Some time things seem so tempting
we are inclined to ignore the risks
and take a chance.
we are inclined to ignore the risks
and take a chance.
Let me tell you about a frog who lived in a marsh and felt quite water logged. He really wasn’t happy living in such wet places even though his family always had, he thought it might be better to live on dry land.
Now to get to the dry land he had to cross a deep river and this river was full of snakes who like to eat little frogs. So froggy was too scared to swim across for fear he may get eaten. He had to find another way to cross the river. He had gone up and down the river bank looking for a bridge or falle tree trunk but he never could find one.
The snakes knew he wanted to cross over and often tried to tease him, come closer and cross over they would say in jest. If we really wanted to eat you we would catch you out of the water. Now the froggy knew he was safer out the water as he could get away from the snakes faster but in the water the snakes had an advantage over him, they could ambush him as he tried to swim across.
Then one day out of the water popped two big eyes, it was something he had never seen before a great big crocodile. Little froggy jumped back in fright, The crocodile asked the little froggy
"Why do you look so sad? What are you doing, Frog? Surely there are enough flies right there for a meal."
Froggy answered. "I'm tired of living in the marsh, and I want to travel to the other side of the river. But if I swim across, the snakes will eat me."
The crocodile smiled and said; "Well, if you're afraid of the snakes, I could give you a ride across,"
Little froggy didn’t think he should trust this huge stranger with such big teeth "Oh no, I don't think so," Frog answered quickly. "You'd eat me on the way over, or go underwater so the snakes could get me!"
"Now why would I let the snakes get you? I think they're a terrible nuisance with all their hissing and slithering! The river would be much better off without them! Anyway, if you're so worried that I might eat you, you can ride on my tail."
The frog considered his offer. He did want to get to dry ground very badly, and there didn't seem to be any other way across the river. He looked at the crocodile from his short, squat buggy eyes and wondered about the crocodile's motives. But if he rode on the tail, the croc couldn't eat him anyway. And he was right about the snakes--no self-respecting crocodile would give a meal to the snakes.
"Okay, it sounds like a good plan to me. Turn around so I can hop on your tail."
The crocodile flopped his tail into the marshy mud and let the frog climb on, then he waddled out to the river. But he couldn't stick his tail into the water as a rudder because the frog was on it -- and if he put his tail in the water, the snakes would eat the frog. They clumsily floated downstream for a ways, until the crocodile said, "Hop onto my back so I can steer straight with my tail." The frog moved, and the journey smoothed out.
From where he was sitting, the frog couldn't see much except the back of Crocodile's head. "Why don't you hop up on my head so you can see everything around us?" Crocodile invited.
"But I don't want to see anything else," the frog answered, suddenly feeling nervous.
"Oh, come now. It's a beautiful view! Surely you don't think that I'm going to eat you after we're halfway across. My home is in the marsh-- what would be the point of swimming across the river full of snakes if I didn't leave you on the other bank?"
Frog was curious about what the river looked like, so he climbed on top of Crocodile's head. The river looked almost pretty from this view. He watched dragonflies darting over the water and smiled in anticipation as he saw firm ground beyond the cattails. When the crocodile got close enough, the frog would leap off his head towards freedom. He wouldn't give the croc a chance to eat him.
"My nose tickles," the crocodile complained suddenly, breaking into the frog's train of thought. "I think there might be a fly buzzing around it somewhere, or a piece of cattail fluff swept into it while I was taking you across the river."
"I don't see a fly," the frog said, peering at the crocodile's green snout. It seemed odd that anything could tickle a crocodile through it's thick skin.
"Would you go check my nose for a piece of cattail fluff, then?" the crocodile begged, twitching his nose. "I'm afraid I'll sneeze and send you flying. I don't want to feed you to the snakes." A tear seeped out of his eye, as if he was holding back a mighty sneeze.
The bank isn't too far, the frog thought. And it's the least he could do to repay him for bringing him over. So he hopped onto the crocodile's snout and checked the nostrils. Just a little closer, and he could jump... "I don't see--" he began.
Just then, with a terrific CHOMP! the frog disappeared. The crocodile licked his lips in satisfaction and gave a tiny half-sneeze. "Good, I feel much better already," he smiled, and turned around to go back home.
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