Once upon a time, in the green land of Salta, there lived many colourful frogs. There were frogs which croaked, there were frogs which leapt and others which jumped from one tree to another. There were frogs that took baths inside cup-shaped flowers filled with rainwater. There were amphibians which chirped, others which barked and those which refused to do anything at all.
One of them, a purple frog called Glow, decided that he wanted to see the world. Not telling anybody a word, not packing the smallest of backpacks, he left with only his bravery for a companion.
Glow walked through the forest and it seemed that every tree shade created strange shapes and every shrub was hiding something or someone. He felt a bit scared but he was mad for an adventure so he marched on. First, he came across a scaley green snake. The snake was huge and scary but our little frog decided to talk to him anyway.
'Hello, Mr Snake. How are you today?' asked Glow in a trembling voice.
'I'm well, thank you. So grateful for your polite enquiry! Nobody ever talks to me because they are terrified of me,' said the snake and burst out laughing in a guttural harsh-sounding voice.
Glow feared now that speaking to the snake was a mistake and that he would be eaten by the beast any second now. Instead, the snake continued:
'For your polite manners and bravery winning over fear in your heart, I shall grant you a big gift. Here is one of my scales. It's magical and you can use it to grow a protective armour of scales for yourself or someone you care about. Use it wisely as you can only use it once.'
After uttering those words the snake swiftly crawled away into the jungle before Glow could thank him.
Without moving far from his native place, Glow saw a very cute yellow frog. He was fascinated, her name was Lily... They quickly hit it off! She was a little bored and didn't mind going on an adventure either! So she joined him, curious what lay ahead of them. Lily was a high-spirited tree frog who could fly. Glow could only jump or walk. She preferred to dance instead of walking so both of them moved forward dancing. It was somewhat slow but how much fun! They ate the tastiest of dragonflies and climbed the tallest of trees. Lily showed Glow how to drink morning nectar from the flowers without falling into them. He showed her how to glow in the dark. At last, the time came to say goodbye as Lily didn't want to get further away from her home.
'Thank you for being such a wonderful friend and inviting me to share part of your journey with you,' said Lily. 'As a token of my friendship and in gratitude for making my heart soar, I'll give you a special gift. When you touch your or someone else's body with your finger and say my name three times, that body will be able to grow a web. If you grow webbed toes and skin flaps on your sides, like me, you will be able to fly. Use this gift wisely because you will be able to use it only once.'
Without waiting to hear his thanks, she took off and simply flew away.
Glow was a little sad that he was left to continue on his own so he decided to sing a song to cheer himself up. The little brave frog carried on through the dark forest until, exhausted from his travels, he stopped a while to put the hop back in his legs. In the quiet of the forest he was suddenly aware of tiny sobs coming from close by in the grass. Peering closer he could just make out a tiny honey bee thanks to the glow of his body.
'Don't cry little honey bee,' he said with a soft voice. 'Whatever is the matter?'
'I was trapped under a glass by a giant human,' sniffled the little bee. 'By the time he released me it was dark and I couldn't find my way home.'
Glow offered to light the little bee's way and slowly they made their way through the forest until the bee recognised the tree where the hive had made their home.
'You have saved me!' gushed the little bee. 'For your kindness I will grant you a magic gift. Wherever you find yourself, even without the sun to guide you, you will be able to make a beeline home.'
'Thank you! That's such a wonderful gift!' enthusiastically responded Glow.
'You're welcome! Enjoy the rest of your quest!' buzzed the bee flying away.
Glow suddenly felt very lonely and sad. Away from his home, his friends and family, the world felt like such a lonely place. He sat down in the damp night grass and started crying to sooth his sadness. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the night air filled with thousands of tiny lights. They glowed dancing in the darkness forming different shapes like the stars in the sky. Glow stopped crying while watching the lights, mesmerised by their beauty.
'Who are you?' he asked at last.
'Have you never seen fireflies? replied their queen flying closer to the frog.
'No, I haven't! You're so beautiful' Glow complimented the little insects.
'Thank you! Nobody ever said that to us. Everybody always says that we are just ugly scary bugs. Nobody ever sees how we are transformed at night.'
The firefly queen was so grateful for Glow's appreciation that she offered to do a special show for him. The fireflies created various glowing shapes in the air, like shivering leaves, a waterfall, leaping frogs. These reminded Glow of home and he delighted in guessing what they were. This cheered him up greatly so he said
'Thank you, my glowing new friends!'
'You're so welcome! I have a special gift for you before we fly away into the night,' said the queen returning to his side. 'If you ever find yourself in need of protection, warmth or light, call my name three times and I will grant you a gift of fire.'
