In tonight's bedtime story for sleep, we return to Fritz the Frog's pond- but the star of this story is actually his cousin, Philomena. This story is based on a tale from the Native American Ojibwe tribe, and tells us all about determination, and self belief. Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Jane Thomas
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:20
Speaker 1: a dream.
00:00:22
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00:00:23
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00:00:30
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00:00:38
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00:00:51
Speaker 1: and Maddie and Petie from Alameda, Canada. Speaking of Cocoa,
00:00:58
Speaker 1: he wants me to tell you to listen to the
00:01:00
Speaker 1: coming episode, Coco and the Koala Moon. Click to follow
00:01:04
Speaker 1: the podcast and you'll get the episode automatically. It sheds
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Speaker 1: light on why the name of the podcast changed from
00:01:11
Speaker 1: Coco's Sleep to Koala Moon. Is coming very soon and
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Speaker 1: he doesn't want you to miss it. Tonight's Sweet Story
00:01:19
Speaker 1: is set in Sleepy Forest again, but it's inspired by
00:01:22
Speaker 1: an old tale from the Native American or Jibwei tribe.
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Speaker 1: It's a wonderful story with a wonderful message which Jane
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Speaker 1: has retold with the help of some little frogs we
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Speaker 1: know quite well. Do you remember Fritz. He's the kindest
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Speaker 1: little creature with a huge heart. If you recall, he
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Speaker 1: was very busy on Valentine's Day hopping around the forest,
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Speaker 1: determined to spread his love and friendship amongst his friends. Well,
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Speaker 1: today we're going to meet his little cousin, who is
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Speaker 1: also extremely determined in her own way, which will become
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Speaker 1: clear if you listen closely. Before we get started, let's
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Speaker 1: get ready to relax and listen by taking some calming breaths.
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Speaker 1: Count to four. As you breathe in, hold for four
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Speaker 1: and breathe out for four. Okay, breathe in two three four,
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Speaker 1: hold two three four and breathe out two three four
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Speaker 1: lovely and again in hold out and see if you
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Speaker 1: can slow it down a little bit. If you can
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Speaker 1: breathe in.
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Speaker 2: Hold.
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Speaker 1: And whoosh your air out, okay, keep going even slower
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Speaker 1: still and as you breathe out side out Okay. Whilst
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Speaker 1: you're getting comfy and ready, I'm going to start the
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Speaker 1: Littlest Frog's Longest Race by Jane Thomas Deep in the
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Speaker 1: heart of Sleepy Forest, in the place where the fireflies
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Speaker 1: shine the brightest. This sits a lily pond, and on
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Speaker 1: that lily pond, on a leaf that drifts close to
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Speaker 1: the reed beds, lives a little frog called Fritz. He's
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Speaker 1: the tiny frog with the huge heart who calls out
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Speaker 1: good morning to every other animal, however big or small
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Speaker 1: they are, and is cheerful and kind and friendly with
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Speaker 1: everyone about a mile away, which is a terribly long
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Speaker 1: way when you're a frog quite so tiny as Fritz.
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Speaker 1: There's another pond. It is long and now and sheltered
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Speaker 1: from the winds and breezes by the tallest reeds in
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Speaker 1: the forest. The surface is barely ever disturbed by a
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Speaker 1: single ripple. It is a place that is particularly perfect
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Speaker 1: for two things. The first of those is for families
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Speaker 1: to bring their littlest swimmers when they're first learning the
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Speaker 1: ways of the water, so you'll often find tiny frogs,
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Speaker 1: ones you've only just grown out of being a tadpole,
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Speaker 1: splishing and splashing their way along the edges. The second
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Speaker 1: thing that the pond is perfect for is racing. Animals
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Speaker 1: of all kinds come here to race through the still
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Speaker 1: perfectly straight waters, charging from one end to the other,
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Speaker 1: and sometimes back again and again and again, rushing to
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Speaker 1: see who can be the fastest. Oh, and there's actually
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Speaker 1: a third thing. The pond is good for two, but
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Speaker 1: it's only on very rare occasions this one happens. Albatrosses
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Speaker 1: need a lot of space for taking off and landing,
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Speaker 1: and this pond provides the ideal setting for them, a
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Speaker 1: natural runway that just keeps going and going, and is
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Speaker 1: usually long enough for the visiting albatrosses to come to
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Speaker 1: a stop or head off into the skies above sleepy forest.
