Page 9 - Fables volume 1

How the Frog Orchestra Lost its Third Alto

Toward midnight the musicians took a break and helped themselves
to the buffet of small winged insects attracted to the full moon’s
reflection in the flooded padi. Kodok Besar, leader of the all-bull
orchestra, took his fill and sat back on a moldering pandanas-leaf
offering placed on the footpath earlier in the day by a farmer’s wife.
The villagers could be faintly heard pursuing their own pleasure;
Kodok recognized the gamelan piece played only after a tooth-filing
and shuddered.
How could humans consider themselves superior to frogs? he
wondered. If some of their teeth are canine, then they ought to revere
dogs as their ancestors instead of reviling the scruffy scavengers and
altering their own dental profiles. Similarly—
His thoughts were abbreviated by the arrival of a junior member of
his ensemble. The youngster, not more than two seasons from the
tadpole pond, leapt gracefully into the space in front of Kodok, but
landed in a heap, his immature webbed claws unable to dig deeply
enough into the slippery black mud.
“Kodok Besar! I must talk with you! I must!”
“Then show some respect: get below my level.”
“Oh. Excuse me.” The inferior amphibian hunkered down in the
muck. “I am Eatabugus, new third alto in the orchestra.”
“So? It doesn’t sound like your voice is anywhere near changing.
What is your problem? Not used to staying up late? Well, you’ll soon
come to appreciate the benefits of being up and about after the
working fogs have called it quits, heh-heh-heh.”
“No, Great Croaker, it’s not that. I want to talk to you about the
repertoire.”
Kodok Besar frowned at his musician. “Eh?”
“I should say first that I really do enjoy being in your group. It’s a
great experience for a composer to participate in performing.”
“Composer! We frogs have no need of composers.”
“Please hear me out, maestro. I grew up near the hut where the
local gamelan practices in the afternoon. At first their music rang false
to my delicate ears—very strange and discordant, full of rigid
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