of ducks and frogs

Of ugliness and beauty, identity and transformation.
My version of 2 fairytales combined…

There was once a princess, and a frog.
There was also a cygnet, and a duckling.
They were all sleeping beauty.
Inside all these different identities, something inside, lost in the forest of thorns.

How many frogs have you experienced in your life?
For some Chinese, the closest they’ve come to frogs is a nice stir-fry with soy sauce and ginger!
For some sciency people, it’s when they’ve dissected their amphibious friends in the name of research and intellectual curiosity.
For many it’s a queasy feeling when they see it or touch it.

Why was the frog chosen as the epitome of ugly? It’s not as ugly as some other animals around, but I guess that’s a subjective evaluation. But some people shy away from confronting their inner frogs.

So do you think the princess was brave and noble in kissing the frog? But she was doing it from a selfish interest right? To get her golden ball back. I don’t remember the exact details of the story, as there are several versions to it.

The ugly duckling story is slightly similar in that it has the theme of ugliness and beauty and mistaken identity. And revelation that the mistaken identity was in actual fact the mistake not in the ugly one, but the “normal” ones in the crowd, in not being able to see beyond their limited understanding.

There’s also a story of an eaglet hatched among chickens that never realized that it was more than a flightless chicken.

How pitiful. To not realize your calling, your origins, your identity, your beauty, your abilities.

But what if I’m a frog that’s been kissed by a princess and remained a frog? What went wrong? Am I a swan that wants to be a duck? Or did I look for the wrong princess? And maybe the princess is wondering too if she kissed the right frog. Or maybe the swan still thinks like a duck, and wants to be a duck in the midst of its new swan friends. So many question marks.

Shrek is such a popular funny retelling of the old story because it gives it a new twist. The ogre doesn’t turn into a handsome prince. The princess who was ugly in the night and pretty in the day transforms not into the conventional beauty of her daytime, but instead, the green plump evening version.

But that’s the whole beauty of it. She became like the one who loved her. And so they became more compatible and more suited for each other, because that’s where the true love was. The true identity. The true beauty.

Not in physical form of a convention that the society perceives. Not even in an ideal of the individual’s own desires or wishes. But because the one who was considered ugly, either by themselves or by others around them, is no longer limited or diminished or embarrassed or sleeping, but because they are set free, to live, to love, awakened by the one who loved them and showed them the truth about themselves. That it is not how so many others have looked at us, with judgemental condemning eyes, but the transforming power when seen with eyes of love and acceptance. Because someone dared to brave the thorns to fight for the beauty that they knew was waiting inside.

So maybe it’s not the frog turning into a prince, but the princess turning into a frog. Or maybe the swan didn’t need to become a duck, because it was never intended to be one by her Creator. So we all learn day by day, to renew our vision, and strip away our misunderstood selves to reveal the true identities. And help each other along the way to see the beauty within, and the beauty around us, and the beauty of the good news of the saving grace of God. The eternal hero.

And it’s such a good story, though I’m still only in the middle of it. I know it’s got a fantastic ending, because the Author of my life is the best storyteller in the business.

P.S. Anyone ever wondered about the strange coincidence between the word “quack” meaning both an imposter and also the sound made by ducks?
Ah, the random thoughts of a Word-lover!