2.  Once upon a time there lived a frog under a
Sumac tree in a fictional place called the
Bingle Bog. Under the false pretense that he
was a sensational and melodious singer, he
“blessed” his fellow creatures with his voice
day after day. His crass cacophony was
despised by others. They tried very hard to
get rid of him, but all the sticks and the
stones failed to shatter the presumptuous
frog’s illusion. He went on singing to his
heart’s content. One fine moonlit night, a
beautiful nightingale came and perched on
the sumac, casting forth her melody. Every
single life form in the Bog, including the frog,
sat flabbergasted, amazed by the sheer
excellence of the bird’s talent.

3.  Absolutely entranced by the song,
all the creatures gazed at her.
Captivated and enthralled by the
utterly divine melody, they urged
her to keep going on. They moved
closer and applauded and the
flattered bird went on until dawn.
The following night, she perched on
the sumac tree once more and was
setting up when right out of
nowhere the cunning frog croaked.
He presented himself to be a fairly
eminent personality. He rolled his
glib-tongue on and on. He claimed
to own the sumac tree, to be far-
famed for his “splendid baritone”
and a music critic who wrote for the
Bog Trumpet.

4.  Blandished to be conversing with such a
superior personality, the nightingale asked
him how he had liked her song. To answer
this, the frog put all his role-playing into
effect and started nitpicking. The simple-
minded bird contended with just the fact
that a critic of such a note had discussed
her singing, became flustered and
remarked that at least the song was her
own. But the harsh and envious frog
ruthlessly discarded her. He offered to train
her and convinced that without his
guidance, she wouldn’t ever be anything
more than a novice. Hearing this, the
nightingale became ecstatic and referred
to the frog as “Mozart in disguise”. But in
reality, the crafty frog couldn’t have cared
less about her hopes and dreams. He
charged her a high fee for the training too .

5.  The gullible nightingale, now flushed with confidence,
sang with all her heart and grew to be a sensation.
Many creatures from the vicinity of the bog constellated
towards the charming sound. The wily frog exploited her
talent and minted money for himself by charging
admission. The next morning, although the weather was
unfavorable, the wicked frog slyly convinced the bird to
come out of her house and made her practice
vigorously up and down the musical scale for six long
hours. Though the nightingale was incredibly fatigued,
in the night, her voice revived. A titled crowd flocked
the sumac tree. The frog watched them, joyously
charging them money, but also with a nagging feeling
of envy, wishing that it was him they appreciated.

6.  The Frog made her sing in the
pouring rain for hours. Her
voice now hurt, and she was
shivering in the cold. Still he
made her sing through the
night. He insisted that she
should sing faster and louder
like him and follow the fashion
of the times if she wanted to
be famous. Under such harsh
non-stop training and criticism,
the Nightingale lost her
beautiful voice and her singing
became uninspired and
mechanical.

7.  Day by day the nightingale Grew more sorrowful and pale.
Night on night her tired song Zipped and trilled and bounced
along, Till the birds and beasts grew tired At a voice so
uninspired And the ticket office gross Crashed, and she grew
more morose - For her ears were now addicted To applause
quite unrestricted, And to sing into the night All alone gave
no delight.
 The animals stopped coming to listen and she grew
sorrowful and pale. She had gotten used to the fame
and cheering and it no longer delighted her to sing
alone in the forest. The stony hearted frog scolded her
for not singing well enough. The dwindling audiences
made him lose money. He reminded the poor bird that
she still owed him sixty shillings, so she should look
sharp and pull up her socks.

8.  Even after all this, the frog did not stop
depreciating the helpless bird. He
incessantly scolded her harshly and
insisted on making her song fancier,
jauntier. He provided all sorts of
destructive criticism and rendered her
helpless by pointing out how he was
obliging her by his exclusive training.
The nightingale followed his words like
quotes from the Bible and turned her
song and her singing into something
so banal that it could no longer
involve the audience. This led to her
meltdown as she was now addicted
to applause. The frog went berserk
with rage now. He lashed out at the
poor bird. He asked her to renew her
song. Terrified to fail, the nightingale
tried her best, but the training taking a
toll on her, burst a vein and died.

9.  The evil frog turns out to be
more vicious than we had
once thought. Even after the
nightingale’s tragic death, just
to throw off the suspicion that
had naturally landed on him,
he dismissed her as “Far too
nervous, far too tense, far too
prone to influence”. He
sarcastically remarks that she
should have not listened to
him and should have known
the power of originality and
goes on to blare his own pain
of a voice unrivalled through
the bog.

10.  One should always use one’s
own wits and wisdom to judge
another person. Getting
influenced by unknown,
without using one’s own
intellect is a sign of weakness.
One should always look out
for cunning, witty and selfish
people like the frog who
deceive innocent and timid
people like the nightingale.