Next morning the weather was all dark and windy, sadly gloomy.
Mr. Sun was having great difficulty persuading all the clouds and rain to go home and leave him to do what he does best - shine on the world!! So, he started a serious talk with Mrs. Wind, to see if she would help him to do what he does best.

"Well," she explained to him, "I'll do my very best to try and blow them to someplace else, but you know what it's like when they get together!"
So, she puffed like mad, her cheeks filling up with lots and lots of air as she blew each gust; over and over again she blew! But still the rain rained and the clouds clouded.

Now, all the while that the huffing and puffing was clouding and raining, little Waddle was peeping out from under Mother Duck's wing, where he had been hiding from the dark and windy, sadly gloomy weather.
"Mum," he peeped, in a damp sort of way, "I'm hungry."
"Well then," she replied, "it's time to head for the pond to find something to eat."
"But Mum, it's all so sad and gloomy today. Will there be anything there for me to eat? Won't all the food have stayed in bed?"
"That is possible," she replied, "but just because it's sad and gloomy weather doesn't always mean there's nothing to eat there."
"Oh,goody," said Waddle, "lets go then," and wiggled himself out from under her wing, setting off at a brisk (and funny, but cute-looking) baby-duck dash; little wings flapping, to gain more speed, neck stretched straight out in front just like he'd seen Father Duck doing, feet peddling like mad.

"Huffenpuffenhuffenpuff," on he dashed. "Be careful," called Mother Duck from a long way behind him, " I've told you before, there are scary creatures in 2 Tree Thicket we've not yet seen, and we don't know what they do!"

After what seemed like always, he arrived at 10 Gallon Puddle. It looked a little different somehow, but how?
"Hmmmmm?" he thought to himself. "The other day, the water looked bright and blue and beautiful. It's top was smooth and flat, but look at it now!! It MUST be the wind that's doing it! And the raindrops make a loud Splashing Sound, almost as loud as Father Duck when he gets in the water. And what are all the strange colours I can see on the top? Purple, black, silver, odd yellow spots? It must be the clouds doing that!"

Still pondering on the unusual things he could see on the pond top, a sudden, terrifying and Really Scary "whistlebashthumpcrashsplash" Sound happened on the other side of the pond!
A sound he had never heard before! It was almost enough to twiddle his tail feathers, but it DID make his eyes blink, very rapidly, as he hid behind a clump of "taller-than-I-am" grass!!

"What is THAT?" he shivered, "just look at it! I've never seen anything THAT much taller than "taller-than-I-am" grass before! Whatever it is, it can't be one of the scary creatures Mother warned me about...could it?"
Trying hard to peer over the top of the "taller-than-I-am" grass, his little eyes grew so big they looked like the humps on a very small camel's back.

He watched, very carefully, taking in lots of detail.
This "thing" had legs, obviously, and it also had two OTHER long things. But it wasn't using them to stand up on!
The two OTHER things were waving wildly about in the air and, although he couldn't quite see what was happening, he could hear that "stuff" was falling into the pond - splish, kerplunk, plink, galooopsh, bloink and so on.
His curiosity was becoming too much to resist, so, he made himself as small as he thought he possibly could, and began to sneak up to the edge of the pond. All the while, more "stuff" was going splish, kerplunk, plink, galooopsh, bloink, falling into the water.

Arriving at the pond edge, he carefully lifted his little head a bit to get a better look. The "thing" was not moving anymore, just standing still with a long stick in its hand. Bits of "stuff" had, by now, drifted to the water's edge. "I wonder if I can eat this" he mused, picking up a piece in his beak and chomping carefully on it.
"Hey! This is not so bad." He found a few more pieces and before long, he was not as hungry as he had been. "Don't know what it is but I can eat it," he thought, happily, and consequently forgot about the "thing!" and the scare it had given him.

By this time, Mrs Wind had given up all her huffing and puffing, feeling quite out of puff herself. Mr Sun was now peeking through the clouds, who had kindly agreed to go and cloudy up another part of 2 Tree Thicket. All was beginning to look like it would be a grand day for eating. He spied Mother Duck approaching the pond.

"Mother" he quacked out loud, "there is a huge big "thing" over there and it really frightened me and it made a SCARY noise and some "stuff" all fell into the water AND I can EAT IT! What is that "thing"?"
Mother Duck looked across the pond and smiled. "There's nothing to be afraid of" she answered. "That is a HUMAN and he is young Farmer Fidgett! He comes to the pond often, to catch fish. Humans are almost always kind to ducks, especially little ducks." This assurance made Waddle feel lots better.

"What's this "stuff" in the water that I can eat?" went on Waddle, questioning all the time.
"That" Mother Duck replied, "is DUCK FOOD"
"Why's he throwing duck food in the water?" he went on.
"Well, that's because fish ALSO like to eat duck food, but the only time they get to eat it is when young Farmer Fidgett comes to the pond to catch fish," she replied.
"What does he do with the fish when he catches them?" Waddle asked.
"I really don't know" she answered, "I've never seen him catch one!"