By Bill Conley
America’s Favorite Children’s Storyteller
Moral
of the Story:
There is no reward without risk. Every
failure teaches us how to grow. Success isn’t about never falling; it’s about
always getting back up. Each “oops” brings us closer to “I did it!” When you
try again, you show courage and heart. Winners don’t quit; they learn, adjust,
and leap once more. Great things happen when you believe in yourself. Keep
jumping, keep trying, and never give up!
In the bright green meadow beside
Willow Pond lived a young frog named Freddy. Freddy had big feet, a bright
smile, and a dream to win the Great Lily Pad Jumping Contest.
Every year, frogs from all around
gathered to see who could leap the farthest across the lily pads. The prize
wasn’t money or fame; it was a shiny gold medal and, more importantly, the
feeling of doing something great.
Freddy had never won. In fact, he’d
never even finished the course. He always slipped, splashed, or sank halfway
through. But deep down, he wanted to prove to himself that he could do it.
“Maybe this year!” Freddy told his
best friend, Penny the Puddle Duck.
“You’ve got this, Freddy!” She quacked. “You’ve been practicing every day!”
Freddy nodded. “I sure have. But last time I tried, I landed belly-first into
the mud.”
Penny smiled. “Then you’re already better than before; you learned where not
to land!”
That night, Freddy couldn’t sleep.
He lay on his lily pad staring at the moon, imagining the big jump ahead.
“What if I fail again?” he whispered.
Then he remembered what his grandpa always said:
“No frog ever reached the far lily by sitting on the shore.”
The next morning, the meadow buzzed
with excitement. The lily pads floated gently on the pond as the contestants
lined up. Big frogs, small frogs, spotted frogs, everyone wanted to win.
Freddy took a deep breath.
“Ready… set… JUMP!” shouted the referee toad.
The first frog made it across five
pads before splashing into the water. The crowd cheered.
Then another jumped six.
Then came Freddy’s turn.
He bent his knees, wiggled his toes,
and leapt with all his might.
SPLASH! Right into the pond.
The crowd gasped, but Freddy popped
up laughing.
“That was my best jump yet!” he croaked proudly.
He climbed back to the shore, shaking off the water. Penny cheered, “That’s the
spirit! You didn’t quit!”
Freddy didn’t stop there. Every day
for the next week, he practiced.
He watched how the older frogs bent low before jumping.
He studied how they used their legs and where they landed.
He tried short jumps, long jumps, sideways jumps, and even backward jumps (though
that one ended in a belly flop!).
Some days he slipped. Some days he
soared. But every single day, he learned.
Finally, the next contest arrived.
Freddy’s heart raced as he stepped up to the start line.
“You’ve practiced for this,” Penny whispered.
Freddy smiled. “And I’ve failed for this, too.”
The whistle blew. Freddy bent his
knees, pushed off hard, and soared higher than he ever had before.
One pad.
Two pads.
Three pads.
Four,
His foot slipped!
But instead of falling, he adjusted
midair and landed on his belly, right in the middle of the fifth pad.
He didn’t win first place. He didn’t even get second.
But he made it farther than he ever had before.
And when the contest ended,
something wonderful happened.
The oldest frog in the meadow, Sir Ribbert, hopped over and said,
“Young frog, you have the heart of a champion. You failed more than any frog
here, but you also tried more than any frog here. That’s what winning looks
like.”
Freddy’s eyes widened. “So… I did
win?”
Sir Ribbert smiled. “You won where it matters most, in here.” He tapped his
chest.
Freddy’s grin stretched from ear to
ear.
He didn’t need the gold medal; he had something better: pride, courage, and the
belief that with effort and faith, anything was possible.
From that day on, whenever a young
frog said, “I can’t,” Freddy would laugh and say,
“Neither could I, until I tried again.”
And he always ended with his
favorite line:
“There’s no reward without risk, and no success without a few splashes!”
Poem:
Leap high, leap far, don’t fear the
fall,
Each little miss still teaches it all.
The road to success is paved with tries.
Each splash a lesson, each leap a prize.
Fall, then rise, believe, begin,
Trying again is how you win.
Faith in your heart, hope in your song,
Keep jumping forward; you’ll land strong.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
What did Freddy learn about failing
and trying again?
2.
How did practicing and learning from
mistakes help him improve?
3.
Can you think of something you want
to get better at and how you’ll keep trying even if you don’t succeed the
first time?
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