四六级考试网

McDull is a male pig who can be distinguished by a birthmark（胎痣） on his right eye. He has a heart of gold, but he isn’t very smart and ordinary in every way; nevertheless, he has many dreams. However, every time he tries, he fails; he is disappointed, but tries again, exploring other dreams. In this way he creates his own colourful world. He lives his life simply and naturally. He is not perfect, but his attitude towards life, namely of never giving up, makes him a popular character。The name McDull actually has a story itself. When Mrs Mak was going to give birth to McDull, she saw a magical plastic basin (pronounced roughly as “dull” in Cantonese) flying over her head. Believing it a sign from the gods, she named her son as “Dull”。

Before the time of this story, people in Asia used to say that there would never be a time when an elephant and a dog would be friends. Elephants simply did not like dogs, and dogs were afraid of elephants.When dogs are frightened by those who are bigger than they are, they often bark very loudly, to cover up their fear. When dogs used to do this when they saw elephants, the elephants would get annoyed and chase them. Elephants had no patience at all when it came to dogs. Even if a dog were quiet and still, any nearby elephant would automatically attack him. This is why everybody agreed that elephants and dogs were ‘natural enemies’, just like lions and tigers, or cats and mice.Once upon a time, there was a royal bull（大型的，公牛似的） elephant, who was very well fed and cared for. In the neighborhood of the elephant shed, there was a scrawny（骨瘦如柴的） poorly fed, stray（迷路的，离群的） dog. He was attracted by the smell of the rich sweet rice being fed to the royal elephant. So he began sneaking（潜行） into the shed and eating the wonderful rice that fell from the elephant’s mouth. He liked it so much, that soon he would eat nowhere else. While enjoying his food, the big mighty elephant did not notice the tiny shy stray dog.By eating such rich food, the once underfed（营养不良的） dog gradually got bigger and stronger, and became very handsome looking. The good-natured elephant began to notice him. Since the dog had gotten used to being around the elephant, he had lost his fear. So he did not bark at him. Because he was not annoyed by the friendly dog, the elephant gradually got used to him.Slowly they became friendlier and friendlier with each other. Before long, neither would eat without the other, and they enjoyed spending their time together. When they played, the dog would grab the elephant’s heavy trunk, and the elephant would swing him forward and backward, from side to side, up and down, and even in circles! So it was that they became ‘best friends’, and wanted never to be separated.Then one day a man from a remote village, who was visiting the city, passed by the elephant shed. He saw the frisky（活跃的，欢闹的） dog, who had become strong and beautiful. He bought him from the mahout（管象人） , even though he didn’t really own him. He took him back to his home village, without anyone knowing where that was.Of course, the royal bull elephant became very sad, since he missed his best friend, the dog. He became so sad that he didn’t want to do anything, not even eat or drink or bathe. So the mahout had to report this to the king, although he said nothing about selling the friendly dog.It just so happened that the king had an intelligent minister who was known for his understanding of animals. So he told him to go and find out the reason for the elephant’s condition.The wise minister went to the elephant shed. He saw at once that the royal bull elephant was very sad. He thought, “This once happy elephant does not appear to be sick in any way. But I have seen this condition before, in men and animals alike. This elephant is grief-stricken, probably due to the loss of a very dear friend.”Then he said to the guards and attendants, “I find no sickness. He seems to be grief-stricken due to the loss of a friend. Do you know if this elephant had a very close friendship with anyone?”They told him how the royal elephant and the stray dog were best friends. “What happened to this stray dog?” asked the minister. “He was taken by an unknown man,” they replied, “and we do not know where he is now.”The minister returned to the king and said, “Your majesty, I am happy to say your elephant is not sick. As strange as it may sound, he became best friends with a stray dog! Since the dog has been taken away, the elephant is grief-stricken and does not feel like eating or drinking or bathing. This is my opinion.”The king said, “Friendship is one of life’s most wonderful things. My minister, how can we bring back my elephant’s friend and make him happy again?”"My lord,” replied the minister, “I suggest you make an official announcement, that whoever has the dog who used to live at the royal elephant shed, will be fined.”This was done, and when the villager heard of it, he released the dog from his house. He was filled with great happiness and ran as fast as he could, straight back to his best friend, the royal bull elephant.The elephant was so overjoyed, that he picked up his friend with his trunk and sat him on top of his head. The happy dog wagged（扭捏） his tail, while the elephant’s eyes sparkled with delight. They both lived happily ever after.Meanwhile, the king was very pleased by his elephant’s full recovery. He was amazed that his minister seemed to be able to read the mind of an elephant. So he rewarded him appropriately.The moral is: Even ‘natural enemies’ can become ‘best friends’.

