One day, a paper boat appeared on the pond. The fly spotted it and landed right on top.
“Wow, I’m going to be captain and sail across this pond,” she buzzed.
The grasshopper heard this as she was basking in the sun a little way off on the bank.
“Wait for me, fly, you need a sailor,” she called, and hopped onto the boat.
The boat wobbled, but bravely sailed on. It didn’t go fast, just bobbed along on the water.
“Great! Now I have sailors,” fly rejoiced. “All right, let’s head over to the other shore.”
For a while, the two of them were pretending they were a captain and a sailor, until a carp swimming by overheard them.
“Wow, you have such a lovely little boat. I want to be a captain too,” mumbled carp—and before the fly and grasshopper could warn him, he leapt out of the water and flopped right onto the boat.
The fly buzzed away, and the grasshopper jumped to the shore. The paper boat collapsed completely under the wet, heavy carp. Carp splashed back into the water, along with the soggy paper that used to be their boat.
The fly started crying when she saw they didn’t have a boat anymore.
“Don’t cry,” the grasshopper comforted her. “I’m sad too, that we don’t have our little boat anymore. But it wouldn’t have lasted forever anyway. At least we got to play together and now we have something to remember.” Maybe we’ll find another one somewhere, someday.”
“You’re right, grasshopper,” the fly agreed, and bzz-bzzed her nose into the reeds as if it was a napkin. “Let’s not ruin our adventure just because of some careless carp.”
Just as she said that, the carp swam up to the shore. He stuck his head out and said, “Sorry, girls, I didn’t mean to spoil your game. But do you know what I saw?” A little further by the pond, some children are playing. They’re folding colorful paper boats and setting them afloat on the water. If you hurry, you can still hop on one of those paper ships.”
The fly and the grasshopper thanked the carp and quickly set off a bit further on. The carp was right. Two children were launching boats on the pond.
“I’ll take the blue one,” buzzed the fly and she flew over to the boat that was farthest from the shore.
“I’ll be the captain of the black one. “I’m going to be a pirate!” shouted the grasshopper and jumped from the shore onto the deck.
And so the two of them set sail. The fly decided she would cross the pond all the way to the other side. The grasshopper was searching to see if he could find an island where pirate treasure might be hidden.
“The wind is just right!” called the fly. “I’ll be on the other side soon.”
“Look out, ducks are coming from the right! Do they have the right of way?” called the grasshopper.
“The ducks will definitely stay out of my way. Or not? I’m almost at the other shore. What could possibly go wrong?
“It could start raining, for example,” quacked the duck as she paddled past the paper boat.
The fly looked up at the sky. Sure enough, it was getting cloudy. The first drops of rain began to fall, stirring the water until the boats started to rock.
“A storm at sea!” called the fly.
She really didn’t like rain, because you can’t fly with wet wings. But those little waves carried her almost all the way to shore.
“I made it—and hooray for being dry!” buzzed the fly.
The grasshopper wasn’t at the shore yet, but her boat had soaked up so much water it was starting to sink.
“Abandon ship!” called the grasshopper, and with a mighty leap, she landed on the bank beside the fly.
Both of them hid on a branch beneath the leaves, where the rain couldn’t reach them. They watched the rain and cheered about how well their day had turned out. After all, rainy weather can be beautiful too. And when the sun comes out again, they’ll be sure to watch if any children are letting their little boats sail on the water. Because it’s loads of fun.