Benjamin Bullfrog

One day Benjamin the Bullfrog hopped onto his favourite large lily-pad in the pond and sat gazing at his reflection in the water.

'What a handsome bullfrog I am ' he mused. 'It's about time I found myself a pretty lady frog and got married.
I'm tired of living by myself, darning my socks, cooking my meals, cleaning my house and anyway I'm getting lonely.'

There were no lady frogs in his part of the pond, at least none that Benjamin liked enough to share the rest of his life with, so he knew he must travel to distant froglands in his quest.

Many frog miles away lived his very old grandfrogdad , in a very old castle built out of bullrushes, mud and grass.

It was called ' Gomfroggy Castle '.

Benjamin knew that if he was to find his future bride he would need to have a place to live near the source of supply and Gomfroggy Castle would do very nicely.

Off he trundled with his pack of clothes tied securely to a long stick and slung over his shoulder.
As the day drew to a close, Benjamin knew that he was going to be very tired if he continued to hop through the night, so he decided he should rest 'til dawn.
He settled down under the stars and dreamt of all the beautiful lady frogs he was going to woo.

Suddenly, he was awoken from his imaginings and was startled by what he saw.

A very beautiful human girl was sitting on the rock next to him.
She was crying bitterly and her tears were falling onto Benjamin's head.

'Goodness me ' thought Benjamin, 'whatever shall I do?'

He was a very brave little frog and although he was many, many times smaller than the human, he hopped closer to her and croaked " Please, please stop crying, 'cos you're making me all wet and I want to sleep. I've got a long, long journey ahead of me tomorrow "

The human looked down at him with large, red-rimmed, blue…………oh.... so blue eyes.

" Please go away and leave me alone " she sobbed. " I want to be miserable by myself "

" Not on your life " said Benjamin bravely. He felt really on top of the situation now, " If you're unhappy , please tell me all about it. You know what they say…….a trouble shared is a trouble halved "

Amid sobs, the girl told him that her name was Lucia ( pronounced Loo..chee..a ) and she lived with an old lady who was really horrid to her.
So, today she had decided to run away……
Benjamin's heart was full of sorrow for this lovely lady and he wished he could do something to help her.

He hopped onto her shoulder and whispered into her ear that he had an idea.
If she would carry him to Gomfroggy Castle then he was sure that Grandfrogdad would know how to tackle the problem.
Lucia readily agreed and when the sun came up she picked Benjamin up, put him in her pocket and off they set on their long journey.

At least, Benjamin thought it was a long way from his memories of going there before, but in a very short time they had arrived at Gomfroggy Castle, the ancestral home.

Lucia gently put Benjamin down on the ground and watched as he hopped up to the front door of the castle.
He knocked and waited.

" Come in " squeaked an old familiar voice, " Doors unlocked, hurry up and come in and don't leave the door open, the draughts get in and play havoc with my poor old bones "

'That's my Grandfrogdad,' thought Benjamin, 'still the same short temper.'

There followed a few short moments as Benjamin and Grandfrogdad stared at each other, not quite believing their eyes.

Grandfrogdad was the first to speak.

In a gruff squeak, if you can imagine what that sounds like, he said " What are you doing here ? It's hoppingly good to see you again. It must be at least ten frogyears since I last saw you. What brings you to Gomfroggy Castle ? "

Benjamin explained why he had come and then told Grandfrogdad about his chance meeting with Lucia and about her problem.

Lucia had been waiting outside the castle because she was much too large to go inside.

Grandfrogdad said that before he met her, he needed to put on his thinking hat and sit in his thinking chair for a while, but he was certain he would be able to help.

" Go outside and ask Lucia to wait a while longer and I'll come outside when I have reached a decision " said Grandfrogdad.

Benjamin obediently went out to Lucia, but found her in a very distressed state. She was crying so much. Benjamin thought, if she continued at this rate she would cause flooding and wasn't it a good thing he was a frog and could swim !

With great strength, he hopped onto her lap and then onto her shoulder. She bent her head down to look at him and as she did so, he quickly kissed her on the chin.

There was a blinding flash of blue light and Benjamin was hurled into space. He came down to earth with a thud and sat on his bottom rubbing his knees.

'Whatever happened ' he thought.

Just then he heard a strange noise coming from behind a small rock.

Being a little curious, he hopped around the rock and came face to face with the most beautiful lady frog who was crying…… 'Just like Lucia ' he thought.
'Where is Lucia ? '

THE FROG IS LUCIA !!!!!

What had happened ?

Lucia explained that her only wishes in life were to be loved very much, to love someone in return and to be happy.

The old lady with whom she had lived for a long time, was very wicked.
When she found Lucia many years before, she had turned Lucia into a human. This was so she, the old lady, had someone to talk to and a slave to do her work.

When Benjamin kissed her the spell was broken and Lucia was turned back into the one thing she really wanted to be ………A Frog.

After Grandfrogdad had gotten over the shock he gave Benjamin and Lucia his consent to be married.

Lucia and Benjamin lived for many happy frogyears in Gomfroggy Castle with Grandfrogdad, the ocassional batch of frogspawn, numerous tadpoles and frogs in varying degrees of froghood. And their secret.