The Yellow Duck and the Egg Bandit

The Yellow Duck decided to have a Easter party. His Dad would hide Easter eggs for him and his friends to find, and they would eat his Mom's special bunny cake. There would be plenty of jelly beans and other yummy treats. He was excited just thinking about it.

At school, the Yellow Duck invited Toad and Ms. Fish to his party. Pinkie overheard and asked what they were talking about.

"A Easter party on Saturday," the Yellow Duck said. "Would you--"

"Well, I'm going out of town on Saturday!" Pinkie said loudly. "To my grandparents. I'm going to hunt eggs there."

"That'll be fun," the Yellow Duck said. The bell rang and they went to class.

Saturday, the day of the party came. Ms. Fish came over wearing her best Easter dress and bonnet. Toad came over wearing an Easter suit, which lasted for about ten minutes before he'd shed various pieces all over the Yellow Duck's house and wrinkled his fresh shirt. His mother was horrified.

"Is it time for the Easter egg hunt yet?" Toad asked happily, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"It is!" the Yellow Duck's father smiled. "Come outside, kids, and get ready to hunt."

The three friends lined up excitedly.

"On your mark, get set, go!" his father cried. The three friends set off looking for the eggs. They looked and they looked. They looked some more. They looked through the trees, the bushes and even on the roof. There were no eggs to be found!

"Dad," the Yellow Duck said in a confused voice. "We can't find any eggs!"

"Why they're everywhere!" his father cried. "See they're right--wait a minute. That's not right!" His father searched around the yard for several minutes. "All the eggs are gone! Where could they be?"

"Who would have stolen eggs?" Ms. Fish asked.

"Ahhhahah!" a voice cried. "I have stolen your eggs! You'll never get them back!"

They turned to see a creature wearing a colorful egg mask and pink cape standing next to the gate in the backyard.

"Who are you?" the Yellow Duck cried. "Why would you steal our eggs?"

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you invited people to your party!" the person cried. "I am the Egg Bandit! I steal Easter eggs! And I'm stealing yours now!"

"Duh," Ms. Fish said snidely.

"Get her!" Toad cried, chasing after her.

"Watch your suit!" his mother called. Toad ignored her and kept running, the Yellow Duck and Ms. Fish trailing after him. The Egg Bandit ran faster and faster. Toad ran just as fast, panting as he caught up to his heels. The Egg Bandit turned around and gasped, and tried to run faster. Finally, Toad bounced and pounced on the Egg Bandit, who fell and dropped her bag of eggs. Eggs burst from the bag and rolled all over the lawn.

"Oh no!" Ms. Fish cried. "He ruined our eggs! He should pay!"

"I'll never pay!" the Egg Bandit snarled. "I'm the Egg Bandit! You can't worry me!"

"I'm going to take off his mask!" Toad said, reaching for his face.

"You can't de-mask me!" the Egg Bandit cried, turning from Toad's hands. "I'm the Egg Bandit."

Toad grabbed ahold of the mask and pulled it off the Egg Bandit's head, smiling triumphantly. When they saw who was underneath, they gasped.

"You?" the Yellow Duck cried. "Why did you do it?"

To be continued...............

The Yellow Duck decides to plant a tree

The Yellow Duck was eating an apple one afternoon when he felt something hard and crunchy in his mouth. He spit it out into his hand and stared at it. Among the chewed up chunks of apple lay several seeds.

"I didn't know apples had seeds," the Yellow Duck said.

"Duh," Ms. Fish said. "That's how Johnny Appleseed planted all the apple trees up north. He went through the whole country sprinkling seeds, which grew into trees."

"That's just a legend," Toad scoffed. "No one could plant that many trees."

"You think these seeds would grow?" the Yellow Duck asked.

"They might," Toad said, squinting his eyes at them. "You could throw the chewed up apple in the hole for fertilizer."

"I think I'm going to try and plant them," the Yellow Duck said. Ms. Fish rolled her eyes.

"Apple trees don't grown here," she said. "It's San Antonio. It's too hot and there's bad soil."

"Well, I'm going to try anyway," the Yellow Duck said, sticking out his chin stubbornly.

"Suit yourself," Ms. Fish said, rolling her eyes. She went back to painting the side of her bowl pink.

The Yellow Duck dug a hole in the soil around the pond and dropped several of the apple seeds in. He filled the hole back up and covered the top with some mulch he found under a bush. Then he used a watering can to water the seeds. Then he sat and stared at his hole and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

When his mom finally came looking for him, the Yellow Duck had fallen asleep.

"Are you ok?" his mom asked, shaking him awake gently.

"Yes," he said. "I just wanted to see if my tree would grow."

