By Rehana Ali
We were a class of inquisitive eight year olds. One day our science teacher walked into the classroom carrying a large glass bowl furnished with a sandy bottom, a scattering of little rocks that rose above the level of the water and leafy water weeds growing out of the sand. And nestling among the leaves were masses of jelly balls so transparent that we could see the little black dot inside each one of them.
‘Frogs eggs’ said out teacher and we were most impressed.
‘We’ll place this bowl right here on the window sill’ she continued, ‘where it can get warm in the sunshine and we’ll watch and wait for the eggs to hatch.’
‘Miss, why do the eggs have such a bad smell?’
‘To put off any fishes who try to eat them. That’s because the mother frog can’t stay around to take care of them herself.’ We thought of our doting mothers and thanked our luck that we were not born into a frog family.
My desk was just next to the window and I was given the important duty of opening the window every morning to let in the sun and closing it at the end of the day. For the next few days I spent more time peering at the spawns than at my lessons. At any moment I expected little baby frogs to burst out of the jelly eggs.
One morning, about week later , to our utter shock we found little black fish like creatures swimming crazily around the bowl, many of them nibbling ravenously at the water weeds.
‘Frog babies’ announced our teacher.
We felt cheated. Of course we didn’t believe her! Frog babies indeed! So where were the little humped creatures with bulging eyes and mottled green skin?
‘They’re called tadpoles and soon you’ll see them change miraculously into little frogs. It’s called metamorphosis.’ she consoled us.
The bowl had become the centre of attraction and the little creatures grew under the watchful eyes of forty excited little girls.
‘How sweet’ we’d chorus. Strange words to describe frog larvae but apt. Our teacher proved to be right after all. To our amazement the tadpoles grew legs, first two, then four, then their eyes appeared atop little bulges on their heads.
Then one day we were thrilled to see tiny frogs perched on the rocks looking up at us curiously.
‘They have tails. But big frogs don’t have tails, Miss.’
‘They’ll eat their tails slowly’ she told us and this time we believed her and sure enough the tails slowly became shorter and shorter till they disappeared completely.
‘They must be eating their tails at night’ said my friend but I was none the wiser.
One morning our teacher told us that we would have to set the little frogs free as we had finished studying their life cycle. We followed her solemnly into the school garden where she gently tilted the bowl and we watched the little creatures leap out and hop away into the grass to begin their independent lives.
