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The Two Frogs

There were once two frogs, the first of which lived in a ditch very close to the Coastal city of Osaka and the second of which lived in a clear stream close to the beautiful capital of Kyoto. Both of the frogs decided to make a journey with the one in Osaka deciding to travel to Kyoto and the one in Kyoto deciding to travel to Osaka. Neither knew about the other but it happened by chance that they both left on their arduous journey at the same time. The journey was slow as a tall mountain whose peak was half way between the two cities had to be climbed. It was here on the top of the mountain after much work climbing it that they first beheld each other.
The two frogs stood staring at each other for a moment and then they began to sing to entertain themselves. They each then told the other the reason for their journey and laughed with delight. They then decided to rest before continuing on so they sat together in the tall grass.
“If only we were a larger animal,” one said to the other. Then we could see the komiteu of both cities and could judge if it was worth the effort of a long walk to travel to them.”
“Oh that’s easy to remedy,” the other said. “For if we want to see the end of the journey we can each pick each other up and look out towards our destination.
So the two frogs stretched out their hind legs and wrapped their arms around each other so that they would not fall over. They each looked out over their destination, one towards Osaka and the other towards Kyoto. They both stood still, quietly absorbed in their thoughts. They then looked back to their own homeland.
Each then thought that the other city looked just like their homeland and so decided that the two were exactly alike and returned home living out their days without realizing the vast differences between the cities and their own stupidity at thinking they were the same based on simple appearances.