THE TADPOLE WHO WANTED TO BE GROWN-UP
It was a bright, warm April day when the First Tadpole of the season atehis way out of the jelly-covered egg in which he had come to life. Hewas a very tiny, dark brown fellow. It would be hard to tell just whathe did look like, for there is nothing in the world that one Tadpolelooks like unless it is another Tadpole. He had a very small head with abusy little mouth opening on the front side of it: just above each endof this mouth was a shining black eye, and on the lower side of his headwas a very wiggly tail. Somewhere between his head and the tip of thiswere his small stomach and places for legs, but one could not see allthat in looking at him. It seemed as if what was not head was tail, andwhat was not tail was head.
When the First Tadpole found himself free in the water, he swam along bythe great green floating jelly-mass of Frogs' eggs, and pressed his faceup close to first one egg and then another. He saw other Tadpoles almostas large as he, and they were wriggling inside their egg homes. Hecouldn't talk to them through the jelly-mass--he could only look atthem, and they looked greenish because he saw them through green jelly.They were really dark brown, like him. He wanted them to come out toplay with him and he tried to show them that it was more interestingwhere he was, so he opened and shut his hard little jaws very fast andtook big Tadpole-mouthfuls of green jelly.
Perhaps it was seeing this, and perhaps it was because the warm sunshinemade them restless--but for some reason the shut-in Tadpoles nibbledbusily at the egg-covering and before long were in the water with theirbrother. They all looked alike, and nobody except that one particularTadpole knew who had been the first to hatch. He never forgot it, andindeed why should he? If one has ever been the First Tadpole, he isquite sure to remember the loneliness of it all his life.
Soon they dropped to the bottom of the pond and met their neighbors.They were such little fellows that nobody paid much attention to them.The older pond people often seemed to forget that the Tadpoles heardwhat they said, and cared too. The Minnows swam in and out among them,and hit them with their fins, and slapped them with their tails, andcalled them "little-big-mouths," and the Tadpoles couldn't hit backbecause they were so little. The Minnows didn't hurt the Tadpoles, butthey made fun of them, and even the smallest Minnow would swim away ifa Tadpole tried to play with him.
Then the Eels talked among themselves about them. "I shall be glad,"said one old Father Eel, "when these youngsters hide theirbreathing-gills and go to the top of the water."
"So shall I," exclaimed a Mother Eel. "They keep their tails wiggling sothat it hurts my eyes to look at them. Why can't they lie still and begood?"
Now the Tadpoles looked at each other with their shining black eyes."What are our breathing-gills?" they asked. "They must be these littlethings on the sides of our heads."
"They are!" cried the First Tadpole. "The Biggest Frog said so. But Idon't see where we can hide them, because they won't come off. And howcould we ever breathe water without them?"
"Hear the children talk," exclaimed the Green Brown Frog, who had comedown to look the Tadpoles over and decide which were hers. "Why, youwon't always want to breathe water. Before long you will have to breatheair by swallowing it, and then you cannot stay long under water. I mustgo now. I am quite out of breath. Good-bye!"
Then the Tadpoles looked again at each other. "She didn't tell us whatto do with our breathing-gills," they said. One of the Tadpoles who hadhatched last, swam up to the First Tadpole. "Your breathing-gills arenot so large as mine," she said.
"They surely are!" he exclaimed, for he felt very big indeed, havingbeen the first to hatch.
"Oh, but they are not!" cried all his friends. "They don't stick out asthey used to." And that was true, for his breathing-gills were sinkinginto his head, and they found that this was happening to all the olderTadpoles.
THE BIGGEST FROG TOLD THEM STORIES. _Page 63_]
The next day they began going to the top to breathe air, the oldest onesfirst, and so on until they were all there. They thought it muchpleasanter than the bottom of the pond, but it was not so safe. Therewere more dangers to be watched for here, and some of the careless youngTadpoles never lived to be Frogs. It is sad, yet it is always so.
Sometimes the Frogs came to see them, and once--once, after the Tadpoleshad gotten their hindlegs, the Biggest Frog sat in the marsh near by andtold them stories of his Tadpolehood. He said that he was always a verygood little Tadpole, and always did as the Frogs told him to do; andthat he was such a promising little fellow that every Mother Frog in thepond was sure that he had been hatched from one of her eggs.
"And were you?" asked one Tadpole, who never listened carefully, and sowas always asking stupid questions.
The Biggest Frog looked at him very sternly. "No," said he, "I was not.Each wanted me as her son, but I never knew to which I belonged. I neverknew! Still," he added, "it does not so much matter who a Frog's motheris, if the Frog is truly great." Then he filled the sacs on each side ofhis neck with air, and croaked loudly. His sister afterward told theTadpoles that he was thinking of one of the forest people, the GroundHog, who was very proud because he could remember his grandfather.
The Green Brown Frog came often to look at them and see how they weregrowing. She was very fond of the First Tadpole. "Why, you have yourforelegs!" she exclaimed one morning. "How you do grow!"
