Frog and Toad have been friends for a very long time. So long that itâs hard to remember a time when they werenât best friends.Â
But Frog and Toad didnât always know one another. No, there was a time, a very sad and lonely time, when Frog didnât know Toad and Toad didnât know Frog.Â
Before Toad met Frog, Toad was very sad because he felt very alone. He had friends like Squirrel and Fox and Snail, but they didnât really like the things Toad liked. Squirrel never wanted to swim with Toad, Fox hated gardening, and Snail thought having tea was a waste of time. So Toad felt very lonely and very sad.Â
Before Frog met Toad, Frog was also very sad because he also felt very alone. Frog had always wished for a best friend, but no matter how high he searched or how low he searched, he just couldnât find a best friend. Little did Frog know, but he was about to meet the only best friend heâd ever have.
Frogâs parents were very clever, and they knew that Frog would get along very well with a certain Toad. So Frogâs parents told Frog about Toad. How he liked to swim, and garden, and have tea.
âBut I like all those things!â Said Frog.
âYes,â said Frogâs mom.
âYou do,â said Frogâs dad.
Now Frog knew all about Toad and he thought he liked him very much and that he would make a great best friend, but there was one problem, Toad didnât know Frog!
Frog knew he needed to introduce himself, but there was another problem, Frog was very shy! So Frog decided he would have to try to get Toadâs attention another way.Â
First Frog tried showing off his hobbies. He swam very loudly at the pond near Toadâs house in the hopes that Toad would hear him and want to swim too. Then Frog left a basket of his prize winning tomatoes on Toadâs porch. But Toad didnât realize they were for him because Frog didnât leave a note! This made Frog very sad, and very worried that he and Toad would never become friends.
Frog decided he would write a letter to Toad, asking him to be his friend. So Frog wrote Toad a letter. It was a beautiful letter, it said everything Frog was thinking, how much he wanted to be friends with Toad, why they would make great friends, and how, if Frog had Toad for a friend, he wouldnât have to be very lonely and very sad, anymore.Â
Frog used all the courage he could muster and put his letter into Toadâs mailbox. Frog waited anxiously for Toadâs reply. He checked his mailbox every single day, but every day there was never a letter. Frog grew very sad and he thought perhaps Toad just didnât want to be his friend. But Frog never gave up, every day he would still check his mailbox, just in case Toad wrote back.
What Frog didnât know was that Toad had gotten his letter. Toad liked the letter very much. It was a beautiful letter, Toad felt like it said everything he was thinking, like they would make great friends indeed and how, if Toad had Frog for a friend, he wouldnât have to be lonely and sad anymore either. But there was one problem. Frog hadnât signed his name!Â
Toad had a wonderful letter, from someone who wanted to be his friend, but he didnât even know who had sent it!
Toad thought for a very long time about who could have written the letter. He wondered if it was Blue Jay or Turtle or Ant but for some reason Toad didnât want it to be any of them, because even though he didnât know it yet, Toad wanted it to be Frog.Â
Life went on for Toad but Toad could not forget the letter. Toad took great care of the letter and he read it over and over, he never got tired of reading it. One day Toad was having his morning toast and tea, when all of the sudden he jumped up from the table. âOh!â he cried, because Toad knew who the letter had come from. It was his neighbor Frog. Toad had never met Frog, but he always saw him swimming in the pond or in his wonderful garden or sipping tea at his window.Â
Toad knew the letter must have been written by Frog, because even though Frog hadnât written his name, Frog had told him it was him without meaning to. Frog wrote that he had prize winning tomatoes that he wished Toad could try, he wrote about his tweed blazer that had lost itâs second button, and Frog had written how he liked to sit at his window and have his tea in his favorite mug, decorated with flowers, with a chip in the rim. Toad had always admired Frogâs wonderful garden, especially his bright red tomatoes. Toad had always liked how Frog dressed and had noticed one day that his blazer was missing its second button. And Toad knew Frog liked to sit at his window and have his tea in his favorite mug - and Toad knew it was his favorite because he used it every morning - decorated with flowers, with a chip in the rim.Â
Toad was delighted! He couldnât imagine a better best friend to have than Frog. Toad now knew who had sent the letter and he was so happy that it was Frog. But there was one problem, Toad was very shy! So Toad decided he would find another way to talk to Frog.
Frog walked home from the pond in a sour mood, he had been swimming but it hadnât been any fun. The water was still cool and clear, the pretty dragonflies skimmed the water and there were plenty of good lily pads to lay on and bask in the sun, but Frog hadnât enjoyed it at all, because all Frog could think of, was that he wished he could have shared it with Toad. Frog reached his door but found a wrapped present sitting on his front step.Â
Frog was so excited, could it be? Could it finally be an answer from Toad? Frog opened the gift and found a slightly crumpled and squashed paper horn. At least thatâs what it slightly resembled but Frog didnât care, because he saw, attached to it, a note, that said: To Toadâs best friend: Frog. From Frogâs best friend: Toad.
Frog had never been so happy, and he thought what a wonderful gift Toad had given him, even if it was a little crumpled.
Please go to your table where you have your tea every morning and open the window.Â
So Frog did as the note said and went to his breakfast table and opened the window. When Frog looked out, he saw Toad standing in his window. Toad picked up another paper horn, it was just as clumsily made and covered in far too much tape but Frog thought it was great.Â
Toad spoke loudly into his paper horn and the sound carried across the distance to Frogâs window as though it were being hand delivered by Toad.Â
âMy name is Toad! Thank you for the wonderful letter. Would you like to be my friend?â
âHi Toad!â Frog shouted back, âMy name is Frog! Iâm glad you got my letter. Yes, I would like that very much.â
Frog and Toad talked back and forth all day long, until their voices grew hoarse. Soon it began to grow dark and it was time to be getting to bed.
âI donât want to go to bed,â said Toad, âI will be lonely without you.â
âMe too,â said Frog, âbut the sooner we go to bed the sooner it will be morning and we can see each other again.â
âI donât want to wait,â said Toad.
âBut Toad, tomorrow is when Iâll come over to your house.â
Toad slammed his window shut and it gave Frog quite a shock.Â
What did I say? He thought. Why is Toad angry with me?Â
Frog went to bed that night very sad and very lonely, he thought perhaps heâd lost his best friend that heâd been waiting for, for so long. Morning came and Frog grew sadder because he had told Toad that he would come over. But now Toad surely didnât want to see him.
Frog was still in his pajamas when the doorbell rang. Frog headed for the door but his visitor was very impatient as they knocked loudly on the door.Â
They must be waking up the entire meadow, thought Frog.Â
Frog opened the door and there stood Toad.Â
âHello Frog,â said Toad, âIt is morning now, can you come over so that we can be together again?â
Frog was so surprised he began to laugh and laugh, âBut Toad we are already together.â
âOh!â Said Toad, âso we are.â
Every morning since, Toad knocks on Frogâs door and asks him if he can come over. And Frog always says yes.
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