A Morbid Story Intended For Children

My highlight of this Wednesday back at school had to be reading with the younger elemtary class.

The read these Korean Folktales which seem to just be common stories told with a Korean theme. We had one that was basically Cinderella. There is a darker side to the original, but the beginning is basically Cinderella. Then there was the Gold and Silver Axes, which I'm quite certain is an Aesop tale about why you shouldn't lie. They're all about being a good person.

This one though, woah, took it to the next level.

There's a mommy frog and a baby frog. The baby frog is a total brat. He does the opposite of whatever his mom asks. She says "let's swim in the East pond." he goes to swim in the West pond. "Let's catch flies at the bootom of the mountain", he goes to the top of the mountain. She goes "repeat after me, ribbit, ribbit" and this smart-ass baby frog goes "tibbir, tibbir." Then mom tells him to hibernate for the winter, and what does this little jerk do? He goes and swims in the lake until it gets too cold.

So mom starts worrying, "What if my little frog never learns to be a good frog?!" she feels flushed and asks him to bring her some cool water. He brings her a pot of boiling water.

Then she starts to get really sick, like really really sick. He starts to notice he's an asshole around the time she's about to die. She knows this little punk is gonna do the opposite of whatever she says, so her dying request is to be buried by the river, and not on the mountain.

She dies, and the baby frog turns over and new leaf and finally listens to her. Wow, little late now. So, he buries her by the river. Later it starts to rain and rain and the river rises, putting the grave at risk of being washed away. Then the baby frog starts crying, an calling out "ribbit!".

Dark right? So the moral is, really, listen to your parents before it's too late. Which is crazy intense, so the more these guys get to understanding the story the more uncomfortable they get. Uggghhhh, what a downer.

Sorry, mum. I know this was me.
Mum: See, this says dr-
Niki: Yeah, but in kid-language it says galoof, so