How frogs got their long tongues

Frogs didn't always have long tongues, they once had short tongues like you and me.

One day, a frog was sitting on a lilypad waiting for his friend. They were going to have lunch together. After one hour, his friend still had not arrived. By then, he was very hungry, but he did not want to leave the spot in case his friend showed up.

At the corner of his eyes, he spotted a fly trapped in a spider's web. It looked very tasty to a hungry frog. So, he stuck out his tongue to reach for the fly. But, there was one problem - he couldn't get his tongue away from the web! He pulled and tugged with all his might.

No matter how hard he tried, his tongue stayed stuck onto the web.

It did not even budge a bit. It just got longer and longer and longer. Finally, his friend showed up and helped free his tongue from the web. By now, his tongue was way long.

Many frogs teased him about his tongue, but a few frogs envied him as he had an advantage with a long tongue. He could just stick it out and slurp up any insect, far or near. Well, this frog passed on his long tongue to his offsprings! Now, all frogs have long tongues.

Deborah Ho 19 June 2006