We found a good strong twig of Grishin. Online reading of the book The Frog Traveler The Frog Traveler

The fairy tale Frog the Traveler is a children's fairy tale by Garshin about the adventures of a frog who decided to one day go with the ducks to the beautiful south. The ducks carried it on a twig, but the frog croaked and fell down the happy occasion ending up not on the road, but in a swamp. There she began to tell all sorts of tall tales to the other frogs.

One day she was sitting on a branch of a driftwood sticking out of the water and enjoying the warm, gentle rain.

Oh, what beautiful wet weather today! - she thought. - What a pleasure it is to live in the world!

The rain drizzled down her mottled varnished back, drops of it flowed under her belly and behind her paws, and it was delightfully pleasant, so pleasant that she almost croaked, but, fortunately, she remembered that it was already autumn and that in the fall frogs they don’t croak - that’s what spring is for - and that by croaking, she can lose her frog dignity. So she remained silent and continued to bask.

Suddenly thin, whistling, intermittent sound rang out in the air. There is such a breed of ducks: when they fly, their wings, cutting through the air, seem to sing, or, better said, whistle. Few-few-few-few - is heard in the air when a flock of such ducks flies high above you, and you can’t even see them themselves, they fly so high. This time the ducks, having described a huge semicircle, descended and sat down in the very swamp where the frog lived.

Quack quack! - said one of them, - It’s still a long way to fly; I need to eat.

And the frog immediately hid. Although she knew that the ducks would not eat her, a large and fat frog, she nevertheless dived under the snag, just in case. However, after thinking, she decided to stick her big-eyed head out of the water: she was very interested in finding out where the ducks were flying.

Quack quack! - said the other duck, - it’s getting cold already! Hurry to the south! Hurry to the south!

And all the ducks began to quack loudly as a sign of approval.

Lady ducks! - the frog dared to say, - what is the south to which you are flying? I apologize for the concern.

And the ducks surrounded the frog. At first they had a desire to eat it, but each of them thought that the frog was too big and would not fit into the throat. Then they all started shouting, flapping their wings:

Good in the south! Now it's warm there! There are such nice warm swamps there! What worms there are! Good in the south!

They screamed so much that they almost deafened the frog. She barely convinced them to shut up and asked one of them, who seemed to her to be fatter and smarter than everyone else, to explain to her what the south was. And when she told her about the south, the frog was delighted, but in the end she still asked, because she was careful:

Are there a lot of midges and mosquitoes there?

ABOUT! whole clouds! - answered the duck.

Kwa! - said the frog and immediately turned around to see if there were any friends here who could hear her and condemn her for croaking in the fall. She really couldn’t resist croaking at least once.

Take me with you!

This is amazing to me! - exclaimed the duck. - How will we take you? You don't have wings.

When are you flying? - asked the frog.

Soon soon! - all the ducks shouted. - Quack! Quack! Quack! It is cold here! South! South!

“Let me think for just five minutes,” said the frog, “I’ll be right back, I’ll probably come up with something good.”

And she plopped down from the branch she was about to climb onto again, into the water, dived into the mud and completely buried herself in it so that foreign objects would not interfere with her thinking. Five minutes passed, the ducks were just about to fly, when suddenly, from the water, near the branch on which she was sitting, her muzzle appeared, and the expression of this muzzle was the most radiant that only a frog is capable of.

I came up with an idea! I found! - she said. - Let two of you take a twig in your beaks, I will cling to it in the middle. You will fly, and I will drive. It is only necessary that you do not quack, and I do not croak, and everything will be excellent.

Found a good one strong twig, two ducks took it in their beaks, the frog clung its mouth to the middle, and the whole flock rose into the air. The frog was breathless from the terrible height to which he was raised; in addition, the ducks flew unevenly and tugged at the twig; the poor wah dangled in the air like a paper clown, and clenched her jaws with all her might so as not to break away and plop down on the ground. However, she soon got used to her position and even began to look around. Fields, meadows, rivers and mountains quickly flashed under her, which, however, was very difficult for her to see, because, hanging on a twig, she looked back and a little up, but she still saw something and was happy and proud.

This is how I came up with a great idea,” she thought to herself.

And the ducks flew after the front pair carrying her, shouting and praising her.

Marvelous clever mind our frog,” they said, “even among ducks there are few like him.”

She could hardly resist thanking them, but remembering that if she opened her mouth, she would fall from a terrible height, she clenched her jaw even tighter and decided to endure.