'Thank you! I can see now I was foolish earlier thinking I was alone here. The world is full of friends, those we already have and those we are yet to meet,' said the frog.
'Indeed! Farewell our new friend. My name is Lucinda!' called the firefly queen flying away.
Glow walked for days, leapt for weeks and danced in between. He decided at last that the world was getting boring and that he had already seen all that there was worth seeing. He thought there was no point in going any further and perhaps it was time to go back home, when suddenly he came across a cave. It was gloomy and semi dark. Glow thought he saw something moving inside it so he quickly tried to escape, but it was too late. A beast now stood between him and the exit. He decided to leap in the opposite direction but there was no exit there, just the skylight in the dome of the cave.
'What do you want,' asked the beast in an angry voice, 'and why did you come here?'
'I, I, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude,' stammered the frightened frog.
'But you did! I have been bored for a long time and now you will be my toy!' said the beast with a scary laughter.
'I am terribly sorry for my intrusion. I will tell you the stories of my adventures so far if you promise not to hurt me. I hope you will find them entertaining and that they will cure your boredom,' said the frog in an encouraging voice.
'All right! But make sure your story is interesting, if not, I'm going to eat you for lunch. If I do like them though, I'll share my story with you in return.'
The frog hearing this started trembling but he had no choice but to make the stories the best stories he had ever told. He decided to leave out the parts about the gifts out of his stories just in case the beast demanded them for himself.
So Glow told the stories of his adventures to the monster, starting with the stories of his native land. When he was done, the beast's eyes were gleaming with interest.
'These were some good stories!' said the monster at last. 'I'm not going to eat you.'
'That's a relief because I like my life,' said the adventurous amphibian smiling shyly and introduced himself 'My name is Glow.'
'And I'm Spark. I used to be a dragon.'
'What do you mean you used to be? Aren't you still a dragon?'
'Only by the name,' said the beast, suddenly turning quiet, even a little sad. 'I used to be a dragon. I could breathe fire, fly above the forests and lakes and have a beautiful scaly body armour. Everyone was scared of me and respected me. It was a beautiful if somewhat lonely life so I tried to get closer to animals and humans to make friends. But the animals avoided me and humans chased me away. Finally, one day a knight came to my cave to slay me. Instead, we sat by the fire, sang songs and exchanged stories. It was great to have a friend at last and he told me it could always be like that if only I gave up my scaly armor and flying over the land spewing fire. So I agreed. I thought I would have lots of friends now that I stopped being a scary dragon. Sadly, they still saw me as a scary dragon and none of them wanted to be my friend. I stopped being a dragon for nothing.' As he finished his story, Spark started to weep.
'Don't cry! It can't be all that bad.' said Glow in an encouraging voice.
'It is. Never give up being who you are because what will you be left with if you lose yourself? Be proud of who you are even if others find you weird or scary. There is nothing worse than losing yourself.'
'I think I have a solution,' suggested Glow in a rather shy voice. After all, was he going to be a frog who saved a dragon?
After a moment's hesitation Glow made a firm decision.
'Close your eyes,' requested the frog.
'Why?
'Because it's easier for magic to work when you close your eyes. May I touch your fingers?' asked the frog.
'That's a strange request but yes, you may,' said increasingly curious Spark.
Glow touched the dragon's fingers and thought of the snake. Suddenly, the dragon's body started changing and he got covered by beautiful shiny scales.
'Wow!' exclaimed the dragon opening his eyes. 'How did you do that!'
Glow only smiled and continued in a mysterious tone repeating the name of his friend: 'Lily, Lily, Lily,' and the dragon grew large beautiful webbed wings. Spark spread them proudly with palpable joy. He looked majestic and scary again.
Lastly, Glow called on his firefly friends recalling their queen: 'Lucinda, Lucinda, Lucinda!'
The dragon now sent a stream of fire to the floor of the cave and a cloud of smoke started quickly forming around them. They both got pretty startled.
'Wow! That's awesome!' exclaimed the dragon, overjoyed with getting his skills back. 'I will never forget what you did for me! You gave me back myself,' said the dragon in an emotional weepy voice.
'I have never seen a dragon cry that much!' responded Glow and they both burst out laughing.
'How can I ever thank you?' asked the dragon.
'How about you fly me home? I had marvellous adventures and I have seen a lot of the world and it's truly incredible, but I miss home,' replied the frog.
'How will I find your home land though?' asked Spark.
'Oh, that's easy, I'll show you the way. My friend, the bee, taught me how to find my way back home,' said Glow and they embarked on their first flight together. There were many more trips to come for these two unlikely friends.
