I've had this particular frog standing outside my antique shop since I opened in 1996. I cannot sell this frog because he reminds me of the Frog spirit "Ch'ing-Wa Sheng" and is associated with healing and good fortune in business. I could sell him almost every day but unfortunately they broke the mold. They - meaning the maker of the frog, rather the maker's mother who designed my frog, then got mad for some reason and killed the mold.
Frogs are very popular in many cultures, even play a role in the Bible; they are the second plague in Exodus and associated with unclean spirits in Revelations. Aristophanes wrote a play called "The Frogs" around 405 BC. A choir of frogs sings the famous line: "Brekekekex koax koax." Even the Modern Major-General from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera "The Pirates of Penzance" says; "I know the croaking chorus from "The Frogs" of Aristophanes! Brekekekex koax koax." (God Bless you.) I think the chorus means "kiss me and I will turn into a handsome Prince and love you forever." Either this or Aristophanes thought saying Ribit was uncool.
The Frogs to the left and below are for sale. The one on the left is already tall and handsome, and obviously caring because he always has flowers in his hands. On the other hand there is a strong possibility that 'He' may be a 'She' and is Heget, the Egyptian Goddess of fertility. The legend goes that if you kissed her, or even accidentally brushed against her, be prepared to "become with child." It's highly recommended that you kiss her only once. Women who have kissed a frog, have been known to have multiple births.
Frogs also play an important role in science and the study of Biology. There used to be a time when you had to dissect a frog or flunk the course. Today parents can request a waiver simply by stating that their family is vegetarian and they only eat food grown from the earth. Frogs are green (supposedly) and subsequently saving frogs means "going green."
The frog server below is the perfect height for holding business cards or holding a can of beer. He looks a lot like Kermit the Frog but even more so, like Froggy the Gremlin from the Andy's Gang TV show of the1950s. Froggy was called the Gremlin because he was a troublemaker and always getting into trouble. He was a lot like me.
My favorite frog story is the one I heard today --- from one of my customers. She said that the word Frog stands for --- Forever Rely On God. The story goes that a woman lay dying in a hospital and was visited by a lady with long blond hair wearing white. The two women spoke for a while, until the sick woman fell asleep. The lady left a small stone frog on the dying woman's bedside table. The next morning, the dying woman was sitting up in bed, miraculously showing no signs of her illness, when the nurse came in the room. The nurse saw the frog on the nightstand and said, "The Guardian Angel visited you last night, didn't she?" But the woman had no recollection of the vision, just a sense of peace, health, and love.
Frogs can and often do, mean a miracle is present. Just kiss the statue and find out for yourself . . . .
May the force of the FROG be upon you.
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