Story 417: The Unicorn Frog

The Unicorn Frog
by
Matt Zurbo

One day, Cielo was out the back of her place, exploring. The other kids were okay, she guessed, but other kids could be noisy and stomp about. She often preferred to do things on her own.

Today, Cielo decided to go that bit further than other kids did. “Why not?” she thought. “Let’s see what we are not meant to see…”

To do that she would have to go through the blackberries, and down the embankment, to the edge of the boggy pond. So, she went through the blackberries, and down the embankment, to the edge of the boggy pond.

And there, behind a tree, was, indeed something she had never seen. A golden unicorn frog! “WHA!?” she gasped.

It hopped up onto her hand, just like that. The frog had never seen a human before.
“Wow!” Cielo said. “Do you talk!?”
“Gribbit!” said the frog.

“I bet NO ONE has ever seen a unicorn frog before!”
“Gribbit, gribbit,” said the frog.

Cielo was so excited she ran in little circles! “What do I do now!?” she fretted.
“Gribbit!” said the frog.

Cielo imagined showing everybody – Wow, look what I found! Wow, wow!

She imagined being in the newspapers! Wow, wow, wow!

And on tv! Wooo-ee!

And her and her unicorn frog on the cover of Frog Monthly Magazine! Wow, geez, gee, wow! Fame! Fun! Things were looking good from here! TOP OF THE WORLD!

Cielo ran off with her little unicorn frog!

But then… Cielo remembered how much she often liked doing things on her own. “Hang on a minute…” she said, slamming on the breaks. “Would you like to be famous?” she asked the frog.
“…” said the unicorn frog.
“Would you like noisy people and cameras and being away from the pond?”
“…” said the frog.
“Oh, no!” said Cielo. “Everybody would come here looking for more unicorn frogs!”

The frog just stared.
“There would be reporters and scientists and poachers and stickybeaks and lots of people stomping around! Stomp, stomp, stomp!”

“Hmm. What if…” pondered Cielo. “What… if…”

Cielo raced back to the boggy swamp carrying the frog. “What if you’re happy here? What if I was simply grateful to find you? Wouldn’t that be special enough?”
“Gribbit, gribbit!” the frog croaked, loudly.

Cielo put her hand near the tree, so the unicorn frog could hop off. She marvelled at its golden skin and unicorn horn, and little frog wings.
“Amazing…” she gasped. “Beautiful…”

“I’ll never forget,” she said. “Thank you…”
“What for?” said the frog.
“Wuh!?” squawked Cielo. “For being you.”
“No, thank you,” said the frog, with the warmest smile.

And, “Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit” it hopped away.

But came back, occasionally, to hang out beneath Cielo’s window and talk about stuff…

The End