Toad’s Story Fairy Tales

One

　　Once upon a time there was a little child whose mother gave her a small bowl of milk and some bread every afternoon, and told her to sit in the yard with her food.

Every time she started to eat, a frog would crawl out of a hole in the wall and stick its little head into the dish to eat with her.

The child loved this, and as long as she sat there with her little dish and the frog didn’t come out at the same time, she would sing loudly:

　　”Toad, Toad, come out,

　　Come here, you little thing,

　　Eat some bread, drink some milk,

　　Eat well, drink well, and be healthy.”

　　Then the toad would come out and eat the bread with great relish. To show his gratitude, he would bring out from his cave all his treasures, including jewels, pearls, and gold toys. But the toad would only drink the milk and not eat the bread crumbs.

　　One day, the child tapped the toad on the head gently with her spoon and said, “You have to eat the crumbs, little one.”

　　The mother in the kitchen heard the child talking to someone and looked out. When she saw the child hitting a frog with a spoon, she picked up a long piece of wood and rushed out, killing the kind little creature.

　　From that time on the child was changed. When the Toad had dined with her she had grown tall and strong, but now she had lost her rosy cheeks and was growing thinner. Soon the mourning birds began to wail in the night, and the robins brought sticks and leaves to make a wreath, and soon the child was lying on the coffin.

　　Two

　　An orphan was sitting by the city wall spinning. She saw a toad crawling out of a hole under the city wall. She quickly spread a blue silk handkerchief next to it. It is said that toads like blue handkerchiefs very much and often want to crawl on them.

So when the toad saw the handkerchief, it returned to the hole and took out a small golden crown and put it on the handkerchief, then left again. The little girl picked up the crown and saw that it was shining with golden light. It was a treasure woven with fine golden thread.

　　After a while, the toad came back, and seeing that the crown was gone, it crawled towards the wall, and banged its little head against the wall in despair. It banged and banged against the wall with all its strength until it finally fell to the ground and died.

　　If the little girl left the crown there, the toad would surely take out more treasures from the cave for her.