50. The Animals and the Rain

The land was dry, and the animals needed rain.

Elephant trumpeted, but no rain fell.

Giraffe stomped his hooves; no rain fell.

Big animals, small animals, they all tried and failed.

Then Frog started singing. When he croaked, clouds gathered, and the rain fell.

“Dig holes!” Frog shouted to the other animals. “Save the water in ponds and lakes and rivers.”

While Frog sang, the other animals dug holes for the water.

“We frogs will live in the water,” he proclaimed, “and when we sing, the rains will come.”

So if you hear frogs croaking, it means rain is coming.

[a Gogo story from Tanzania] 

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Inspired by: "The Frogs and the Rain" in Notes on the Wagogo of German East Africa (published in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland) by H. Cole, 1902.
Notes: You can read the original story online.

(pixabay)