"What will I have next?" he asked, "more legs or another tail?"
The Green Brown Frog smiled the whole length of her mouth, and that wasa very broad smile indeed. "Look at me," she said. "What change mustcome next to make you look like a Frog?"
"You haven't any tail," he said slowly. "Is that all the differencebetween us Tadpoles and Frogs?"
"That is all the difference now," she answered, "but it will take along, long time for your tail to disappear. It will happen with thatquite as it did with your breathing-gills. You will grow bigger andbigger and bigger, and it will grow smaller and smaller and smaller,until some day you will find yourself a Frog." She shut her mouth to gether breath, because, you know, Frogs can only breathe a little throughtheir skins, and then only when they are wet. Most of their air theytake in through their noses and swallow with their mouths closed. Thatis why they cannot make long speeches. When their mouths are open theycannot swallow air.
After a while she spoke again. "It takes as many years to make a newlyhatched Tadpole into a fully grown Frog," she said, "as there are toeson one of your hindfeet."
The First Tadpole did not know what a year was, but he felt sure fromthe way in which she spoke that it was a long, long time, and he was ina hurry to grow up. "I want to be a Frog sooner!" he said, crossly. "Itisn't any fun at all being a Tadpole." The Green Brown Frog swam away,he was becoming so disagreeable.
The First Tadpole became crosser and crosser, and was very unreasonable.He did not think of the pleasant things which happened every day, butonly of the trying ones. He did not know that Frogs often wishedthemselves Tadpoles again, and he sulked around in the pondweed all day.Every time he looked at one of his hindfeet it reminded him of what theGreen Brown Frog had said, and he even grew out of patience with histail--the same strong wiggly little tail of which he had been so proud.
"Horrid old thing!" he said, giving it a jerk. "Won't I be glad to getrid of you?" Then he thought of something--foolish, vain little FirstTadpole that he was. He thought and he thought and he thought and hethought, and when his playmates swam around him he wouldn't chase them,and when they asked him what was the matter, he just answered, "Ohnothing!" as carelessly as could be.
The truth was that he wanted to be a Frog right away, and he thought heknew how he could be. He didn't want to tell the other Tadpoles becausehe didn't want any one else to become a Frog as soon as he. After awhile he swam off to see the Snapping Turtle. He was very much afraid ofthe Snapping Turtle, and yet he thought him the best one to see justnow. "I came to see if you would snap off my tail," said he.
"Your what?" said the Snapping Turtle, i
n his most surprised way.
"My tail," answered the First Tadpole, who had never had a tail snappedoff, and thought it could be easily done. "I want to be a Frog to-dayand not wait."
"Certainly," said the Snapping Turtle. "With pleasure! No trouble atall! Anything else I can do for you?"
"No, thank you," said the First Tadpole, "only you won't snap off toomuch, will you?"
"Not a bit," answered the Snapping Turtle, with a queer look in hiseyes. "And if any of your friends are in a hurry to grow up, I shall beglad to help them." Then he swam toward the First Tadpole and did as hehad been asked to do.
The next morning all the other Tadpoles crowded around to look at theFirst Tadpole. "Why-ee!" they cried. "Where is your tail?"
"I don't know," he answered, "but I think the Snapping Turtle couldtell you."
"What is this?" asked the Green Brown Frog, swimming up to them. "Didthe Snapping Turtle try to catch you? You poor little fellow! How did ithappen?" She was very fond of the First Tadpole, and had about decidedthat he must be one of her sons.
"Well," he said slowly, for he didn't want the other Tadpoles to do thesame thing, "I met him last evening and he--"
"Snapped at you!" exclaimed the Green Brown Frog. "It is lucky for youthat he doesn't believe in eating hearty suppers, that is all I have tosay! But you are a very foolish Tadpole not to keep out of his way, asyou have always been told you must."
Then the First Tadpole lost his temper. "I'm not foolish, and I'm not aTadpole," he said. "I asked him to snap it off, and now I am a Frog!"
"Oho!" said the voice of the Yellow Brown Frog behind him. "You are aFrog, are you? Let's hear you croak then. Come out on the bank and havea hopping match with me."
"I--I don't croak yet," stammered the First Tadpole, "a--and I don'tcare to hop."
"You are just a tailless Tadpole," said the Yellow Brown Frog sternly."Don't any more of you youngsters try such a plan, or some of you willbe Tadpole-less tails and a good many of you won't be anything."
The old Snapping Turtle waited all morning for some more Tadpoles whowanted to be made into Frogs, but none came. The Biggest Frog croakedhoarsely when he heard of it. "Tails! Tails! Tails! Tails! Tails! Tails!Tails! Tails!" said he. "That youngster will never be a strong Frog.Tadpoles must be Tadpoles, tails and all, for a long time, if they hopeto ever be really fine Frogs like me." And that is so, as any Frog willtell you.
The Green Brown Frog sighed as she crawled out on the bank. "What asilly Tadpole," she said; "I'm glad he isn't my child!"