Verna Aardema Quotes

“A crow saw the rabbit running for her life. He flew into the forest crying kaa, kaa, kaa! It was his duty to spread the alarm in case of danger. A monkey heard the crow. He was sure that some dangerous beast was prowling near.”

“Meanwhile the mosquito had listened to it all from a nearby bush. She crept under a curly leaf, semm, and was never found and brought before the council.”

“One morning a mosquito saw an iguana drinking at a waterhole. The mosquito said, ‘Iguana, you will never believe what I saw yesterday.’ ‘Try me,’ said the iguana. The mosquito said, ‘I saw a farmer digging yams that were almost as big as I am.’ ‘What’s a mosquito compared to a yam?’ snapped the iguana grumpily. ‘I would rather be deaf than listen to such nonsense!’ ”

″ ‘But, King,’ he cried, ‘it was the iguana’s fault. He wouldn’t speak to me. And I thought he was plotting some mischief against me. When I crawled into the rabbit’s hole, I was only trying to hide.’ ”

“All the animals laughed when they saw the iguana coming, badamin, badamin, with the sticks still stuck in his ears!”

″ ‘Rabbit,’ cried the king, ‘why did you break a law of nature and go running, running, running, in the daytime?’ ‘Oh, King,’ said the rabbit, ‘it was the python’s fault. I was in my house minding my own business when that big snake came in and chased me out.’ ”

“So, it was the iguana who frightened the python, whot scared the rabbit, who startled the crow, who alarmed the monkey, who killed the owlet - and now Mother Owl won’t wake the sun so that the day can come.”

“Now it was Mother Owl who woke the sun each day so that the dawn could come. But this time, when she should have hooted for the sun, she did not do it. The night grew longer and longer. The animals of the forest knew it was lasting much too long. They feared that the sun would never come back.”

“As the monkey was crashing through the treetops, he happened to land on a dead limb. It broke and fell on an owl’s nest, killing one of the owlets.”

“But because of this the mosquito has a guilty conscience. To this day she goes about whining in people’s ears. ‘Zeee! Is everyone still angry at me?’ When she does that, she gets an honest answer.”