The Sloughing Off Of Edgar Allen Tadpole's Tail

By Rori O'Keeffe Copyright 2013 by Rori O'Keeffe Smashwords Edition *** Please feel free to share this ebook with others; however, do so with the text intact and unaltered. This book may not be sold to anyone, as it is offered free to the reader by the author. ***

The Sloughing Off Of Edgar Allen Tadpole's Tail Edgar Allen Tadpole first came to the attention of the world at large when his tail began to kick in the warm salty waters where his mother's egg had been laid, and later fertilized by his father's microscopic issuance into those waters. When he emerged at last into a new world of light and cold and predators and prey, he made about cautiously, propelled by his fine tail. Ever in the shelter of his doting mother, Edgar ate freely from the things she brought him. As is the case with tadpoles, she warded off others who craved to eat Edgar up as an appetizer before their main course. He felt lucky to have such a mom. He grew and grew at such a rapid pace, that before long people often mistook him for a fish, and fishing couples dangled worms before him in the hopes of taking him home to put in an aquarium. He was a handsome specimen, by the standards of tadpoles. Then the day arrived that was foretold by his father, and was written into his genes, when he noticed his tail had grown stubby while his belly grew plumper; tiny arms and legs sprouted on his sides, and it was now possible for him to breathe the air above the calm waters of his youth. He noticed a fine young lass who liked to come to the water's edge and write poems and shopping lists while dangling her feet. Edgar often made his way toward her, but did not want her acquaintanceship just yet; he just wanted to gaze upon her angelic face and long curly locks. His tiny heart was filled with love, and he waited patiently for the day his tail would finally be sloughed off, and he could execute his plan to meet this beautiful young woman. He didn't have to wait long, though it seemed to be ages before that late spring day arrived, and he had become a strapping little frog. He stayed by water's edge until she arrived at noon on a cloudless day, and hopped out of the water triumphantly, bellowing a call from his swollen neck. The woman was amused by his brave and boisterous approach, and so touched him gently on the snout with a pretty little finger.

Next, she was shocked to hear, from that vibrating pouch on Edgar's neck, the sound of a voice speaking directly up to her. "Kiss me, and I will forever be your Prince," Edgar said to her. She seemed to know the reference he was making, and drew herself onto all fours, knees sinking into the black mud, and placed a sweet, innocent kiss on Edgar's snout. It was not a lingering kiss - it was intended to unleash magic, which would transform Edgar into a Prince of a man, who would then melt Contessa's heart and win her to the altar. She watched as Edgar's neck became swollen again, and he let out a blast like a foghorn on a shrouded cape. "Thanks much!" he enthused, as he hopped into the water and sped away from his fantasy woman. Contessa was crushed, and wiped slime from her lips, and went home and told her mother what had happened at the briny pond's edge that day. "Now, dear, this sort of thing actually happens to young, available women all over the world," she said soothingly. "He's always going to be a Prince if you just indulge his request to kiss him. Nothing ever happens, and that dastardly frog goes home to put a notch on his clam shell." Contessa screwed up her face and asked of her mother if there are real Princes for young women to marry. "No," her mother told her, "I'm afraid not. They're all just frogs who sloughed off a tail, and steal kisses from young beauties." Contessa left the kitchen to go to her room and write what she had learned in her diary. Her mother began to make haste to start preparing the dinner time roast, but she stopped for a moment and looked out the window down at the pond. "It's a good thing for that frog he didn't mess with her head first," she muttered in a growling tone. "Otherwise she'd be hooked on frogs, and settle for a toad - like I did, long ago." Meanwhile, Edgar was telling his boastful story to a gallery of boy-frogs, pointing to the lipstick still smeared on his snout. "And the best thing of all," he concluded to his pals, "is that she'll always remember her first kiss as magical, whether I'm a villain or not."

***The End***

Also available for free by me, Rori O'Keeffe, erstwhile believer in magic: The Persistence Of Tunnel Vision Emerging Love Berserkers & Bare Naked Babes All the above ebooks are poems.