I’ve told you about Belinda Munkindot, have I not? I’ve told you about her sweet button nose and her dreadful vanity and her most appalling foolishness. I must have, because, to tell you the truth, she would be absolutely livid if she thought that I had forgotten to tell of all her adventures. She does so like to be talked about.
Perhaps I had better remind you, just in case you are to meet her in your garden after dusk falls. You might see her flitting from flower to flower among the fragrant shadows, very like a little butterfly herself, and it should be most terribly awkward if you were to forget her name. I’m afraid she can be quite unforgiving.
How shall I describe Belinda to you? I suppose if you, not understanding the fairy language of course, were to look at Belinda under a magnifying glass, you would find her to be wonderfully fine. Her clothes are the very latest fashion, and she is most shamefully particular about her looks. To be perfectly honest, (for how can a storyteller be anything but?) she spends much more time primping before her mirror than she ever does with her nose in a book. And as anyone knows, such habits can only come to ruin in the end.
Unfortunately, if I were to tell you some of the things that Belinda has said, you might not think her so terribly fine. Looks can be deceiving, they say, and with Belinda this must be admitted to be the case. I once heard a frog say (and of course I am only repeating for the sake of the story, for I am terribly fond of Belinda, despite her faults) that she hadn’t a full thought in her head at any one time. And while that may be true, it wasn’t extremely kind of him to point it out. But frogs very seldom are the sort to be very kind.
In fact, being the foolish sort, Belinda has attracted more than her share of attention from frogs. She provokes them, you see, and they find a great deal of pleasure in saying the most naughty, unkind things to her. I think they quite like to see her angry.
Which, of course, is evidence of a very nasty kind of temperament. But what else can one expect from a frog?
The rest of this story, and the remainder of my fairytales, are available now Here. Please enjoy!
Ramblings of an Obsessive Bookworm 