The Leap Frog

Hans Christian Anderson was a Danish author best known for writing fairy tales that have filled joy in the hearts of thousands of children worldwide. Although Hans Christian Anderson was also a novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist, his fairy tales became his greatest contribution to world literature. Some of his most defining tales were ‘The Princess on the pea’, ‘Thumbelina’, ‘ The Snow queen’, and ‘The Frog and the Nightingale’ themes. His tales are full of emotions, with a writing style and language focused on young readers but with an adult theme that can be enjoyed by both.

Summary of the Leapfrog Leap Story

Once, a flea, a grasshopper, and a frog wanted to see who amongst them could jump the highest and so they invited the whole world to come and see the festival. The king was also invited to see the three famous jumpers. “I will give my daughter to the one who jumps the highest”, exclaimed the king, “for a competition without a prize would not be amusing.”

The first one to step up was the flea. He came forward with a puffed chest and bowed to the audience on all sides. Next to step up was the grasshopper. He was well-mannered, dressed in a neat green uniform, and claimed that he belonged to an ancient Egyptian family and had recently been brought to the fields.  He bowed to the audience and said, “ I sing so well that sixteen native grasshoppers grew thin from sheer envy when they heard me.”

That’s how the flea and grasshopper introduced themselves.

The third contestant, the leap frog, behaved quite the opposite. He said nothing, but because of this the audience perceived him to be more clever. The king’s dog sniffed the frog and approved him to be from a good family.The contest began.

The flea jumped so high that nobody could see him and thus, they claimed he did not jump at all and he cheated. The grasshopper jumped half as high but landed on the king’s face which was considered ill-mannered.

The leap frog however stood still for a while. Then he made a jump and landed on the lap of the princess, who was seated on a gold stool nearby.

To this, the King said, “ There is nothing above my daughter and so none should jump above her. This requires understanding that only the leapfrog possesses. He is brave and intellectual and I give my daughter to him.”

After hearing this, the other two contestants felt cheated. The flea went abroad to serve in the army.

Whereas the grasshopper sat defeated and hummed a sorry song about a jumping contest.

The clever frog and the princess lived happily ever after.

Frog

Note to Parents

Learning good values via reading short stories is an interesting approach to educate children. Parents shall thus look for good reading content to provide their children which will help promote a literary environment at home. This will in turn help them perform better in their schools. Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.

Conclusion 

In the clever frog story, we learn that at times life seems unfair. No matter how hard we try, sometimes our efforts aren’t enough and someone else gets all the attention. A fine appearance is what people care about, but this doesn’t mean that we should stop trying. Winning is not everything. You should just be true to yourself and remember there’s always the next time.