Bimo's New Home

Bimo’s New Home

Little frog Bimo and his mom and dad had just moved to a new home. They left their old little tree hollow and moved to a brand-new house by the pond. The new home was very different. As soon as you stepped outside, there was a sparkling little pond. The water in the pond was clear and shiny. Soft green water plants grew in the pond, gently swaying with the ripples.

When Bimo moved into his new home, he was so happy that he opened his big mouth wide and smiled from ear to ear. “This is amazing!” he thought. “This is exactly the kind of home I’ve always dreamed of!”

After moving in, Bimo often jumped into the pond to splash and play. He slapped the water, spun in circles, and loved to dip his mouth under the water and blow bubbly “glub-glub” bubbles.

But after a few days, Bimo noticed something. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who liked this pond. Sometimes, Little Squirrel would bring a few bright red berries to the pond to wash them. Sometimes, Little Rabbit came with a small bucket to scoop up water for her garden. On hot days, Little Hedgehog and Little Duck would run over to swim, splash, and cool off.

At first, Bimo just frowned a little. But soon, he started to feel more and more upset. “This is my new home. This is the pond right outside my house. Why is everyone coming here?” The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

So Bimo began to think of ways to make everyone stop coming to the pond. One evening, he quietly sneaked over and splashed water all over the little path by the pond. The next morning, the path was slippery and hard to walk on. Bimo thought, “Now they won’t want to come.”

But the animals still came, walking slowly and carefully.

Then Bimo thought of another idea. He dragged water plants to the edge of the pond and piled muddy muck all around. “It’s so messy now. They won’t like it,” Bimo said proudly to himself.

But Little Hedgehog just smiled and said, “It’s a little muddy, but the water still feels nice!”

Bimo tried one last idea. He swam back and forth at the bottom of the pond, stirring up the water until it turned cloudy and murky. He hoped that when everyone saw the dirty water, they wouldn’t come anymore.

But the pond was just too lovely. Even when the water was a bit cloudy, the animals still came.

One very hot day, Little Duck Nok came again. “I want to swim and cool off!” Nok called as he swooped down from the sky.

When Bimo saw Nok flying toward the pond, he panicked. He quickly jumped into the water to stir it up even more. At that very moment, Nok swooped down to land on the water.

“BUMP!”

They bumped into each other. Because Bimo was smaller than Nok, he was knocked to the side. Nok was frightened and hurried to help Bimo to the shore. “I’m so sorry! I’m so, so sorry! Are you okay?”

Little Hedgehog quickly ran to get Doctor Woodpecker. The doctor carefully checked Bimo and Nok. “You’re both fine,” he said gently. “Just a little shaken up.”

Nok finally let out a big sigh of relief.

Looking at the pond, Nok said seriously, “That was really dangerous. If the pond were a little bigger, we wouldn’t all be crowded together.”

So they decided to fix it right away. Nok called his mom and dad to help clean up the pond. They moved away extra water plants and dug out the thick mud. Little by little, the pond grew bigger. A wide new area of water appeared, and everyone could play in different spots.

When they finished, Nok turned to Bimo and said, “I’m sorry we bumped into each other today. I hope this bigger pond will make all the animals happy.”

Bimo listened, but he couldn’t say a word. His heart felt like it had been gently tapped.

The new pond was bigger now. Bimo had even more fun, and the other animals didn’t get in his way anymore. But whenever Bimo looked at the new part of the pond, he felt a tiny bit guilty inside.

One day, Bimo thought, “I can help make this pond even better. I can make more animals love this pond, too.”

He took a deep breath with his big mouth and whispered to himself, “I’m going to try.”

After that, Bimo built smooth little steps by the pond so everyone could easily walk down and get water. He planted pretty flowers beside the steps to make the pond even more beautiful. Every day, he carefully cleaned the muddy bottom so the water stayed clear and fresh for swimming and splashing.

Slowly, the animals noticed how lovely the pond had become.

“This place is wonderful!”

“It’s so clean!”

“It’s so beautiful!”

Everyone said the same thing.

Little Duck Nok loved coming even more. He and Bimo swam together, splashed together, and became good friends.

From then on, the little pond became the most popular place in the forest. Everyone loved its beauty—and the warm, happy feeling it brought to them all.