Free printable African American legend for 3rd grade reading comprehension. Print the reading passage for offline use as a worksheet or test comprehension with the online quiz.
Why Lizards Can't Sit
Adapted from An African-American Folktale by S.E. Schlosser
Back in the old days, Lizard was like Frog and could sit.
One day Lizard and Frog were going down the road by their swamp. They saw a beautiful pond that was on the other side of a big fence. It would be a great place for Lizard to catch insects and Frog to swim.
Lizard and Frog went up to the fence. It was too tall to hop over and had no holes for them to crawl through. Neither of them was good at digging, so they couldn’t go under.
They tried to figure out how to get through the fence. Suddenly, Frog saw a small crack, low to the ground. "I’m going to squeeze through that crack over there," he said. Frog hopped to the fence and squeezed his way through the tiny crack until he popped out on the other side.
"Come on Lizard," Frog called through the crack.
"I’m going to give it a try," said Lizard.
Lizard pushed and squeezed himself into the crack. Suddenly, a fence board fell down and smashed him flat! After that, Lizard couldn’t sit upright anymore. And he never did get through the fence.
What did Frog want to do at the pond? catch insects swim catch fish swim
What did Lizard want to do at the pond? catch insects swim catch fish catch insects
Frog made it through the fence. True False The story doesn't say. True
Lizard made it through the fence. True False The story doesn't say. False
Why did Lizard and Frog want to get past the fence? to get to a pond to get to their swamp to visit Turtle to get to a pond
Why couldn't Frog and Lizard go under the fence? They wanted to go over the fence. They weren't good at digging. A sign said NO DIGGING. They weren't good at digging.
According to this legend, why can't lizards sit? because they're too slippery because Frog hopped on Lizard and broke his back They lost their ability to sit after Lizard was flattened by a fence board. They lost their ability to sit after Lizard was flattened by a fence board.