Ducks flew over compressed fields, over yellowed forests and over villages full of grain in stacks; From there came the sound of people talking and the sound of flails being used to thresh rye. People looked at a flock of ducks and the frog really wanted to fly closer to the ground, show itself and listen to what they were saying about it. On her next vacation she said:

Can't we fly a little lower? I feel dizzy from the heights, and I'm afraid of falling if I suddenly feel sick.

And the good ducks promised her to fly lower. The next day they flew so low that they heard voices:

Look, look! - children shouted in one village, - ducks are carrying a frog!

The frog heard this and her heart jumped.

Look, look! - adults shouted in another village, - what a miracle!

Do they know that I came up with it and not the ducks? - thought the frog.

Look, look! - they shouted in the third village. - What a miracle! And who came up with such a clever thing?

Here the frog could not stand it and, forgetting all caution, screamed with all her might:

It's me! I!

And with that scream she flew upside down to the ground. The ducks screamed loudly, one of them wanted to pick up the poor companion in flight, but missed. The frog, twitching all four legs, quickly fell to the ground; but since the ducks flew very quickly, she fell not directly on the place where she screamed and where there was a solid road, but much further, which was great happiness for her, because she splashed into a dirty pond at the edge of the village.

She soon emerged from the water and immediately again shouted at the top of her lungs:

It's me! I came up with this!

But there was no one around her. Frightened by the unexpected splash, the local frogs all hid in the water. When they began to emerge from the water, they looked with surprise at the new one.

And she told them a wonderful story about how she had been thinking all her life and finally invented a new, extraordinary way of traveling on ducks; how she had hers own ducks who carried it wherever they wanted; how she visited the beautiful south, where it’s so nice, where there are such beautiful warm swamps and so many midges and all sorts of other edible insects.

“I stopped by to see how you live,” she said. - I will stay with you until spring, until the ducks I released return.

But the ducks never returned. They thought that the frog had crashed to the ground and were very sorry for it.

Download coloring pages for the fairy tale: (downloads: 113)