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Speaker 1: Whenever there are swimming sessions for the little animals, or
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Speaker 1: whenever there are races on the pond, lifeguards sit along
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Speaker 1: the side a few meters apart. Otters are, of course,
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Speaker 1: some of the finest, sleekiest, swiftest swimmers in all the world,
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Speaker 1: and they make the perfect lifeguards, sitting high on stone
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Speaker 1: towers and scouring the pond for any little ones who
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Speaker 1: stray too far from the edge. Today there's going to
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Speaker 1: be a race on the pond. The posters have been
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Speaker 1: up for weeks, carefully painted onto large leaves and hung
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Speaker 1: from reeds and twigs throughout the forest. There are multiple
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Speaker 1: different divisions as this is the biggest race day of
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Speaker 1: the year. So otters and swans and frogs and fish
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Speaker 1: and every kind of swimming animal you can name will
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Speaker 1: be heading to the pond. Since it is the biggest
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Speaker 1: race day, everyone puts a little more effort into their outfits.
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Speaker 1: Many of the ladies and girls like to wear fancy hats,
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Speaker 1: and they can spend weeks creating them, weaving fruit and
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Speaker 1: feathers into the finest vines and leaves. It's the sort
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Speaker 1: offication when those who have pocket watches will add them
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Speaker 1: to the waistcoats, and they look for any excuse to
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Speaker 1: take them out, just so everyone can say, ah, there
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Speaker 1: is a gorgeous gold pocket watch on a gorgeous gold chain.
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Speaker 1: It is perhaps unsurprising that a hare, distantly related to
00:07:18
Speaker 1: the hair who helped a certain young lady called Alice
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Speaker 1: when she fell down a rabbit hole, is the official
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Speaker 1: timer for the races that take place. The little frog
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Speaker 1: Fritz isn't going to appear in any of the races
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Speaker 1: this year, but he's going to cheer on his cousin Philomina.
00:07:38
Speaker 1: She is And it is barely believable that this is possible,
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Speaker 1: but it's absolutely true. Even tinier than Fritz himself. Philimina
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Speaker 1: is a dainty little frog who's been practicing her swimming
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Speaker 1: strokes for months now. She knows just how to push
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Speaker 1: against the water with her legs and pull against it
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Speaker 1: with her arms, rising and falling with her body as
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Speaker 1: she rushes forwards. She can spread out the webbing on
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Speaker 1: her hands and feet and pull and push as much
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Speaker 1: water as possible with every stroke. The day before the race,
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Speaker 1: Philamina's mother takes her to one side to offer some
00:08:26
Speaker 1: words of wisdom. She sits Philamina down in front of
00:08:30
Speaker 1: her and make sure the little frog is watching her
00:08:33
Speaker 1: face closely as she speaks, and she tells a story
00:08:38
Speaker 1: that has been told thousands of times the whole world
00:08:42
Speaker 1: over of a hair and a tortoise and their famous race.
00:08:49
Speaker 1: She tells of how the hair was the fastest animal
00:08:52
Speaker 1: in all the land, and how he could easily win
00:08:56
Speaker 1: the race and knew that he could too. She tells
00:09:01
Speaker 1: of the hair setting off and disappearing into the distance,
00:09:05
Speaker 1: leaving the tortoise easing slowly through the dust the hair
00:09:10
Speaker 1: left behind. She tells her how the hare looked back
00:09:15
Speaker 1: from the top of a hill and realized that tortoise
00:09:19
Speaker 1: was nowhere in sight, and the hare settled down in
00:09:23
Speaker 1: the shade of a tree to sleep awhile in the sunshine.
