Nell Makes a Pond Whistle — Beside the lily pond, Nell pressed a cattail stem between two flat stones and shaved it with a shell until it made a tiny peep. Read the full story →
Beside the lily pond, Nell pressed a cattail stem between two flat stones and shaved it with a shell until it made a tiny peep. She wanted to make a whistle all by herself before the evening frogs started their rubbery glonk-glonk concert. The mud smelled like rain and old leaves, and every time she blew, the sound came out as pffft, which made a dragonfly zigzag like it had heard a joke.
Nell trimmed the reed shorter. Peep! Peep-peep! Ripples spread from a lily pad, neat as bracelets. Then a bubble rose under her nose and answered, bloop-BLEEP-bloop. Out popped a turtle wearing a necklace of pondweed and a very serious expression. “Wrong key,” he said.
So Nell scooped mud, pressed pebble buttons into her whistle, and let the turtle test every note. By sunset, her handmade reed sang peep-bloop-peep, the frogs joined in, and Nell held it high with muddy, proud toes. If one bright lily pad looks extra wiggly, that may be where the turtle is keeping time beside the lily pond.
