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Frog and Toad

"The Story" is a sweet tale of the romance between Frog and Toad.

Frog arrives to tea but he is clearly ill, and Toad puts on his schoolmarm voice. "Go to sleep!" he says. "You must be good to yourself!"

But the teacher fails his own test (situational irony). Toad--so worried about self-care--neglects to monitor his own well-being. He is so eager to provide Frog with a story, a "make-the-time-pass" story, that he rams his head into a wall, several times. He makes himself ill.

Newly recovered, Frog can now tend to Toad, and he tells Toad a story, the story of Toad's own insane devotion. "And then Toad rammed his head into the wall....." This has just the impact that any patient would want: The story causes the patient to fall asleep.

It's hard to beat this, and of course I hear echoes of Arnold Lobel's friend--James Marshall--in the words. Marshall was obsessed with situational irony. In one "George and Martha" tale, for example, Martha lectures George on the importance of being a strict lifeguard, then tries to break every no-ocean-horseplay rule in the book. ("It doesn't matter when *I* am the culprit! I'm your FRIEND!")

Anyway, either Marshall or Lobel is a good pick for a Quarantine Tuesday. Special extra points to Lobel for the small smile you see on Toad's face, when Toad falls asleep.
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