Once upon a time there lived a frog-croak. She sat in the swamp, caught mosquitoes and midges, and in the spring croaked loudly with her friends. And she would have lived happily throughout her century - of course, if the stork had not eaten her. But one incident happened.
One day she was sitting on a branch of a driftwood sticking out of the water and enjoying the warm, gentle rain.
- Oh, what beautiful wet weather today! - she thought. - What a pleasure it is to live in the world!
The rain drizzled down her mottled varnished back, drops of it flowed under her belly and behind her paws, and it was delightfully pleasant, so pleasant that she almost croaked, but, fortunately, she remembered that it was already autumn and that in the fall frogs they don’t croak - that’s what spring is for - and that by croaking, she can lose her frog dignity. So she remained silent and continued to bask.
Suddenly, a thin, whistling, intermittent sound rang out in the air. There is such a breed of ducks: when they fly, their wings, cutting through the air, seem to sing, or, better said, whistle. Few-few-few-few - is heard in the air when a flock of such ducks flies high above you, and you can’t even see them themselves, they fly so high. This time the ducks, having described a huge semicircle, descended and sat down in the very swamp where the frog lived.
- Quack quack! - said one of them, - It’s still a long way to fly; I need to eat.
And the frog immediately hid. Although she knew that the ducks would not eat her, a large and fat frog, she nevertheless dived under the snag, just in case. However, after thinking, she decided to stick her big-eyed head out of the water: she was very interested in finding out where the ducks were flying.
- Quack quack! - said the other duck, - it’s getting cold already! Hurry to the south! Hurry to the south!
And all the ducks began to quack loudly as a sign of approval.
- Lady ducks! - the frog dared to say, - what is the south to which you are flying? I apologize for the concern.
And the ducks surrounded the frog. At first they had a desire to eat it, but each of them thought that the frog was too big and would not fit into the throat. Then they all started shouting, flapping their wings:
- It's good in the south! Now it's warm there! There are such nice warm swamps there! What worms there are! Good in the south!
They screamed so much that they almost deafened the frog. She barely convinced them to shut up and asked one of them, who seemed to her to be fatter and smarter than everyone else, to explain to her what the south was. And when she told her about the south, the frog was delighted, but in the end she still asked, because she was careful:
-Are there a lot of midges and mosquitoes there?
- ABOUT! whole clouds! - answered the duck.
- Kwa! - said the frog and immediately turned around to see if there were any friends here who could hear her and condemn her for croaking in the fall. She really couldn’t resist croaking at least once.
- Take me with you!
- This is amazing to me! - exclaimed the duck. - How will we take you? You don't have wings.
- When are you flying? - asked the frog.
- Soon soon! - all the ducks shouted. - Quack! Quack! Quack! It is cold here! South! South!
“Let me think for just five minutes,” said the frog, “I’ll be right back, I’ll probably come up with something good.”
And she plopped down from the branch she was about to climb onto again, into the water, dived into the mud and completely buried herself in it so that foreign objects would not interfere with her thinking.
Five minutes passed, the ducks were just about to fly, when suddenly, from the water, near the branch on which she was sitting, her muzzle appeared, and the expression of this muzzle was the most radiant that only a frog is capable of.
- I came up with an idea! I found! - she said. - Let two of you take a twig in your beaks, I will cling to it in the middle. You will fly, and I will drive. It is only necessary that you do not quack, and I do not croak, and everything will be excellent.
They found a good, strong twig, two ducks took it in their beaks, the frog clung its mouth to the middle, and the whole flock rose into the air. The frog was breathless from the terrible height to which he was raised; in addition, the ducks flew unevenly and tugged at the twig; the poor wah dangled in the air like a paper clown, and clenched her jaws with all her might so as not to break away and plop down on the ground. However, she soon got used to her position and even began to look around. Fields, meadows, rivers and mountains quickly flashed under her, which, however, was very difficult for her to see, because, hanging on a twig, she looked back and a little up, but she still saw something and was happy and proud.
“That’s how I came up with a great idea,” she thought to herself.
And the ducks flew after the front pair carrying her, shouting and praising her.
“Our frog is an amazingly smart head,” they said, “even among ducks there are few like him.”
She could hardly resist thanking them, but remembering that if she opened her mouth, she would fall from a terrible height, she clenched her jaw even tighter and decided to endure.
Ducks flew over compressed fields, over yellowed forests and over villages full of grain in stacks; From there came the sound of people talking and the sound of flails being used to thresh rye. People looked at a flock of ducks and the frog really wanted to fly closer to the ground, show itself and listen to what they were saying about it. On her next vacation she said:
- Can't we fly not so high? I feel dizzy from the heights, and I'm afraid of falling if I suddenly feel sick.
And the good ducks promised her to fly lower. The next day they flew so low that they heard voices:
- Look, look! - children shouted in one village, - ducks are carrying a frog!
The frog heard this and her heart jumped.
- Look, look! - adults shouted in another village, - what a miracle!
- Do they know that it was me who came up with this, and not the ducks? - thought the frog.
- Look, look! - they shouted in the third village. - What a miracle! And who came up with such a clever thing?
Here the frog could not stand it and, forgetting all caution, screamed with all her might:
- It's me! I!
And with that scream she flew upside down to the ground. The ducks screamed loudly, one of them wanted to pick up the poor companion in flight, but missed. The frog, twitching all four legs, quickly fell to the ground; but since the ducks flew very quickly, she fell not directly on the place where she screamed and where there was a solid road, but much further, which was great happiness for her, because she splashed into a dirty pond at the edge of the village.
She soon emerged from the water and immediately again shouted at the top of her lungs:
- It's me! I came up with this!
But there was no one around her. Frightened by the unexpected splash, the local frogs all hid in the water. When they began to emerge from the water, they looked with surprise at the new one.
And she told them a wonderful story about how she had been thinking all her life and finally invented a new, extraordinary way of traveling on ducks; how she had her own ducks that carried her wherever she went; how she visited the beautiful south, where it’s so nice, where there are such beautiful warm swamps and so many midges and all sorts of other edible insects.
“I stopped by to see how you live,” she said. - I will stay with you until spring, until the ducks I released return.
But the ducks never returned. They thought that the frog had crashed to the ground and were very sorry for it.

Biography of the writer

He spent his childhood among the military, his father Mikhail Yegorovich was an officer, and his mother was a typical representative of the generation of the “sixties”. She was interested in literature and politics, spoke fluent French and German languages. Provided big influence on the formation of his son as a person.

The immediate teacher of the future writer was the figure revolutionary movement 1860 Zavadsky. Over time, Garshin’s mother will separate from her husband and start living with Zavadsky, and then follow him into exile. Family drama, which happened in the boy’s childhood, greatly affected his health and overall attitude.

