It was lunchtime at Ponderings Pond and Seymour was one very hungry giraffe. So he raised up his very long neck to take a look around.

He soon saw a bush not too far away and it looked like it had many leaves on it. He was really happy to see that bush and ran as quick as he could to it.

It was also nice and shady at the bush, and it just seemed like the ideal place for a meal — at least for a giraffe.

As he looked at the bush, he saw that it had thorns on its stems. At the tips of the stems there were some round ends. Most of those ends were green, but a few had some red peeking out.

Seymour wondered what the plant could be, and wondered even more as to what it might taste like. He thought something green with a little red in it should be pretty tasty.

Since he did not want to bump his thread on any of the thorns, Seymour took his time as he looked through the bush.

All the leaves looked delicious, so Seymour decided to taste a few.

“Wait! Stop! Please do not eat that bush!”

Seymour looked around to see who had said that, and saw Pedro Persistence coming towards the bush.

“Hi Pedro,” said Seymour.

“Hola Seymour,” said Pedro, who continued, “Please do not eat my rose bush.”

“Oh, I was not going to eat the bush, only the leaves that are on the bush.”

“Ah! Please do not do that either. That bush needs its leaves. It is a rose bush,” said Pedro.

“Sorry,” said Seymour.

“It is ok. It looks like no harm has been done. Now, if you would eat the bugs that like to eat the leaves, that would be a big help,” said Pedro.

“Sorry, I do not eat bugs,” said Seymour. But then, he remembered a creature that did.

“Señor Pedro, I know of a creature at Ponderings Pond that would be glad to eat the bugs off of this bush — Freddy Frog,” said Seymour.

“Ah yes! That is right,” said Pedro.

Seymour thought he had seen something green moving around, so he stretched his neck upward. In the distance he could see Freddy.

“Hey Freddy! Come here please,” said Seymour.

When Freddy hopped over, Pedro said to him, “Señor Freddy, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Gung! Sure, go ahead,” said Freddy.

“As the days get warmer, could you please look at this bush every now and then to see if there are any bugs on it. If there are bugs, would you please eat them. This is a rose bush and the bush needs all of its leaves so nice roses can grow,” said Pedro.

Freddy looked at the bush. “Gung! I’d be hoppy, I mean happy, to eat the bugs,” said Freddy.

“¡Muchas gracias señor Frog,” said Pedro.

Though everyone was happy, Seymour was still very hungry. The leaves on the rose bush looked very good to eat, but now he knew he was not supposed to eat them.

“Well, I am sorry I have to leave, but I am hungry and need some leaves to eat. I will see all of you later,” Seymour said and started walking away.

Pedro felt sorry for Seymour because Seymour was hungry, but Pedro knew that the leaves on the rose bush should not be eaten. It was bad enough that the bugs would eat the leaves.

Then Pedro thought of it. He had a bush that Seymour could eat. So he ran after Seymour and said, “Señor Seymour, I have just remembered. There is a bush that I have that you can eat leaves off of.”

“There is?” said Seymour.

“¡Si señor! I will show you,” said Pedro.

He brought Seymour over to a big bush.

“Oooo! This looks yummy!” said Seymour.

“Si. You would do me a big favor if you started to eat the leaves at the top. That way I will not have to trim that bush,” said Pedro.

“I would be glad to,” said Seymour. Seymour looked at the bush more closely and saw that it had many more leaves than the rose bush. They looked juicier too.

Now they were all really happy. There seemed to be a bush for each creature, and both creatures had plenty to eat for a long time.