Alien Frog: This One Doesn't Belong in Okinawa

My Lunch Almost Got Lost

Here, I thought it was my lucky day.  This unusual-looking frog was on the sidewalk.

Nothing like this has ever crossed my path before. It must be a rare one, I figured.

Not every frog, I see gets this special treatment. I emptied my lunch bag, to capture him.

Thinking I had found some endangered species, I hurried to the office, to get some photos.

The frog was placed in the rock garden out back and, I quickly grabbed a camera, to shoot it.

Five or six clicks of the shutter and, the rascal jumped, so high, I don't know where he landed !

Then, I looked at my empty lunch bag and remembered. My food was on somebody's wall.

It was only a two minute trip, to rescue that, before some homeless dude, snatched it.

On a Full Stomach Research Was Easy

Type into a search "Okinawa Frog with stripes on legs" and, that's how I found out.

This critter is a Polypedates leucomystax and, doesn't belong on this island.

If, you spot one, grind it up and feed it to stray cats or, homeless people.

They are found throughout Asia, according to Amphibia Web but, we don't want them here.

They say, they are a charming species at Ecology Asia.  Well, come and get them, y'all.

The frog makes a loud quack, DNA Singapore, tells me. We have enough quacks already.

Get your invasive, alien frogs out of here, we have our own frogs, to worry about.

The import, transport and keeping of these amphibians, is against the law, in Japan.

Next time, I see one, I'll squish it and, turn it over to the authorities, dead or alive.

Gee. I wonder if there's a bounty, to be collected ?

Common Names for this alien are:

Asian Brown Treefrog, Common Tree Frog, Four-lined Tree Frog and Golden Tree Frog.

Okinawan Folktale: Mischievous Son and the Tree Frog

He Cries When It Rains

 

 

A long time age, a mother and son lived, where the mountains meet the coastline.

The old woman made tofu, from sunrise to sunset, to earn a living. 

In the evenings she would carry a basket on her head, selling her product around the island.

The son named, Tara, couldn't be trusted, to help the aging mother.

With his devious mind, he was always causing her trouble.

If she asked him to draw a bucket of seawater, for her tofu, he would bring fresh water, instead.

When she needed fresh water, from the river, Tara would fetch seawater.

The mother became sickly and bedridden, she was near death.

She wondered what her son would do with her remains.

She really would like to be buried high on a hill, above the sea.

If she told Tara, the location overlooking the ocean, would be best, he might not do it.

So, she told him, she wanted to be buried in the riverbed.

This Time He Didn't Do the Opposite

 

 

A few days later, the mother passed away.

Tara, cried and thought about all the times he had mistreated his mother.

He decided, this last time, he would carry out the wishes of his mother.

He buried her on the bank of the river.

Her spirit was disturbed because, she really would have prefered a place overlooking the ocean.

In a way, the son had failed his mother, again.

A bolt of lightening, came down from the sky and, struck Tara's belly button.

It turned him into a tree frog.

Whenever it rains, croaking of the frogs along the river can be heard.

It is Tara, crying because, he is worried, the rising water may take his mother away. 

REFERENCE:

Okinawan Folk Stories ISBN978-4-99009-146-0 P.74

Perverseness and the Tree Frog

MORE OKINAWAN FOLKLORE