FAIRY FROGMOTHER by Charlotte Henley Babb page 3/6
More pressing matters grabbed Maven's attention. A large group of frogs converged on her, more frogs than she had ever seen: green and yellow frogs, some with red eyes, some with spots, some with tattered webs on their feet, others swelling out their throats to belch their complaints. Big frogs, tiny fogs, even a toad or two, all hopping, leaping, crawling towards her. All angry and croaking loud enough to deafen a giant. Maven tried to remember if frogs ate each other, but found her amphibian lore sorely lacking.
In a moment, she was surrounded. Then the yelling started.
"Change me back!" "Me, Too!" "It's about time we frogs had somebody to grant our wishes!" Each frog had a wish, and most of them involved transformation.
Maven held up her wand, trying to listen to all of them or any of them to get some idea of why they had all appeared just then, what they wanted, and what she could do about it. Fiona did not like coincidences, so she did not likely cause this plague. The main thread she could hear among all the croaking and wailing was that these were not true frogs, but women who had been transformed. They were very tired of being green.
Maven strained again to grasp the wand and prepared to jump, hoping that if she could hang on to it in midair, it would wave enough to cover at least a few of them. Her 'hands' began to cramp, clutching the shaft as she straddled the grip. She fluttered her wings as much as she could, but it didn't help much.
She vaulted, ribbeting every canceling spell she could think of. Landing in water, still clutching her wand, she kicked her way to a launching surface and tried again, this time aiming for the creek bank. Curses were muttered in the frog chorus, imprecations of doom, death, disease and disfigurement against Queen Tarryn.
Maven established that if a frog had wings, it would still bump its butt.
One voice, very small, seemed to have a different request. Maven sought its source as she rested from her futile spelling.
"Please, will you help me?" asked a small frog with large, emerald green eyes. "All these frogs are real women, and they talk all the time about how wonderful it is to be human. I wish I was a human. Can you make me human?"
Fiona had told her to answer requests. "It's worth a try, little one." Maven bounded once more, croaking a general spell of mutation from frog to human. Only one woman appeared: a long-legged siren with emerald eyes and long, webbed fingers. Maven wove a dress from the mud on her skin.
The frog chorus shut up, amazed at the success of the transformation. "You really are my fairy frogmother!" the woman said. "You granted my wish!"
"That's what I do, Honey. What's your name?"
"I am Medori. Do you think the prince would like me?"
"What do you know about a prince?"
"They—" she waved a webbed-hand at the pond etc. "— have had to follow him ever since they got turned into frogs. They have to get something from him to go back to being women. Do you think he would like me?
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