Once upon a time in Japan, there lived two frogs. One frog lived in the city of Osaka in a quiet little ditch outside of town. The other frog lived in a clear, flowing stream near Kyoto. The frogs, of course, did not know each other.

One day the frog who lived in the ditch in Osaka overheard a man talking as he passed by. “There over the mountain, in beautiful Kyoto,” said the man, “is the most glorious palace, the Mikado’s palace. It is a place everyone ought to see.”

At once the frog in the ditch came up with a plan. “I, too, would love to see the city of Kyoto and the glorious palace of the Mikado,” she said. “I think I will climb the mountain and go there to see for myself.”

At the very same time, the frog who swam through the crystal waters of Kyoto thought, “My home is lovely, but surely there is more to see in the world.”

The frog from Kyoto had nothing against the Mikado, the country’s emperor, but he was bored, for beauty and majesty are not everything. He had grown weary of the world around him. “I think I shall climb the mountain and visit other cities. I have heard Osaka is the place to see.”

So, each frog set out to cross the tall mountain that separated the two cities. Up went the frog from Osaka, leaping and hopping with all of her might, so excited was she about her adventure.

And up went the frog from Kyoto. “Oh, to see another world,” he thought as he hopped and jumped.

On and on they leapt. They grew thirsty and tired, but they did not think about their troubles. Their eyes bulged with delight as they imagined the new world they would see when they reached the summit.

At last, huffing and puffing, the frog from Osaka came to the very top of the mountain, and there she sat down in the tall grass under a flowering tree to catch her breath and rest her tired legs.

Just at that moment she felt a blade of grass beside her shiver. “Who’s there?” cried the frog from Osaka.

Who indeed!? Of course it was the frog from Kyoto who had, at last, reached the mountain peak. “Hello,” said he. “It is I, a frog from Kyoto.”

“Ahh,” said the frog from Osaka, “you must be a most distinguished explorer, my friend. So you have come from the land of the palaces, the home of the great emperor, have you?”

The frog from Kyoto harrumphed and gurgled, trying hard to catch his breath, for his journey had been strenuous. “Yes, gracious explorer, I am from the land of palaces. And you? What about you?”

“Harrumph,” croaked the frog from Osaka, “I am from Osaka. I have traveled far and wish to see your land.”

“That is my plan precisely,” said the frog from Kyoto. “I mean to see the city of Osaka, for it is a place that I have never seen.”

“You needn’t bother with Osaka,” said the frog from Osaka. “It is a poor place, filled with ditch water. It clogs the pores, you see. I mean to go to a land of crystal-clear streams.”

“Ha,” said the frog from Kyoto. “Let me tell you what it’s like to sit all day in a sparkling stream. Sparkle and shimmer — all that glistening water will make your eyes ache, my friend.”

At that the frogs fell silent and stared at each other.

She does not look very different from me, thought the frog from Kyoto, and the frog from Osaka thought the same. For a long while the two frogs sat silent, listening to the whistling grass surrounding them and staring at each other.

At last the frog from Kyoto sighed and said, “I have climbed up a high mountain, and I do not wish to climb all the way down to Osaka if it is as dull as you say.”

“I feel the same way,” said the frog from Osaka. “My journey up the mountain was a strain, you see, and now my legs are feeling very weak. If the sparkling streams are not so wonderful, I don’t know that I wish to hop all the way there.”

They sat and listened to the whistling grass a while longer.

At last, the frog from Osaka said, “If only we were taller, we could look down from this mountaintop and see the cities of our dreams. Then we would know if we wished to go on traveling. Alas, we are short and we are stuck here in this tall grass.”

The frogs both sighed sadly.

Then the frog from Kyoto puffed out his throat and said: “It is true that we are tiny and the grass is tall, but my gracious friend, we frogs of Kyoto are famous for our intelligence. I am sure I can come up with a solution. Let me think.”

The frog from Kyoto closed his eyes and thought for a long while. At last he leaped into the air, so high he almost caught a glimpse of the city below. “Come, dear friend, and I shall stand upon my hind legs and turn toward you, and you shall stand upon your hind legs and turn toward me. We shall hold each other up this way. Then we shall be taller than this tall grass, and we will be able to see the cities of our dreams.”

The frog from Osaka agreed. “A good plan,” said she.

And so up they hopped, onto their hind legs. They held each other steady, and the frog from Kyoto looked one way, and the frog from Osaka looked the other.

The frogs, alas, made one mistake. The frog from Kyoto faced Osaka, and the frog from Osaka faced Kyoto, but as you know, frogs’ eyes are set so far back upon their heads that when they looked down both frogs were actually looking at their own city. The frog from Kyoto looked out and saw the city of Kyoto, and the frog from Osaka looked out and saw the city of Osaka.

“Oh my,” said the frog from Kyoto, “Osaka looks very much like Kyoto.”

“My thoughts precisely,” said the frog from Osaka. “Your city looks almost exactly like the city I call home.”

At that the frogs let go of each other and dropped down on their four legs once again. Then they squatted very still in the tall grass and stared sadly at each other.

“There seems no point in traveling all the way down the mountain just to see a city so very like my own,” said the frog from Kyoto.

“No point indeed,” said the frog from Osaka. “I think I shall return back home. Farewell, dear friend.”

“And farewell to you.”

With that the frogs hopped down the mountain, back to their homes, happy to think that their home was as good as any other home, and almost exactly the same.

STORY WORDS

precisely, strenuous, weary, glimpse, gracious

THINK ABOUT IT

1. How does the author demonstrate the character trait of cooperation in this story?

2. There is a saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” Explain how this story supports that statement.

3. Explain whether you think the frogs were intelligent or not? Use content from the text to support your thinking.

4. In your own words, describe how the frogs felt when they finally got to the top of the mountain. Explain your thinking.

Questions developed by Bari Laakmann, a teacher at Riverside Elementary School, Coral Springs.

ABOUT JAPAN

Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano and Japan’s highest mountain. It is a strong possibility that this was the mountain the frogs were climbing in the story.

Osaka is Japan’s third-largest city.

Kyoto, at one time, was Japan’s capital. The emperors of Japan lived there from 794 until 1868. Today, it is the seventh-largest city in the country.

Japan consists of four major islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku and thousands of tinier islands. Its closest neighbors are China, Russia and Korea. Japan is separated from the mainland of Asia by the Sea of Japan.