In 1864, the author of “The Frog the Traveler” entered the St. Petersburg school, and four years later he entered the real gymnasium. In 1874, Garshin became a student at the Mining Institute, but did not have time to graduate. The war began with Ottoman Empire. Because of this, he had to interrupt his studies.

Garshin joined the army as a volunteer, took part in hostilities, and was wounded in the leg. After the war he retired with the rank of officer.

The child's talent manifested itself in early childhood. This was facilitated by his earlier mental development. He was very impressionable and nervous, which is why he suffered from nervous disorders. It all ended quite sadly; at the age of 33, he committed suicide by throwing himself down a flight of stairs. Moreover, the fall was from a small height, so he died only after a few days, which he spent in terrible agony.

The writer was buried on the Literary Bridges, a museum-necropolis of St. Petersburg.

Writer's family

The author of "The Frog Traveler" Garshin had a large family. His brother named Evgeniy Mikhailovich became famous for becoming literary critic, public figure and teacher. At St. Petersburg University he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology.

In 1884 he began teaching Russian literature in one of the gymnasiums in the city on the Neva. Led active journalistic activity, published in thick literary magazines" Russian wealth", "Historical Bulletin", "Zvezda", "Russian School", as well as in the newspapers "Birzhevye Vedomosti" and "Golos".

In 1901, he became the director of a commercial school and received the status of a full state councilor. He wrote scientific and journalistic books “The Social and Educational Significance of Archeology”, “Russian literature XIX century", "Novgorod antiquities", "Critical experiments".

Garshin, of course, wrote more than one fairy tale, but in the history of Russian literature he remained the author of “The Frog Traveler.”

This is the story of an ordinary frog who lived in a swamp. Every fall, she watched the ducks fly south past her home, stopping only briefly to eat and rest.

It was from them that she learned how good it was in the south. It's warm there, there are a lot of wonderful picturesque swamps everywhere with big amount mosquitoes Somehow she plucked up the courage and asked to fly with them. How to do it? She came up with everything herself.

Two ducks took the ends of the twig with their beaks, and the frog grabbed the middle with its mouth. She hoped that if someone got tired, they could switch and fly all the way to the south. The ducks, admiring her intelligence and ingenuity, agreed to carry out this plan.

Garshin always succeeded in such unusual, but at the same time deep and moralizing stories. Now that you know exactly who the author of the fairy tale “The Frog Traveler” is, we will tell you the further plot.

Frog Flight

At first the frog flew with its face forward, but after another halt it decided to turn over and also ask the ducks to fly a little lower so that people walking on the ground could see it. She dreamed that they would admire her resourcefulness. In the end, that’s what happened. Whoever noticed a strange flock of birds and a frog immediately wondered who came up with such a witty thing.

When the ducks flew past the third village, the frog couldn’t stand it and decided to confess everything and tell him that it was she who was so smart. Unable to resist, she croaked: “It’s me!” And at that very moment she let go of the treasured twig and fell into the swamp.

There she had to meet new inhabitants, to whom she told about the wonderful way she had come up with for traveling. She wrote that she flew to the amazing and wonderful south, and then flew in to see how frogs live in other swamps. She let the ducks go until spring, agreeing that they would pick her up on the way back.

But the ducks did not return. They were sure that the frog had fallen to its death. And they were very sorry for their traveling companion. This story was composed by Vsevolod Garshin. Now you know who wrote "The Frog Traveler." The author of the tale remained significant in Russian literature thanks to other works.

Garshin's creativity

The author of the work "The Frog Traveler", of course, became famous not only for this book. He made his debut in literature in 1877, when he was 22 years old. He released the story "4 Days", which immediately brought him fame. This is the story of private Ivanov, who volunteers for the Russian-Turkish war. After one of the fights, he comes to his senses in a completely unfamiliar forest. He remembers how the past day went, which was filled with deaths and shots.

It soon becomes clear that both of his legs are broken. And nearby lies the enemy he stabbed to death. He is overwhelmed with guilt, but he sees a flask of water on the dead man's body. To get to the life-giving moisture, you need to overcome two fathoms. This distance seems like an eternity to him.

He devoted his works to this topic more than once. For example, the stories “The Ayaslyar Affair”, “The Orderly and the Officer”, “The Coward”, “From the Memoirs of Private Ivanov”.

