Frogs ain't rubber bands
Written
and was to be Illustrated by Toni Donelow
Stewart
This story, rewritten as originally told to
Jeremy Stewart.
“Hello
there, my name is Freddie the
Froglet!”
“Yes, I am a frog, but I like to
think of myself as a
froglet.”
The bluish, greenish
froggy with big
purple spots all over his body, said,
standing near the edge of the pond’s waters.
“And I can bet you’re wondering
why my arms and legs are
soooo long for
this little body, too, aren’t ya?"
The smiling children he was
speaking to nodded in unison.
“Well, have to tell you, it’s a
strange story, it is.” He went on.
“Tell us, please?” A little boy
with dark blonde hair asked sweetly.
The silly looking frog reached
up and scratched his chin thoughtfully, with
a webbed finger.
“Well, it was a nice day much
like this one. I was barely just over being
a tadpole, when this big old wagon came
rolling down the path there—in that very
spot over there you see it?” Freddie pointed
in the direction behind the children, who
turned around to look where he was pointing.
“It was one of those great big
gypsy wagons, all decorated and everything .
. There were giant pink and blue and purple
flowers carved out of wood on all four
corners of it. It was quite pretty,
really.”
“But there was something strange
about it.” He went on.
“The horses pulling it slowed to
a stop very close to me, as I sat in the
grass there minding my own business. What I
noticed as strange, was that a COW was
driving it! Yes, for real, a COW!!! I
couldn’t believe my little
froglet eyes, as
I watched this cow, in full human’s
clothing, get off the front seat of that
pretty wagon, and climb down, then, walking
on his hind legs, he walked straight over to
a wagon wheel that had fallen off right on
the spot! He was a strange looking fellow,
he was!”
The four children listening to
the frog telling the tale looked with
surprise, even
though they were listening to a talking
frog… err frogLET.
“Again, as I say, I was sitting
over there in the grass, minding my own
business, watching, not saying anything of
course, and this COW, with hooves and all,
walked right over to me, without saying a
word (not even a moo), picked me up by the
waist and then tied my front legs onto one
part of the wheel and then tied my back legs
onto another part of the wheel!
“I kept telling the cow-man
this: ‘I ain’t a rubber band! I ain’t a
rubber band!’”
“But that cow-boy
didn’t
listen! He started the horses up and
continued on his way, with me tied to his
back, driver’s side wheel, whirling around,
feeling every last bump! My head was
spinning and I thought I would CROAK!”
“But instead, we reached the
next town, after having gone over every bump
in that dirt road!” The
froglet winced.
“Then this funny-bunny looking rabbit
man-beast came up to the wagon and said:
‘Frog’s ain’t rubber bands, buddy!’ and he
pulled me off the wheel!”
“I thought that I was gonna die!
That nasty old cow-man just scratched his
head, and wasn’t even concerned with what he
had done, he was
just concerned about his stupid old wheel.”
The children sat there watching
the colorful frog, who
was shaking his head and now laughing, he
was making them laugh too.
“So now, you see I’ve got these
loooong silly
arms and loooong
silly legs, and I’ve got this story to
tell.”
“You want to know what the moral
of this story is?”
The children nodded once again.
“The moral of this story, is . .
. never mistake a frog for a rubber band.
Yes, that’s the moral of THIS story!”
THE END.
