The Real LJ Idol: "A Tale Of Amphibian Ambition"

[halfshellvenus]

A Tale Of Amphibian Ambition
real lj idol | week 27 | 1376 words
Once upon a time…

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Comments

[alien_infinity]

This was a clever take on the topic! :)

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you!

I'd started out writing a story about my father and his tall tales, but it seemed a little flat. I had another idea about a frog selling scam real estate, but it morphed into something a little more traditional here. -ish. ;)

[tsuki_no_bara]

a frog with ambition, hee. i love "small and perhaps gelatinous beings", and that the frog is ambitious and intelligent and manipulative but also really lazy.

[halfshellvenus]

i love "small and perhaps gelatinous beings"
It's bad enough being frog-sized in comparison to a horse, but they're also a little more... insubstantial (i.e., squishy)... than other animals their size.

but also really lazy.
Aren't they always? It must be that a manipulative nature lends itself to laziness, at least if the manipulations are successful. :0

[jem0000000]

I knew that wasn't going to turn out the way he wanted it to!

I like how it reads like one of the moral-tales, and the way the animals can talk to each other, and how each one's place in the food chain influences how the frog thinks of it.

[halfshellvenus]

This one is more Aesopian than traditional, in that lazy characters always seem to get their comeuppance in Aesop.

and how each one's place in the food chain influences how the frog thinks of it.
I wonder if it would be hard not to, if you were farther along the "prey" side of the scale than the "predator" side.

We have a little dwarf bunny as a pet, who's lived with us for over two years now, and it still thinks we're going to eat it. :(

[jem0000000]

Aw, poor bunny!

Our cat always jumps if we walk too near to her when she's sleeping on the floor. I've learned not to step over her, even if I can do so easily, because she will wake up and panic and run right under my foot trying to get away from me.

I think it would definitely be hard to like anything big enough to eat you.

[pixiebelle]

My cat does this too and as she runs, often runs into my feet!

Though she's made friends with the Great Dane... That one baffles me!

[lrig_rorrim]

This was delightful and fun! I'm sure it helps that frogs are one of my favorite critters.

I like how the frog strategized to appeal to the different animals, and the ending was picture perfect. Well done!

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you! Things did not turn out well for the frog, but then again... there's a parable on greed in there, given that he had a perfectly glorious pond to start with. He wound up making it more attractive to everyone. :0

[lawchicky]

What a fun story!

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you! I really enjoyed working with the language here, almost as much as the plotting. And, of course, seeing the world's various attributes from a frog's POV. ;)