The theme of the "fallen" woman

The theme of a “fallen” woman is another popular motif in the works of the author of the fairy tale “The Frog Traveler” Garshin. For example, the stories “Nadezhda Nikolaevna”, written in the form of memoirs, are dedicated to this young man, who decided to pour out his soul on paper, and “The Incident.”

In 1883 it was published famous story"Red flower". The hero of this work is a mentally ill person who fights the world's evil. For some reason it seems to him that it is embodied in a red flower that grows in the garden. To defeat him, you just need to pick this flower.

Garshin's stories

The author of the book "The Frog Traveler" gained his greatest success thanks to his stories and fairy tales. Another one of his popular work called "Artists". In it Garshin raises important question about the role of art in the life of society, as well as the opportunity for creators to benefit the people around them. Garshin contrasts real stories situations where art is done for art's sake. Looks for different ways to combat social injustice.

Essence modern society Garshin clearly demonstrates this in his story “Meeting.” In it, he vividly describes the personal egoism that permeates many around.

Garshin's innovation

The writer legitimized a special literary form- a short story. Later it fully developed in the works of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

Garshin wrote short stories with a simple plot, which he built strictly according to one plan. At the same time, the composition remained as complete as possible; it achieved almost geometric certainty. Distinctive feature the hero of our article is the absence of complex collisions; in most of his short stories there is practically no action.

Moreover, these are the most realistic works, written, as a rule, in the form of letters, diaries or confessions.

Once upon a time there lived a frog-croak. She sat in the swamp, caught mosquitoes and midges, and in the spring croaked loudly with her friends. And she would have lived happily all her life - of course, if the stork had not eaten her. But one incident happened.

One day she was sitting on a branch of a driftwood sticking out of the water and enjoying the warm, gentle rain.

- Oh, what beautiful wet weather today! - she thought. - What a pleasure it is to live in the world!

Suddenly, a thin, whistling, intermittent sound rang out in the air. There is such a breed of ducks: when they fly, their wings, cutting through the air, seem to sing, or, better said, whistle. Few-few-few-few - is heard in the air when a flock of such ducks flies high above you, and you can’t even see them themselves, they fly so high. This time the ducks, having described a huge semicircle, descended and sat down in the very swamp where the frog lived.

- Quack quack! - said one of them, - It’s still a long way to fly; I need to eat.

- Quack quack! - said the other duck, - it’s getting cold already! Hurry to the south! Hurry to the south!

And all the ducks began to quack loudly as a sign of approval.

- Lady ducks! - the frog dared to say, - what is the south to which you are flying? I apologize for the concern.

- It's good in the south! Now it's warm there! There are such nice warm swamps there! What worms there are! Good in the south!

— Are there a lot of midges and mosquitoes there?

- ABOUT! whole clouds! - answered the duck.

- Kwa! - said the frog and immediately turned around to see if there were any friends here who could hear her and judge her for croaking in the fall. She really couldn’t resist croaking at least once.

- Take me with you!

- This is amazing to me! - exclaimed the duck. - How will we take you? You don't have wings.

— When are you flying? - asked the frog.

- Soon soon! - all the ducks shouted. - Quack! Quack! Quack! It is cold here! South! South!

“Let me think for just five minutes,” said the frog, “I’ll be right back, I’ll probably come up with something good.”

- I came up with an idea! I found! - she said. “Let two of you take a twig in your beaks, I will cling to it in the middle.” You will fly, and I will drive. It is only necessary that you do not quack, and I do not croak, and everything will be excellent.

They found a good, strong twig, two ducks took it in their beaks, the frog clung its mouth to the middle, and the whole flock rose into the air. The frog was breathless from the terrible height to which he was raised; in addition, the ducks flew unevenly and tugged at the twig; the poor wah dangled in the air like a paper clown, and clenched her jaws with all her might so as not to break away and plop down on the ground. However, she soon got used to her position and even began to look around. Fields, meadows, rivers and mountains quickly flashed under her, which, however, was very difficult for her to see, because, hanging on a twig, she looked back and a little up, but she still saw something and was happy and proud.

“That’s a great idea,” she thought to herself.

And the ducks flew after the front pair carrying her, shouting and praising her.

“Our frog is an amazingly smart head,” they said, “even among ducks there are few like him.”

She could hardly resist thanking them, but remembering that if she opened her mouth, she would fall from a terrible height, she clenched her jaw even tighter and decided to endure.

