At the break of dawn, the light performs wonders on the pond. Bits of broken mirrors glimmer on the water over here; steel plates glitter over there; treasures of yellow coins lay among the reeds. Rays of gold flow into the water lilies like into floating cups. A silvery dust makes the reed plot sparkle. There's a heavenly, undisturbed silence everywhere. The heron got up early in the morning. He went into the pond. His body swings slowly on his long, thin legs looking like two stems. Every once in a while he moistens his beak; at times he stops and stares searchingly at the bottom of the pond, as if he had stumbled over something he'd been long looking for. The air is cool, to his much delight. His only wish is to bathe his feet in the cool water, which sends shivers all the way up to his wings. Suddenly he stops; he strains his neck and looks. On the leaf of a water lily there is a little frog enjoying the beauty and the coolness of the morning. When she saw him, the poor frog froze on her hind little legs; she gazes at the fierce enemy, her eyes wide open. So frightened is she that she sees him as a giant whose head reaches the sky and whose long, wide beak is just about to swallow the entire pond and her with it. Her heart stopped. She awaits her death. The heron sees her and understands the situation. But he is magnanimous in the morning. And besides, this creature of the pond seems so little, so insignificant to him that after a while he loses the sight of her on the bottom of the water and doesn't even notice her anymore. He lifts his leg, steps disdainfully over her, and walks away loftily. The little frog cannot believe her eyes. She remains still for a few more moments and then, out of pure joy, leaps on another leaf. And, in a momentum of gratitude, she is the first on to break the silence of the morning: "Ribbit!"from The World of Dumb Animals, 1910
by Emil Gârleanu (1878-1914)
