Snake Jake was crawling very, very slowly towards Pedro Persistence’s cottage, while Pedro was in his garden. Slithering up the steps Jake saw that Pedro’s door was open. As Jake reached the top step, Freddy the Frog bounced in front of him.

“Gung! What do you think you are doing Jake?”

“Uh, uh, I want to visit Pedro,” said Jake.

“Oh no you’re not. You know Pedro is working in his – gung! – garden. Now you tell me the truth.”

Jake took a deep breath, and said, “I’m hungry. I know that Pedro has some goodies in there.”

“And how do you know that?” asked Freddy.

“Because I saw the postman give him a box yesterday and I heard Pedro say there were cakes inside the box.”

Freddy was now very unhappy with Jake and began to scold him.

“Gung! So, you are going to sneak in his house and eat his cakes. Gung! That is stealing and that is wrong!”

“Oh bug off Freddy and get out of my face!”

“Well I am going to tell Pedro,” said Freddy, but just as he turned around he heard his dad calling him to come home right away because he needed Freddy’s help. So Freddy went home.

“Oh good!” thought Jake as he slithered into Pedro’s cottage.

Now, you might wonder why Jake did not gobble up Freddy since Jake is a snake and Freddy is a frog. Well, here at Ponderings Pond there is an agreement among many of the critters that they will not do such a thing to each other. The agreement, part of the Law of the Pond, was written by the Keeper of the Pond, and Jake and Freddy had signed that agreement.

Anyhow, Jake crawled through Pedro’s kitchen, sniffing the air as he went. A delightful aroma was coming from Pedro’s dining room, and sure enough there was plate of little cakes on a table.

Wrapping himself around a leg of the table, Jake slithered upward, reached the top and crawled over to the plate.

“Oh! They do look yummy!” he said. He inched his way over to the plate and licked some of the cakes.

Then, he took a bite — then another bite, and another, until he ate a cake.

“Wow that was delicious! I’ll have another.” And so, he ate a second one. Then he ate another, and another.

Then he got scared. What if Pedro would come back in and catch him? So Jake crawled off the table, out of the cottage and went home.

Pedro soon came in, drank some water and decided he would like to have a cake.

When he got to the table he saw there was only one cake left. He was very, very sad.

Jake was not too happy either. In fact, he was sick with a stomach ache. All he could do was lay in bed and groan for hours.

His stomach ache was gone the next day, but he still felt there was something wrong.

Jake thought a little crawling outside would help. As he crawled past a tree, he saw Freddy on the other side. He did not want to look at Freddy.

“Gung! How are you doing, Jake?” asked Freddy. Freddy could tell Jake had eaten Pedro’s cakes.

“Uh, not too well. I had a stomach ache. It’s gone now, but I still feel there is something wrong.”

“Gung! I think there is. You still have an ache — in your heart,” said Freddy. “You ought to tell Pedro what you did.”

“But he would hurt me,” cried Jake.

“Gung! I know Pedro. He is a very kind man. He will not hurt you. Gung! Go,” Freddy said.

Jake did. Pedro forgave him and told him to ask next time.

Then a very nice thought came into Jake’s little mind. He thought of a wonderful surprise for Pedro, which, Lord willing, you will read about a few episodes from now here at Ponderings Pond.