Q1.
Let us Recite — The Frog. Read the poem aloud and enjoy it.
Answer
Here is the whole poem. Read it aloud twice. The second time, read it as if you are the frog telling your own story.
I sit in ponds and in the rain,
Or hop about in a muddy drain.
As a tadpole, I swim with cheer,
A tiny fish-like thing, so clear!
I flick my tongue to catch my food,
It works so fast—now that’s quite good!
I live on land and water too,
In places damp with drops of dew.
My colours match the plants and trees,
I hide so well in grass and leaves!
But snakes are near, I must beware,
Or else they’ll catch me unaware!
I croak my songs, they sound so loud,
Yet in my pond, I feel so proud.
I hop around, I jump so high,
Up I go into the sky!
With webbed feet, I swim with ease,
And leap so high in joyful breeze!
Or hop about in a muddy drain.
As a tadpole, I swim with cheer,
A tiny fish-like thing, so clear!
I flick my tongue to catch my food,
It works so fast—now that’s quite good!
I live on land and water too,
In places damp with drops of dew.
My colours match the plants and trees,
I hide so well in grass and leaves!
But snakes are near, I must beware,
Or else they’ll catch me unaware!
I croak my songs, they sound so loud,
Yet in my pond, I feel so proud.
I hop around, I jump so high,
Up I go into the sky!
With webbed feet, I swim with ease,
And leap so high in joyful breeze!
What each stanza tells us:
- Stanza 1 — where I live. In ponds, in the rain, in a muddy drain. Wet places.
- Stanza 2 — when I was a baby, and how I eat. The frog was once a tadpole — a tiny thing with a tail, like a small fish. Now it flicks out its tongue to catch food.
- Stanza 3 — my two homes and my hiding coat. It lives both on land and in water. Its colours match the plants, so it is hard to see.
- Stanza 4 — my enemy and my song. Snakes hunt frogs, so the frog must beware. Even so, it croaks loudly and feels proud of its pond.
- Stanza 5 — how I move. It hops and jumps high on land. In water its webbed feet push the water, so it swims easily.
Tips for reciting: Say stanza 1 slowly and comfortably — the frog is at home. Say stanza 2 quickly at “It works so fast”, to match the tongue. Drop your voice at “But snakes are near” so it sounds like a warning. Then lift it right up for the last stanza and end on “joyful breeze” with a smile.
Why the poem sounds nice: The two lines of each pair rhyme — rain / drain, cheer / clear, food / good, too / dew, trees / leaves, beware / unaware, loud / proud, high / sky, ease / breeze. Rhyming pairs make a poem easy to remember, so you can learn it by heart quickly.
Notice: The frog is talking about itself. It never says “the frog” — it says “I”. That is why the poem feels friendly, as if a small green neighbour has come to tell you about its life.