The Frog Prin
Well…for those of you who think Prin is a misprint…it ain’t. Prin
is an amalgam of Prince and Pin. Put ‘em together and what’ve you
got…Of the animals pins that are worn today by the world’s pin-
wearers…one might wonder why do they wear frogs on their
lapels…or on their blouses…or anywhere else for that matter?
Nuthin’ attractive about frogs…one might say. Nuthin popular about
'em either.
Ah…but that’s where you’d be wrong folks. I would venture to say
that of all the animal pins worn…the frog ranks number one in
literary popularity. Let us start–why don’t we–in showing how frogs
have played a major role in human existence.
Where better than the bible. Exodus 8:6 describes that time when
Moses called up frogs as the second plague of Egypt. In the book of
Revelations 16:13…when the sixth wrath came, “three foul spirits
like frogs” appeared.
And this is only the beginning. Remember Prin above? Remember the
Brothers Grimm…and The Frog Prince…and the time when the princess
had to take a frog to bed with her because he retrieved a golden ball
she had lost in a pond? How many of you have daughters out there? How
many of you have heard your daughters say she had to kiss a lot of
frogs before finding her prince? How many of you–for that matter–
have had to kiss a lot of frogs before you found your prince. But so
much for metaphors.
Anyone out there ever hear of a chap who called himself Mark Twain.
Great American writer. Anyone out there ever read The Celebrated
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County? It ain’t no wonder lads and
lassies…that folks wear frogs on their lapels. Even the great one–
Edgar Allen Poe–wrote a short story entitled Hop Frog. And kids play
a game called Leap Frog. And the English…at one time…used to use
the term Froggie as a derogatory term to describe the French for
their penchant of eating frog’s legs.
Enough? No? More? Yes? Ancient Egyptians had a Goddess of Childbirth
named Heket who had the head–and sometimes the entire form–of a
frog. Queensland, Australia. I have a friend or two out there I
expect to hear from on this. Aboriginal myth has it that a great
frog caused drought by swallowing all the water in the world and had
to be made to laugh in order to force him to bring up all the water
and make things well again.
The Huron tribe in North America has a similar tale…only in this
case the frog had to be stabbed in order to release all the waters
residing in the creature’s belly. The Japanese use the frog as one of
the animals in the Zodiac. The Hindu hymn Rigveda intimates that
frogs were worshiped for bringing on rain. In Venezuela frogs are
kept captive and beaten in times of drought.
But the ancient Romans take the cake. To them the frog was a mascot
filled with useful purposes. Want to get from a sleeping
woman? Who doesn’t? Cut out a frog’s tongue and place it on her
heart…and she will tell all. I digress here folks to add this
disclaimer. In no way to I advocate this practice. I don’t advocate
cruelty. Besides, I have my own secret way of getting any information
I want out of any woman. Of course, you all realize I can’t tell you
how it’s done. Next thing you know…the will leak
out…women will discover the secret…and my system will become
ineffective. So don’t ask me to tell…my lips are sealed.
There’s much much more to tell about frogs…but time’s a runnin’
out…and I have things to do and places to go and people to see.
So…another time perhaps. In the meanwhile…
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Tidbits…and then click on the link that says: Frog…where you will
see a graphic of our Frog Prin…I mean Pin…heh heh.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark