Upon a summer day, a frog said to his mate
"I fear those people living in that house on the shore are disturbed by our night songs"
And his mate answered and said
"Well, do they not annoy our silence during the day with their talking?"
The frog said
"Let us not forget that we may sing too much in the night"
And his mate answered
"Let us not forget that they chatter and shout over much during the day"
Said the frog
"How about the bullfrogs who clatter and shout over much during the day?"
"How about the bullfrog who disturbs the whole neighborhood with his God-forbidden booming?"
And his mate replied
"Ay, and what say you of the politician and the priest and the scientist
Who come to these shores and fill the air with noisy and rimeless sounds?"
And the frog said
"Well, let us be better than these human beings!"
"Let us be quiet at night and keep our songs in our hearts
Even though the moon calls for our rhythm and the stars for our rhyme
At least let us be silent for a night or two, even for three nights"
And his mate said
"Very well, I agree
We shall see what your bountiful heart will bring forth"
That night the frogs were silent
And they were silent the following night also
And again upon the third night
And strange to be told the talkative woman who lived in the house beside the lake
Came down to breakfast on that third day and shouted to her husband
"I have not slept these three nights
I was secure with sleep when the noises of the frogs were in my ear
But something must have happened
They have not sung now for three nights
And I am almost maddened with sleeplessness!
The frog heard this and turned to his mate and said
Winking his eye
"And we were almost maddened with our silence, were we not?"
And his mate answered
"Yes, the silence of the night was heavy upon us"
"And I can see now that there is no need for us to cease our singing
For the comfort of those who must needs fill their emptiness with noise"
And that night the moon called not in vain for their rhythm
Nor the stars for their rhyme