The Leap Frog

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A flea, a grasshopper, and a leap frog. Once wanted
to see which could jump highest, And they invited the
whole world and everybody else besides who chose to come
to see the festival. Three famous jumpers were they, as
everyone would say when they all met together in the room.
I will give my daughter to him who jumps highest,
exclaimed the king. For it is not so amusing where

(00:21):
there is no prize to jump. For the flea was
the first to step forward. He had exquisite manners and
bowed to the company on all sides, for he had
noble blood, and was moreover accustomed to the society of
man alone. And that makes a great difference. Then came
the grasshopper. He was considerably heavier, but he was well mannered,

(00:41):
and wore a green uniform, which he had by right
of birth. He said moreover that he belonged to a
very ancient Egyptian family, and that in the house where
he then was, he was thought much of the fact
was he had been just brought out of the fields
and put in a pasteboard house three stories high, all
made of court cards, with the colored size inwards, and

(01:04):
doors and windows cut out of the body of the
Queen of hearts. I sing so well, said he that
sixteen native grasshoppers, who have chirped from infancy and yet
got no house built of cards to live in, grew
thinner that they were before, for sheer vexation when they
heard me. It was thus that the flea and the
grasshopper gave an account of themselves, and thought they were

(01:26):
quite good enough to marry a princess. The leap frog
said nothing, but people gave it as their opinion that
he therefore thought the more. And when the house dog
snuffed at him with his nose, he confessed the leap
frog was of good family. The old counselor, who had
had three orders given him to make him hold his tongue,
asserted that the leapfrog was a prophet, for that one

(01:48):
could see on his back if there would be a
severe or mild winter, and that was what one could
not see even on the back of the man who
writes the almanac. I say nothing, it is true, exclaimed
the king, but I have my own opinion. Notwithstanding, now
the trial was to take place. The flea jumped so
high that nobody could see where he went to, so
they all asserted he had not jumped at all, and

(02:11):
that was dishonorable. The grasshopper jumped only half as high,
but he leapt into the king's face, who said that
it was ill mannered. The leap frog stood still for
a long time, lost in thought. It was believed at
last he would not jump at all. I only hope
he is not unwell, said the house dog. When pop
he made a jump, all on one side, into the

(02:33):
lap of the princess, who was sitting on a little
gold stool close by. Hereupon, the king said, there is
nothing above my daughter. Therefore to bound up to her
is the highest jump that can be made. But for
this one must possess understanding. And the leap frog has
shown that he has understanding. He is brave and intellectual,

(02:53):
and so he won the princess. It's all the same
to me, said the flea. She may have the old
leap frog for all I care. I jumped the highest,
But in this world maritzeldom meets its reward. A fine
exterior is what people look at nowadays. The flea then
went into foreign service, where it is said he was killed.
The grasshopper sat without on a green bank and reflected

(03:16):
on worldly things, and he said to yes, a fine
exterior is everything, A fine exterior is what people care about.
And then he began chirping his peculiar, melancholy song from
which we have taken this history, and which may very
possibly be all untrue, although it does stand here printed
in black and white. End of the Leap Frog by

(03:38):
Hans Christian Andersen