The Yellow Duck's mother smiled. "It takes a little longer to grow trees than that," she said gently. "I'm sure in a few days, you'll see some results. Why don't we go home and have some supper?"

"Ok," the Yellow Duck agreed, allowing himself to be lead from his trees. When he returned a few days later, a small green leaf had sprouted.

"Look!" he cried, motioning to Toad and Ms. Fish. "My tree is growing!"

"Wow!" Toad cried. "I can't wait to eat apples!"

"I can't believe it's growing," Ms. Fish said, forgetting to be sarcastic.

The Yellow Duck grinned and posed, placing his rock on a leg. "Just call me Duckie Appleseed," he grinned.

The Yellow Duck searches for a Pot of Gold

"St. Patrick's Day is coming up," Ms. Fish said as she worked on her green hat. "Is your hat ready?"

"Why do I need to wear a hat?" Toad asked, as he ate some raisins.

"Everyone needs a green hat for St. Patrick's Day," Miss Fish said as she glued more glittery four leaf clovers to the edge. "Otherwise, you'll get pinched."

"No, you just wear green," Toad argued.

"A green hat!" Ms. Fish said, sticking her nose in the air.

"I think you can just wear green and not get pinched," the Yellow Duck said gently, as Toad pumped his fist in the air victoriously. "I don't think it has to be a hat."

"Fine," Ms. Fish sniffed. "I'll be the only one with a cool hat."

The Yellow Duck got up from his perch on his log to get some grapes for his backpack. One his way over, he tripped over something small and hard.

"Ow!" he cried, rubbing his throbbing foot. "What is that?"

"It's a pot!" Toad exclaimed, rushing over to look at it.

"A pot of gold!" Ms. Fish dropped her hat to rush over to the pot. "It's mine!"

"It's not yours, he tripped over it," Toad said, glaring at her. "Don't be greedy."

"It's mine because I called it first!" Ms. Fish argued. She really wanted the golden pot.

"Greedy."

"Selfish."

"We'll share it," the Yellow Duck said, sighing at their behavior. He picked up the pot to look at it. It was the size of a small cooking pot and had a lid. Someone had polished it so it was a bright gold.

"I wonder what's inside," the Yellow Duck said. He was nervous to open the lid.

"I don't know," Toad breathed, looking at the lid eagerly. "Open it."

"Yes, open it!" Ms. Fish cried. "I want my share of the coins."

"I don't think you're supposed to open it," the Yellow Duck said. "I don't know if we should. I'm sure it would belong to someone. Maybe we should turn it into someone."

"Who?" Toad asked. "Finders, keepers. It's ours now. Besides, who's going to come looking for it?"

"I am!" a shrill voice cried. The friends whirled around to see a small little man with a red bushy beard and green jacket and pants. He was glaring at them intently and carrying a wooden walking stick.

"Is that what I think it is?" Ms. Fish gasped.

"Are you a leprechaun?" the Yellow Duck asked.

"You bet I am!" the Leprechaun said. "That's my gold! Give it back!"

"We don't have too!" Toad said, grabbing the pot. "If we find it, it's ours! Legend says so."

"Keep your eyes on him!" Ms. Fish cried, glaring at him. "If you watch him, he can't move."

"That could be true," the leprechaun said, glaring back.

"What's your name?" the Yellow Duck asked.

"Julius," the leprechaun said.

"Julius!" Ms. Fish cried. "That's not your real name! That's not Irish! Tell us your real name!"

"How do you know that's not my real name?" the leprechaun asked.

"Because it's not Irish!" Ms. Fish snorted.

The leprechaun ignored her. "How did you get my gold?" he asked.

"I tripped over it," the Yellow Duck said.

"You didn't even follow the rainbow?" the leprechaun said, disappointed. "That's annoying."

"Nope, just tripped," the Yellow Duck said cheerfully.

"Can I have my gold back now?" the leprechaun asked.

"That's not how this works," Toad said. "It's our gold now."

"Well, if you don't give it to me now, I'll just come back for it," the leprechaun said.

"I'm not scared of you!" Toad cried, ready to fight.

The Yellow Duck rolled his eyes. "Here," he said, handing the leprechaun his pot.

"Why'd you do that?" Toad cried.

"There went my dream bowl," Ms. Fish sighed, clearly annoyed.

"Thanks!" the leprechaun grinned. "Since you were such good sports, I'm going to give you all a token." He reached into his pocket and pulled out three golden four-leaf clovers. "They're real," he said. "For you to remember me by."

The three friends looked down at their clovers. When they looked back up, the leprechaun was gone.

"That was nice of him," the Yellow Duck said.

"I wonder what was in the pot," Toad asked.

"I guess we'll never know," Ms. Fish said. Clutching their clovers, the three friends headed home. Happy St. Patrick's Day!