A long time ago, when the city of Kyoto was still the capital of Japan, there lived a frog in Kyoto.
She lived not just anywhere, but near the temple, in a small, half-dry well in the palace.
It was good for her there: the bottom was soft, sticky, damp. But then the hot summer came. It’s so hot that everything around has dried up - puddles, ditches, streams. And the old well, of course, also completely dried up. The bottom was cracked and became dry and hard. You couldn’t even believe that you were sitting in a well.
“We’ll have to move!” thought the poor frog. “But where to? Everything around is dry. I’ll go to the city of Osaka. Osaka, they say, is by the sea, but I’ve never seen the sea. At least I’ll see what it’s like!”
A frog got out of the well and quietly jumped along the road to the city of Osaka. And in the city of Osaka there lived another frog. She lived at ease in the large round pond. She buried her head in soft mud or swam in muddy water among swaying algae, and on a sunny day she basked on a warm, smooth stone.
But it also became very hot in Osaka. There, too, the ditches, streams, and ponds have dried up. The round pond in which the frog lived also dried up. The bottom became completely shallow. A frog lived all his life in a pond and suddenly found himself on dry land - no water, no silt, just dry dust.
“There is a drought in Osaka!” thought the frog. “We need to move somewhere. I’ll go to the city of Kyoto. Kyoto, they say, is the capital of Japan. At the same time, I’ll look at the capital’s palaces and temples.”
The frog thought so and galloped leisurely along the road to Kyoto. And it so happened that both frogs set off on the same day and even at the same hour - early in the morning. One galloped from Kyoto to Osaka. The other is from Osaka to Kyoto. The frogs jumped slowly: hop and they’ll sit, hop and they’ll sit. And since they set out on the road at the same time and each of them galloped no faster or slower than the other, it means they should have met right in the middle of the road.
And right in the middle of the road between Osaka and Kyoto stands Mount Tenozan. So the frogs galloped up to this mountain, rested a little and began to slowly climb up the slope. They climbed, of course, very slowly, because they were not used to jumping through the mountains. Puffing and puffing, they climbed higher and higher. They had not yet seen each other, because there was a mountain between them. Finally the frogs reached the very top. That's when they butted heads.
- That's it! - said the Kyoto frog. - That's it! - said the Osaka frog. “I am a frog from Kyoto and I’m jumping to Osaka.” What about you? - asked the Kyoto frog. “I am a frog from Osaka and I’m jumping to Kyoto.” We have such a drought in Osaka!— Is there a drought in Osaka? Is there drought in Osaka? - the Kyoto frog was alarmed. — Like in Kyoto? Like in Kyoto?
- Isn’t it hot in Kyoto too? - Of course, of course! In Kyoto, not only puddles, but even wells have dried up.
“That means there’s no need for us to jump further,” said the Osaka frog sadly. “If you have a drought and we have a drought, it’s better to die at home.”
The frogs fell silent and thought. It’s a shame to come back halfway! They thought and thought and decided to check each other. You never know what passers-by will say to you!
“That’s what I think,” said the Kyoto frog. “If I climbed this mountain, at least I can look at the city of Osaka from here.” After all, from the mountain you can probably see the sea.
- This is a good idea! - said the Osaka frog. “I’ll take a look from the top of the mountain.” After all, from here, perhaps, you can see the palaces and temples of the city of Kyoto.
Both frogs rose on their hind legs, stretched out to their full frog height, rolled out their frog eyes and began to look into the distance.
They looked and looked, and suddenly the Kyoto frog flopped to the ground and said angrily:
- What is this? Nothing new, nothing interesting! Just like our Kyoto! Everyone says: sea, sea! But I don’t see any sea in Osaka.
And the Osaka frog also got angry: “What is this!” What a capital this is! Just like our Osaka. I thought I’d see the capital’s palaces and temples. But in fact, there is nothing interesting there, everything is like ours.
- Well, if so, we need to return to Kyoto! - said the Kyoto frog. - We'll wait for the rain at home.
- Well, if so, we need to return to Osaka! - said the Osaka frog. - If it rains, the house will be wet.
The frogs said goodbye, each turned in its own direction and splashed down the mountain. And as soon as they galloped once or twice, they lost sight of each other, because the sharp peak of the mountain rose between them again.
That’s how it all ended: the Kyoto frog returned to Kyoto, and the Osaka frog returned to Osaka. And until the end of their lives they thought that the city of Kyoto was like two peas in a pod like the city of Osaka, and the city of Osaka was like the city of Kyoto.
But this is just not true. These cities are not at all similar. So what’s the matter? The fact is that the Kyoto frog saw not Osaka at all, but his native Kyoto, and the Osaka frog saw not Kyoto at all, but Osaka.
After all, frogs have eyes on the top of their heads. And so when they stood on their hind legs and raised their heads up, their eyes were behind them.
So they looked not forward, but back: each frog looked back where it came from.
Only they themselves didn’t know about it. And so the Osaka frog returned to Osaka, to his pond, and sadly said to his little frogs: “Osaka and Kyoto are all just swamps!” And the little frogs cried bitterly. That’s why they say: “Children of frogs are the same frogs.”
And the Kyoto frog returned to Kyoto, to its old place, climbed back into its well and said to its neighboring frogs:
“There is no sea in the world!” That’s why they say: “The well frog does not know the sea.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru