Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Story.

Wizard reached out and placed his hand on Frog’s head, the way good friends will sometimes touch each other to bond their companionship. That’s a big frog, you might say, or a very small wizard. And it was a big frog, boy sized at least. Wizard was a tall thin dried up stick of a man, Frog quite round and green.
They sat on an island in the middle of a lake. Wizard had been placed there centuries ago by the Supreme Wizard of this little kingdom which doesn’t exist. He was being punished for some forgotten crime and lived in hope of his release one day. Frog wasn’t really A frog, he was a young man who’d given a lot of back chat to a witch, not a very smart move. He prayed that one day his friend Wizard would remember the right spell to change him back into a boy.
You might wonder what they ate on this very small island and I can tell you. Each day Frog went for a swim and came back with a fish or two. Wizard had a little garden for some vegetables and because he was a wizard, it wasn’t hard for him to create a fire so they could cook their dinner and keep warm. Poor Frog did all the work, he caught the fish, grew the vegetables and cooked their meals hoping all the time Wizard would remember the spell to turn him back to what he once was.
‘Well, you see,’ Wizard said,‘it’s not a spell I ever used before. I mean what, would I be doing turning a boy into a frog, or a frog into a boy, witches do that sort of thing, not wizards.’
‘But didn’t you study all the spells when you were training to be a wizard?’ Frog asked plaintively.
‘Of course I did, but it was such a long time ago and I have forgotten.’
‘Well, couldn’t you try a few spells on me, you might just hit on the right one,’ Frog pleaded.
‘And what if I zapped you by mistake, you’d be cooked to a crisp and I would have to eat fried frog for a week or more.’
‘Even that might be better than living as an oversized frog for the rest of my life. I have no friends; the other frogs in the lake are scared of me because I am so much bigger than them.’
‘Aren’t I your friend?’ Wizard asked, hurt.
‘I think we are more master and servant,’ Frog murmured, his eyes on the ground in between his webbed feet.
‘Oh, because I ask you to do some work around the island, you think I am using you as a slave, do you?’
‘Well no, but I catch the fish and dig the garden, not you.’
‘My boy, I could cast a spell that would make all the fish in the lake crawl out of the water and jump into the pan if I wanted to,’ the wizard said in a huff.
‘I wouldn’t mind if you did,’ was Frog’s surly reply, ‘the water’s pretty cold in winter.’
Wizard didn’t answer, he walked away to the other side of the island. If Frog did return to his former shape, the boy would swim from the island to the shore and go, then Wizard would be left alone. Of course, if he could swim there would be no problem, but everybody knows that wizards hate water, they never even wash their faces. They all have long straggly white beards that hang down to their chests, wear black robes and tall funny hats.
Poor Frog sat and stared at the trees on the shore of the lake. Once he swam over there and waited in vain for a beautiful young girl to come along. The few who did screamed with fright and fled when they saw a large green frog who could talk. One, he recalled, laughed and said disdainfully, ‘I would never kiss a cold slimy green frog, warm human mouths are all I lay my lips against.’
You would think, Frog thought glumly, there would be one girl in all the land who would take pity on a boy who had been changed into a frog and give him a kiss so he could become a human again.
Frog looked at Wizard who walked back and forth on the other side of the island. He knows, Frog scowled, wizards never forget their spells.

Frog sat and gazed sadly at the far shore, he could hear Wizard pottering around behind him doing nothing as usual. It’s all right for him to be able to make fire bursts in the air, but it would be better if he remembered the spell to turn me back into a boy.
One day, Frog sat and gazed sadly at the lake, a movement on the shore caught his eye. He rose up onto his hind legs, there was someone there. Frog squinted his eyes up against the morning sun the better to see and gasped. A girl, a beautiful girl, she strolled along the water’s edge stooping occasionally to pick up a shell or something. Frog didn’t hesitate, he plunged into the water. Wizard saw the girl too, he heard a splash as Frog began his fast swim to the shore.
He must stop this for the girl may take pity on Frog and give him a kiss. If she did, he would change back into a boy straight away and Wizard would be left alone on the island.
Spell after panicky spell flew through the air towards the girl, most clashed in flight and exploded in a blast of coloured smoke. And while the girl watched the fireworks display over the lake some of the spells hit her. She changed unknowingly into a cat, a large snake, a tiger, a lion, a bear. But Wizard, who was never much good at spells couldn’t make them stick and after each she changed back into a girl.
Frog was nearing the shore, thrashing through the water like a speed boat. Wizard on the island threw spell after spell across the lake, blue fire burned and blistered around his long dirty fingers. As each spell hit the girl she fell to the ground and hissed, rose up and slashed at the air with needle sharp claws.
She roared, bellowed, neighed, stamped, kicked and became a girl again. Wizard cursed and flung more spells, Frog swum and prayed, the girl wondered what was happening to her. Then suddenly there came the thud of hooves. Everything stopped, Wizard dropped his tingling hands to his side, Frog halted his swim and the bewildered girl looked up with a smile.
A handsome young man on a white horse emerged from the forest. He reined his horse to a halt beside the confused girl who didn’t know what was happening to her. ‘I say, are you all right?’ He asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she stammered.
‘Well, don’t you worry about a thing my dear,’ the handsome young man murmured. He took off his silken cloak to place around her shoulders and lifted the girl up to sit behind him on his horse. ‘I’ll take you home to my house where you can rest.’
As the man lifted the girl up onto the horse, Frog sat in the water and watched through tear stung eyes. Wizard looked on from the island, a smile on his thin lips.
‘Please,’ Frog called when the pair began to move away, ‘don’t go. All I need is one kiss to turn me back into a boy.’ But the girl didn’t even see him as she put her arms around the man and pressed against his back.
‘Look!’ The young man said, ‘look at the huge green frog making funny croaking noises. Maybe it’s enchanted and needs you to kiss it so it will turn back to what it was before.’
‘Ugh! Kiss a cold slimy green frog,’ the girl replied with a shudder. ‘I’ll save my kisses for someone who’s warm and handsome,’ and left Frog sobbing in the shallow water by the lake’s shore.
Wizard looked at his broken hearted friend, he felt sorry for him and knew he could change Frog back into a boy with a simple spell. But if he did, what would he, Wizard do? Frog would go away and find his family, he would soon forget about Wizard, lonely on the island in the lake.
As he watched his weeping friend, a strange feeling came over him. Was it pity, did he feel sorry for Frog? If Frog wasn’t here, who would get food for him, dig the garden and do all the things he, Wizard was too busy to do.
But what was the frog doing now? Oh no, it looked as though he was about to hop away into the forest.
The fool will get killed, a feral cat will eat him, a snake, or an eagle will swoop down from the sky and take him back to its nest for its chicks. I can’t let him die. So Wizard rose to his feet and with a lazy flick of his fingers sent a spell winging Frog’s way.
Poor Frog, he gave another heavy ungainly hop over the hard rocky ground. He didn’t care, he wasn’t going back to the island, he’d rather die in the forest. One more hop and he landed on his feet, his human feet. Frog looked down, he stood straight and tall, he was a boy again. Frog turned to the island, but Wizard turned his back and walked away.
Wizard sat by his smoky smouldering fire, it was nearly out and he was cold and hungry. He sorely missed his young friend Frog, but he shouldn’t have kept him as a prisoner just to provide food. Well, he’s gone now, he set him free, now he s the prisoner, and a hungry one.
Days passed, then a faint shout from the shore jerked Wizard from his misery. Why, it was young Frog, what did he say, has he come back to tease me? Wizard asked himself. To tell me how good it was to walk the wide land again. Wizard leaned forward, his hand cupped around his ear.
‘Wiz,’ Frog yelled from the shore, ‘I can’t find my family. I need your help, you’ll have to come from the island.’
‘How am I going to do that, you young fool,’ Wizard roared in return. ‘You know I can’t swim, I can’t abide water. Anyway, they are your family, why should I care whether you find them or not.’
‘Because you shall be one of us if you help me find them. You will be like a brother to me.’

TO BE CONTINUED . . .