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The King of the Frogs

Have you ever been to Africa beside a lake at night? Have you ever heard the frogs? You haven’t? Well, just imagine a thousand creaking doors, that someone opens and shuts all the time; imagine a thousand fat men snoring at the same time; imagine a thousand champagne corks all popping at the same time. Imagine all these noises together.

Then you go near the water, and there is silence. Just the splash of a frog jumping into the water. Then nothing.

There’s a story about this.

A long time ago, the frogs didn’t have a king and did as they liked. Nobody listened to what the others said, and they all shouted at the same time. Children didn’t obey their parents and wives didn’t listen to their husbands. The noise was terrible!

One day, a sensible old frog called everybody to a meeting. He shouted and shouted for a long time! And he shouted so much that in the end he managed to get silence.

“Frogs!” said the old frog. “We can’t go on like this. Life is really impossible. We should get a king. When people have kings, there is peace and order, and life is easier for everyone.”

“Yes, he’s right! Let’s get a king!” they all shouted and they started quarrelling and pushing again. As usual.

Then the sensible old frog went to see the great God Mmumi. Mmumi is a very quiet god, who sleeps all day long. The old frog woke him up, and told him about their problem.

“Yes, I think you should have a king,” Mmumi said, and he promised to do something about it. Then he went to sleep again.

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So the frogs went on as usual, quarrelling and shouting.

Then one day Mmumi woke up, remembered his promise, took a big piece of rock which looked like a gigantic frog, and threw it into the water. SPLASH!

“There you are!” Mmumi shouted. “There’s your king. His name’s Gogo. Respect him and obey him.”

The frogs looked at Gogo, who was sitting in the middle of the lake, and were terrified. They jumped away and hid under stones and in dark corners and holes. Parents told their children and husbands told their wives who Gogo was.

“This is our king,” they said, “and terrible he looks! Remember the splash he made! Now all will be well and all this noise will stop.”

And the noise stopped for a few weeks.

Then time passed and the frogs noticed that Gogo never moved anywhere. He just sat in the water, always looking in the same direction. The frogs began to be less frightened. The young ones soon began to swim near Gogo and one day one of them touched his nose.

Gogo said nothing and did nothing.

“Bah! He’s not a king!” the young frogs shouted. “He’s not even a frog! He’s just an old stone and he can’t do anything!”

And they swam round him and jumped all over him and went away and spoke about him to their families.

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At first their parents didn’t believe them. Gogo was a king and a king he had to be! But soon they realized that their children were right and then, well, the noise began again. That was terrible!

The sensible old frog went to see Mmumi again and woke him up a second time. Mmumi was very angry.

“All right!” he shouted. “All right! You don’t like the king I gave you some weeks ago, eh? Very well you will have another one. You should be satisfied with him.”

And the next night he gave them Mamba, the Crocodile.

Mamba didn’t come to the lake with a splash, like Gogo. He went into the water in silence, then began to swim, long and secret, his jaws opening like a trap.

Mamba didn’t sit in the middle of the lake, like Gogo. He often visited his frogs, and when he met one, the great jaws opened and closed and no one saw that frog again.

Mamba is still the king of the frogs. They have the greatest respect for him. They sometimes shout at night, but they keep their ears open and if you go near the lake they stop.

They think it’s Mamba coming to put a little order into them and they keep quiet.