ommon frogs of Oz, and when he
was first born he lived in a pool in the Winkie Country and was much
like any other frog. Being of an adventurous nature, however, he soon
hopped out of his pool and began to travel, when a big bird came along
and seized him in its beak and started to fly away with him to its
nest. When high in the air, the frog wriggled so frantically that he
got loose and fell down, down, down into a small hidden pool on the
tableland of the Yips. Now that pool, it seems, was unknown to the
Yips because it was surrounded by thick bushes and was not near to any
dwelling, and it proved to be an enchanted pool, for the frog grew very
fast and very big, feeding on the magic skosh which is found nowhere
else on earth except in that one pool. And the skosh not only made the
frog very big so that when he stood on his hind legs he was as tall as
any Yip in the country, but it made him unusually intelligent, so that
he soon knew more than the Yips did and was able to reason and to argue
very well indeed.

No one could expect a frog with these talents to remain in a hidden
pool, so he finally got out of it and mingled with the people of the
tableland, who were amazed at his appearance and greatly impressed by
his learning. They had never seen a frog before, and the frog had
never seen a Yip before, but as there were plenty of Yips and only one
frog, the frog became the most important. He did not hop any more, but
stood upright on his hind legs and dressed himself in fine clothes and
sat in chairs and did all the things that people do, so he soon came to
be called the Frogman, and that is the only name he has ever had.
After some years had passed, the people came to regard the Frogman as
their adviser in all matters that puzzled them. They brought all their
difficulties to him, and when he did not know anything, he pretended to
know it, which seemed to answer just as well. Indeed, the Yips thought
the Frogman was much wiser than he really was, and he allowed them to
think so, being very proud of his position of authority.

There was another pool on the tableland which was not enchanted but
contained good, clear water and was located close to the dwellings.
Here the people built the Frogman a house of his own, close to the edge
of the pool so that he could take a bath or a swim whenever he wished.
He usually swam in the pool in the early morning before anyone else was
up, and during the day he dressed himse