Ficus the Frog

Flippy-floppy Ficus shot straight up out of the Slurpy-Burpy Swamp. Up, up, up he soared. Down, down, down he sailed landing with a thumpity-bump.

Ficus loved going up, up high in the air so much, he didn't mind the thumpity-bump in the end. He wished with all of his froggie fervor that he were a bird. A many colored bird. To soar in the canopy of trees high above the Slurpy-Burpy Swamp would be the greatest thing in the world. But, alas, he was just a flippy-floppy, gloriously-green, no-wings-to-fly tree frog slurping bugs with his ticky-tacky tongue.

Ficus sighed a long, sad sigh and gazed down into the murky-mushy waters of the Slurpy-Burpy Swamp. While flippy-floppy Ficus was thus in a state of longing, two bilgy-bulgy eyes appeared in the murky-mushy waters of the Slurpy-Burpy Swamp.

Fillus, his fish friend, had been watching Ficus taking flight before coming down with a thumpity-bump. She waved her frilly-fanny tail back and forth, side to side. Flashes of sunlight flickered through the canopy above glinting off of Fillus' golden scales. She glub-glubbed her most friendly fish greeting. Bubbles floated to the surface popping one after the other with a "Pop! Plippity! Pop!"

No matter how Fillus tried to cheer him, Ficus' flippy-floppy frog smile was nowhere to be found. He only sighed another long, sad sigh feeling quite sorry for himself and almost ignoring Fillus altogether. Fillus was sad for Ficus. Everything seemed humble-bumble blue. How much moody melancholy could the Slurpy-Burpy Swamp hold? Would flippy-floppy Ficus ever smile again?

Then, on the surface of the still, serene Slurpy-Burpy Swamp there was a ripple...just a tiny one in those murky-mushy waters. Still, flippy-floppy Ficus frowned in his fervent froggie way. Then another rampant ripple quivered through Slurpy-Burpy...not so tiny as the first. The amply, oval lily pad on which Ficus was moping waved and rocked. Ficus stared down at the lily pad under his ticky-tacky toes.

Another ripple rolled by...and then another. One by one the ripples were growing fatter and fatter into great ocean swells. The animals of Slurpy-Burpy ambulated aghastly to escape the defiantly, deviating swamp. A tremendous tree toppled over with an enormous crash-kersplash! Suddenly, Ficus felt fervently furious! He lifted himself high on his flippy-floppy legs and roared (which is not a very froggie thing to do), "Stop! Slurpy-Burpy Swamp, you stop this silly, suspicious behavior! What do you think you are, a mighty, magnificent sea?"

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the swamp came a rumbling, thunderous voice. "I am a mighty magnificent sea! Rolling, rushing, churning...foamy white with ferocious fury! I reflect the beauty of an open sapphire sky! I am ever moving and ever changing! I AM a mighty magnificent sea!"

Then there was a queer, calming quiet. Slurpy-Burpy sadly, serenely spoke once more. "At least...I've always wanted to be a mighty, magnificent sea. But, alas, I am nothing but a stagnant and still slurpy-burpy swamp with murky-mushy waters. I can barely see the sky through this canopy of trees, much less reflect hits sapphire blueness."

Slurpy-Burpy's defiant, deviating swells were only ripples once again and he sighed an ancient, apathetic sigh.

Flippy-floppy Ficus sat very still on his amply oval lily pad. He wanted to comfort his swamp friend. Ficus fervently favored his slurpy-burpy home and after a long silence he quietly whispered, "Slurpy-Burpy, you must be what you are. The mighty, magnificent sea cannot be still and gentle like you. Sometimes it is important to be still. We, the plants and animals of Slurpy-Burpy Swamp, cannot live on the shores of the mighty, magnificent sea. We all need the protection of your serene stillness."

A faint breath puffed through the swamp. The murky-mushy waters of Slurpy-Burpy Swamp quivered and sighed serenely. The leaves of all green things fluttered joyfully. Fillus' bilgy-bulgy eyes appeared on the surface of the murky-mushy waters, her frilly-fanny tail waving back and forth, side to side. She was thankful for her friends in the Slurpy-Burpy Swamp.

Flippy-floppy Ficus smiled a fervent, froggie smile when he saw Fillus and he flippity-flopped up the nearest drooping tree branch. He was no longer concerned with being a many-colored bird with wings to fly. Flippy-floppy Ficus was happy. Happy to be a gloriously green, flippy-floppy tree frog slurping bugs with his ticky-tacky tongue. Yum!