​The Mouse-Deer and the Crocodile

One afternoon a mouse-deer came out of the jungle. He was hunting for food along a river. A crocodile was also hunting for food there. But he was not moving. He was lying near the river. He was lying there like a piece of wood. His mouth was open. He was ready to snap at anything that came near him.

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The mouse-deer saw the crocodile, but he thought it was a long piece of wood. He walked to the crocodile and stopped beside the open mouth.​

​Snap! The big mouth closed quickly. It caught a hind leg of the little animal.

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The mouse-deer was frightened but he did not cry out. He did not try to move or run away. If he did, the crocodile would surely drag him into the water. He laughed and said to the crocodile, "You nearly caught me, Mr Crocodile. What a narrow escape for me!"

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"You're lying, Mouse-Deer," said the crocodile. "I have caught your leg."

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"You have caught only a small stick, you fool!" laughed the mouse-deer. "My leg is much bigger

​The crocodile looked at the mouse-deer. The little animal was laughing. He was not frightened at all.

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The crocodile thought, "The mouse-deer is not lying. I have caught only a stick." So he opened his mouth to snap. at the mouse-deer again.

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This time the clever mouse-deer was ready. As soon as the crocodile let go of his hind leg, he jumped away from the crocodile and ran into the jungle.

"What a narrow escape!" he said.

​Vocabulary

1. ​Hunting : berburu

2. ​Along : sepanjang

3. ​Moving : bergerak

4. ​Snap : menggigit dengan tiba-tiba

5. ​Quickly : dengan cepat

6. ​Caught : menangkap

7. ​Hind : belakang

8. ​Narrow : sempit

9. ​Escape : pelarian

10. ​As soon as : sesegera