Once upon a time, there was a frog named Frederik who lived far out in a swamp with the rest of his family. In fact, it was a really big family with over 100 members. Frederik was a very special frog, so special that he couldn’t croak like all the other frogs. This made Frederik sad; he felt a little different and not quite like the others.
One day, Frederik decided to do something he had never done before. He wanted to leave the swamp and travel far away to experience something new. Who knows… maybe he would find others like him?
It can be dangerous for a frog to undertake such a long journey, as there are many animals that love to eat frogs. Buzzards, snakes, storks, and herons all love a juicy, slimy frog, and Frederik knew this very well. Frederik had a very special interest, which you definitely can’t guess.
[Ask your child what it could be.]No, Frederik was interested in knitting. Yes, you heard right! He was actually really good at knitting all sorts of sweaters, pants, and hats for frogs. Besides being good at knitting, he was also very creative, so before he set out on his journey, he knitted a uniform for himself. It wasn’t an ordinary uniform; it was a pigeon uniform, so he could camouflage himself and not get eaten by the other animals. Then he only had to watch out for the fox…
That morning, Frederik got up very early, so early that the other frogs were still asleep. He sneaked as quietly as a frog can. He put on his pigeon uniform and got ready for the long journey into the unknown. He looked back to make sure no one saw him, and luckily, there was no one, so Frederik set off.
Frederik had packed a lot of food and drinks for the trip and, of course, his knitting supplies so he wouldn’t get bored. Since Frederik couldn’t croak, he wasn’t afraid to leave. It would be terrible to be dressed as a pigeon and suddenly start croaking—it would reveal him.
Frederik’s journey took him through the big forest and many ponds. This was good for Frederik, as he could cool down and get something to drink. After all, it was summer, so it was very hot, even hotter in a pigeon uniform.
After traveling almost an entire day, Frederik was so exhausted that he had to take a rest. Yes, maybe it was best to find a place to sleep so he could be fresh the next day for another day of traveling in his pigeon uniform.
Frederik found a nice big rock with a small cave underneath that was perfect for him. He hopped into the hole, and it was pleasantly cool. It seemed like some frogs had lived here before… He took out some delicious food from his bag—six big, fat flies that he devoured one by one. While he was enjoying the last delicious fly, he heard a strange sound.
Pruuuuuuu, Pruuuuuuuuuuuuu.
Frederik was actually a little scared, even though he was well hidden under the big rock. Frederik wanted to croak to scare whoever was making that sound, but he couldn’t. Instead, he saw some big bare legs in front of the entrance to the rock, and the sound Pruuuuuuu, Pruuuuuuuuuuuuu was now right outside the rock. Frederik was almost about to wet himself in his pigeon uniform, but suddenly something happened.
A huge head peeked into the hole where Frederik was. Pruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu said a huge pigeon to him. Frederik jumped up and hit his head in shock.
“Ouch!” said Frederik, and the pigeon immediately said, “Sorry!” This calmed Frederik down because he thought it must be a friendly pigeon since it apologized to him.
“Did you hurt yourself?” asked the pigeon.
“Yes, a little… actually, I think I’m getting a big bump on my head,” said Frederik, feeling it, and sure enough, a huge bump was already forming.
“I really must apologize! I didn’t mean to scare you; I just wanted to say hi,” said the pigeon.
Frederik calmed down, even though his head hurt a lot.
“What’s your name?” asked the pigeon.
“My name is Frederik, what’s yours?” asked Frederik.
“My name is Dorthe,” replied the pigeon.
“Maybe I got scared because I’ve never seen a live pigeon before,” said Frederik.
Dorthe couldn’t understand this, and she thought hard. Now pigeons aren’t very smart, so it took a little longer than usual. But after a couple of minutes of just staring at Frederik and thinking and thinking, she finally said:
“But you are a pigeon, aren’t you? At least you look like a pigeon…”
“Oh!” thought Frederik. He had completely forgotten that he was dressed in a pigeon uniform and hurried to take it off. Now Dorthe was even more confused and got bigger eyes than before, and again she just stared at Frederik while her pigeon brain worked at full speed. This time she stared for over three minutes at Frederik before she could utter a sound…
“But… uh… are you a frog?”
“Yes! I knitted this pigeon uniform so I wouldn’t get eaten by the dangerous animals in the forest,” answered Frederik.
Dorthe thought it was a smart idea from Frederik. She could never have come up with that idea herself. But she was a little surprised that Frederik could knit because she also loved knitting. She told Frederik this, and he was quite surprised. Imagine meeting someone else who also loved to knit—what are the chances of that? It ended up that Frederik and Dorthe became best friends and gave each other good ideas for knitting various things. The other animals in the forest heard about their knitting skills, and many wanted to try their different uniforms. It ended up that they made a living by sewing various uniforms for the other animals in the forest.
