The frog race

A group of frogs decided to have a race, up to the top of a steep and high mountain. They all set off enthusiastically, each trying to outdo the rest. The face of the mountain was steep and slippery. Soon the frogs became tired. Their pace became slower and slower. The ones ahead of the others were especially fatigued for they had forged ahead in leaps and bounds.

One of them decided, that this race was quite impossible to complete, so it would not be improper to go back. So he just turned around and started descending down the mountain. Seeing him, some others followed suit. Some frogs were resting on the sides, having been totally fagged out. On their way down, this group of frogs that was returning back told the others on their way up, what a difficult path there was ahead. They advised their friends to quit the useless exercise and save their energies. Some of the frogs paid heed to their advice and turned back. Slowly the number still on their way up started dwindling. Some were too tired to even go back so they just plunked themselves on the side of the pathway. As the day passed they realized that only one frog of them all had made it to the top. He waved merrily to them from the mountaintop. Slowly and steadily he made his way down the mountain proudly, being the only one to complete the race. When they all got together to congratulate him on his success, they realized that he was deaf!

That was actually the reason for his success! All the words of discouragement and dissuasion had literally fallen onto deaf ears. So he had just continued to go up. Discouraging speech can really put a person down. If you can provide words of encouragement to anyone, do so by all means. If you cannot, it’s better to stay silent.

In this case too as in the case of the hare and the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race!