Pax taps the hollow log with two sticks while Marn lifts a hoof to thump it. Three stones hold the log still, and two frogs watch from the pond below.

A PICTURE BOOK

Pax and the Moonlit Drum

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Pax and the Moonlit Drum

Pax, a small gray fox in a yellow scarf, taps a hollow log with two sticks beside a blue pond. Two frogs peek from the water while reeds sway nearby.

Pax was a small gray fox who lived beside a round pond. Every evening, he tapped a hollow log with two sticks. “Tap-tap, tap!”

The frogs answered with croaks, and the reeds swayed to the beat.

Pax stands beside a smooth gray stone at the bottom of a yellow hill. Large blue hoofprints lead up to Marn, a tall young moose waiting beside the hollow log.

One night, Pax came to play and stopped short. His hollow log was gone.

A smooth round stone lay in its place. Beside it, three deep tracks crossed the moonlit grass and climbed the hill behind the pond.

Pax followed them to the top. There stood a young moose beside the hollow log. His long legs gave a tiny shake.

Pax looks up at Marn on a hill beside the hollow log. Marn lifts one hoof carefully, with the blue pond below them.

“Did you move my drum?” Pax asked.

The moose lowered his head. “I’m Marn. I heard your music and wanted to play too. But when I thump the log, it rolls away.”

Pax looked down the steep hill toward the pond. “It needs a safe place,” he said.

Marn carries two gray stones in his mouth while Pax places stones around the hollow log on the windy hilltop.

Marn pushed the log uphill with his nose, while Pax pressed from the other side. Push, puff, push! At last, they got it to the hilltop.

Then the wind gave the log a little nudge. Roll... roll...

“Wait!” cried Pax. He found flat stones, and Marn carried two big stones in his wide mouth. Together, they made a stone stop around the log: one stone behind it and one on each side.

Pax lifted his sticks. “Tap-tap, tap!” Marn raised one hoof and gave a careful thump. “Boom!” The log did not move.

Below them, the frogs croaked and the reeds whispered. Pax played a quick, bright beat. Under it, Marn made a slow, deep boom.

Pax and Marn sit together behind the hollow log, which rests between three stones. Pax's sticks lie across the log, and two frogs float in the blue pond below.

Soon the moon shone high above the hill. Fox and moose played until the pond seemed to hum along.

When the music stopped, the hollow log rested snugly in its ring of stones, ready for tomorrow night.