00:09:28
Speaker 1: It is, after all, so very easy to fall asleep
00:09:34
Speaker 1: when the warm summer sun comes trickling down between the
00:09:38
Speaker 1: leaves of a tree, and gentle breezes carry the scents
00:09:43
Speaker 1: of lilac and lavender, and there's a soft mound of
00:09:48
Speaker 1: moss that makes a perfect green pillow. But the tortoise
00:09:55
Speaker 1: is wise because he never stops going forwards, And at
00:10:00
Speaker 1: one point he passes the hare sleeping soundly in the
00:10:05
Speaker 1: shade of the tree, and wonders, just for a moment,
00:10:10
Speaker 1: if he might win the race after all. And he wonders,
00:10:15
Speaker 1: just for another moment, if he too might take a
00:10:20
Speaker 1: break and curl up inside his shell, cozy and warm
00:10:25
Speaker 1: with the summer sun. But he knows that he must
00:10:30
Speaker 1: keep pressing forwards. And so Philamina's mother finishes, making sure
00:10:37
Speaker 1: throughout her story that little Philamina is carefully watching her
00:10:42
Speaker 1: as she speaks. The tortoise manages to win the race,
00:10:47
Speaker 1: and the hair is left feeling foolish. Even though you
00:10:53
Speaker 1: are tiny, dear Philamina, don't lose hope, her mother says,
00:10:59
Speaker 1: there will be bigger frogs with stronger legs and longer arms.
00:11:04
Speaker 1: But keep on going, keep on pushing, and you will
00:11:09
Speaker 1: do well out there tomorrow. Little Philhemina fell asleep that night,
00:11:16
Speaker 1: curled up on her lily pad beneath a blanket of
00:11:20
Speaker 1: the softest, downiest fluff of the bulrushes, dreaming of the
00:11:26
Speaker 1: race and paddling her little arms and legs in her dreams.
00:11:33
Speaker 1: Fritz and his friends decided to visit Philamina the following
00:11:36
Speaker 1: morning to wish her good luck in the race and
00:11:40
Speaker 1: to let her know they would be waiting for her
00:11:43
Speaker 1: at the finishing line. Fritz was sure to tap his
00:11:48
Speaker 1: cousin on the shoulder and turn her face to his
00:11:51
Speaker 1: as he spoke, careful to check that she was watching
00:11:55
Speaker 1: him as he whispered of her courage and strength. They
00:12:00
Speaker 1: went together as a group towards the racing pond, moving
00:12:05
Speaker 1: slowly across the mile of sleepy forest that divided where
00:12:09
Speaker 1: they lived and where she would compete. And as they
00:12:13
Speaker 1: hopped their way over tree stumps and around drooping green
00:12:18
Speaker 1: ferns and hedgerows bursting with roses and honeysuckle, they met
00:12:24
Speaker 1: other animals who were also heading to the pond. This year,
00:12:30
Speaker 1: it turned out it wasn't just animals from sleepy forests
00:12:34
Speaker 1: who were going to compete. The pond had become so
00:12:38
Speaker 1: famous for its length and straightness and stillness that other
00:12:44
Speaker 1: animals came from far and wide to join in the races.
00:12:49
Speaker 1: And so Philamina and her family and friends met other
00:12:54
Speaker 1: creatures from places like Dreamy Dell and the Floating Cloud
00:13:00
Speaker 1: and even the village of Lower Starry Skies. Philamina waved
00:13:07
Speaker 1: shyly to these unknown animals, who all waved shyly back,
00:13:12
Speaker 1: and sheard smiles and thumbs ups, and everything was wonderful
00:13:18
Speaker 1: on the beautiful sunshine apple day until animals from the
00:13:24
Speaker 1: wacky Woods appeared. As they started to stream past Philamina
00:13:30
Speaker 1: in her group, the animals of the Wackywood pushed closer
00:13:35
Speaker 1: and closer, gorping at the tiny frog, who hopped slowly
00:13:40
Speaker 1: from stone to stone, careful not to twist an ankle
00:13:45
Speaker 1: or hurt a wrist before the big race. You are
00:13:49
Speaker 1: so tiny, they called out, who don't stand a chance
00:13:55
Speaker 1: of winning, Just sit on the sidelines with us. Philamina
00:14:01
Speaker 1: looked straight ahead and kept on hopping. In her mind,
00:14:06
Speaker 1: she replayed the story of the hare and the tortoise
00:14:10
Speaker 1: her mother had told her the night before. It was
00:14:13
Speaker 1: as if she didn't notice the animals of the Wacky
00:14:16
Speaker 1: Wood at all, and this made them call out even more.
