Evan loves the Frog and Toad stories, and one of his favorites is “Dragons and Giants” which appears in the book Frog and Toad Together. In this story, Frog and Toad set out to determine whether they are brave. Standing side by side while examining themselves in a mirror, Frog states, “We look brave.” But Toad is unconvinced and responds, “Yes, but are we?” They decide that climbing a mountain is a sure-fire way to answer that question. The story continues with our favorite passage:

They came to a dark cave.
A big snake came out of the cave.
“Hello lunch,” said the snake
when he saw Frog and Toad.
He opened his wide mouth.
Frog and Toad jumped away.
Toad was shaking.
“I am not afraid!” he cried.

Evan is thrilled every time by the snake’s classic “Hello lunch” line, and it is often repeated in our house.

So naturally, when I found the friendly fella’ pictured above sunning himself in our back yard on a Saturday afternoon, I immediately went inside and asked Evan if he’d like to come see. It’s just a little garter snake, but Evan naturally approached with caution. It was the first time he’d ever seen a snake in his back yard so we made sure to reassure him that this was a friendly snake who only enjoyed eating little bugs. After a few minutes, our friend zipped away under the fence. Since then, Evan has, on a couple occasions, headed outside saying — very bravely, I might add — “I’m going to look for the snake.”

… which brings us back to the question: Did Frog and Toad decide they were brave? Why not sit back and listen for yourself:

(There is also an extended and slightly bizarre claymation version of “Dragons and Giants” that dates back to 1987.)

That’s the end of the Seen in our yard series for now!

This entry was posted by Steve on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Photo, Yard/Garden. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.