The Frog Rider and Other Folktales from China

Table of Contents

The Frog Rider

The Wooden Morse

Ma Liang and His Magic Brush

The Story of Hero Shigar

The Third Son and the Magistrate

Seeking Her Husband at the Great Wall

Olive Lake

How the Brothers Divided Their Property

Stories About Nasrdin Avanti

The Frog Rider

(A Tibetan Story)

Once upon a time, there lived a poor couple on a far-away high mountain. They grew chingko and potatoes on an arid terrace on the mountain-side. They led a hard life.

They were growing old and gradually losing their strength; both longed for a child. They said to each other: "How wonderful it would be if we had a child. Then when we grow old we will have someone to plough our land, to do our allotted task for the Chungpon* and to chop our firewood so that when we are very old, we two may rest our bent backs a little while sitting at our own grora."**

* A local district official, with magisterial powers, responsible for the collection of taxes and administration of civil affairs.

** Tibetan homes, both skin tents and stone houses, have a round fire pit in the middle of the floor; an iron grid is placed across it for cooking.

So they both prayed piously to the God of Mountains and Rivers. And soon the wife knew she was going to have a child. Seven months later, she gave birth. But she had a frog, with two big bulging eyes, not a human baby.

The old man said: What an astonishing thing! This is no baby, but a frog with two bulging eyes. Let us throw him out.

The wife did not have the heart to do such a thing, and replied: God was not benevolent to us. He gave us a frog instead of a human baby. But anyway this frog was born to us, so don't let us throw him out. Frogs make their home in muddy pools. Put him in the one behind our house, and let him live there.

The old man picked up the Frog, but just as he was carrying him away, the Frog spoke: Oh Father and Mother! Please don't put me into the pool. I was born to a human being, so let me grow up with human beings. When I grow up I will change the face of our land and change the life of the poor.

The old man was startled and exclaimed: Wife, what queer happenings! He speaks like a human!

But what he said would be good, replied his wife. It's high time things were changed for us poor people; we just can't go on like this. He cannot be an ordinary frog, if he can speak. Let him stay with us.

They were a kind-hearted couple and the Frog lived with them as though he were really their human child.

Three years went by, when one day the Frog, who had seen how hard and industriously the two old people worked every day, said to the old woman: "Mother, make me a loaf of steamed bread with coarse flour, and put it in a bag for me tomorrow. I am going to the Chungpon who lives at the mouth of the valley in the castle with stone towers to ask for the hand of one of his daughters. He has three lovely daughters. I will marry the one who is kind-hearted and capable and bring her home to help you with your daily toil."

My dear son, don't make such jokes, said the old woman. As if anyone would give his daughter in marriage to such a small and ugly thing like you! A mere frog, who could be trampled on without a thought!

Make me the steamed bread, Mother, said the Frog. He will consent.

The old woman finally agreed. Very well, I'll make one for you, she said. But supposing his household just pour ash on your head when they see you, as people do with monsters?

Nay, Mother, said the Frog. They will not dare to do that.

So the old woman made a big steamed loaf with coarse flour the next morning and put it in a bag.

The Frog hung the bag on his back, and hopped to the Chungpon's towered castle at the mouth of the valley.

When he got to the gate, the Frog called out, "Oh, Chungpon, Chungpon, open the door."

The Chungpon heard someone calling and sent his servant to see who was there.

The servant returned, a surprised look on his face. How strange! It is nothing but a frog, Master, a very small frog, calling at the gate.

The Chungpon's steward said, in the voice of one who always knows what to do, "Chungpon, it must be a monster. Let us throw ash on him."

The Chungpon disagreed. No, wait a bit. It may not be a monster, he said. Frogs usually stay in water. Maybe this one comes on some mission from the Dragon King's palace. Sprinkle milk on him as you would do to a god, and then I will see him for myself.

His servants did as they were bid and gave the Frog a reception as if he were a god. They sprinkled milk on him and cast some into the air.

Then the Chungpon went himself to the gate and asked, Froggy, do you come from the Dragon King's palace? What do you want?

I do not come from the Dragon King, answered the Frog. I have come of my own accord, because your three daughters have all reached marriageable age and I want one for a wife. I come as a suitor. Please give your consent for me to marry one of them.

The Chungpon and his servants were all horrified, and the Chungpon said, "You are talking nonsense, Frog. You, so small and ugly! How can you be matched with my daughter? Why, many highly-placed Chungpons have asked for my daughters' hands and I refused them. Why, then, should I give a daughter of mine to a frog? You are being absurd."

Oho! That means you don't agree, then, said the Frog. Very well. If you don't give your consent, I'll laugh.

The Chungpon was furious when he heard this. Frog, you are crazy. If you want to laugh, go ahead.

So the Frog began to laugh. The noise of his laughter was ten times, even a hundred times, louder than a pondful of frogs at night. When he laughed the earth quivered. The high towers of the Chungpon's castle shook as though they would collapse. Cracks appeared in the walls. Pebbles and dust danced in the air, and the sky and sun were darkened. The Chungpon's family and servants ran round and round in the great house, bumping into one another, not knowing what they were doing. Some even carried pieces of furniture over their heads as if that would ward off the calamity.

In desperation, the Chungpon put his head out of a window and besought the Frog: Please do not laugh any more, Froggy, otherwise we shall all be killed. I'll tell my eldest daughter to go with you and be your wife.

The Frog stopped his laughter. Gradually the earth ceased to quiver and the house became stable again.

It was fear which forced the Chungpon to give his eldest daughter to the Frog. He ordered his servants to bring out two horses: one for her to ride, and the other to carry her dowry.

The eldest daughter was very unwilling to be married to a frog. She spied two millstones under the eaves as she mounted the horse and secretly took the upper millstone and concealed it in her breast.

The Frog hopped ahead to lead the way and the eldest daughter followed on horseback. All the time she urged her horse to go faster, hoping she would catch up with the Frog and kill him with her horse's hoofs. But the Frog hopped now to the left and now to the right, so that she could not do this. In the end she got so impatient that once when she was very close to the Frog she snatched the millstone out of her breast, threw it at the leaping Frog, and turned to gallop back home.

She had hardly gone