00:14:23
Speaker 1: Why by the racing when you're so small, they called.
00:14:28
Speaker 1: Your entire body could fit into my hand, another said,
00:14:32
Speaker 1: concerning their voice. But it was as if Philhemina was
00:14:37
Speaker 1: in another world all by herself, looking ahead to the
00:14:42
Speaker 1: reeds and stones and paths and hopping perfectly between each.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: As Fritz was about to tell the animals of the
00:14:52
Speaker 1: Wacky Woods to mine their own business, a shadow came
00:14:57
Speaker 1: over the group, and the swoosh of wings filled the air. Philamina,
00:15:03
Speaker 1: feeding the shade on her back, turned to look up
00:15:07
Speaker 1: and saw a huge, glorious white swan gliding down towards them.
00:15:14
Speaker 1: The swan landed awkwardly in the way swan's dow, her
00:15:20
Speaker 1: big yellow feet slipping and sliding on the muddy ground.
00:15:26
Speaker 1: She lowered herself gently, and Fritz hopped over quick to
00:15:31
Speaker 1: greet his friend Penny. He called, and the swan grinned
00:15:37
Speaker 1: at him, her black eyes bright and sparkling in the sunshine. Fritz,
00:15:44
Speaker 1: I hope I'll find you here. Listen, it's no good
00:15:49
Speaker 1: for your cousin to have to hop the whole mile
00:15:52
Speaker 1: before she has to race. Why don't I give you
00:15:56
Speaker 1: all a lift on my back. Fritz showed all the
00:16:01
Speaker 1: frogs how to hop onto the soft white back of
00:16:04
Speaker 1: Penny and just where to nestle so they could be
00:16:08
Speaker 1: safe between her wings, and once they were all on board,
00:16:12
Speaker 1: he called forward to Penny that they were ready. She
00:16:16
Speaker 1: spread her wings and flapped them up and down, up
00:16:21
Speaker 1: and down. Penny floated on the breeze, her wings straight
00:16:27
Speaker 1: by her sides and tilting this way and that to
00:16:32
Speaker 1: fly with ease through the warm air. From high above,
00:16:37
Speaker 1: Philamina could see animals coming towards the pond from all directions.
00:16:44
Speaker 1: She saw badgers and foxes coming from the north, and
00:16:49
Speaker 1: sheep and horses coming from the east, and beavers and
00:16:53
Speaker 1: moles coming from the south. And from the west. She
00:16:58
Speaker 1: even saw kingfish and koalas making their way through sleepy forest.
00:17:04
Speaker 1: Philamina smiled to see the koalas yawning and stretching and
00:17:10
Speaker 1: almost seeming to nap every few steps, but she loved
00:17:14
Speaker 1: that they too, were determined to make it to race day.