Once upon a time the fox was talking to the wolf about the strength of man, how no animal could withstand him, and how all were obliged to employ cunning（奸刁的） in order to protect themselves from him.The wolf answered, “If I could see a man just once, I would attack him nonetheless（固然如此） .”"I can help you to do that,” said the fox. “Come to me early tomorrow morning, and I will show you one.”The wolf arrived on time, and the fox took him out to the path which the huntsman used every day. First an old discharged soldier came by.”Is that a man?” asked the wolf.”No,” answered the fox. “He has been one.”Afterwards came a little boy on his way to school.”Is that a man?”"No, he will yet become one.”Finally a huntsman came by with his double-barreled gun on his back, and a sword at his side.The fox said to the wolf, “Look, there comes a man. He is the one you must attack, but I am going back to my den.”The wolf then charged at the man.When the huntsman saw him he said, “Too bad that I have not loaded with a bullet.” Then he aimed and fired a load of shot into his face.The wolf pulled an awful face, but did not let himself be frightened, and attacked him again, on which the huntsman gave him the second barrel. The wolf swallowed his pain and charged at the huntsman again, who in turn drew out his naked sword, and gave him a few blows with it left and right, so that, bleeding all over, he ran howling back to the fox.”Well,” Brother Wolf, said the fox, “how did you get along with man?”"Oh,” replied the wolf, “I never imagined the strength of man to be what it is. First, he took a stick from his shoulder, and blew into it, and then something flew into my face which tickled me terribly. Then he breathed once more into the stick, and it flew up my nose like lightning and hail. Then when I got next to him, he drew a naked rib out of his body, and he beat me so with it that he almost killed me.”"See what a braggart you are,” said the fox. “You throw your hatchet（短柄小斧） so far that you cannot get it back again.”畴前有只狐狸向狼谈起人的力量，说没有动物能抵挡得了，所以他以为所有动物都必须发挥策略才能庇护本身。可狼答复说：“假定我有机缘碰着一小我，我就扑上往让他没法抵挡。”狐狸说：“我可以帮你碰着人啊。明早你早点来我家，我把他指给你看。”第二天，狼很早就来了，狐狸带它来到猎人每天的必经之路。他们碰着的第一小我是个退役老兵，狼问：“那是小我吗？”“不是，”狐狸答复，“他之前是。”接着他们碰到一个往上学的小男孩。“那是小我吗？”狼又问。“不是。”狐狸答复说，“他将来是。”最后一个猎人朝它们走来，他肩上扛着双筒猎鎗，腰间还插着一把猎刀，狐狸对狼说：“阿谁就是人，你该朝他扑畴昔，我可是要回我洞里往了。”　於是狼朝猎人冲了畴昔。猎人一看说：“真可惜我没装上枪弹，而是散弹。”他对准狼的脸开了一枪。狼疼得一阵痉挛，可还是没被吓倒，又朝猎人冲了畴昔。猎人又开了一枪。狼忍着巨痛扑向猎人，没想到猎人抽出猎刀摆布开弓地在狼身上划了几道口儿。狼鲜血四溅，嚎叫着逃到狐狸那边往了。“狼兄弟，”狐狸说，“和人相处如何样？”“哈！”狼答复说，“我从没想到人的力量会这么大！他先是从肩上取下一根棍子，朝里面吹了一口气，就有甚么东西飞到我脸上，痒得我要命；接着他又吹了一次，就有东西飞到我鼻子四周，像下了一阵雹子。当我接近他时，他从身上抽出一根白得发亮的肋骨狠狠地打我，几近把我打死在那边。”狐狸说：“你这个吹法螺大王，谁让你把话说得太大了，本身连退路都没有了呢。”

Once upon a time . . . in the immense Russian steppe, lay a little village where nearly all the inhabitants bred horses. It was the month of October, when a big livestock market was held yearly in the main town. Two brothers, one rich and the other one poor, set off for market. The rich man rode a stallion（种马）, and the poor brother a young mare（母马）. At dusk, they stopped beside an empty hut and tethered（系绳，系链） their horses outside, before going to sleep themselves on two heaps of straw. Great was their surprise, when, next morning they saw three horses outside, instead of two. Well, to be exact the newcomer was not really a horse. It was a foal（马驹）, to which the mare had given birth during the night. Soon it had the strength to struggle to its feet, and after a drink of its mother’s milk, the foal staggered its first few steps. The stallion greeted it with a cheerful whinny（马嘶声）, and when the two brothers set eyes on it for the first time, the foal was standing beside the stallion. “It belongs to me!” exclaimed Dimitri, the rich brother, the minute he saw it. “It’s my stallion’s foal.” Ivan, the poor brother, began to laugh. “Whoever heard of a stallion having a foal? It was born to my mare!” “No, that’s not true! It was standing close to the stallion, so it’s the stallion’s foal. And therefore it’s mine!” The brothers started to quarrel, then they decided to go to town and bring the matter before the judges. Still arguing, they headed for the big square where the courtroom stood. But what they didn’t know was that it was a special day, the day when, once a year, the Emperor himself administered the law. He himself received all who came seeking justice. The brothers were ushered into his presence, and they told him all about the dispute. Of course, the Emperor knew perfectly well who was the owner of the foal. He was on the point of（正要） proclaiming in favor of the poor brother, when suddenly Ivan developed an unfortunate twitch in his eye. The Emperor was greatly annoyed by this familiarity（密切，精通） by