After a rainy night, Pip the duckling jumps into the biggest puddles he can find. But when tiny puddles keep appearing beside his boots, he wonders if one is following him around the garden. As Pip searches for the puddle’s home, he discovers that some mysteries have the simplest and funniest answers.
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Rain had fallen all night.
By morning, the grass was shining and puddles covered the path beside the duck pond.
Pip, a little yellow duckling, pulled on his bright red rain boots.
“Perfect puddle weather!” he cheered.
He rushed outside and jumped into the biggest puddle he could find.
SPLASH!
Water flew over his head.
SPLISH! SPLASH!
Pip laughed and flapped his wings. Soon, his soft yellow feathers were completely wet.
After one final jump, Pip waddled towards the garden
Drip, drop. Drip, drop.
Pip noticed a tiny puddle beside his boots.
He waddled around the apple tree and hopped over a stone, but the puddle appeared each time he stopped.
Pip’s eyes widened.
“I have a following puddle!”
At first, Pip thought it was wonderful. He marched through the garden like the leader of a parade.
“Come along, little puddle!”
Waddle, waddle.
Drip, drop.
But soon Pip began to worry.
“Perhaps it is following me because it has nowhere to live.”
Pip decided to find the puddle a home.
First, he took it to the flower bed.
“You can live with the daisies,” he said.
“They love water.”
Pip stepped away. But when he stopped near the gate, another puddle appeared.
“You followed me again!”
Next, Pip tried the vegetable patch.
“You can live beside the carrots.”
But the puddle followed him from there too.
Pip tried the birdbath, a hollow beside a stone and even a little hole Mole had dug.
Wherever Pip went, a tiny puddle appeared.
At last, Pip met Tilly Turtle near the pond.
“Tilly, I need your help! A puddle keeps following me.
I’ve tried to find it a home, but it won’t stay anywhere.”
Tilly looked behind Pip. She looked beneath him. Then she studied his wet, untidy feathers.
A drop rolled from the end of Pip’s tail.
Plip!
It landed beside his boot.
Tilly smiled. “Perhaps your puddle wants to live in the pond.”
“That must be it!” Pip cried.
He began leading it towards the water.
Just then, the grey clouds moved apart.
Warm sunshine touched the garden.
Tiny drops sparkled all over Pip’s feathers like diamonds.
One drop slid down his wing. Another rolled from his tummy. Three more fell from his tail.
Plip! Plip! Plip!
They gathered beside his boots and formed a tiny puddle.
Pip looked at the puddle, then at his wet feathers.
“The puddle isn’t following me!” he cried.
Tilly shook her head. “No. You are carrying it!”
Pip laughed. “It was only water dripping from my feathers!”
The warm sun soon dried him. Pip walked around the apple tree and hopped over the stone.
No puddle appeared.
Moral: Look carefully when something seems mysterious. Sometimes it has a very simple explanation.
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