The Little Frog Who Could
Tonight, Mum told me a little story about a frog who didn’t know he couldn’t. The story that follows is an adaptation I wrote of the story I was told. Some aspects of the story have been changed but if you ever come across the original I would love to read it.
The Little Frog Who Could
Once upon a time, a little frog was eager to climb to the tallest battlement of a very tall castle and look out on all the land. His fellow frogs croaked away in the safety of the moat below the very high wall. They leapt with grace from lily pad to lily pad and chomped on bugs with each flick of their tongue. They were content, and they never wondered what lay beyond their fulfilling home.
The littlest frog grew bored of the safe and secure waters in the moat. After a time, his desire to see what lay beyond the moat grew. One day, he leapt to the rough stone walls of the castle and gazed up the ragged face. Behind him, his friend called out. “Don’t go! You’ll never get to the top. What if you fall?”
But the little frog took a last look up the face of the castle wall then poised and flexed, gliding with ease, to a small protrusion a foot up the wall. After that jump he took another and then another. Below him other frogs began to gather.
“Ho boy! Come down before you break your fool neck,” an aging frog croaked. Little frog just kept right on jumping.
“Little frog! You’ll never make it! Come back!” Called a young mother frog in deep concern.
Another frog yelled, “You’re crazy, little frog. Are you trying to kill yourself?”
Yet another added, “Nothing up there is worth so much trouble. Turn back before it is too late.”
Little frog kept on hopping, stone by stone, with barely a pause.
Eventually, the calls faded into the distance and little frog came nearer and nearer the top of the wall. When he reached it he gazed around with wide eyes at all he could see.
Sitting on the battlement in meditation was a wizened stork. One eyelid was cracked open and it’s beady eye gazed at the little frog. It ruffled it’s feathers when little frog smiled and said, “Ho there, stork, ’tis glorious to see the world.”
The stork gazed down at the little frog. “How did you climb so high and come so far? All of your friends and family were sure you would fall. They called you back with every leap you made.”
Little frog watched the stork keenly then grinned, “I am deaf. I did not hear anyone tell me I could not do it. So I did.”