This Japanese folktale teaches some important lessons. Two frogs from different cities set off on a journey, each wanting to visit the other’s city. They meet on a mountaintop halfway and accidentally look back at their own city, thinking it their destination. Deciding that the two cities look the same, they each return home. Possible morals: 1) If you really want to do something, learn all you can about it before you start; and 2) Don’t look for reasons to give up in the middle of something important. They are too easy to find and you may be sorry later.
Our source for the story was The Violet Fairy Book, one of a series of twelve collections of folk and fairy tales for children edited by Andrew Lang. This is the seventh book in the series, and was first published in 1901. Lang’s source was Japanische Märchen und Sagen (Japanese Fairy Tales and Legends) by Prof. David Brauns, published in 1885.
Original Text / PDF (591 words)