Week 2 Storytelling: Friendly Frogs

One hot summer day the Thompson brothers decided to go for a swim in the pond out behind their barn. The pond was one of their favorite places to hang out. The shade created by the barn, and the cool temperature of the water made it the perfect oasis for the boys. However, it also served as a home for a family of frogs.

The three brothers Carl, David, and Shawn raced to the pond, and without hesitation, jumped in head first, creating massive splashes and enormous waves. The boys cried out in laughter as they let the cool water wash over their heads.

Meanwhile, the family of frogs was terrified that they had been placed under attack. The bodies of the boys jumping in felt like massive asteroids had plummeted to Earth and crashed right into their backyard. The frogs tried to swim to the safety of the bank, but the brothers were splashing around making it impossible to swim through the choppy water.

Finally, Father Frog cried out, “HEEYYYY!” The brothers froze. Where had that voice come from? They looked around for a few moments, and then finally David shouted, “Guys come here!” Shawn and Carl waded over to where David was standing, and they all three stared in astonishment at the family of frogs.

Pointing at Father Frog David said, “It was him. He’s the one that yelled.” Shawn and Carl dunked their brother under the water in disbelief. They thought there’s no way a frog could have yelled so loudly. David resurfaced, gasped for air, and then began swinging his fists in retaliation towards his brothers.

Father Frog yelled out again, “Hey! Y’all need to cut it out!” Immediately the brothers broke up their scuffle and stared at Father Frog. Father Frog continued, “While you boys may be having a grand ole time splashing around and causing a ruckus, you are scaring my family half to death.”

In complete disbelief Carl said, “Frogs don’t have families!”

“Sure we do,” replied Father Frog. He motioned for his wife and daughter to swim over. As they swam up he said, “This is my wife, Meredith and my daughter, Lacey.”

For a moment, the brothers just stood there with their mouths hanging open in shock. Finally Shawn said, “Well, it is nice to meet you Meredith and Lacey. I would like to apologize on behalf of myself and my knucklehead brothers.”

“It’s quite alright,” said Meredith. “We understand that you boys were just trying to have fun and cool off on this hot day.”

The brothers all made their apologies, and vowed to be more careful when swimming in the pond. And from that day forward, the Thompson brothers and the family of frogs shared the pond in peace. 

Father Frog on the pond.
Source: openclipart

Author's Note:

This story is based on Aesop's Fable The Boys and the Frogs. The moral of this fable is "Always stop to think whether your fun may not be the cause of another's unhappiness." In the original story, the boys were skipping rocks across the pond. As one could imagine, this would be very terrifying for the frogs at the pond. Hence, the moral of the story. 

In my story, I chose to keep the same moral as well as the same basic characters. I thought the moral was very practical, especially for fun-loving college students! Also, I thought the use of a slightly unusual pairing of boys and frogs to teach a lesson was unique, so I wanted to keep that the same. However, I made the boys a little more personal by naming them after some of my closest guy friends. 

Bibliography

Book: The Aesop for Children

Author: Writer of the text is unknown; Illustrator: Milo Winter 

Year Published: 1919

Web Source: Project Gutenberg