FUN WITH ENGLISH The Story of Two Frogs FOLKLORE FROM JAPAN

ONCE upon a time, there lived two frogs. They lived in different cities.
One frog lived in Osaka and the other one lived in Kyoto. The frog living in Osaka was tired living in his city. He got bored and wanted to have a new life. He asked some animals about the best place to live.

“Why don't you go to Kyoto? It's a beautiful place,“ said a rabbit.
The frog was curious. He asked other animals and their answer was the same, “Kyoto is a beautiful place.“
The frog then made up his mind.
He would leave Osaka for Kyoto.

Meanwhile, there was a frog living in Kyoto. He also felt bored living in his city. He wanted to go to other city and stay there.
He asked a goat about the best place to live. The goat answered, “The best place is Osaka. Why don't you go there?“ The frog was not satisfied. He asked other animals, the answer was the same. They all said, “Osaka is the best place.“
So, those two frogs left their hometowns at exactly the same time. The frog living in Osaka left for Kyoto and the frog living in Kyoto left for Osaka.

Those two frogs did not know each other and they had n e v e r met. However, strangely they had the same plan.
They wanted to leave their own cities. The two frogs finally started their journeys. It was very tiring. They never thought that their journeys would be very difficult. They almost gave up. However, their dream to visit the other city was so big that the two frogs suddenly had extra energy to continue their journeys.

After spending for days, the two frogs finally met face to face. They greeted each other.
“Good day. How are you?“ asked the frog living in Osaka “I'm fine, thank you. Where are you going?“ “I'm going to Kyoto. How about you?“ “I'm going to Osaka. Hey, you know what? I live in Kyoto.“
“That's strange. I live in Osaka.

Please tell me, is Kyoto far from here?“ “Yes, it is. How about Osaka? Is it far from here?“ “Yes, it is. It's far from here.“
Well, those two frogs were hesitant. They did not know whether they would continue their journey or not.
The Osaka frog had an idea. “Since the city that we will visit is still far from here, why don't we stand up on our hind legs and hold onto each other. Then we can each look at the town we are traveling to.“

The Kyoto frog agreed. He immediately jumped up and put his front paws on the shoulder of his friend, who had risen also. There they both stood, stretching themselves as high as they could and holding each other tightly, so that they might not fall down. The Kyoto frog turned his nose towards Osaka, and the Osaka frog turned his nose towards Kyoto.
Unfortunately, they forgot that when they stood up their great eyes lay in the backs of their heads, and though their noses might point to the places to which they wanted to go, their eyes were looking at the places from which they had come.
Therefore, the Osaka frog was still looking at Osaka and the Kyoto frog was still looking at Kyoto.

“Wow!“ yelled the Osaka frog, “Kyoto is exactly like Osaka. It is certainly not worth such a long journey. I will go home!“ “If I had known that Osa ka looks like Kyoto, I would never have traveled all this way,“ said the frog from Kyoto.
The two frogs then said polite farewell and went home again. They still believed that Osaka and Kyoto, though they were very far apart, looked exactly the same. Media Indonesia, 6 Juli 2014, Halaman 9

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