i ran as fast as i could to the top of the hill. I could hear Marley and Ian running behind me, but their voices were growing fainter. They were snails and i was a grasshopper leaping and jumping and leaving them behind!

Answer: this is an example of a metaphor. the speaker states that they are a grasshopper, and that marley and ian are snails.

Explanation: a metaphor is sorta when you conpare something by saying it is something that it is not. its close to a simile, which compares something by using the words like or as.