Once upon a time, in a jungle lived a toad. The toad was revered by its family. He was to become the greatest croaker of his time. It was suppressing the other toads and claiming his ultimate place. It was not the toads' initial plan. Its family had insisted the toad make their presence be known among the giants. The mother toad was bringing flies to Mr Expectation herself. Our toad, fearing rejection if it couldn't live up to being not an instrument, started to work on its voice before the age of singing came.
Every day, the toad practised. But the deeds of nature could not be undone, and the toad started to lose its mass. The toad didn't care because it would either be the greatest croaker or become another failure. It couldn't accept this because its family would be ashamed of it. The family's shame shadowed as the toad became smaller and the croaks became bigger. It was not long before the croaks became larger and bigger than the toad itself!
The toad at first captured the attention of some of the most revered inhabitants of the jungle. There was the eagle who descended to listen to this new croak. A feral cat appeared out of the woods just out of curiosity. And a fellow crocodile emerged from the depths. They listened to the toad's croak.
The toad sang them about the stars and the other worlds. The stars and beyond, the marvellous galaxies and fiery supernovas. The party was surprised at first since those concepts were new and had never been mentioned by any other animal.
Out of boredom, monkeys came and listened to the toad's story. Toad was getting thinner with each croak, yet it continued as if it wanted to become a croak and vanish! Monkeys were amazed by the stories afar. They brought the currency of attention. The toad's family seemed proud, but that couldn't be the reward. They wanted to challenge Mother Earth with their offspring's croak.
Nothing in the jungle lasts without any change. The eagle was bored of the repetition and a reduced version of the skies he crowned depicted in a prideful croak. He left the gathering. The cat seemed bored, too, because the toad never mentioned the riches of feral lands. Yet, it waited perhaps to leave the now anxious croaks with a small reward. The reptilian, now seeing the trap, immediately left and returned to its depths.
Monkeys were still there. The croak that once was exciting was now a mere repetition of the toad's desire for an eternal audience. The toad, seeing the great masters of earth, sea and skies displeased, panicked. Understanding that it could not appeal to anyone since the jungle was so complex, the toad came out with the common theme of distances between animals. But this attempt was not enough, and the monkeys started throwing rotten bananas to the toad to escape from now more incredible boredom. The toad was afraid, but it continued shrieking. Monkeys left.
Toad was now a ghost. A ghost that once was an acceptable sacrifice. Toad's family forgot the reasons for their child's death and criticised it for not croaking well enough. They were fooled by the echoes that their child had never passed away, although the echoes were the same ones before our toad's birth.
The toad that once betrayed itself was now betrayed by everyone else—time passed.
There was no one to hear the croak any more, but the toad continued as if everyone in the jungle's greatest desire was to listen to him. The jungle became more silent with each croak, but the toad thought that everyone was leaving the stage only for the toad's croaks.
The toad vanished with everyone else on the very same day. But it didn't leave for a return like the others.
The cat found a daring squirrel in exchange for listening to the croak.
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