Fable: “The Old Man and the Frog”

(Grandfather’s Wisdom)

Once, in the morning, an old man went to the pond—not to catch fish, not to wash, but simply to sit and think. For, as he said himself:

– Sometimes a person doesn’t need an answer—they just need the water to reflect them without debts or questions.

He sat down, grunting and thinking. And then a frog jumped out of the reeds and said:

— Grandfather, why are you so sad?

And the old man, without a flinch, said:

— Well, the old woman was scolding me again… She says I’m lazy because the garden isn’t dug, the house isn’t whitewashed, and my head is full of nothing but philosophy.

And the frog replied:

— Grandfather, you remind me of a water lily: beautiful, proud… but frogs sit beneath it. Your old woman is that frog who keeps you afloat, but she just croaks loudly!

The old man thought, twitched his mustache, and said:

— Frog, though you are cold-blooded, your soul is warmer than some people’s.

And from then on, whenever the old man quarreled with the old woman, he went to the pond and consulted the frog. And the frog, being a wise creature, always answered briefly:

— Plant the potatoes—and keep quiet. For happiness is not in words, but in the harvest.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

33  +    =  34