"Toad baked some cookies. (1)
'These cookies smell very good (2),' said Toad. He ate one (3). 'And they taste even better (4),' he said. Toad (5) ran to Frog's house. 'Frog, Frog (6),' cried (7) Toad. 'Taste these (8) cookies that I have made (9).' Frog ate one of the cookies (10).
'These are the best cookies I have ever eaten (11)!' said Frog. Frog and Toad ate many (12) cookies, one after another (13). 'You know, Toad,' said Frog, with his mouth full (14), 'I think we should stop eating (15). We will soon be sick (16).'
'You are right,' said Toad. 'Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop.' Frog and Toad ate one last cookie. There were many cookies left in the bowl. 'Frog,' said Toad, 'let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop.' Frog and and Toad ate one very last cookie. 'We must stop eating!' cried (17) Toad as he ate another.
'Yes,' said Frog, reaching for a cookie (18), 'we need will power (19).'
'What is will power?' asked Toad.
'Will power is trying hard not (20) to do something that you really want to do,' said Frog.
'You mean like trying not (21) to eat all of these cookies?' asked Toad.
'Right,' said Frog. Frog put the cookies in a box (22). 'There,' he said. 'Now we will not eat any more cookies (23).'
'But we can open the box (24),' said Toad.
'That is true (25),' said Frog. Frog tied some string around the box. 'There,' he said. 'Now we will not eat any more cookies (26).'
'But we can cut the string and open the box (27),' said Toad (28).
'That is true,' said Frog. Frog got a ladder (29). He put the box up on a high (30) shelf. 'There,' said Frog. 'Now we will not eat any more cookies.'
'But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf (31) and cut the string (32) and open the box,' said Toad.
'That is true,' said Frog. Frog climbed the ladder (33) and took the box down from the shelf. He cut (34) the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice, 'HEY BIRDS (35), HERE ARE COOKIES (36)!' Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks (37) and flew away (38).
'Now we have no more cookies to eat (39),' said Toad sadly (40). 'Not even one.'
'Yes,' said Frog, 'but we have lots and lots of will power (41).'
'You may keep it all, Frog,' said Toad. 'I am going home now to bake a cake (42).'"
1: The cookies, based on the scholarship of Ronald McCoury and close analysis of the original manuscripts, were chocolate-chip, baked in a conventional oven. Presumably, Toad baked the cookies from scratch, though claims have been made as to the availability of pre-mixed cookie batter in Lobel's forest setting. Ibid Kray 90.
2: "Good," in this context, is generally assumed to mean "savory." Jergens 112, Anax.
3: 1
4: While A. Norman Jeffares was once enamored with the idea that this implies some sort of comparison between these cookies and some other food product, general consensus presumes the ellipsis of "better than they smell."
5: The same Toad that was referenced earlier in the work. Yeats 12.5 GenNext
6: Lobel shows he has a sense of humor with this repetition of "frog."
7: Normally a word that implies distress, here Toad seems to be "crying" in elation.
8: See note 1.
9: Toad is often cast as the vainglorious, hubristic member of the pair of creatures that is called "Frog and Toad." Here he seems overly prideful. Read McCormick's "Evidence: Fourth Edition," 156:12 axiom.
10: The cookies made by Toad.
11: Lobel softens the character of Toad first with his offer of the cookies to Frog, then with Frog's affirmation of Toad's earlier boasting.
12: Often in Lobel's work, the translator has no word for "forty" and supplies instead the colloquial "many." This may be such an instance.
13: This is a superfluous statement, since forty cookies would be impossible to eat at once. Poetic license.
14: Frog's statement, if his mouth was in fact full, would more accurately read: "You know, Toa."
15: Here Frog takes on the role of St. Paul, Epistles 14-16.
16: It is unknown whether frogs and toads vomit, but Norman Blake's "Genetics: A Seasonal Study" seems to imply that they can feel sick. Blake 690 aardvark.
17: This seems to be the more conventional usage of "cried." (see note 7).
18: Lobel's use of irony is subtle, but important.
19: A reference to Nietzche's "Will To Power," which had a great influence on Lobel. Jeffares also suggested the possibility of Lobel here making an homage to John Cage's "Speech about Nothing." Jeffares 45 ibid.
20: The italics are the author's.
21: See note 20.
22: A cake box, presumably. Early illustrations of the work seem to show a box made of thin cardboard, cube-like in shape.
23: Frog makes his prophecy, Laocoon-like, and Toad refutes him.
24: Toad's refutation.
25: Frog's affirmation of Toad's refutation.
26: See note 23.
27: See note 24.
28: The same Toad referenced earlier in the work. Now he takes on a position of instruction in a marked departure from his earlier, childlike character. Possibly an inconsistency explained by multiple authors.
29: Genesis 32:14.
30: Lobel was an avid and knowledgeable abuser of substances. He wrote a terrifying and comprehensive study of drugs for the "London Journal of Addiction." Watson -35 actum.
31: Rhymes with "elf." Elves are frequent visitors to Lobel's forest world.
32: The string that was previously used to tie the box. Jordan 42 hic haec hoc.
33: To heaven?
34: Perhaps a reference to Julius Caesar.
35: An excellent example of apostrophe.
36: A statement of the obvious, but successful. Frog's language is often goal-driven. Hoffman AP4 axel.
37: This is a generally overlooked historical inaccuracy. The birds in fact used their claws. Rose 111 ibid.
38: Most scholars concede that the birds flew away to the land of the gummy-bear men.
39: The illustration that accompanied this passage in the original manuscript was one of Toad looking sad.
40: See note 39.
41: Frog has wrongly defined "will power" as "lack of cookies."
42: Toad is going home to bake a cake as the story ends.
