Ella the Duck first noticed the light when she was swimming along by the river bank. It moved slowly for a while, then suddenly picked up speed and disappeared. What on earth could it be, she wondered? It was quite unlike anything she had ever seen before.
The next night around the same time it appeared again. Ella watched it for a while, then unable to contain her curiosity any longer got out of the water to get a closer look.
But by the time she waddled across the road, it had gone.
"It was probably just the headlights from a car," said her friend, Aggie the goose.
But Ella shook her head quite vigorously. "Headlights are big lights," she replied. "The light I saw was very small."
"Then maybe it was a bicycle?" suggested Aggie.
But Ella shook her head again. "It was much smaller than a bicycle lamp," she said.
Aggie thought about this for a while as she groomed her feathers. "Well then, it must have been someone carrying a torch. It’s dark over there by the trees."
"No, it wasn’t a torch either," answered Ella. "It was smaller than a torch beam."
"So this was a really tiny light," said Aggie. She was beginning to get impatient.
Ella nodded, and said that she thought it might be magic.
"Oh, nonsense," retorted Aggie. "There’s no such thing. At least, I don’t think there is."
The following night, Ella hid in the bushes close to where she had seen the odd light. She had to find out what it was. But although she waited patiently for a very long time, it didn’t appear.
"Where have you been?" asked Aggie. "I’ve been looking all over for you."
"Waiting to catch the light," answered Ella. She was feeling chilly and quite discouraged.
"I think I have the answer to what it is," said Aggie, and she honked in excitement. "It’s a glow-worm."
"A glow-worm," repeated Ella. "No it isn’t." For she knew that glow-worms were very tiny and white. The light she had seen - her light - was bigger than that and red.
Ella lay in wait for the light every night for a week, with no luck. And she was just about to give up - could she have been imagining it? - when it suddenly re-appeared. Ella’s heart thumped in excitement, and she waddled after it as fast as she could.
"Hello there Ella, what are you doing out so late?" It was Horace the bulldog going for his nightly walk. And the light, the little red light that Ella had been pursuing for so long was shining from his collar.
"Oh it helps me see in the dark," he explained. "My eyesight’s not as good as it once was, and it saves me from getting hit by a car or a bicycle."
"Good idea," agreed Ella. She was delighted that the mystery of the odd little light had been solved at last. And, she could hardly wait to get home and tell Aggie the news. Imagining things, indeed. She would certainly expect an apology.
THE END
文章定位：
