Invention of the Modern Swimming Pool

Once upon a time, there lived a dire frog in need of moisture. Always his skin was tacky and creaky from lack of water, and his personality matched it with furrowed brow and worry.

"Oh, what will become of me?" he would croak. "My lips are dry and I cannot get even the juiciest of flies down my throat without choking and grimacing."

"Please, Mr. Frog," Mrs. Frog would say, "get thee to the pond and absorb!"

But the frog would not, because he was afeared of vermin, and along the road to the pond were several hangouts popular with the local vermin.

"They might bite me," he worried, pulling bits of lint and feathers from his thigh. "Mightn't we construct a pool out back in which to gather rain water, Mrs. Frog?"