Once there was a very young little dog
whose name was Angus, because his mother and his father came from Scotland.
Although the rest of Angus was quite small,
his head was very large and so were his feet.
Angus was curious about many places and
many things:
He was curious about what lived under the
sofa and in dark corners and who was the little dog in the mirror.
He was curious about thingswhich come apart and those thingswhich dont come apart; such as slippers and
gentlemens suspenders
and things like that.
Angus was also curious about
things-outdoors but he could not find out much about them because of a leash.
The leash was fastened at one end to the
collar around his neck and at the other end to somebody else.
But Angus was most curious of all about a
noise which came from the other side of the large green hedge at the end of the
garden.
The noise usually sounded like this: Quack!
Quack! Quackety! Quack!
But sometimes it sounded like this:
Quackety! Quackety! Quackety! Quack!!
One day the door between outdoors and
indoors was left open by mistake; and out went Angus without the leash or
somebody else.
Down the little path he ran until he came
to the large green hedge at the end of the garden.
He tried to go around it, but it was much
too long. He tried to go over it, but it was much too high.
So Angus went under the large green hedge
and came out on the other side. There, directly in front of him were two white
ducks.
They were marching forward, one-foot-up and
one-foot-down. Quack! Quack! Quackety! Quack!
Angus said: Woo-oo-oof!!!
Away went the ducks all of a flutter.
Quackety! Quackety! Quackety! Quackety!
Quackety!!!
Angus followed after. Soon the ducks
stopped by a stone watering trough under a mulberry tree. Angus stopped, too.
Each duck dipped a yellow bill in the cool clear water. Angus watched.
Each duck took a long drink of the cool
clear water. Still Angus watched. Each duck took another long drink of the cool
clear water.
Then Angus said: Woo-oo-oof!!!
Away the ducks scuttled and Angus lapped
the cool clear water.
Birds sang in the mulberry tree. The sun
made patterns through the leaves over the grass.
The ducks talked together: Quack! Quack!
Quack!
Then:
Hiss-s-s-s-s-s-s!!!
Hiss-s-s-s-s-s-s!!!
The first duck nipped Anguss tail!
Hiss-s-s-s-s-s-s!!!
Hiss-s-s-s-s-s-s!!!
The second duck flapped his wings!
Angus scrambled under the large green
hedge, scurried up the little path, scampered into the house, and crawled under
the sofa.
For exactly three minutes by the clock,
Angus was not curious about anything at all.