Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-08


These were things that Fan Ting
learned from the conversation that h.
overhead as he lay listening TO ihC mys-
tic music of the woods. Tncy awakened
new and strange thoughts III MS round
little head
This morning as he lay there ON ths
ground he wondered whether or not II
were true thai his mother whom he dim
ly remembered as Il very lovely friend of
his earlier years. was dead. Was 1t not
possible that she might he here i'll the
forest, living in some OF the trees or the
towering plants that she had loved as u
child. These were long, long thoughts
for an eight years old boy, bat then.
Fun Ting was not like other boys Tn
strange circumstances surrounding MS
birth and early life had made him very
old for his years.
His meditations were broken by the
CroakiuS of the friend VINO had taught
him to swim.
You don't know. probably" said Rama
the frog. addressing Runo" that once my
folks were as uely and crude and home
Ivy. the running, poison ivy tod me SO ~
We hoped out Of it, That Is the reason
that | am SO much farther along than
You arc. | don; like to speak Of IL. hut
over at the spring one night long before
Fun Ting came | sa; under pluutaiH
leaf and listened to the upright folk who
came for water, and sighed vixen - "
that they could walk on two legs. and /
said: Tomorrow | will surely bcS.n {"
walk on two legs and the rlaiutain lea .
one of the upright folk saw m". aud
struck ut me with an old moos cwOoJ sick
that was past many Years. hoped
away and escaped. If il had been YOU.
| the stick would have strIck you. ana
killed YOU. for sure. You are SO 81 W.
And then | heard what they said: ON.
Of them said he would like to eat me. lie
said my legs were good To eat. as good
| as a trout's legs, or tail, rather. Think
of il. To he eaten by one OF the upiieht
| folk. Surely that is a great honor, and
hfr., - ie
good Ia cat.
Il have seen frogs legs eaten in New
York said Fun Ting. but never toad'i
| legs.
THAT docs not make me feel 50 very
| bad ayruntcd Euffo.
Not that | want to be eaten said
| Eano hut that they would like t. tat
| me. That is what llcascs me. 1t shows
! am going upward and onward and shall
| sometime walk on two legs like the up
right folk.
'Oh. if could only hop like YOU or sit
| in only one place as long as wanted to
and then so on, sighed the Pitcher PLANK
as Il fly buzZcd hopclcSsly in its hollow
| left leaf. and tried again and again [" lily
out. This makes the fifteenth black lily /
have caught today. No doubt | shall soon
walk. | eat flies like the animals. | saw
Sir Rcynard catch a June bug the other
| night. | Immediately caught one, but h
crawlcd out Of my pitcher, never mindinG
my teeth. If | only had strong white
| teeth like the foxes
|
awake. and Swapping at Il mosquito who
played his fiddle for minute over Blf-
| fo's nose and then dartcd away just in
| time to save himself
| Yes, Yes. the story" said Rama tn,
sleek. green frog lying at length ana roll
ing one les lazily in the dark pool for
the moon was up and quiet rriEncd. and
the SOFT voices of the plants and flowers
| could best be heard now that the busy
! bees and other day-insccts had ceased
their husting to and fro for nectar.
The story can be told short and long
said Sir Sarsapariila." 1t is Il story of
love and life. Once, long long ago. all
| the animals were plants. and all the
plants were little scnselcss cellular things.
| and all the Hcpaticac We're dirt and all
! the dirt stirred at the kiss of the Mas
| ter, the great Sun, and even the unpricht
creatures, they whose offspring 80 yon-
der for water. went bowling through the
bloody teeth or pulled roots and herbs for
! food ! remember. it was so long ago
and | have lived SO many. many times
since IL is almost dream. | remember
! these upright folk were brown ana hairy,
and they came to the brook to drink with
| the deer and the bear. and they slew
| them with stones.
! There was on" of these upright Great
urcS. a woman they called her. who was
/ young and fair and beautiful to sec She
! came to fish beside the brook. and sat all
day combing her hair with sticks. Down
| under the stones was a toad. lie was
| much dullcr and much uglicr than even
| you are Sir Slow-coaCh for il was carly
/ in the morning of the world. ana things
were crude. | wore poorer garments then
myself But Buffa the toad fell in love
with the maiden. She never looked once
at him. but one day ne saw her. ana saw
her so lcapinS from rock to rock in the
! brook. and she stood on two legs and tn.
toad saw that il was good to stand up
right and every night after the moon
was up he would mount "A fiat rock and
strut W ana down on jwo legs. And be-
cause she tishcd in the brook be t.uk IL
swimming there. and when he saw that
the water made his coat softer and
/ brighter. he swan most of the time in
the brook. The little anImaicui,,c IN tin,
water ne caught to eat. The fish were
afraid of HIM and went away to spawn,
and the upright maiden. she who wa ke |
on Two legs came not b,cl, to fish, and tn
| toad married one OF his own kind and
his children swan in the brook and ate
the water bugs ike their father and wo~..
filled with attention. And when the bugs
would not come TO them. they would 20
to the bugs, and every generation Of
them hoped more and more, and they
grew stronger, and Slcckcr. with cX,r-
else and wiser and wiser with taking
thought. and they were toadS no more
but were going upward. And the squat
toads who would not fish for themselves
and would not swim the swift brook am,
sat all dav under a root waiting for bugs
to come TO them, they went backward