a humble peasant, and decided to punish Ivan for his disrespect. After listening to both sides of the story, he declared it was difficult, indeed impossible, to say exactly who was the foal’s rightful owner. And being in the mood for a spot of fun, and since he loved posing riddles and solving them as well, to the amusement of his counselors, he exclaimed: “I can’t judge which of you should have the foal, so it will be awarded to whichever of you solves the following four riddles: what is the fastest thing in the world? What is the fattest? What’s the softest and what is the most precious? I command you to return to the palace in a week’s time with your answers!” Dimitri started to puzzle over the answers as soon as he left the courtroom. When he reached home, however, he realized he had nobody to help him. “Well, I’ll just have to seek help, for if I can’t solve these riddles, I’ll lose the foal!” Then he remembered a woman, one of his neighbors, to whom he had once lent a silver ducat .That had been some time ago, and with the interest, the neighbor now owed him three ducats. And since she had a reputation for being quick-witted, but also very astute, he decided to ask her advice, in exchange for canceling part of her debt. But the woman was not slow to show how astute（机灵的，奸刁的） she really was, and promptly demanded that the whole debt be wiped out in exchange for the answers. “The fastest thing in the world is my husband’s bay horse（枣红马）,” she said. “Nothing can beat it! The fattest is our pig! Such a huge beast has never been seen! The softest is the quilt I made for the bed, using my own goose’s feathers. It’s the envy of all my friends. The most precious thing in the world is my three-month old nephew. There isn’t a more handsome child. I wouldn’t exchange him for all the gold on earth, and that makes him the most precious thing on earth!” Dimitri was rather doubtful about the woman’s answers being correct. On the other hand, he had to take some kind of solution back to the Emperor. And he guessed, quite rightly, that if he didn’t, he would be punished. In the meantime, Ivan, who was a widower（鳏夫）, had gone back to the humble cottage where he lived with his small daughter. Only seven years old, the little girl was often left alone, and as a result, was thoughtful and very clever for her age.The poor man took the little girl into his confidence, for like his brother, he knew he would never be able to find the answers by himself. The child sat in silence for a moment, then firmly said: “Tell the Emperor that the fastest thing in the world is the cold north wind in winter. The fattest is the soil in our fields whose crops give life to men and animals alike, the softest thing is a child’s caress and the most precious is honesty.” The day came when the two brothers were to return before the Emperor. Theywere led into his presence. The Emperor was curious to hear what they had to say, but he roared with laughter at Dimitri’s foolish answers. However, when it was Ivan’s turn to speak, a frown（皱眉） spread over the Emperor’s face. The poor brother’s wise replies made him squirm, especially the last one, about honesty, the most precious thing of all. The Emperor knew perfectly well that he had been dishonest in his dealings with the poor brother, for he had denied him justice. But he could not bear to admit it in front of his own counsellors, so he angrily demanded: “Who gave you these answers?” Ivan told the Emperor that it was his small daughter. Still annoyed, the great man said: “You shall be rewarded for having such a wise and clever daughter. You shall be awarded the foal that your brother claimed, together with a hundred silver ducats . . . But . . . but . . .” and the Emperor winked at his counselors: “You will come before me in seven days’ time, bringing your daughter. And since she’s so clever, she must appear before me neither naked nor dressed, neither on foot nor on horseback, neither bearing gifts nor empty-handed. And if she does this, you will have your reward. If not, you’ll have your head chopped off for your impudence（莽撞，无理）!” The onlookers began to laugh, knowing that the poor man would never to able to fulfill the Emperor’s conditions. Ivan went home in despair, his eyes brimming with tears. But when he had told his daughter what had happened, she calmly said: “Tomorrow, go and catch a hare and a partridge（鹧鸪）. Both must be alive! You’ll have the foal and the hundred silver ducats! Leave it to me!” Ivan did as his daughter said. He had no idea what the two creatures were for, but he trusted in his daughter’s wisdom. On the day of the audience with the Emperor, the palace was