Narcissus Toad

There was a time when toad
Was only 2,000 years old
And the world was only 2,000 years old,
And there were not even

Trees, or grass, or animals,
Only ashy, grassy fields,
And blank, mirrory ponds.
Whenever toad passed one of these ponds

He would plunk himself down
And call out, "Earth,
Let us celebrate a birthday,
For though you are large, and round,

I am beautiful, and a wonder,
And can walk where I please."
Then the winds would rustle
As if giving assent

And toad agreed with himself
That these days were good.
Gradually, the earth became greener
And columns stood on it

And things moved in the shadows
But toad barely noticed
Because he was busy taking note of himself
Who could go where he pleased.

One day, he looked into a pond, and there
Was something just like him,
But bigger, and made out of jade.
"And who are you, and what do you think!"

Demanded toad in rage.
"I am a frog," the creature answered,
"And bigger than you, and may swim,
And may go where I please."

Toad felt totally wounded.
He called up his old friends,
The winds, and they called up the tides,
Frog called up his new friends,

The clouds, and soon the new leaves
Of the trees were rustling and rustling.
"Stop this," said the World,
"Or there will be a terrible storm."

But they would not stop
And puffed up their cheeks
Like storm clouds, and the storm tides
Swelled and swelled and covered the earth.

On the third day, frog,
Feeling triumphant,
Took time off from his frog kick
To wave with a leg

To an ark sailing placidly by,
But the two little toads,
Hidden in the hold
Between the sacks full of barley

Kept perfectly still.

                  - Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

Reprinted with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
 from RHYMES AND RUNES OF THE TOAD
by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer.
Copyright 1975 by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer.

The world has held great Heroes,
As history-books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!

The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr. Toad!

The animals sat in the Ark and cried,
Their tears in torrents flowed.
Who was it said, "There's land ahead?"
Encouraging Mr. Toad!

The Army all saluted
As they marched along the road.
Was it the King? Or Kitchener?
No, It was Mr. Toad!

The Queen and her Ladies-in-waiting
Sat at the window and sewed.
She cried, "Look! who's that handsome man?"
They answered, "Mr. Toad."

                  - Kenneth Grahame

Reprinted with permission of Methuen Books, London from
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS.
First published in 1908 by Methuen Books.

The old man
must have stopped our car
two dozen times to climb out
and gather into his hands
the small toads blinded
by our lights and leaping,
live drops of rain.

The rain was falling,
a mist about his white hair
and I kept saying
you can't save them all,
accept it, get back in
we've got places to go.

But, leathery hands full
of wet brown life,
knee deep in the summer
roadside grass,
he just smiled and said
they have places to go to too.

                  - Joseph Bruchac Entering Onondaga

Reprinted by permission of Joseph Bruchac.
Keepers of the Earth. Fifth House Publishers.

(Tlingit - Pacific Northwest)

There once was a young woman who was very proud. She was the daughter of the town chief and her family was very respected. Many of the young men wanted to marry her, but she thought none of them were good enough for her. One day, she was walking with her sister beside the big lake near their village. There were many frogs in that lake. A large number of them were sitting on a mud bank in the middle of the lake and she began to make fun of them.

"How ugly these frogs are," she said. Then she bent over and picked one up which was sitting on the muddy shore and looking up at her. "You are so ugly," she said to the frog. "Even another frog would not want to marry you!" Then she threw the frog back into the lake.

That night, when she stepped outside of her lodge to walk while the others were sleeping, she was surprised to see a young man standing there. His clothing was decorated with green beads and he seemed very handsome.

"I have come to marry you," the young man said. "Come with me to my father's house."

The young woman agreed. She thought she had never seen such a handsome man before and wanted to be his wife. "We must climb the hill to go to my father's house," the young man said and he pointed towards the lake. They began to walk down toward the water, but it seemed to the young woman they were climbing a hill. When they reached the water they did not stop, but they went under.

The next day, her family noticed that she was missing. They searched for her everywhere and when they found her tracks leading to the water, they decided she had drowned. They beat the drums for a death feast. People cut their hair and blackened their faces and mourned.

One day, though, a man walked down by the lake. When he looked out towards its middle he saw on the mud bank many frogs sitting there. There, in the midst of the frogs, was the chief's missing daughter. He began to wade in toward them, but they leaped into the water, taking the young woman with them.

The man went as quickly as he could to the chief's house. "I have seen you daughter," he said. "She had been taken by the frogs. I tried to reach her, but the Frog People took her with them under the water."

The young woman's father and mother went down to the lake. There they saw their daughter sitting on the mud bank surrounded by the Frog People. As before, when they tried to reach her, the frogs dove in and carried her under the lake with them. Then the chief's other daughter spoke. "My sister insulted the frogs," she said, "That is why they have taken her."

The chief saw then what he must do. He made offerings to the Frog People, asking them to forgive his daughter. They placed dishes of food on the surface of the water. The dishes floated out and then sank. But the frogs would not give up the young woman. They placed robes of fine skins on the bank. The young woman and the Frog People came to the bank and took those robes, but when the chief came close, the Frog People drew her back into the lake. The frogs would not give her up. At last the chief made a plan. He gathered together all of the people in the village.

"We will dig a trench," he said. "We will drain away the water of the lake and rescue my daughter."

The people worked for a long time and the water began to drain away. The Frog People tried to fill the trench with mud, but they could not stop the water from flowing out. The frogs tried to drive the people away, but the people only picked the frogs up and dropped them back into the water. They were careful not to hurt any of the frogs, but they did not stop digging the trench. The water continued to flow out and the homes of the Frog People were being destroyed. At last the chief of the frogs decided. It was his son who had married the young woman.

"We are not strong enough to fight these humans, he said. "We must give my new daughter back to her people."

So they brought the young woman to the trench. Her father and mother saw her and they pulled her out. She was covered with mud and smelled like a frog. One frog leaped out of the water after her. It was the frog who had been her husband. But the people carefully picked him up and dropped him back into the lake.

They took the young woman home. For a long time she could only speak as a frog does, "Huh, Huh, Huh!" Finally she learned to speak like a human again.

"The frogs know our language." she told the people. "We must not talk badly about them."

From that day on, her people showed great respect to the frogs. They learned the songs that the woman brought from the Frog People and they used the frog as an emblem. They had learned a great lesson. They never forgot what happened to that young woman who was too proud. To this day, some people in that village still say when they hear the frogs singing in the lake, the frogs are telling their children this story, too.

Reprinted with permission from Keepers of the Animals:
Native Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children
by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
(Fifth House Publishers, 1991).