Return to Frog HouseThere once was a young Yoo in a country far away which was known to its own as Sapotoopay, a place full of splendor and nature and beauty to see beneath every flithering jumjoober tree. For miles stretched the waving green sandle-pat grasses in which played tiny tworples and whiskery pompasses, and above the comlipoodoo forests, floating up high, were curious jimjimjoober birds swooping from the sky. And in the middle of the land was a quiet little hill where there lived a young Yoo whose name was just "Gill." Just a modest little hump up above fields of bwee and on that hill was a house and a fence and a blocksapper tree. A day came along in the month of Soapwill when a stranger chanced to come upon Gill's peaceful hill. He was a strange kind of stranger from Flumtapasoomer whose people possess a unique sense of humor. He saw simple Gill simply set under the tree and decided to see how simple a Yoo really could be. He went up to Gill and said, "I am the Great Wuz, a traveling namer from the region of Fuz. My job," he explained, "is to travel around and to name all the things that are there on the ground!" And then, quite formal, he continued, "You see, some things are confused and aren't sure what to be. Why I remember," the sly liar went on, "when I once came across a purple poupon. This particular poupon seemed perfectly pleased to think that it was a grove of sapple-toe trees. So I explained what it was in reality and the purple poupon was tickled as could be. He'd long had a sense that all wasn't right and now was so thankful that I'd showed him the light. So I travel around, sometimes going quite far to help out those who aren't sure who they are. Mother Nature's my boss, she pays well, that's correct, the traveling's nice though the hours are heck. And so too with you, young Yoo, you thought you knew what was true, but buddy have I got some new news for you, for you're not a Yoo but a salicamoo! A salicamoo is a rare kind of tree with pink-spotted leaves like yours which I see." Poor Gill at that moment was visibly shocked as here was his whole tidy world soundly knocked. But what would he, a Salicamoo tree, know compared to the stranger who was paid to know so? So he thanked that foul Wuz and bade one request, that before he went off and continued his quest that he should stay for a moment, if at all he could, and make sure that Gill got watered quite good. So the nasty old liar stuck around all right and laughed to himself as Gill stood out all night. Gill never once budged from his thought-rooted place even when the morning rain ran down his face. And the poor little Yoo found he wasn't happy wondering why he was made a salicamoo tree. So the shifty snake Wuz said the next day, "Oh my, I'm so sorry, I should've known right away! You see, young booby, my friend, little Gill, you're not a salicamoo but a tiny green hill!" Poor Gill already had his head spinning around so he got down all curled up onto the ground. At this, Wuz wanted to laugh so desperately that he had to hide behind the blocksapper tree. The next day again, Wuz said apologetically, "I'm sorry, dear boy, I don't know what's wrong with me. It's obvious now that a hill isn't you, so this time I know I tell you quite true! I see clear as rain now, and so it would seem you're not a tree or a hill but are really a stream!" And so simple Gill thought of water and drips as he lay on the ground blowing bubbles on his lips. But then that night, why Gill had a dream that he flowed through a valley in the form of a stream. He made little splashes on the stream's sandy shore but other than that he could do not much more. As when he tried to move left and he tried to move right it proved to be far too much of a fight, but here and there at the forks were decisions to make as of two or three ways, he had to choose one to take! And then Gill at last flowed into the sea where millions of streams had traveled to be. He washed in with millions of streams but still he was mixed in with all but didn't stop being Gill. When he woke the next day, he was a much wiser Yoo which Wuz noticed quick and slunk off to Zanaloo. That morning it dawned on the Yoo as he woke on his hill a slight idea of what it is to be Gill. That what Wuz was was a no good sapper stew and all along Gill was an individual Yoo. His life, like the stream, he needed himself to flow out, stirring up currents of what he's all about. And to be a good Yoo, this new Yoo knew, Yooness comes from in you, it's true, and the Yooiest Yoo you can do is the Yoo within you that's most true through and through!
Last Update: May 8, 2003