thronged with bystanders（旁不雅者，局外人）,waiting for Ivan and his small daughter to arrive. At last, the little girl appeared, draped in a fishing net, riding the hare and holdig the partridge in her hand. She was neither naked nor dressed, on foot or on horseback. Scowling, the Emperor told her: “I said neither bearing gifts nor empty-handed!” At these words, the little girl held out the partridge. The Emperor stretched out his hand to grasp it, but the bird fluttered into the air. The third condition had been fulfilled. In spite of himself, the Emperor could not help admirlng the little girl who had so cleverly passed such a test, and in a gentler volce, he sald: “Is your father terribly poor, and does he desperately need the foal. “Oh, yes!” replied the little girl. “We live on the hares he catches in the rivers and the fish he picks from the trees!” “Aha!” cried the Emperor triumphantly. “So you’re not as clever as you seem to be! Whoever heard of hares in the river and fish in the trees! To which the little girl swiftly replied: “And whoever heard of a stallion having a foal?” At that, both Emperor and Court burst into peals of laughter. Ivan was immediately glven his hundred silver ducats and the foal, and the Emperor proclalmed: “Only in my kingdom could such a wise little girl be born!”

Once upon a time, there were two very good friends who lived together in the shade of a rock. Strange as it may seem, one was a lion and one was a tiger. They had met when they were too young to know the difference between lions and tigers. So they did not think their friendship was at all unusual. Besides, it was a peaceful part of the mountains, possibly due to the influence of a gentle forest monk（僧侣） who lived nearby. He was a hermit（蓬菖人） , one who lives far away from other people.For some unknown reason, one day the two friends got into a silly argument. The tiger said, “Everyone knows the cold comes when the moon wanes（阑珊，月亏） from full to new!” The lion said, “Where did you hear such nonsense（胡说，废话） ? Everyone knows the cold comes when the moon waxes from new to full!”The argument got stronger and stronger. Neither could convince the other. They could not reach any conclusion to resolve the growing dispute. They even started calling each other names! Fearing for their friendship, they decided to go ask the learned（博学的） forest monk, who would surely know about such things.Visiting the peaceful hermit, the lion and tiger bowed respectfully and put their question to him. The friendly monk thought for a while and then gave his answer. “It can be cold in any phase of the moon, from new to full and back to new again. It is the wind that brings the cold, whether from west or north or east. Therefore, in a way, you are both right! And neither of you is defeated by the other. The most important thing is to live without conflict, to remain united. Unity is best by all means.”The lion and tiger thanked the wise hermit. They were happy to still be friends.

Before the dawn of time, all the animals looked the same.Normally this was fine, but some of the cheekier animals likes to play tricks on Mother Earth and pretend to be other animals.Since they looked exactly the same, even Mother Earth who had created them couldn’t tell the difference!To try to fix this problem, she decided to make each different animal look different, so they couldn’t swap（互换） identities.Now, there were some animals who liked flying through the air, or climbing trees more than anything, but not Platypus. He liked swimming.At the time Mother Earth sent out her message that she was going to change what everyone looked like, Platypus was under the water, playing with his friend Fish.Platypus stayed in the water even after Fish had got out, and since sound doesn’t travel that well under water, Platypus didn’t get to hear Mother Earth’s message. It was only when Fish came back looking like a beautiful river fish, with his scales gleaming, that Platypus even knew about the message.He left immediately for Mother Earth’s home, so he too could look different. But by the time he got there, there was only left overs left. Platypus so wanted to be like everyone else, that he took the left overs.He ended up with a beavers（海狸） tail, a ducks bill and flippers, and a bears fur and claws at the end of the flippers.When he got back to the lake to show his friends, they all just laughed at him.Platypus was so embarrassed that he went and dug a hole in the ground near the river bank to live in.After awhile though, Fish came along and apologised.They become friends again, and Platypus even made another opening to his home underwater just so fish could come and visit.