“Can’t we fly not so high?” I feel dizzy from the heights, and I'm afraid of falling if I suddenly feel sick.

And the good ducks promised her to fly lower. The next day they flew so low that they heard voices:

- Look, look! - children shouted in one village, - ducks are carrying a frog!

The frog heard this and her heart jumped.

- Look, look! - adults shouted in another village, - what a miracle!

- Do they know that it was me who came up with this, and not the ducks? - thought the frog.

- Look, look! - they shouted in the third village. - What a miracle! And who came up with such a clever thing?

Here the frog could not stand it and, forgetting all caution, screamed with all her might:

- It's me! I!

She soon emerged from the water and immediately again shouted at the top of her lungs:

- It's me! I came up with this!

But there was no one around her. Frightened by the unexpected splash, the local frogs all hid in the water. When they began to emerge from the water, they looked with surprise at the new one.

And she told them a wonderful story about how she had been thinking all her life and finally invented a new, extraordinary way of traveling on ducks; how she had her own ducks that carried her wherever she went; how she visited the beautiful south, where it’s so nice, where there are such beautiful warm swamps and so many midges and all sorts of other edible insects.

“I stopped by to see how you live,” she said. “I will stay with you until spring, until the ducks I released return.

But the ducks never returned. They thought that the frog had crashed to the ground and were very sorry for it.
Garshin V.

Dear friend, we want to believe that reading the fairy tale “The Frog Traveler” by V. M. Garshin will be interesting and exciting for you. And the thought comes, and behind it the desire, to plunge into this fabulous and incredible world, win the love of a modest and wise princess. The text, written in the last millennium, combines surprisingly easily and naturally with our modern times; its relevance has not diminished at all. There is a balancing act between good and bad, tempting and necessary, and how wonderful it is that every time the choice is correct and responsible. Charm, admiration and indescribable inner joy produce the pictures drawn by our imagination when reading such works. Household problems - incredible good way, with the help of simple, ordinary examples, convey to the reader the most valuable centuries-old experience. The amazing thing is that empathy, compassion, strong friendship and unshakable will, the hero always manages to resolve all troubles and misfortunes. The fairy tale “The Frog Traveler” by Garshin V. M. is worth reading for free online for everyone, there is deep wisdom, philosophy, and simplicity of the plot with a good ending.

Once upon a time there lived a frog-croak. She sat in the swamp, caught mosquitoes and midges, and in the spring croaked loudly with her friends. And she would have lived happily for the rest of her life, of course, if the stork had not eaten her. But one incident happened.

One day she was sitting on a branch of a driftwood sticking out of the water and enjoying the warm, fine rain.

“Oh, what beautiful wet weather today! - she thought. “What a pleasure it is to live in the world.”

The rain drizzled down her motley lacquered back; drops of it flowed under her belly and behind her legs, and it was delightfully pleasant, so pleasant that she almost croaked, but, fortunately, she remembered that it was already autumn and that in autumn frogs don’t croak - that’s what spring is for. So she remained silent and continued to bask.

Suddenly, a thin, whistling, intermittent sound rang out in the air. There is such a breed of ducks: when they fly, their wings, cutting through the air, seem to sing, or, better said, whistle; pew-pew-pew-pew - can be heard in the air when a flock of such ducks flies high above you, and you can’t even see them themselves: they fly so high. This time the ducks, having described a huge semicircle, descended and sat down in the very swamp where the frog lived.

- Quack quack! - said one of them. - It’s still a long way to fly, we need to eat.

And the frog immediately hid. Although she knew that the ducks would not eat her, a large and fat frog, she still dived under the snag, just in case.

However, after thinking, she decided to stick her big-eyed head out of the water: she was very interested in finding out where the ducks were flying.

- Quack quack! - said the other duck. - It's getting cold! Hurry to the south! Hurry to the south!

And all the ducks began to quack loudly as a sign of approval.

“Ladies of the duck,” the frog dared to say, “what is the south to which you are flying?” I apologize for the concern.

- It's good in the south! Now it's warm there! There are such nice, warm swamps there! What worms there are! Good in the south!

– Are there a lot of midges and mosquitoes there?

- ABOUT! whole clouds! - answered the duck.

- Kwa! - said the frog and immediately turned around to see if there were any friends here who could hear her and condemn her for croaking in the fall. She really couldn’t resist croaking at least once. - Take me with you!

- This is amazing to me! - exclaimed the duck. - How will we take you? You don't have wings.

