The Frog and the Cockatoo

I was going to put this on my profile for the little story thingy at the end, but it's too long, so it's going here instead. It only took me a few minutes to write, which makes me feel pretty good, actually.


There once was a frog who lived by a pond in the garden of an old lady's house. Every day the frog looked through the windows of the old lady's house and saw the birds she kept. There were tiny birds and large birds, black birds and colorful birds. The frog's favorite bird was the cockatoo the old lady kept. He had such a fine crest.

One fine summer day the windows were open and the birds were chattering away at each other. The frog hopped up to the windowsill and struck up a conversation with the cockatoo. "I love your crest," said the frog. "Such a fine show you make." "Why, thank you," preened the cockatoo, who was extremely vain. "I can see just why you love them." The cockatoo had a mirror in his cage and peered into it as he spoke to the frog.

The frog and the cockatoo made good friends, with the frog admiring and the cockatoo basking in the frog's admiration. One day the frog asked the cockatoo if he could have some of the old feathers the cockatoo preened out. The cockatoo agreed and saved them for the frog to take each time he visited. The frog worked hard every night and one day when he showed up on the windowsill, he wore a crest made of his friend's feathers.

The frog made such a silly sight that the cockatoo just stared at him while the frog struck a pose "Aren't I beautiful now, too?" he asked. The cockatoo just stared silently. The other birds had learned to ignore the frog by now, but when they didn't hear the vain cockatoo speaking they all turned to look at him. There they saw the dumbstruck cockatoo trying to figure out what to say to the absurd sight before him. The other birds looked at each other and looked at the frog. Then the tiniest finch twittered. It was a small laugh, but it started the others going. Soon, the entire room was filled with birds laughing at the frog.

Except for one bird. The cockatoo, the vainest creature in the room, looked at his friend and looked at the other birds. Then he cocked his head to the side and simply said, "I like it."