You are not going to believe this story. But it is a true story, as true as I sit here writing it— as true as I will die in the morning. Yes, this story ends with my end, with my death tomorrow. I have always been a kind and loving person— everyone will tell you this. They will also tell you that I have always loved animals more than anything. When I was a little boy, my family always had many different animals round the house. As I grew up, I spent most of my time with them, giving them their food and cleaning them. I married when I was very young, and I was happy to find that my wife loved all of our animal friends as much as I did. She bought us the most beautiful animals. We had all sorts of birds, gold fish, a fine dog and a cat. The cat was a very large and beautiful animal. He was black, black all over, and very intelligent. He was so intelligent that my wife often laughed about what some people believe; some people believe that all black cats are evil, enemies in a cat’s body. Pluto— this was the cat’s name— was my favourite. It was always I who gave him his food, and he followed me everywhere. I often had to stop him from following me through the streets! For years, he and I lived happily together, the best of friends. But during those years I was slowly changing. It was that evil enemy of Man called Drink who was changing me. I was not the kind, loving person people knew before. I grew more and more selfish. I was often suddenly angry about unimportant things. I began to use bad language, most of all with my wife. I even hit her sometimes. And by that time, of course, I was often doing horrible things to our animals. I hit all of them— but never Pluto. But, my illness was getting worse— oh yes, drink is an illness! Soon I began to hurt my dear Pluto too. I remember that night very well. I came home late, full of drink again. I could not understand why Pluto was not pleased to see me. The cat was staying away from me. My Pluto did not want to come near me! I caught him and picked him up, holding him strongly. He was afraid of me and bit my hand. Suddenly, I was not myself any more. Someone else was in my body: someone evil, and mad with drink! I took my knife from my pocket, held the poor animal by his neck and cut out one of his eyes. The next morning, my mind was full of pain and horror when I woke up. I was deeply sorry. I could not understand how I could do such an evil thing. But drink soon helped me to forget. Slowly the cat got better. Soon he felt no more pain. There was now only an ugly dry hole where the eye once was. He began to go round the house as usual again. He never came near me now, of course, and he ran away when I went too close. I knew he didn’t love me any more. At first I was sad. Then, slowly, I started to feel angry, and I did another terrible thing . . . I had to do it— I could not stop myself. I did it with a terrible sadness in my heart— because I knew it was evil. And that was why I did it— yes! I did it because I knew it was evil. What did I do? I caught the cat and hung him by his neck from a tree until he was dead. That night I woke up suddenly— my bed was on fire. I heard people outside shouting, ‘Fire! Fire!’ Our house was burning! I, my wife and our servant were lucky to escape. We stood and watched as the house burned down to the ground. There was nothing left of the building the next morning. All the walls fell down during the night, except one – a wall in the middle of the house. I realized why this wall did not burn: because there was new plaster on it. The plaster was still quite wet. I was surprised to see a crowd of people next to the wall. They were talking, and seemed to be quite excited. I went closer and looked over their shoulders. I saw a black shape in the new white plaster. It was the shape of large cat, hanging by its neck. I looked at the shape with complete horror. Several minutes passed before I could think clearly again. I knew I had to try to think clearly. I had to know why it was there. I remembered hanging the cat in the garden of the house next door. During the fire the garden was full of people. Probably, someone cut the dead cat from the tree and threw it through the window— to try and wake me. The falling walls pressed the animal’s body into the fresh plaster. The cat burned completely, leaving the black shape in the new plaster. Yes, I was sure that was what happened. But I could not forget that black shape for months. I even saw it in my dreams. I began to feel sad about losing the animal. So I began to look for another one. I looked mostly in the poor parts of our town where I went drinking. I searched for another black cat, of the same size and type as Pluto.

Right in the middle of Japan, high in the mountain, an old man lived in his little house. He found in one corner of the room an old iron kettle. He decided to use it to boil water. To his surprise, the kettle became a strange creature when it was on the fire. And then it changed back into a kettle again. The old man decided to sell it. So a merchant came and went away with the kettle.At night, the merchant was awakened by a big noise. The kettle became a strange creature again and was running about（乱跑） in his room. But early next morning found the kettle still quietly lying in the corner. One of his neighbors, after hearing what he had seen in the night, advised him to travel in the country to display it.Now the kettle could be asked to change and perform by the merchant. The performances drew（牵引，描画） big audiences, and the merchant earned a lot of money. But he was an honest man. Though he was rich now, he thought that he owed some of his wealth to the man from whom he had bought the kettle.One morning, he put a hundred gold pieces into the kettle and, hanging it on his arm, he returned to the old man who had sold it to him. The old man thanked the merchant，saying that few people would have been so honest.The kettle brought them both luck. Everything went well with them till they died.

