Penelopeby c. a. webb

illustrated by mr. clip art

Once upon a time, there was a turtle.

Her owners, the Eddys, named her Penny. Penelope, for short. She lived in a tank inside the Eddys' house. It was a good tank. It

had a beach of smooth pebbles for Penelope to sit on. It had a pool of water for Penelope to swim in. It even had a machine in the

corner that made bubbles in the pool of water. But sometimes the tank got dirty. So every week, Mr. Eddy took Penelope out of her

tank and let her play in the backyard while he washed it.

One day, Mr. Eddy let Penelope outside as usual. But it was not just any ordinary day. Oh, no. "This," thought Penelope, "is an Exploring kind of day. A Roaming-the-

Earth sort of day. I think I might just go on a trip and see some of the world." So she did.

First, she hurried through some tall, thick grass, just as fast as a turtle can hurry. Then she squeeeeeezed under a board fence…

and came face to face with the biggest nose she had ever seen."Hello, Nose," said Penelope, politely.

"Moo!" said the Nose. You see, the Nose belonged to a cow. And the cow was not at all pleased to find a turtle in her field.

Penelope decided she had better move on.

After trudging through lots of tall, thick grass, Penelope squeeeeeezed under another board fence…and found herself

standing on a gravel road.Suddenly, Penelope heard a strange noise. It sounded quite growly, and just a bit frightening. Penelope thought that perhaps it was the

Eddys who were looking for her, when a great, big dog bounded up.

"Oh, dear," said Penelope, and tucked her head and feet and tail into her shell. The shell rocked back and forth as

the dog sniffed it and barked at it. Penelope was very frightened inside her little shell…but thankfully, the dog

saw a bunny nibbling some grass at the end of the gravel road, and ran off to investigate it.

Penelope was too afraid to come out of her shell right away. She waited until it was almost dark. Then she scurried across the

gravel road, just as fast as a turtle can scurry. She squeeeeeeeezed under another board fence, trudged into some more tall, thick grass, and tucked herself into her shell again.

She was so tired that she fell asleep right away.

The next morning, Penelope decided that she would go back home. She was done having adventures. So she

set off in search of the gravel road. First she went north…and then she went south. Then she went west…

but she could not find the gravel road. So she went east, through some more tall, thick grass. She

squeeeeeezed under yet another board fence…and found herself on a paved road.

"Oh, dear," said Penelope, sadly. "This is not the right road. I am lost! Now where should I go?" After thinking about it for an hour or so (turtles think very slowly), Penelope decided to cross the paved road and see what was on the other side. So

she waited until there were no cars coming, and scurried across the road, just as fast as a turtle can scurry.

"Ah! Help! Ouch!" cried Penelope. Because all of a sudden the road had stopped and Penelope hadn't. She began

tumbling down, down, down, into a ditch, and landed with a splash! in a puddle of water at the bottom. She lay there for a

minute to catch her breath.Then she heard a strange croaking sound. Penelope looked

around carefully and saw…a bullfrog.

"Hello, Bullfrog," said Penelope, politely."Hello, Turtle," Bullfrog said.

"My name is not Turtle – it's Penny. Penelope for short," said Penelope.

"Oh," said Bullfrog. "Hello, Penelope. Where did you come from?"

"I live with the Eddys," said Penelope, "only I went exploring and got lost, and now I don't know how to get home."

"That's easy," said Bullfrog. "It's just across the street, through the field, across the gravel road, through the cow

field, and under the fence.""Thank you very much," said Penelope, and climbed

up and out of the ditch.

This time she was so excited to be going home that she forgot to look both ways before she crossed the

street. Just as she got to the middle of the street, she heard a growly noise again. This time it was not

a dog – it was an enormous car, coming straight at her.

Penelope tried to hurry, but turtles do not hurry very quickly. The car swerved just in time, and came to a stop. Someone got out and stared at Penelope for a moment. Then they began running toward

her.

"Why, it's Penny! Penny! Where have you been?" It was Mrs. Eddy. Mrs. Eddy picked up Penelope and put her in the car and

drove home.

When they got home, Mrs. Eddy was so excited to see Penelope again that she threw a grand party for her. The

party even had a name! It was called a "Brye Doll Shower,” complete with cake and presents and pretty decorations. Penelope thought it was very nice of Mrs. Eddy to throw a

party in her honor.

That night, after the guests went home, Mr. and Mrs. Eddy sat down to a nice quiet dinner. "I'm very glad that Penny

is home again," said Mrs. Eddy, with a happy sigh. Mr. Eddy nodded.

And Penelope could not agree more.

The End