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Dear children
Today Elfree told me a story about
reputation, pride and frogs.
"Elves care a lot about their
reputation,
For themselves and for their
nation
And even young elves know they
should
Give folk a reputation that is
good;
For reputation is what you leave behind
you
And paves the way that lies before
you."
And life is easier," said the
elf,
"For other folk and for yourself
If all the good things that folk
do
Are well spoken of and remembered
too.
So we feel reputation deserves
protection
And, if sometimes it needs
correction,
We try to do it very quickly,
That way life is much less
prickly."
"This is a tale of a frog at the age
Where he'd just grown out of the tadpole
stage
And he found himself, as most frogs
do,
At the edge of a pond, deep and
blue.
This little frog was handsome and
green
And as he sat on a stump, surveying the
scene,
He saw a sulky old trout being teased
by
A
swiftly darting dragonfly
And various other flying things
With the sun shining brightly in their
wings.
He saw a fork-tailed swallow flying
fast,
Skimming the water as it flew
past
And a butterfly settling softly down
On a water lily's golden crown.
He saw a beaver building a dam of
logs
But what interested him most were the other
frogs.
A
noisy lot, they flopped about,
Rippling the water and scaring the
trout.
Leaping from one lily-pad to
another,
Croaking and jumping and splashing each
other.
They seemed to be having a lot of
fun
As they played in the pond in the summer
sun;
Then he heard a frog quite close to him
say,
'Let's see who can leap the farthest
today.'
And onto the beaver's dam of logs
Scrambled a group of eager frogs.
They jumped into the pond, one by
one,
Then an old frog said, 'Your turn
son'
No one noticed that the little frog
had
Jumped no distance at all, but he felt
bad.
So he climbed back up onto his
stump
And would not try another jump.
Too proud to lose, he felt
ashamed
And wouldn't play anymore games.
As the summer changed to early
fall
Our frog grew bigger, but he still felt
small,
So he sat alone and never joined
in,
He would not play if he could not
win.
'The games are silly and stupid.' he'd
say,
When other frogs asked him to
play.
And so he got the reputation
Of saying 'no' to every
invitation,
Until, one day while he was
watching
A
competition of long distance jumping,
A
smelly monster came bounding up;
A
yapping, hairy, hound-dog pup.
To a frog he was a horrible sight
And he gave our frog a terrible
fright.
He leaped into the pond and, to his
surprise,
Found he could jump rather well for his
size;
And from that day on, I'm glad to
say,
He joined in all the games that pond frogs
play,
Not caring at all if he lost or
won,
Just so happy at last to be part of the
fun.
Some little frogs are not proud you
see
And they flop about quite
merrily,
Not caring at all if they come in
last,
Or whether they swim slow or
fast.
They are the ones who learn through
play
And, because they like it, they win one
day."
Said Elfree looking very wise.
I
glanced at him in some surprise.
"I know that you too can be a proud little
elf."
"Yes, and I make things hard for
myself."
So we went looking for seeds around the
pond
And found some on a ferny frond.
So that's how it's done!
Love
Gran
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