00:17:19
Speaker 1: When they arrived at the racing pond, guided onto a
00:17:23
Speaker 1: runway by a rabbit who held two carrots and waved
00:17:27
Speaker 1: them to show the swan where to land and where
00:17:30
Speaker 1: to park. It was a scene like nothing Philimina had
00:17:34
Speaker 1: ever known before. A huge red and white striped tent
00:17:39
Speaker 1: had been strung between the oak trees, and inside there
00:17:44
Speaker 1: were stalls piled high with food and drink the little
00:17:48
Speaker 1: frog had never known. Philimina's mother took her hand and
00:17:54
Speaker 1: guided her towards a check in table, letting the very
00:17:59
Speaker 1: serious badger in charge of operations know that she was
00:18:03
Speaker 1: there and would be ready to race. The badger explained
00:18:09
Speaker 1: that all competitors were asked to wear swimming hats with
00:18:14
Speaker 1: their names on, so that other animals could call out
00:18:17
Speaker 1: from the side and shout words of encouragement, and Philamina's
00:18:22
Speaker 1: mother looked at him a little oddly, and the badger,
00:18:27
Speaker 1: for a moment, seemed embarrassed. Filamina was too busy staring
00:18:32
Speaker 1: at the other competitors, who were all warming up and stretching,
00:18:37
Speaker 1: to notice any of the awkwardness, and only asked her
00:18:41
Speaker 1: mother for a hat, as everyone else seemed to be
00:18:44
Speaker 1: wearing them. Her mother pulled a smart blue hat from
00:18:49
Speaker 1: her bag and poured it onto Philamina's head, nodding and
00:18:54
Speaker 1: smiling to let the little frog know that it fitted
00:18:57
Speaker 1: just so. One of the creatures from the Wacky Wood
00:19:03
Speaker 1: passed Philamina and called again that she was too small
00:19:07
Speaker 1: and couldn't possibly win the race, but Philamina focused on
00:19:12
Speaker 1: her mother and the hat, and the thumbs ups from
00:19:16
Speaker 1: the creatures of Dreamy Dell and the floating clouds. They
00:19:21
Speaker 1: stood and watched the start of the next three races,
00:19:26
Speaker 1: with Philamina carefully watching to see how every one climbed
00:19:30
Speaker 1: onto the starting blocks and then at the same time
00:19:34
Speaker 1: launched themselves into the pond and charged forwards, thrashing and
00:19:40
Speaker 1: churning the water and creating ripples and waves where normally
00:19:45
Speaker 1: there were none. At the far end, a terribly long
00:19:50
Speaker 1: way away, indeed, she could just about see Fritz and
00:19:54
Speaker 1: his friends, and Penny was tall and regal above them
00:20:00
Speaker 1: was her long, elegant neck, nodding her way up and
00:20:05
Speaker 1: down to show Philhemina she could see her too. Philimina
00:20:11
Speaker 1: tugged her mother's hand and pointed to the starting block
00:20:15
Speaker 1: at the far side of the lineup, and her mother nodded, yes,
00:20:21
Speaker 1: that would be her place to go. Finally, it was
00:20:26
Speaker 1: Philamina's turn. Animals from all over were in the lineup
00:20:32
Speaker 1: with her, and Philamina found herself alongside a very large
00:20:36
Speaker 1: frog from the Wacky Woods. He made some comments about
00:20:41
Speaker 1: her size and how easy it would be to beat
00:20:45
Speaker 1: her to the other end of the pond, but she
00:20:49
Speaker 1: was too busy looking at the water to notice that
00:20:52
Speaker 1: he said anything at all. When they climbed onto the
00:20:57
Speaker 1: starting blocks, all of the looked straight ahead, looking exactly
00:21:04
Speaker 1: where they would need to go. Only philmina little Philimina,
00:21:09
Speaker 1: looked to the side, focused on the large frog from
00:21:13
Speaker 1: the Wacky Woods, who only moments before had said such
00:21:18
Speaker 1: mean things to her.
00:21:21
Speaker 2: As she watched the large frog's leg muscles start to
00:21:25
Speaker 2: twitch and launch himself into the pond, Philamina pushed herself
00:21:30
Speaker 2: forward with all her might and threw herself into the water.
00:21:37
Speaker 1: She closed her eyes and shut out the rest of
00:21:39
Speaker 1: the world, feeling the water rush against her face as
00:21:44
Speaker 1: she pushed with her legs and pulled with her arms.
00:21:49
Speaker 1: It was a long pond and a long race, and
00:21:53
Speaker 1: she focused on her breathing, taking care to breathe out long's,
00:22:01
Speaker 1: pushing the breath from her body for one, two, three, four,
00:22:09
Speaker 1: five strokes because Filhelmina had her eyes closed, and because
00:22:16
Speaker 1: she was so tucked away into her own watery world,
00:22:20
Speaker 1: it came as something of a surprise to her when
00:22:24
Speaker 1: her little webbed hand suddenly touched the end of the pond.