– When are you flying? - asked the frog.

- Soon soon! - all the ducks shouted. - Quack quack! Quack! Quack! It is cold here! South! South!

“Let me think for just five minutes,” said the frog, “I’ll be right back, I’ll probably come up with something good.”

And she plopped off the branch she had climbed onto again, into the water, dived into the mud and completely buried herself in it so that foreign objects would not interfere with her thinking. Five minutes passed, the ducks were just about to fly, when suddenly, from the water, near the branch on which the frog was sitting, its muzzle appeared, and the expression of this muzzle was the most radiant that only a frog is capable of.

- I came up with an idea! I found! - she said. “Let two of you take a twig in your beaks, and I will cling to it in the middle.” You will fly, and I will drive. It is only necessary that you do not quack, and I do not croak, and everything will be excellent.

Although being silent and dragging even a light frog for three thousand miles is not God knows what pleasure, but her mind delighted the ducks so much that they unanimously agreed to carry her. They decided to change every two hours, and since there were, as the riddle says, so many ducks, and even so many, and half as many, and a quarter as many, and there was only one frog, it was not necessary to carry it particularly often. They found a good, strong twig, two ducks took it in their beaks, the frog clung its mouth to the middle, and the whole flock rose into the air. The frog was breathless from the terrible height to which it was raised; in addition, the ducks flew unevenly and tugged at the twig; The poor wah dangled in the air like a paper clown, and clenched its jaws with all its might so as not to break away and plop down on the ground. However, she soon got used to her position and even began to look around. Fields, meadows, rivers and mountains quickly flashed under her, which, however, was very difficult for her to see, because, hanging on a twig, she looked back and a little up, but she still saw something and was happy and proud.

“That’s a great idea,” she thought to herself.

And the ducks flew after the front pair carrying her, shouting and praising her.

“Our frog has an amazingly smart head,” they said. “Even among ducks there are few of these.”

She could hardly resist thanking them, but, remembering that if she opened her mouth, she would fall from a terrible height, she clenched her jaw even tighter and decided to endure. She hung around like this all day; the ducks carrying it changed on the fly, deftly picking up the twig; it was very scary: more than once the frog almost croaked in fear, but you had to have presence of mind, and she had it. In the evening the whole company stopped in some swamp; At dawn, the ducks and the frog set off again, but this time the traveler, in order to better see what was happening on the way, clung to her back and head forward, and her belly back. Ducks flew over compressed fields, over yellowed forests and over villages full of grain in stacks; From there came the sound of people talking and the sound of flails being used to thresh rye. People looked at a flock of ducks and, noticing something strange in it, pointed at it with their hands.

And the frog really wanted to fly closer to the ground, show himself and listen to what they were saying about him. On her next vacation she said:

– Can’t we fly not so high? I feel dizzy from the heights, and I'm afraid of falling if I suddenly feel sick.

And the good ducks promised her to fly lower. The next day they flew so low that they heard voices.

“Look, look,” children shouted in one village, “the ducks are carrying a frog!”

The frog heard this and her heart jumped.

“Look, look,” adults shouted in another village, “what a miracle!”

“Do they know that I came up with this and not the ducks?” - thought the frog.

“Look, look,” they shouted in the third village, “what a miracle!” And who came up with such a clever thing?

At this point the frog could not stand it and, forgetting all caution, screamed with all her might:

- It's me! I! I!

And with that scream she flew upside down to the ground. The ducks squawked loudly; one of them wanted to pick up the poor companion on the fly, but missed. The frog, shaking all four legs, quickly fell to the ground; but since the ducks flew very quickly, she fell not directly on the place where she screamed and where there was a hard road, but much further, which was great happiness for her, because she splashed into a dirty pond at the edge of the village.

She soon emerged from the water and immediately again vehemently screamed at the top of her lungs:

- It's me! I came up with this!

But there was no one around her. Frightened by the unexpected splash, the local frogs all hid in the water. When they began to emerge from it, they looked with surprise at the new one.

And she told them a wonderful story about how she had been thinking all her life and finally invented a new, extraordinary way of traveling on ducks; how she had her own ducks that carried her wherever she pleased; how she visited the beautiful south, where it’s so nice, where there are such beautiful, warm swamps and so many midges and all sorts of other edible insects.

“I stopped by to see how you live,” she said. - I will stay with you until spring, until my ducks, which I released, return.