Reflections of a Pleasant Peasant: The Return of The Frog and the Duck, or GERTRUDE'S TALE

Actually, Gertrude had lost her tail some time ago when she grew out of being a tadpole. One day, it was just gone. Back there, kind of where the tail had been, were two beautiful legs (a highly prized delicacy in some quarters). Luckily, Gertrude knew nothing about having delicious legs, as her preference ran to bugs and slugs.

One day, as she was hiding in the bulrushes, she heard a CROAK. She turned around, and there she spied a really nice looking bullfrog spying right back at her. After a significant pause, he said "Do you come here often?" and she replied, "Well, I am new to the neighborhood." One thing led to another, and then Gertrude found herself kissing the bullfrog and .... ZAP! He turned into a handsome prince (though he had a few warts scattered over his body). Nevertheless, he was very good looking, and of Irish background, besides. He picked her up tenderly, placed her in his pocket, and away they went through the swamp.

The only trouble was: there was a chameleon in the pocket with her. Gertrude called up to the prince, "Hey, it's pretty crowded in here." That came out a little muffled, and we'll never know exactly how the prince interpreted that protest, but although he did not reply he did reach in and pick her up and throw her out.

Ah, the p

ain of a broken heart. Poor Gertrude. However, the thought "Easy come, easy go" did eventually penetrate through the noise of her self-pity, as well as "Handsome is as handsome does." After a while, she felt a little better ("Good riddance?"). (Gertrude subscribed to a marvelous blog by the name of apleasantpeasant that had all of this wisdom in it, and more, and sometimes it came in handy, like just then.)

Some time later, she met and settled down with a REAL frog who had nothing to do with chameleons. They were very happy, and managed to avoid all restaurant providers, but unfortunately not all of their offspring were as lucky. Altogether, it was a good life, even if a little wet at times.

Now, I know you're wondering about Splash (remember our Duck?). Don't let anyone tell you that females are the weaker gender, but they do have a few peculiarities. For instance, many girls surviving puberty like to change their names into another fancier one. I thought, during that time of my life, that I would be happier if my name was Madeline, but somehow my Mom and Dad never took to it, and I remain Adelma Lucille. Go figure.

So when Splash met Mr. Drake that day on the lake, she introduced herself as Shasta. (Frugal and wise beyond her years, she didn't want to have to accumulate a new set of monogrammed linens for her hope chest.) Mr. Drake didn't really care what her name was; he thought she was beautiful, with all those colors she wore. Mr. Drake was a Peking duck, white all over, and he always thought of himself as rather dull, but Shasta, seeing a duck wearing a different suit, thought "Gosh, this duck is really different" and that appealed to her in a strange way.

Like Gertrude and her mate, Splash and Mr. Drake settled in to start a family. Splash made her nest in a tree that overlooked the lake, in spite of the fact that Mr. Drake could fly but didn't do it often. He took up guardianship of the home by pacing back and forth underneath the tree, trying to act nonchalant, and waiting for the eggs to be laid and for the fun of raising his clutch to begin.

Splash/Shasta brought forth seven beautiful eggs: one white duckling and six multicolored ducklings hatched out in due time. Shasta waited until their feathers were dry, and the next day, she quacked "Moving day," and she pushed all of her colored babies into the water. "Don't worry!" she told them. "You can swim!"

Now the white duckling didn't really want to hear that. He peeked over the nest into the water far below (well, it looked far, far below), and he tried to avoid the shove when it came. But he, too, entered the water like an old pro and Yes! he could swim, after all.

Then Shasta swooped down out of the nest in front of the babies, and they all hopped up onto her back. Joined by Daddy Drake, they swam all around the lake and had a nice dinner of whatever they could get from the bottom of the water. Finally, they pulled up onto the shore for a little nap. Whew! that was some experience.