Croak

There was a time when frogs could sing so sweetly, birds joined them willingly in song. Together, the air was fragrant with such melodic sounds  that all the animals of the Great Forest lived in peace and harmony.

It was seamless from the ground to the highest tree as the music soothed and massaged all the forests denizens' bruises and  aches.

Full Smiles replaced frowns, and humming replaced moaning.

The frogs were well-organized. Soloists, duos, barbershop quartets, deep bulldog basses, young sopranos everything in between. They loved to sing. A frog's greatest ambition was to sing a perfect note,

the perfect song. An old frog's saying was, " Frogs can't fly, but their notes can soar!

All life in the forest,seemed seemed so balanced...til the arrival of the Hog Butts. Nobody in the forest could recall when they first came. Or where they migrated from. They were just there in the very upper recesses of the forest at the River's mouth. The frogs were the only creatures that ever saw them.

Each year the hardies of the bullfrogs swam  the Froggy Mouth Marathon to the Huge Rock at River's mouth. On their arrival and at this time,and instead of Tranquility they encountered the chaos of the Hog Butts. Huge creatures, with enormous appetites,who never seemed to finish eating.The six frogs, though exhausted, sang their welcome wagon song, but they could not seem to communicate with them.The Hogg Butts chewed so loud they couldn't hear the soft music. They belched so often, that any other animal in 20 yards could not hear it . either. So the frogs, worried and suspicious of the way they stared at their legs, left.

When they arrived home, they told the village about their discovery, and the Animal Council ordered the Woodpecker to fly to a distant junction of the river, and put up a sign warning "DANGER-POINT OF NO RETURN!" The Frogs went back to their daily lives.

The coexistence worked over  many years, till a sunny, summer day, when Filo Frog hopped  onto his favorite rock to sing a welcoming song to the Sun. He opened up his mouth and instead of a melodic note a strange sound came out. The other frogs stared..,he washed his mouth, gargled and tried again....the same horrible sound came...

They called it a CROAK, because it sounded like a creak, after getting caught in someone's throat. Fill was horrified. He would not sing again until he was cured. The Great Horned Toad decided on a week's rest.

But during that period., other croaks were heard. As time passed, more frogs croaked. The mystery remained for many years as animals grew more and more disharminious, as gaps in singing of songs opened up in the forest.

The answer lay in the River. It had become polluted with the Hog Butts' garbage...The sign was Correct!

The frogs could not be cured, even  to this day, they still try to sing.

Each CROAK  is a Plea!