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  Tuesday May 13th 2025, 10:00 am Singapore time

• This month’s featured tellers are Kevin Cordi and Liza Newell

  Thursday May 15 7:30 AM Singapore Time

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• • Mother Earth is Life

    A day without water is a thirsty-angsty day

    A day without water is a mucky-icky day

    A day without water is a loopy-goofy day

    A day without water is a loony-goony day

    A day without water is a dooly doolally day.

    Mother Earth provides us with every life-giving force, from necessities to luxuries.  We have dedicated one day in April exclusively as Earth Day and in 2025 the theme for Earth Day is, “‘Invest in Our Planet’, Our Power! Our People! Our planet!'” 

    Do we really need a reminder? Imagine a day without water. That thought alone should be enough to remind us to protect our precious resources. 

    Currently, nearly 703 million people lack access to water- approximately 1 in 10 people on the planet- and over 2 billion do not have safe drinking water. The United Nations predicts that by 2030, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity.

    “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”- Robert Swan

    Pastiche the Frog

    Once upon a time there lived a frog named Pastiche. He was a good frog; he harmed no one and lived a contented life. One day, he saw a water buffalo amble towards the pond, and when he arrived, all the other creatures made way for him. He took up a lot of space in the pond and when he bellowed the entire place reverberated with his sound. 

    This made the frog unhappy.  He thought to himself, “I have lived in this pond since long before this buffalo arrived but none of the other animals took any notice of me but look how they seem to worship the buffalo.”

    He thought for two whole nights and came up with an idea; he would drink all the water from the pond and then perhaps he would become as big as the buffalo and everyone would notice him. 

    He began drinking and as he drank and drank, he grew bigger and bigger. First as big as a mouse, then a cat, then a dog, then a buffalo. Finally, he had drunk up all the water in the pond and there was no water left for anyone else.

    He sat and waited, waited for all the creatures to notice him, acknowledge his strength, and look up to him. 

    Sure enough as the sun beat down upon the creatures, they became thirsty. Some of the animals fainted. They needed water to clean themselves up, water for cooking, water for that cup of refreshing coffee. But there was no water.

    Then, one by one, the creatures of that place went up to the frog and pleaded with him to disgorge at least a little water.

    Many of the animals gave up hope that the frog would release any water, and they began praying for rain to quench their thirst. Many did the rain dance; some sang to invoke rain. However, nothing happened, and the creatures only got thirstier.

    Pastiche didn’t feel embarrassed in the least. “Am I being mean-spirited and thoughtless?” That thought did cross his mind but then he immediately squashed the thought and sat smug in his newfound image and grandeur.

    He was now bigger than the water buffalo and felt happy.

    All the creatures thought of ways to get Pastiche out of his mood and disgorge the water.

    The kookaburra said, “We must make him laugh. Once he laughs a belly laugh, surely all the water will spill out of him.”

    The other animals thought it was a clever idea. Pleading with, cooing and cajoling Pastiche had not worked, perhaps making him laugh would work.

    Kookaburra took the task upon himself, and he perched upon the majestic buffalo’s horns and began, “Kookaburra perched on a pointy horn. Jolly, jolly bird of the surrounding pond. Laugh, Pastiche, laugh.”

    The other animals gathered around and joined in the chorus. There was no effect on Pastiche. His smugness turned to a sneer. He wanted to open his mouth and sarcastically say, “Bravo! Bravo! What an extraordinary performance!” but he did not as he didn’t wish for even a drop of water to escape.

    Next, Sassy, the Sulphur-crested cockatoo swooped down and said, “I shall entertain Pastiche with my antics.” He hung upside down, did a few loop the loops, bobbed his head up and down and side to side, opened his beautiful sulphur crest and pirouetted.  All the animals thought it was a splendid performance and applauded. However, Pastiche looked bored.

    Just then a little girl who came by, squealed and said, “I’ve found a thorn! If I poke Pastiche with it, then all the water will squirt out.” 

    The wise old owl was horrified to hear that and thought to herself, “This little girl needs some counselling.” 

    “That will kill Pastiche too! He is a good frog; he has the funniest stories to tell. This is temporary insanity, losing him will be our loss,” shouted out the other creatures.

    Then another voice, that of the little girl’s mother screeched, “Perhaps a round of good old-fashioned caning would help. The pain would make Pastiche go, ‘Aaaaaahhhh’ and all the water would be expelled.”

    This worried the wise owl even further and she wondered, “Does the little girl or her mother need counselling?”

    Several creatures came and tried and finally they were at their wits end, they were getting tired, their throats were parched, the young ones were crying. 

    What should they do?

    The tadpoles were dying.

    Just then, Pastiche’s wife came marching with all their little ones. Each had a feather in their hand. They caressed Pastiche and tickled him. Pastiche shook from side to side; he was too big now to hop away and he had yet to learn to walk like the buffalo. He was trapped but he enjoyed the sensation and soon a tiny smile was visible, and then a bigger one and then a chuckle, a guffaw, a laugh, roaring laughter.  All the water that was within him came gushing out and the pond began filling up. 

    Pastiche got some sane advice from his wife and was sent to the wise owl for counselling.

    The buffalo walked into the pond and mooed a happy moo. 

    Once again, chatter, laughter, songs, and stories began reverberating around that pond. 

    Kookaburra sang, “Pastiche plonked on a lily pad. Pally, pally Pastiche of the surrounding pond. Laugh, Pastiche, laugh.”

    “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water” – W. H. Auden

    References

    Frog Drinks up all the Water- An Aboriginal Story from Australia