The Tuneful Frog. 97 



" Beneath thy feet 



A lonely bell-frog from the reedy fosse 

 Rang his distinct and melancholy fall, 

 But harshly to thy travel- wearied mind 

 Most soothingly attuned." 



There ought to be nothing laughable about the creature's 

 voice, but I confess I have laughed consumedly at its 

 pompous gravity ; and a friend once told me how a love- 

 making scene, which both the lady concerned and he 

 meant to be most serious, was made utterly ridiculous, in 

 consequence of a bull-frog chiming in most inopportunely, 

 whenever sentiment demanded silence, or, at most, only a 

 nightingale's song. However, the frog was, after all, a true 

 friend, for the marriage, which eventually followed their 

 laughing betrothal, has been a happy one, owing, so they 

 say, to " that old bull-frog " having stopped them both from 

 committing themselves and each other to " a lot of bosh " at 

 the commencement. 



In fairy-stories the frog is perpetually recurring. Its 

 shape is popularly held in aversion, so nothing could be 

 more suitable for the utmost degradation of enchanted 

 princesses and princes. Ivan the Tsar's son has to marry a 

 frog who eventuates blissfully in a very Helen of personal 

 charms. In Grimm, the exquisite princess has to wed a 

 frog which turns into an adorable prince. When the lovely 

 maiden is to be transformed into an odious object, toads 

 fall from her mouth when she speaks. Yet in folk-lore, 

 frogs are uniformly beneficent. One brings the Queen her 

 Rose-briar daughter; another, a fat old frog, makes D urn ru- 

 ling's fortune for him. 



So, too, are the toads. They are always bringing good 

 luck to children, or treasures (as "the toad with the crooked 

 leg " did) to princesses. As the metamorphoses of human 

 beings, they are intended to be repulsive. In their own 

 persons they are benign. As the familiars of witches the 

 paddocks had a bad name 



G 