Wanda, the neighborhood witch, was a good witch and had been one for about 221 years. Her fondest dream was to become a fairy godmother. She had been going to the Fairy Godmother Academy for 103 years, learning fairy godmother magic: how to turn pumpkins into coaches, how to make things vanish in clouds of smoke, even how to change mice into horses and footmen.Just that very morning the principal of the Academy had said Wanda was ready for her final test. She was to change the first animal she met into something else. The animal was to be so happy at becoming whatever it became that it would say, “Oh, happy day! I’m a…” If it did, Wanda would pass the test. She would become a fairy godmother, with a sparkling pink dress, a golden crown, and a magic wand（魔杖） tipped with a shining star.However, if she failed, she would have to start school all over again— all 103 years of it.”Good luck,” the principal said as Wanda left the Academy.The very first animal Wanda bumped into was Charley, a little green frog who sat in a pond by the side of the road catching bugs with his long, sticky tongue and croaking “Baroomp! Baroomp!”When Charley saw Wanda he jumped onto a lily pad（睡莲叶子） . “Hi,” he cried. “Witch way are you going? Ha, ha. That’s a joke, Wanda. ‘Witch way are you going?’ Get it?”"I get it, Charley,” replied Wanda, “but it’s not much of a joke. Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. I have a surprise for you. You’ll be so happy.” Then, without even an”if you please,” Wanda waved her wand, said a magic word, and poof! Charley, the little green frog, turned into a prince!He was a handsome prince but a wet one. The lily pad had collapsed under his weight and dumped him into the water. Charley-turned-prince stood up and looked at his reflection in the water. “Hey!” he cried. “You turned me into a prince! It’s a surprise all right, but I don’t want to be a prince. I want to be a frog! Change me back right now!”"Oh, dear,” Wanda said. “You know I don’t like to be yelled at, Charley. Now you’ve made me forget the reverse spell. But who wouldn’t rather be a prince than a frog?”"I wouldn’t!” cried Charley. “I want to be a frog!” He stuck out his tongue, missing a bug flying by the end of his nose. “Look at that, Wanda! I was such a good fly catcher. And I had eyes on top of my head, too. I could see forward and backward and sideways all at once, but look at me now. With my eyes in front of my face, I can only see one direction at a time. I don’t even have a castle, Wanda. What kind of prince is that? I’d really rather be a frog. Please change me back!”"I can’t, Charley. But you’ll learn to be happy as a prince. As for a castle, I can take care of that.” She waved her wand, and suddenly a castle appeared by the banks of the pond. It had stone walls, oaken doors, and pennants（三角旗） waving from its turrets. “Your very own palace, Charley! You’ll have servants, eat fancy foods and ice cream.”"Bah!” Charley interrupted. “Who wants servants, or ice cream and fancy foods? I want bugs!” He stuck out his tongue and looked down his nose at it, cross-eyed. “This tongue is no good— it’s too short!” he cried. “I can’t even see it.”Again Wanda waved her wand. “Look, Charley, musicians,” she said. Out of the castle marched dozens of musicians blowing trumpets, tootling flutes, and banging drums. “See? Your own band. They’ll play music, and you can sing and dance and snap your fingers to your heart’s content.”"I don’t want to sing and dance!” Charley cried. “And why would I do something as silly as snapping my fingers?”"Snapping fingers!” exclaimed Wanda. “That’s it, Charley. That’s what I forgot!” She snapped her fingers, cried “Upsi-doodle!” and poof! the castle and musicians disappeared and the prince became a little green frog.Charley hopped onto a lily pad. He looked at himself in the water. “You did it, Wanda. Oh, happy day! I’m a frog.”Wanda smiled and thought to herself, “So I have to go back to school for another 103 years. Who cares? Charley’s happy, and that’s what really counts.”Well, it wasn’t exactly ‘Oh, happy day! I’m a prince,’ but the principal of the Fairy Godmother Academy decided that ‘Oh, happy day! I’m a frog’ was close enough. Wanda hadn’t thought about herself. She had only wanted to make Charley happy. Thinking about others was the most important thing fairy godmothers had to do.The principal waved her magic wand. Lo and behold, Wanda the Witch became Wanda the Fairy Godmother…sparkling pink dress, magic wand with a star, and all.