Sure!” said Don.

So Pedro showed Don the patch, and Don began to eat it.

“Haw! Delicious!” Don said, and ate up the grass.

“Yay! Thank you Don. Now we can play croquet,” said Pedro.

“Haw! May I play?” asked Don.

“You sure can,” said Pedro.

“I would like to help setting up the game,” said Don.

“Thank you again,” said Pedro.

So Don helped to set up the game.

“Heehaw! I feel so good that I was able to help. I feel like a winner,” said Don.

“You are a winner, because you are a big helper,” said Pedro.

Then Pedro, Freddy and Don had a great time playing croquet.