Saturday, April 6, 2013

Freddy the Ferocious Frog


Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

 The ABCs of Behavior and Emotions



Freddy the Ferocious Frog


I just heard someone say it’s a little early in the A to Z Challenge to be so silly. I assure you, however, there’s not one thing silly about a ferocious frog. And Freddy, about four times the size of your average frog, was about as ferocious as any creature could be.

Freddy’s ribbit resembled the screech of an owl and his maxillary teeth were huge. He also had a set of vomerine teeth that could hold a small bluegill in place long enough to smash its brain (assuming a bluegill has a brain) before swallowing it whole.

Needless to say, Freddy didn’t have much luck sitting on a lily pad and waiting for flies to wander by. He had to go fishing to survive.

In Freddy’s defense, it wasn’t his fault he had to be so ferocious. He was an accident of nature, the son of perfectly normal frog parents who behaved in an appropriate frog fashion. They didn’t know what to make of their odd offspring, but you can be sure they didn’t wander too close when he was hungry.

Here’s the sad part of Freddy’s story. He was so different that everyone was afraid of him, even bigger creatures who could have snapped him up as an appetizer before a main meal. As a result, he lived a very long time for a frog, almost twenty years, but he lived alone.

That’s the reason there’s no dialogue in Freddy’s story. No one ever talked to him. Poor Freddy.

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 To learn more about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, visit the official challenge blog and check out the list of over 1,900 participants.

And a special note:  I'm out of town this weekend and won't have much computer access until Monday night. Rest assured, I will catch up on all blog comments when I return. 

13 comments:

Jan Morrison said...

Pat - we both went for Frog! Love it. Mine are the victims - yours the persecutor. Ah, frogs, I love 'em.
Jan Morrison

Anonymous said...

Pat - Oh, now you've made me curious about how Freddy got that way. And I love the tie-in between Freddy's ferocity and his alone-ness...

Jemi Fraser said...

Poor Freddy! Being alone always has consequences.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sucks when you scare everyone.

Anonymous said...

Or maybe he was so lonely cause he ate sll his friends...great story, thanks for sharing

Shannon at I Survived and Now I Run

Unknown said...

It's not silly! It's a charming story with a moral. Do you have an illustrator? Do you make illustrations? I'd love to see a Ferocious Freddy crazy-type drawing to go with it. Best wishes! Mary at Mary A to Z

Fantasy Writer Guy said...

Not all monsters are monsters.

Elizabeth said...

It's never to early to be silly. Humor is great.

Brett Minor said...

My son, now an adult, has always been scared of frogs. This one would have terrified him.

Dropping in from A to Z. This is my first year participating.

Brett Minor
Transformed Nonconformist

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Margot .. what fun - poor old Froggy sent to Coventry too - no speaking to him ... that large frog!

Cheers Hilary

Anstice Brown said...

Aww, I feel so sorry for Freddy. He can't help being different. I like the style you've chosen for your blog posts, they're very clever.

Alternative Foodie said...

I think I may have met your Freddy. He lives in one of the bedrooms of our family home. At night he would go out, leaping to the door then flatten his body and squish under the door and out into the night. We hardly see him coming in, but he start all over again the next night ... out into the dark. He certainly lives alone ;)

Nick Wilford said...

Poor Freddy. He was so misunderstood. BTW, "vomerine" is a great word!