Short Story - Frederic, the Frugal Frog
Frederick is frugal in many ways. Let’s take a look at some of his tips.
Tip №1 - Tail
‘Where’s your tail? I saw you had it a few days ago.’ asked Dragonfly.
‘I drew it in. Trying to be frugal.’ replied Frederic.
‘How can that be frugal?’
‘Now I have arms and legs. I don’t need a tail anymore. Saving my energy, you see.’
‘I see.’
‘Well, it’s so hot this summer. The pond’s nearly boiling, and I was nearly boiled, too. I kind of had to hurry up.’
‘Yeah, I know. I had to get out of the pond ahead of schedule, too.’ nodded Dragonfly.
‘And humans! They cut all the grass around the pond. Now no shade at all. It’s more than too much for the first-year frog, you see.’
‘That’s what the third-year ducks were complaining about the other day.’
Dragonfly googled at the pond in front of him. Thickly grown reeds are now all gone, and the Sun’s savaging the cracked mud.
‘They do that for convenience.’
‘Yeah, I suppose so. Humans are like that, and it may be their frugal way of doing things. Saving their energy, you see. Must be hard work to cut the reeds when they are fully grown. In a way, it makes sense.’
‘What about us then? Don’t they know we are here, too?’ said Dragonfly sulkily.
‘Of course they do but they care more about themselves. Well, we are just using the pond they built, you see.’
Frederic sighed, and wiped the sweat off his forehead and said…
