Gibb River frogs are very loud. Their sound is often like rasping
thick rope over wood, perhaps on the edge of a pearl lugger. Other
times (it may be a different species of frog), they balloon out sound
in big green belches which rise in volume, stop, and start again.
After rain they belch for hour after hour.
Two nights ago, after rain, we were watching Betty Blue, the
Director's Cut, on DVD, when a frog started up on the front verandah,
just a thin glass window away from where we sat. The sex scenes were
laughable with this green belching soundtrack, so I went outside to
shoo him away. He sat solidly on the cement floor. I tried picking him
up to move him into the bush but he jumped out of my hand before I had
any sort of gentle grip – and landed on my bare foot, where he
settled, quite comfortable. I laughed so much my wife came to see what
was so funny but stayed back in horror. 'O, what does he feel like?'
she asked. I replied, 'Warm and wet, a bit like a freshly caught
fish.' He belched as punctuation, and I felt his fat Buddha body rise
and fall on my foot. It felt like some kind of natural blessing, a
benediction from the frog world. I would've chanted with him if I'd
known his tongue.
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
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