The Fortunate Froggy
Long ago, in a hamlet on the outskirts of a kingdom, there lived a farmer. He was a little man with a big round face, a rounder belly, beady eyes, flaring nostrils, and a largemouth. People often called him Master Froggy, for, he looked like a frog. But he was witty and had a ready tongue. In fact, the villagers held him in respect because they believed he could predict the future. It so happened that his wife had a pair of rather peculiar legs. Their condition varied with the change of weather. By and by, Kuang, for that was the Froggy's real name, found that he could forecast the weather with the help of his wife's legs. When they ached then it meant it was going to be overcast. When they swelled, he expected heavy rain, so on and so forth. One fine sunny morning, when there was not a speck of cloud in the blue sky, Kuang put on his raincoat, held his umbrella, and was ready to set out for work.
"Have you gone off your head?" shouted his wife. "Putting on your raincoat when the sun is raining fire, Oh, how my legs have swelled! It's almost unbearable!" "Ah! Ah!" he chuckled. "Didn't you say your legs had swelled? We are soon going to have real rain." On the way, his friends laughed at him, saying, "Is something really wrong with you, old Kuang, for you're sporting a raincoat under a burning sun?" Kuang smiled and nodded. Not before long, black clouds covered the sky. Gusts of wind blew. Lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and it began to rain heavily. Everyone got drenched and was cold. Except, of course, old Kuang! One day, when the sky was overcast with cloud, he asked his wife, "Dear, have your legs swelled?" "Why should they? They feel fine!" was the reply. So, Kuang went out without his raincoat, whereas everyone else had it on. But soon the sky got clear and the sun shone brightly. People really began to wonder and asked him how he could forecast so correctly. "I Just came to know," was his casual reply. For, it would have been rather embarrassing to reveal the secret link between his wife's legs and the weather. People believed that he had powers to predict the future. The village folks began consulting him whenever they were in difficulty.
Once a young lady lost her ring and went to him. Kuang pretended to contemplate and then said, "Look for it around the stove and the washing place." Surprisingly, she found it there. Old Kuang had just made a guess! One day a worried wife came to him. "My husband is away for a long time and there is no word from him since he left. Please tell me when he will return," she pleaded with him. Kuang closed his eyes, mumbled some abracadabra, and said, "Good lady, do not worry, he will surely return within this month." Only a week had passed when the long-awaited husband returned home. Kuang knew that he would, as his wife was expecting a baby that month. His fame spread far and wide. But he did not earn anything from this practice. For, those who came to him were the poor villagers, friends, and relatives. But soon fortune smiled on him. One day, a priceless gem disappeared from the palace treasury. The emperor ordered his men to look for it. They tried hard, but in vain, for it had been stolen by none other than the treasurer himself! No one ever suspected him.
But the impatient emperor summoned him to his presence. The treasurer stood before him trembling. "Had he been found out?" he wondered. "Since you are in a way responsible for the loss of the treasure, I give you four days to look for a good diviner who can locate the gem. Now make haste. If you fail you'll lose everything," said the emperor angrily. The treasurer lost no time in setting out on his mission. Soon, he and his men came to the house of a fortune teller. The treasurer took the man aside and asked him in a whisper if he knew how to predict well. "Certainly. Whatever I've foretold to this day has always come true," was the reply. "Then we do not require your service," said the treasurer to himself and rode away with his men. He then went to all the diviners in the kingdom. Naturally, they claimed themselves to be very successful ones. But the treasurer did not dare to ask any of them to come with him. Only half a day was left. Someone informed him about Kuang. He rushed to his village, found him, and blurted out his question, "Can you predict well?" Startled that an important official from the king's court was before him, he replied rather nervously, "No sir, I just have the habit of fooling my friends." "Fine. Then you're the right man I'm looking for. The emperor has lost a luminous gem. You've to locate it for him," said the treasurer with a satisfied smile.
