PROMPTuesday: Exercise #12
(From Deb, this week’s prompt—or, guest prompt, rather—is to write a fable with a moral at the end, á la Aesop. Ten minutes or less. 250 words or less.)
The little red-eyed tree frog yawned, blinked his third eyelids twice and stretched his sucker pads wide. He shuddered. He sighed. He looked down from his perch in the tree. He looked up from his perch in the tree. Another night in the jungle and he was hungry. And bored. And lonely! Oh, was he ever lonely. Just as he was contemplating his circumstances—another night in an endless string of them, his perpetual state of hunger, his ennui, and his loneliness—a delicate cricket leapt from the Rainforest floor below. She landed directly in front of him and they stood, the frog and the cricket, frozen in each other’s gaze. She knew she should be patient, wait for le frog to yawn and then make a quick dash for the next branch. But she, too, was lonely. She yearned for companionship. Maybe this one’s different, she thought. So she ignored her better instinct and gave into her more overwhelming urge to chirp. Chirp! Chirp! Chirpchirpchirp! Said the cricket to the frog’s pleading eyes. At this, the red-eyed tree frog let slip the great length of his narrow tongue, snatched her up and swallowed her whole. He was still hungry, still bored and still lonely. But at least he didn’t have to listen to that cricket yak all night. The wild kingdom expelled a collective sigh: Plus ça change, plus ça meme chose.
3 Comments