Exercises 53, 56, and 57

Exercise 53 pg. 142


The Frog

There once was a frog who wanted nothing more in life than to be able to speak. He was a thoughtful frog and had a lot on his mind; he just couldn't convey any of it with the ribbit sound he produced. There were people who came and sat near the pond on occasion, and the frog listened intently to the conversations. He watched how the humans moved their mouths and even noticed that the voice of a man was similar to the coughing noise that came from his throat. He had decided that speaking came from the throat. Well, so did the ribbit sound that he made, so he knew he could learn to talk.
He practiced during the late afternoon hours when he was alone. Always "Ribbit." He did learn to ribbit in different tones, but he could never make a different sound. He noticed a lone cormorant perched in a tree across the pond watching him curiously between occasional dives for dinner. After a few evenings of seeing the cormorant while he practiced, he became used to the bird and considered that the bird had guessed what he was doing. One evening, as the sun was setting, the frog finally had a breakthrough! This time, he did not ribbit, he made a different sound. Tribbit! After practicing more, he could also leave off the ending syllable and say "Trib". How exciting for the frog! He was on his way to learning to speak. He was really doing it! As the sky darkened, the more tired the frog became. Soon he was asleep.
The next evening, it was time for him to practice again. He learned how to make more consonant sounds. He could produce the sounds of v, d, w, even s. He was getting it! He looked up to see his new friend fly away. He thought that one evening, he would be able to speak to the cormorant. He would tell the bird all of his thoughts, even if he got no reply. He practiced late into the night, learning more and more sounds.
The next evening, he was so excited to see the cormorant perched in the tree on the other side of the pond. He was about to speak to the bird. He had spoke the night before; said whole words, whole sentences. He spoke to himself and had no audience, nobody to listen to him or respond.
He jumped into the pond and swam with his long legs to the other side of the pond to speak to the cormorant. He pulled himself up on a log just under the perch of the cormorant. He looked up at the bird and cleared his throat. "Hello, friend cormorant. I have practiced and practiced and learned to speak. I was wondering if you would like to hear my thoughts about this wonderful pond."
The cormorant tilted his head, and seemed to look more closely at the frog, scrutinizing him. The frog was so proud that he had spoke to the cormorant and seemed to intrigue him. Then the bird straightened up and dove straight down and ate the interesting frog.

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Exercise 56 pg 148

I decided to pick alternate endings for the frog story I just wrote. I had the thought to have him be eaten before I even knew what I wanted the frog's passion to be. It just struck me. These alternatives would take place after he has taught himself to talk, but before him swimming across the pond to the cormorant.
So, a few alternate endings, or what if's..
*What if... he finds a person to talk to, and he develops a relationship with the person? The person could then make this talking frog famous. He could sing on the radio or do voice-acting for cartoons. He could even have his own talk show!
*What if... he decides to teach other frogs to talk? There could be a pond full of talking frogs.
*What if... he wakes up the next morning not being able to ribbit or speak? There would be a lot of frog inner turmoil here.
*What if... he goes over to speak to the cormorant, and the cormorant responds? It could be as though all animals could talk, but the frog never knew.
*What if... he was so afraid that people would make his life hell by wanting to interview him all the time or do constant testing, that he learned to type and took online creative writing classes to make use of his thoughtfulness?


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Exercise 57 pg.150

After reading the opening of my story, I find the occasion to be a frog wanting to learn to speak because he feels he has a lot on his mind to share. After reading the rest of the story, this remains unchanged. He did learn to speak, although he never got to tell his thoughts to anyone.