The Blue Frog Stone

The Blue Frog's brilliant color reflected back at him from the still waters of the pond.

'I am the most captivatingly beautiful creature to ever swim this murky puddle of muck,' he thought to himself, not without a hint of malice, and of course, his effervescent pride in appearance.

The Blue Frog was renowned to the other inhabitants of the pond (who, by the way, were all quite attractive) by his shameless narcissism. Secretly, the other creatures tittered and snickered at the way he preened himself in the sun for hours each day, whiling away the time gloating over his looks. Granted, he was quite the looker, with his luminous, azure coloring - the way it caught the glints of the sun and glistened and sparkled was legendary with the female denizens, and he had sent many tiny beating hearts aflutter. But still, it is not very pleasant to have to live in close proximity with such a self-loving, egotistical critter such as the Blue Frog - all of the pond dwellers would agree on this point.

There came a day when a visiting caravan of Wise Warty Toads came to the pond, bestowing their infinite wisdom, and it was rumored, certain magical powers upon rare occasions. The creatures eagerly gathered together upon the Gathering Stone in the middle of the pond to partake of the worldly knowledge of the toads - the dragonflies fluttering across the silken waters upon gossamer wings, the young frogs playfully (and noisily!) splashing across. All except the Blue Frog. He was far too busy admiring himself to even think of any 'wisdom' the Wise Toads might feel fit to bestow upon him.

Upon the Gathering Stone, all was deathly quiet as the Elder Wise Warty Toad slowly rose to his webbed feet and addressed the crowd:

'Crrroooaaakkk! Eh, excuse me, my fellow denizens of the pond. I seem to have a frog in my throat..'

At this little repartee, there was a ripple of rather nervous laughter through the crowd and several worried glances were exchanged.

'Hmphhh...Not to worry, my little green friends,' said the Wise Toad with a mischievous smirk on his warty countenance, 'just a little pond humor to liven things up before we get down to business.' He gestured to his fellow Toads, who curtly nodded to the assembled crowd and rose as one to face them. 'It has come to our attention,' said the Elder Toad, who now looked very serious indeed, 'that one among us considers himself above the daily going-ons of this pond. We, as your humble leaders, believe that this situation is not beneficial to the ongoing harmony and togetherness that we all wish to cultivate in this community.' To this, there was much nodding of heads and general agreement. 'But,' continued the Elder Toad, 'we believe we have a solution that would be agreeable to all involved.'

He turned and peered across the waterlily laden pond, to where Blue Frog sat and gazed lovingly at his reflection in the water.

'Blue Frog,' he called, 'we must speak with you. We have a proposition that you would be most interested in.'

Blue Frog was determined to ignore him, but thinking better of it (after all, being Wise Toads, they might decide to declare him the most beautiful creature of the pond, and deservingly, he thought) he rose and turned to hear him out.

'Blue Frog,' repeated the Toad, 'you are the most beautiful creature of this pond. We would like to bestow upon you a special gift - a gift that will allow all future denizens and inhabitants to admire your brilliant colorings forevermore.'

Blue Frog inwardly smiled to himself - finally, finally, a creature with enough native wisdom to realize his remarkable beauty, his innate charm and loveliness. 'Bestow away, my dear Toad,' said Blue Frog, 'and may I congratulate you and your fellow cohorts on your decision. It is most definitely the right one.'

The Elder Toad sedately nodded his head towards Blue Frog, then turned towards the other Toads, who silently waited by his side. Together, they bowed heads and began a sort of whispered incantation, none of which could be heard by the onlooking crowd of creatures.

Suddenly, there was a wooshing motion of brilliant color from across the pond, like a paintbrush laden with all the colors of blue imaginable - indigo, sapphire, azure, cerulean, aquamarine, all entwined together and sparkling with such beauty as had never been seen. The crowd was breathless, frozen with awe. The hues swirled and mixed together, rushing towards them with great speed, and in a brief moment the color was raining down upon them, staining the Gathering Stone with its sparkling luminosity.

'Behold,' said Elder Toad, 'this is our solution. Blue Frog has been granted our gift. He will be forever admired by future generations, his legendary beauty will live on for eternity. And you shall be able to live quietly and in harmony with each other. Remember, my dear friends, there is beauty in each of us - sometimes, it dwells on the surface, other times, it lurks beneath. But you never have to search far to find it...'

The crowd, silent during this speech, burst into rapturous applause, with many croakings and ribbetings echoing throughout. And from that glorious, magical day, the lowly rock in the middle of the pond was known as the Blue Frog Stone...