00:22:30
Speaker 1: She looked up into the face of Fritz, who was
00:22:33
Speaker 1: leaping and hopping and smiling at her as if he
00:22:38
Speaker 1: might jump as high as the swallows that swooped and
00:22:42
Speaker 1: danced in the sky. Filamina glanced to her side and
00:22:48
Speaker 1: watched as seven other hands reach towards the end of
00:22:52
Speaker 1: the pond. She watched as seven heads emerged from the
00:22:57
Speaker 1: water and looked to either side to see where they
00:23:01
Speaker 1: had come, and in that moment, Philamina realized she had
00:23:07
Speaker 1: won the race. The big frog from the Wacky Woods
00:23:12
Speaker 1: was the first to come over to Philamina. Hey, he called,
00:23:18
Speaker 1: well done. How did you do that? Philimina kept smiling
00:23:23
Speaker 1: at Fritz and waving to Penny, and watched as her
00:23:27
Speaker 1: mother hopped as fast as she could to come and
00:23:30
Speaker 1: give her a hug. Oi The big frog called, I'm
00:23:36
Speaker 1: saying well done. Philimina saw only the huge bouquet of
00:23:42
Speaker 1: forest flowers that Fritz's friends presented her with, and then
00:23:47
Speaker 1: felt the weight of a medal being hung around her
00:23:50
Speaker 1: neck on a beautiful red ribbon. The big frog tapped
00:23:56
Speaker 1: her on the shoulder and Philamina wheeled round. Listen, the
00:24:03
Speaker 1: big frog said, and Philamina looked straight at him. I
00:24:08
Speaker 1: wanted to say, well done, really good effort. But how
00:24:13
Speaker 1: did you do it? How did you win when my
00:24:16
Speaker 1: friends and I were all so horrible? I said all
00:24:20
Speaker 1: those mean things to you? How did you ignore us
00:24:23
Speaker 1: so well? Philamina shrugged and smiled at him. It was easy,
00:24:32
Speaker 1: she said, slowly, and a little awkwardly. But you weren't
00:24:37
Speaker 1: put off. It's really hard to ignore people saying you
00:24:41
Speaker 1: can't do something, after all, insisted the big frog. Yes,
00:24:47
Speaker 1: said Philamina. I'm sure it is, but you see, I'm deaf,
00:24:54
Speaker 1: so I didn't hear anything you said. Anyway. The big
00:24:59
Speaker 1: frogs slapped his knee and laughed. That explained it all.
00:25:06
Speaker 1: It explained why he had seen Philamina's friends take care
00:25:11
Speaker 1: to make sure she was looking at them when they spoke,
00:25:15
Speaker 1: and why the badger had seemed awkward talking about the
00:25:19
Speaker 1: swimming hat, and why the little frog had looked across
00:25:24
Speaker 1: to him to know when the race should start. And
00:25:30
Speaker 1: the big frog wondered what he might be able to
00:25:34
Speaker 1: do if he too, could ignore those who said that
00:25:38
Speaker 1: he wasn't able to do something. That night, as Philhemina
00:25:45
Speaker 1: curled up asleep beneath the blanket of soft down of
00:25:50
Speaker 1: the bulrushes, she remembered the moment of reaching the end
00:25:56
Speaker 1: of the pond and looking to the sigh and winning
00:26:01
Speaker 1: the race, and she smiled to herself as she disappeared
00:26:08
Speaker 1: into her dreams, filled with memories of the dancing fireflies
00:26:15
Speaker 1: that guided them home, and the feel of the drums
00:26:20
Speaker 1: in her feet through the forest floor, and the soft
00:26:25
Speaker 1: winds that filled the air. As Penny flew off into
00:26:30
Speaker 1: the night, her huge white wings pushing her towards the
00:26:38
Speaker 1: moon and the stars and the sky known to anything