FLORA, THE LEAPING FROG

Once upon a time, there was a frog called Flora, who was very young and spent all day long leaping about… Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘Yes, but that’s what all frogs do!’ Which is true – all frogs leap to get from one place to another, but our friend Flora was nicknamed ‘leap frog’ by the other frogs, so you can imagine that she certainly didn’t lack any energy.

From the moment she awoke to the time she went to sleep, she would jump about from one spot to another. She couldn’t sit quietly even for a little while, and her parents were constantly telling her: “Flora, don’t leap so much! One day you’re going to hit something by accident and hurt yourself.”

One day when she was in the pond, leaping from one stone to the next, a very calm toad ambled up to her and said: “Hello Flora, how is it you have so much energy to leap around like that?” For a moment, Flora the frog stopped still to stare at the toad that was transmitting so much peace, then shrugged and kept on leaping.

The next day at school she had a gymnastics exam, which consisted of leaping over the vaulting horse and … I wonder if you can guess who leapt higher than anyone else? That’s right, Flora the frog. At that moment a classmate came up to her and asked: ‘How do you do it, Flora? I’m a frog too, but I can’t leap around all day long”… And Flora answered: “I don’t know…”

After brushing her teeth, Flora’s mother ordered her to bed to read a children’s story given to her by her uncle John. But suddenly a huge din came from Flora’s room… Her parents went jumping to her room to see what had happened…  Flora had fallen and was lying stunned on the floor.

“Are you all right, Flora?” asked her father.

“Yes daddy, I’m ok,” replied Flora.

“But what happened, why did you fall?” asked her mother.

“Well I was jumping on the bed… and I slipped,” answered Flora, scared that her parents would scold and punish her. But to her surprise, her parents tucked her in instead and read her the story. “Now, Flora, sweet dreams,” they said, turned out the light and went off to sleep.

Flora was amazed that her parents hadn’t told her off for her disobedience. Then she realised that what she had done was wrong, and that her parents had only wanted to stop her hurting herself when they told her to stop leaping. And once she had learned her lesson, our little friend Flora the leap frog fell fast asleep.

THE END

Cuento en español