Hubbity-Bubbity, Spelunker Frog Extraordinaire

Hubbity-Bubbity Gets Into Mischief

Hubbity-Bubbity the Frog was young, dashing, and a spelunker extraordinaire. Being a spelunker meant that he was very good at going into dark underground caverns, or caves, and exploring them. He would do this by strapping a big, bright light to his forehead so he could see where he was going as he went into the darkness of the underground caves.

Sometimes in the caves he would find an underground spring or pool of water. If he felt especially brave, he would put on his snorkel and goggles and dive down into them until he would come to new caves that no one had ever seen before except him. Most everyone would shudder at the thought of spending their time in such dark creepy places, but Hubbity-Bubbity a bit liked it. And he was good at it.

The truth of the matter was that Hubbity-Bubbity was the only the frog in the Whole Wide World to ever have been even known to be a spelunker. On his desk, there was a picture of him smiling with his name and big black letters in the American Cave Conservation Association's handbook that said, HUBBITY-BUBBITY: ONLY KNOWN FROG SPELUNKER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Next to this picture, was a sign on a plaque that said: "Just Dew It."

Hubbity-Bubbity took people on cave tours. As the president of the local "Save the Caves" club, Hubbity-Bubbity spent his time explaining to others how beautiful caves are when looked at properly. Folks above ground would come to see the beautiful crystals that grew naturally in the caves. Or Hubbity-Bubbity would show them the freshwater springs that ran underground, water that could be as cold and black as a sky that knew no stars, or as blue and clear as the ocean around a tropical island.

He was even known to have given a four hour lecture on the many tunnels and underground rooms that could be seen, sometimes as narrow as a nickel or as wide as a dancing ballroom.

Yes, exploring caves was very exciting for Hubbity-Bubbity, but things had been quiet ever since Winger the Bat told him that Mistress Spring was rumored to be coming soon.

And underground, in the neighborhood, most of the inhabitants were bats. And in the day-time when Hubbitty-Bubbitty wanted to play, Winger the Bat's family had the largest sleep-over parties he'd ever seen. All of the aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws slept together in the same room, but no one ever sang or danced, or bothered getting up to get a glass of water. Hubbitty-Bubbity thought that this made Winger's family terribly dull. To him, they always seemed to be sleeping.

To make matters worse, Winger the Bat liked to tell his froggy friend some of his jokes, jokes that Hubbitty-Bubbitty thougt were as stale as two-month-old peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Finally, after hearing Winger's joke about the mosquito, the banana peel and the boomerang, for the third time in one week, Hubbity-Bubbity decided that he needed to go out to the surface world for a while and find some excitement. "If I don't," he told himself, "I'll just positively burst with boredom."

So he locked up his office and got dressed in his best suit, green, of course. Then, he put his diving gear in a safe nook and cranny and found his sunglasses.

And as Hubbity-Bubbity came out of his cave he could see that Mistress Spring time had truly arrived --just as Buster the Robin had promised. Everywhere he looked there was a sense of great excitement all around. It seemed as if everybody wanted to feel their very best about being alive and were taking great steps to work towards this goal.

But Hubbitty-Bubbity was a young, dashing spelunker and he decided that since this was his day off he just wanted to play and make mischief.

He saw Fabler Fox with a switch broom sweeping off his front door step to his den, and decided to pay him a visit. A few hops later, he landed in a little pail of water that Fabler was using to wash his windows.

"Hubbity-Bubbity" said the frog, for Hubbity-Bubbity always said his name before he said anything else, "Hubbity-Bubbity, I think you could be doing a better job with a mop, Friend Fox."

"A mop!" exclaimed Fabler, stopping his sweeping for a minute. "Why would you use a mop to sweep dirt?" asked the fox.

"Hubbitty-Bubbity" said Hubbity-Bubbity with a sly little gleam in his eye. "Friend Turtle told me. He says that he saw you sweeping with a broom the other day, and look at you now! Still sweeping!"

"Well Grandpa Turtle should mind his own business!" snapped Fabler Fox crossly, and he put down his broom with a "thump." "Harrumph!" said Fabler to himself, "He must be crazy like a..." but he didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he just grumbled under his breath and set about repairing the screen door that had been broken during the long cold months, and flapped aimlessly whenever the Winds From Over the Hills had come racing by.

Hubbitty-Bubbitty splashed out of the water pail, and continued along his way. Shortly he spotted Grandpa Turtle slowly shuffling down the path as he was taking last year's newspapers and crossword puzzles to be recycled. This was a once a year task for Grandpa Turtle, so the old newspapers were stacked very high on his hard smooth shell as he ambled along.

"Hubbityy-Bubbity" said Hubbity-Bubbity. "Friend Turtle," said the frog somberly. "Why are you throwing out your bed?"

"Throwing out my bed!" exclaimed Grandpa Turtle lurching to a sudden halt. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Hubbitty-Bubbity" said Hubbity-Bubbity. "Friend Fox says that your bed of goose-down and soft pillows is squishy and hurts even YOUR back. He says that a bed of newspapers would be better for your rheumatism."

"Well!" cried out Grandpa Turtle greatly taken aback. "Fabler Fox should mind his own business!" And the old gentleman continued on his way, but Hubbitty-Bubbity took a quick dip in a nearby puddle and laughed to himself in great enjoyment.

Flying along, Ladybug just about ran into the comics section about mid-way up from the top of Grandpa's pile. "Gracious, Grandpa!" she exclaimed somewhat out-of-breath as the old gentlemen came to a sudden halt. "Next year please put a red flag on your newspaper pile before you cause an accident!" But no harm was done and the two travelers parted friends.

"Hubbity-Bubbity" said Hubbity-Bubbity. "Friend Ladybug!" cried out the frog. "You really must know!"

"Know what?" demanded Ladybug circling back around and alighting on a blade of grass. "Must know what?"

"Friend Grandpa and Friend Fox tell me that your driving has gotten worse with each and every year. They say you need new glasses!" finished the frog, nodding his head very seriously.

"Why I never!" cried Ladybug with a great flutter of her wings and she flew off in a big huff. Hubbitty-Bubbity waited until she was out of sight and then he started laughing so hard that he fell down. And then, because he fell because he was laughing so hard, he laughed some more. And then, he remembered what he had told Grandpa Turtle and Fabler Fox, and he started laughing so hard that he tired himself out! He wore himself plain tired out!

At last, he stopped and took out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. And as he did, he noticed that the Mister Sun was starting to climb high into the sky and the air was getting hot. So he decided that the best thing to do was to take a nap under a leafy oak tree. So he did.

Meanwhile, Fabler Fox couldn't fix his screen door because he was so angry with Grandpa Turtle. So he went off to find him. Grandpa Turtle finished his recycling, and went to confront Fabler Fox with what he had heard. And sure enough, Ladybug was in such a state of affairs that she flew around in the air until she found both Fabler Fox and Grandpa Turtle exchanging words.

"A mop!" Fabler Fox was shouting in a huff.

"Throwing out my bed, am I?" retorted Grandpa Turtle.

"New glasses!" cried out Ladybug accusingly as she landed on a nearby twig.

The three looked at each other in amazement and then they lowered their voices, and began talking with much more respect to each other. Soon enough they all realized that Hubbity-Bubbity had been playing a trick on them. So they went to find him.

Part Two! "Hubbity Learns a Lesson."