One frog tale

Waterdroplet's note: After reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho on an airplane three days ago, a thought came to me to write a little simple tale. I didn't think about it too much until I thought of finishing it today. It took me just 1.5 hours to write, so haha.... I hope it turned out ok.

The Frog and Star
by Waterdroplet

On one fine day in early summer, a small green frog was fishing by the well when he felt the pull of his strings. At last, he caught a fish! The shadow of the well made it too dark for the frog to see what he caught. What could it be? Calming down himself so he wouldn’t be too overexcited to let this opportunity pass, he tugged in his string. Then, seeing what popped into the view, his eyes became very round and big with bewilderment.

A star! He caught a yellow star! It was a size of his outstretched hand and to his surprise, it began to glow. It stirred awake and the star turned on the string and faced the green frog.
“Thank you, sir, for getting me out of that murky cold well. I was stuck there for a very long time and no one came to help me,” the star said to the frog with a bell like voice, “and as for my thanks, I will grant you one wish and make it come true.”
“A ‘wish,’ my friend?” asked the frog, “why do you ask me for one?”
“It’s because when we fall from a sky, and someone finds us, we grant them wishes. That’s why we exist.”
“But, why couldn’t you grant your own wish to get out the well before?” said the frog, casting another string into the well. Although the star didn’t have eyes or mouth, it’s yellow glow dimmed for a moment.
“We can’t do that.”
“Why not?” asked the frog, puzzled.
“When we grant our own wishes by ourselves, we shatter into small pieces, into fine sand. I’ve seen my companions turn into dust in front of me.” Then, wanting to change a topic, the star asked once again. “Can’t I grant your wish?”
Frog thought for a moment. He did have a wish. A wish that took him over the mountains by attaching to the leg of a big black bird and avoided ever scorching sun to this moss covered well. The dangled string from his fishing pole went down to the hollowed depths below.
“You’re fishing in a place where there’s no fish,” pointed the star. The frog nodded.
“I already know that, my friend,” said the frog. The star’s glow flickered.
“Why?”
“It’s because everyone around me said that it was impossible when I said I want to catch one,” then seeing the star, he added with a slightly lower voice, “by my own strength alone, my friend.”
“You’re strange,” said the star, disappointed that the frog didn’t ask again for a wish.
The frog laughed. It sounded nothing extraordinary from other frog calls from the pond. But, to the star, who had been all alone in a cold wet well for a long time, it was special. Somehow, it made him want to jiggle with joy.
“Everyone said that it was meaningless to fish here. But, what’s meaningless to others doesn’t mean that it’s same for everyone. Even if it takes a long time, even years, it is meaningful if you can do it by yourself. Just imagine what kind of face they would make if I manage to catch it one day!”
The star concluded that the frog next to him was completely crazy. However, even if it was his duty to grant someone’s wish and go back to the sky above, it made him want to stay longer at this place. No one wanted to talk to him other than those that grant wishes. No one cared in this big wide world. However, this frog seemed different.
“May I ask you a question?”
“Go on,” replied the frog, without even a slight hesitation.
“Why do you keep on calling me a ‘friend’ even when I just met you?” asked the star.
“There’s a proverb in a distant land that said that even yesterday’s enemy could be your friends today,” said the frog, spreading its arms. “Anyone, even those that you meet just by passing by, could be your friend. That’s just why I called you that.”
Oh, so it wasn’t anything special to the frog, thought the star. But, it didn’t know what a ‘friend’ really was except in its vague term. It never had one before but heard that it would be nice to have one.
“Did you mind it?” asked the frog, concerned. “I would stop using it if you don’t like it.” The star thought for a moment.
“No,” said the star.

The frog and the star watched the string wave in the air as the soft zephyr carried the scent of wet earth from a nearby forest.
At last, the frog spoke.
“Could you stay with me until I catch that fish?” said the frog with a warm smile.
The star glowed ever so brightly.
“As you wish,” replied the star happily.