"Sir, I dare not go, for I don't make good predictions," pleaded Kuang, scared out of his wits, thinking of the great risk to be a clairvoyant for the emperor. "If you foretell well, then I don't want you," replied the treasurer. "In that case, Sir, I do predict well," said Kuang. He heard the painful groans of his wife. "You see, it's going to rain today," he said. "Haha! Rain, when there isn't a shred of a cloud! I understand what kind of diviner you are. You've to come with me," said the treasurer vehemently. So Kuang bid farewell to his wife and instructed her what she should do if he failed to return within three days, and accompanied the treasurer. At night, when he was about to retire in one of the palace guest rooms, he cursed the thief aloud in his anguish. "You wretched fellow, how dare you to steal from the emperor's treasury?" Then, addressing himself, he said, "You're going to die, your poor chap!" Just then the treasurer was eavesdropping. In fact, he was about to go to bed, happy that tomorrow Kuang would fail in his task and the emperor in his rage would put the poor villager to death and he would be safe, when, suddenly, he heard the pelting sound of rain.
He almost missed a heartbeat. "So, he knew how to predict, after all!" thought the treasurer. That was why he had made his way to where Kuang was put up. And he heard what Kuang said! "He must have surely meant me," he thought, trembling in his shoes. "But how did he know that I was there?" He rushed into the room and fell at Kuang's feet. "Have mercy on me. I'll confess everything." Both baffled and shocked, Kuang gathered himself and said, "Be calm. All will be well." "You're a real clairvoyant. I'm the culprit. I've hidden the gem in the nest of the woodpecker high up on the trunk of the great oak in the royal garden. I'll give you a thousand gold pieces, but please save me," frantically pleaded the treasurer. "All right," agreed on Kuang. The next day Kuang was presented before the emperor in the royal court. He bowed, closed his eyes, and contemplated. "Is there a great oak in the garden, Your Majesty?" he calmly asked after a while. "Yes, indeed there is a great oak, a thousand years old," replied the emperor, pleased. "But where is my precious gem?" "High up in the trunk of that tree is a woodpecker's nest. In it lies your precious gem, O Emperor!" replied Kuang, with a sudden flair. The emperor at once started for the garden followed by his retinue. Someone was made to climb up to the nest and the lost treasure was recovered. "But who stole it?" inquired the emperor, eager to punish the thief.
Kuang closed his eyes once again, mumbled a few words, and said, while all waited in pin-drop silence. "Your Excellency, this luminous gem is the soul of all your material wealth. It comes from the elements and has in it the very essence of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets. Therefore, O Lord, it has the unique power to move." "Is that so?" said the emperor, his mouth agape, while the treasurer heaved a sigh of relief. So Kuang was showered with gifts of gold, silver, and precious stones. But he was not granted permission to leave the kingdom. For, the emperor thought of having the services of his unusual talents as long as he lived. But the farmer was rather anxious to get home. He had, in fact, instructed his wife to set fire to their house and go to her parents' home if he failed to return within three days. So early in the morning of the fourth day, he went to the emperor, managed to squeeze a few drops of tears out of his eyes, and said, "Your Majesty, I fell my house is on fire. Please permit me to go home." How could he know that his house was on fire so many miles away? He was not allowed to go, but an officer was sent to check if what he said was true. The official soon returned and confirmed that Kuang's house was indeed on fire. Overjoyed, the emperor at once honored Kuang with a title. "You're a true diviner. You're appointed henceforth Adviser to the Emperor in all Affairs of the State. You'll stay here in a mini palace."
The farmer was in the soup. "Your Majesty," he pleaded, "I'm most unsuited for such a high order of life. Pardon me, I cannot accept your offer." "All right," said the emperor, "if you can tell me what is there in this box before the incense burns out, then you'll be free." Kuang was in a real dilemma. How on earth can he guess what was there in the box? The joss stick was rapidly getting shorter. In utter desperation, he, at last, sighed aloud, "O poor Froggy! You're trapped!" The emperor stood up in disbelief! The box was opened and in it sat a golden frog, inlaid with precious stones. But Kuang the farmer had only blurted out in exasperation his own nickname. He gathered himself and bowing to the emperor said, "O Lord, with the setting of the sun today, I'll lose my power to predict. It was only given to me for five years. Today, unfortunately, is the last day of the fifth year." So Kuang managed to return home. He built a new house where, along with his wife, he lived happily ever after. His wife was finally cured for her leg ailment and it was not unusual to see the farmer coming home all drenched.
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