1   The porcelain throne        'A frog story'   I read in the local paper The one you all know well If any of its readers Had a frog story to tell. Well, I remember from my childhood There's one story I recall About a frog, a Princess And her precious, golden ball  The frog, had helped her find it When it fell into a lake On a promise, that she'd take him in That was a big mistake! For the frog was cold and slimy She didn't like it in her bed Without thinking of her honour Threw it, in the cold old pond instead.	2.  The moral of this story Finally came to light When the frog, thus hardly done by Came to the Princess, every night The King, who heard this sorry tale Bade him live there ever since And like all fairy stories The frog became her Prince.  By now, you may be wondering Why this story comes to mind For many of these old fables Are now quite hard to find But just last month, my wife and I Came to Morayfield, to dwell Along the verdant river bank By Captain Whishs' Well.  In this tranquil setting We soon felt quite at home Forsaking all those urges That made us want to roam But it soon became apparent We did not reside alone For some other throaty critter Was at home, inside the throne.	3.  A green and handsome tree frog Had beat us to this patch And within his private sound-shell Had a baritone to match. I'm fond of Nature's creatures But generally not to meet   When visiting the privy And sitting smugly on the seat.  I was given a strong message That I'd better quickly act For a green frog underneath a skirt Was surely lacking tact. I hoped he'd take some notice When I marched him down the hill But next day came a concert From within the porcelain sill.  The mystery, was how he got there As we'd carefully shut all the doors And there wasn't any ingress From underneath the floors. With much stronger purpose I grabbed him from his hallowed tank And not thinking of the Princess Flung him, from the river bank.
4.  Yes! I bet you've guessed it Next day, back to make amends Was one very clever tree frog Or a plague of all his friends. For days I ran a shuttle Down to the river side And the wretched green amphibian Didn't seem to mind the ride.  I was getting quite a complex Outwitted by a frog! But I swear this bug-eyed Romeo Was smarter than the dog. So I put him in a large glass bottle With more respect than for a toad And drove him for a mile or so To a pond beside the road.	5.  At last the house was quiet again Now that we were alone Though I hoped the frog would fare alright Without his private throne. I should not have bothered on that score As a week, right to the day An echo croaking through the night Announced, 'I'm back to stay'.  That's it! I'll have no more of this Remember the large glass jar? And dangling by a leg, he groaned 'This time I've gone too far'. For without a further bye or leave I jumped into the car And drove right down the Bribie road And dumped him, on a sandy bar.	6.  So what! .. of that Fable's moral Was I right, or had I done wrong? I have no feelings of remorse And the wife's pleased that I was strong But that story keeps on haunting me And I've worried, ever since That should he come back one more time He might become ... a Prince!                            Rodd Sherwin   ©
Back	Next	Back - to Verse Preview